Alumni

Paying it forward

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 22:59:39 +0000

Paying it forward Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/15/2024 - 16:59

By Lauren Irwin (Jour'22)

How to support CMCI

Alumni, parents and friends who want to support CMCI while creating a personal legacy often choose to establish an endowment with the University of Colorado Foundation. Endowments are held in perpetuity and invested to provide annual support for donor-specified purposes through market gains.

Donors can create endowments to support scholarships, programs, departments, faculty chairs and professorships, or nearly anything else at CMCI. The minimum gift to establish an endowment is $25,000, which can be given over up to five years. To learn more or establish an endowment, contact Mary Beth Searles, CMCI assistant dean for advancement.

An internship in Washington, D.C., changed Heidi Wagner’s life. Now, she’s working alongside her alma mater to create similar opportunities for CMCI students.

“D.C. is one of those places that opens doors,” said Wagner (Jour’86). “You really can’t go wrong getting some experience here in Washington.”

As a college senior, Wagner was accepted to the Sears Congressional Internship, where she did media-related and administrative work for Rep. Stan Parris, of Virginia. Wagner had set out to be a broadcast reporter but was surprised by how much she liked learning about politics, policy and process—an interest “that just grew exponentially from being a part of it all.”

“That internship changed the trajectory of my life.”

She stayed in D.C. after graduation and is currently senior vice president and global head of government affairs at ElevateBio, a biotechnology company. Additionally, she serves as a university trustee and member of the University of Colorado Foundation Board, and was a founding member of CMCI’s advisory board.

It wasn’t a path the ��«��Ƶ native envisioned when she enrolled at the university, but her time at CU “gave me a sense of the possibility that was out there for me,” she said.

Looking back to the beginning of her career, she wanted to be a part of providing students with life-changing opportunities similar to what she experienced. CMCI in D.C., which allows students to earn both course and internship credit as they explore Washington, matches that vision.

“That internship changed the trajectory of my life.”
Heidi Wagner

The CMCI in D.C. staff leverages an extensive network of professional contacts to curate internships in the fall, spring or summer semesters that suit the interests and career goals of each student. Over the summer, 20 students studying advertising, information science, journalism and media studies lived in Washington, where they interned at The Hill, The Brand Guild, Williams Whittle, The Parks Channel and elsewhere.

As both the biggest benefactor and “number one cheerleader” of the program—she regularly meets with participants while they’re in D.C.—Wagner hopes students appreciate the possibilities Washington has to offer.

“It’s really important to expose yourself to other things, because you just don’t know what’s out there,” she said.

Wagner said she and Dean Lori Bergen set a goal that a D.C.-based experience shouldn’t be limited to those who can afford to make the move. Over the last five years, she has created an endowment that allows CMCI to offer this experience to more students.

“If the barriers aren’t eliminated, then there’s all kinds of reasons not to do it,” Wagner said. “So, if we can eliminate those barriers, let’s do it.”

After graduating with her journalism degree, Wagner worked in political communications before going to law school, holding multiple high-profile roles in government affairs and policy. She said the skills she learned in her journalism courses have been invaluable to her success working in policy and lobbying.

“I rely heavily on what I learned in journalism classes, just in terms of writing well, writing quickly, writing succinctly, being able to communicate directly and effectively, and being able to advocate internally very effectively,” she said.

Whether it’s journalism, public relations or corporate communications, Wagner hopes the internship program creates a strong pipeline of CMCI students in Washington. She knows the opportunities are waiting to be grasped.

“I certainly found a life here that I love and a career and all that comes with it, but I think Washington is a uniquely wonderful place for young professionals,” she said.

An internship in D.C. changed Heidi Wagner’s life. Now, she wants to recreate that experience for current students.

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From peaks to front lines

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 19:41:38 +0000

From peaks to front lines Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/13/2024 - 13:41

Jordan Campbell takes a selfie after spending more than a week in what he called a ‘not-so-safe safehouse’ that was under attack from Russian forces. Photo by Jordan Campbell.

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

The clouds and clear skies fought for dominance over Kyiv, reflecting the tension on the ground, as Jordan Campbell stepped off the worst bus ride of his life—a 24-hour slog from Kraków, Poland, to Ukraine’s capital.

It was the second of what would be many trips to Ukraine, and the beginning of an ambitious documentary film. Standing at the bus station, weighted under camera
gear and body armor, he considered himself a storyteller.

Now, after three further visits to the front lines, he sees himself as a war journalist.

“It’s breaking my heart to see one of my favorite countries being hit like this,” Campbell (Comm’91) said. “I was embedded with NGOs, riding around in an ambulance, because I’m fascinated by humanitarians doing amazing work around the world. And the best thing I can do to serve humanity is go out, tell the stories and come back safe.”

Campbell traversed literal and figurative mountains to become the filmmaker he is today. Climbs in Tibet and Nepal gave him an up-close look at injustice and inequality, awakening a passion for humanitarianism. His work in media—in a senior communications role with Marmot and as a freelancer for National Geographic—gave him the tools to tell life-changing stories from across the globe.

“I was a corporate guy with a love of moonlight journalism,” he said.

In 2011, on assignment for National Geographic in war-ravaged South Sudan, Campbell documented the work of cataract surgeon Dr. Geoff Tabin. Upon returning to the States, he was approached by filmmaker Michael Herbener—who is also working on the Ukraine project—with the idea of using Campbell’s footage to make a documentary.

That film, Duk County: Peace Is in Sight in the New South Sudan, went on to win awards and was screened twice at the United Nations.

“The awards feel good, but I want to connect with the audience and have them feel the same way I felt when I was in the field,” Campbell said. “To take it to the United Nations twice, that’s the stuff that makes me feel like we’re having an impact.”

The desire for humanitarian impact—combined with his experience as a communications professional and visual storyteller—prompted Campbell to found Ramro Global
in 2019.

Its seven-person advisory council contributes insights into global challenges. Christina Tobias-Nahi, who specializes in the Middle East and North Africa for Ramro, met Campbell in 2018 when she spoke at CU ��«��Ƶ’s Conference on World Affairs.

She is based in Washington, D.C., and as director of public affairs, research and advocacy for Islamic Relief USA, she often travels to places with mass displacement.

“I do a lot of advocacy,” she said. “Everything is so political and contentious, and I admire Jordan’s willingness to use his voice to change political will in Washington.”

Somewhat unconventionally, Campbell also appoints advisors for issues that demand global attention, which is how Michael Carter—an expert in the geopolitics of power and energy—came to the board.

Carter’s experience comes from more than 25 years in the energy industry, where he works on issues of transparency and inequity, like lack of access to sustainable power and movement toward a lower-carbon future.

“It takes a very thoughtful and calm, compassionate mind to look at inequity and do something about it,” he said. “That’s the essence of what Jordan is trying to accomplish.”

As a business strategist, Carter has helped Campbell develop Ramro Global from concept to company. As an energy expert, he provides unique insight into the humanitarian projects Campbell chronicles.

Jordan puts his life in danger to bring these stories to people. I really admire his bravery.”

Christina Tobias-Nahi

“Some of the first targets the Russian army hit were the Ukrainian power plants,” Carter said. “Power allows us to communicate—especially through mobile phones—and I want to help Jordan communicate his message. He has dedicated himself to humanitarianism.”

Campbell is also dedicated to truth and authenticity, which is why he kept returning to Ukraine despite the rising risk. He hasn’t shied from documenting the desperation and destruction he saw working alongside Project Konstantin, a front-line medical evacuation team. Last year, when the U.S. Senate hosted a Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum event, Campbell presented a six-minute cut of the film, Ukraine Under Fire. He also met with Ukrainian Embassy staff.

“There were representatives from 60 countries in attendance who appreciated my testimony because I was an expert witness on what was going on there,” he said. “I’m not a cataract surgeon, I’m not a pediatric cardiac surgeon. But I’m a journalist and I’m a visual storyteller, and I can make some noise and do good things in the world.”

Campbell’s goal with Ukraine Under Fire is to capture a slice of the war while focusing on themes like democracy, sovereignty and—perhaps most important—resilience. He posted a teaser on the company’s website for public viewing and hopes screenings of the completed film in Washington and throughout Europe will help to further those themes.

“This can turn into such a bigger conflict,” he said. “The scale and scope drew me to the subject. And if you’re a journalist, you want to capture something, add value—and then get out of the way.”

Not only has he been shaken by the devastation while on the front lines, but
the impacts have followed him home: Nearly every place he visited has since been bombed, and he’s lost friends to the conflict, as well. It has, as he put it, “gotten under my rib cage.”

That’s only strengthened Campbell’s commitment to honoring their courage and sacrifice through his film.

“Some people become the bystanders, and some people become the heroes,” Tobias-Nahi said. “Jordan puts his life in danger to bring these stories to people, and it gives a face to that humanitarian need. I really admire his bravery.”

To get to the front lines of Ukraine, Jordan Campbell (Comm'91) took the road less traveled—from corporate communications to the mountains of Nepal—before stepping foot on the streets of Kyiv.

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Peak performer

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 21:41:53 +0000

Peak performer Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/31/2024 - 14:41

By Joe Arney

As much as she was ready for a new professional challenge, leaving the Front Range where she’d lived her whole life was hard for Keely Walker. So she made a promise to herself—wherever she wound up, she’d still have her view of the mountains.

But not all mountains are created equal, as she learned when she interviewed for a producer position with KOMO, in Seattle.

“The news director asked me how I liked the mountains out there, and I told him they were beautiful,” said Walker (Jour’06), now nightside executive producer at KING 5 Media Group. “Then he told me, ‘Well, what’s better is that ours explode.’

“I was like, no, no, that’s not a selling point!” Walker said, laughing.

Maybe backyard volcanoes aren’t quite her thing, but it’s no question Walker has hit her stride since arriving in the Pacific Northwest. Since joining KING, a Tegna-owned, NBC-affiliated station, the self-described “Colorado girl, through and through” has rapidly climbed the ranks while producing journalism that’s both award winning and thought provoking.

Climbing the ranks

Moving to Seattle, she said, was a chance to challenge herself professionally without sacrificing those mountain views.

“I knew the Denver market inside and out after eight years,” she said. “A lot of people talk about Seattle news being smart news. People don’t want the surface story—you need to really dig into the news, which was a new challenge.”

It meant learning about things like salmon and orcas that don’t typically enter the conversation in Colorado, but what hasn’t changed are the fundamental skills she built studying broadcast journalism at CU and being a trusted leader in the media space.

Don’t touch that dial

Keely Walker is like a lot of journalists, in that when you ask her what her biggest challenge is, it’s that no one is watching. When she visited a CMCI class in the fall, “we asked the students who watches the news, and no hands went up,” Walker said.

Her dirty little secret? “I don’t have cable, either,” she said.

That’s not unusual for Generation Z—or the Seattle market, where engagement through mobile apps or over-the-top media services like Roku, Hulu or Apple TV is incredibly significant. So, her station typically airs content for TV first before repackaging it for digital distribution. “Our biggest business challenge is, how do you get people to watch when it’s not part of their routine?” she said.

Patrick Ferrucci, associate professor and chair of the journalism department, said curricular refreshes and conversations with his board of advisors are helping guide CMCI students toward new jobs in news.

“Journalism now is less platform dependent,” Ferrucci said. “There are still paths to traditional broadcast jobs, but what we’re increasingly trying to do is embed visual and multimedia journalism into all aspects of our curriculum, so that our students learn how to tell good stories regardless of format.”

“I have such pride in being a CU alumna,” Walker said. “The campus is beautiful and the academics are great, but it’s more than that—it’s like, hey, we have astronauts, we have Nobel Prize winners. There’s a lot to brag about.”

Including, for the first time in a while, the football team. Walker remains a longtime Buffs season-ticket holder whose earliest visits to ��«��Ƶ involved playing on the turf at Folsom Field during a family weekend game.

More recently, she was on the field in the fall, after the Buffaloes defeated Nebraska in an early-season rivalry game.

“Some of my co-workers have been like, ‘So are you going to rush the field after every game now?’” she said. “You know, it’s been a hard few years, OK? Just let us appreciate this and do what we want to do.”

Hands on with the news

That’s also the motto that’s guided her career in news. In her current role, Walker is responsible for the nightside newscast. Early each day, she works with reporters to identify the most promising stories, coaching them as the news moves from pitch to production. She also leads a team of producers who make each broadcast come together.

“I’m a teacher, when it comes down to it,” Walker said. “I love teaching young producers, sharing my knowledge with them and then watching them succeed.”

Joyce Taylor, an anchor at KING 5 who’s been covering Seattle for decades, said Walker’s enthusiasm and positivity make her a strong mentor, whose hands-on involvement in sourcing and scripting help reporters become better at their craft.

“Keely is a great listener and communicator,” Taylor said. “In a newsroom, you find all different types of personalities. Having someone in a leadership role who can work with all those kinds of personalities is a huge asset for us.”

Walker’s work has been recognized with multiple Emmys, as well as awards from Peabody and Scripps Howard, but more important to her than hardware is impact. She’s extremely proud of a project she worked on as a producer shortly after joining KING 5 that investigated racial inequality, racism and racial privilege, especially in the Seattle metro area.

Facing Race was proposed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the resulting uprising around the country; the 13-part series was impressive for both how it handled sensitive material and the relative skeleton crew that produced it during the pandemic.

“It was hard—I had to find a new comfort zone of talking about race, equity and inclusion, because we hadn’t seen this kind of a discussion on TV before,” said Walker, who produced the show on top of her daily broadcasts; Taylor hosted each edition. “But I look back at these episodes, and it’s like—dang, we really made people think.

“It’s the shining accomplishment of my career, and I think will be until it’s over.”

Following that award-winning series, the station created a dedicated unit—including a reporter, executive producer, photographer and support staff—for Facing Race stories, which Walker said have consistently been supported by leadership. The show ran after the station’s Seahawks coverage ended, giving a controversial topic substantial coverage.

‘Doing the work because she loves the work’

Part of what makes her successful is that, even though there can be hard days in the news business, Walker finds ways to make work fun; her colleagues praised her sense of humor in the face of a demanding job.

“We’re here to seek the truth and solve problems,” Taylor said. “There is no task where Keely can’t find a way to get the job done, get the best information and meet the challenge, whatever it is.

“In these times, journalism has never been more important, and Keely sets a great example as somebody who’s doing the work because she loves the work and really sees the importance of journalism and its role in our democracy.”

Walker said she enjoys the challenge to be a little better every day, and to make the workplace more fun.

“If you talk to anyone in my newsroom, they know my laugh, because I laugh all day—I crack jokes and things like that,” she said. “People work better when they’re having a good time.”

In a recent visit to a CMCI class, she tried to share some of that perspective with a group of students.

“You need to find a way to unplug after those days when it feels like you’ve been hit by a truck,” Walker said. “Do that and the next day, you find you can laugh at work, you can find things to look forward to in the news world.”

She reinforces her own positive attitude by exploring her new home state, kayaking, and through a mix of reading “and really trashy reality TV. That’s how I escape the news,” she said, laughing.

Each fall, though, escape comes from one of her first loves.

“There’s a great alumni group in Seattle that gets together to watch football—and there’s more people showing up this year, which is fun,” she said. “And I usually make it back to Colorado for a couple of games, too. Some of my best memories from CU are just from being on that beautiful campus, and so much comes back to me when I’m walking through the quad or seeing the buildings where I took classes.”

“I’m a teacher, when it comes down to it. I love teaching young producers, sharing my knowledge with them and then watching them succeed.”
Keely Walker (Jour’06)

When an award-winning producer decided to move on from Denver, the one thing she wouldn’t negotiate on was a view of the mountains.

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What’s better than fiction?

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:41:23 +0000

What’s better than fiction? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/27/2023 - 18:41

By Malinda Miller (Engl, Jour’92; MJour’98)

Sara Fischer on the set of Bridgerton. Experience has shown her how she can use her voice ‘to change things that aren’t right.’ Photo by Barnaby Boulton.

The novel twist in the Regency-era Bridgerton series, produced by Shondaland, is seeing strong, complex characters of color play significant roles, like that of Queen Charlotte.

But when it came time to hire set designers, cinematographers, lighting and sound specialists, makeup artists, and hairdressers, the crews that were available in the United Kingdom were mainly white, and mostly male.

The contrast of that to the early 1800s England they were creating for viewers spurred Sara Fischer (Jour, Engl’78), Shondaland’s executive vice president and head of production, to tackle the larger issue—the racial diversity of workers in the industry’s behind-the-scenes jobs.

“I decided that we had to change the way our sets look, to make it look like what you would see when you’re walking down the street,” Fischer said.

Digging deeper, she found it was not a lack of interest that kept people of color, who had been historically underrepresented in the industry, off their crews. Rather, it was the lack of access to training, on-set experience and, in some cases, even transportation to remote filming locations. She went to Shonda Rhimes, creator of the series, to develop a program to identify and train—with pay—people for behind-the-scenes roles. That was the start of The Ladder Program.

Fischer is no stranger to discrimination. She was one of the first two women hired in production roles at CBS Sports. During one of her pregnancies, when she was working as an assistant director, she was told she’d be fired if caught sitting down.

With experience, she’s learned to use her voice in ways she was afraid to earlier in her career.

"The fact that we’re changing peoples’ lives in such a profound way is the best feeling in the whole world, and I’m so glad that I’m able to do it."

—Sara Fischer (Jour, Engl’78)

Righting wrongs by speaking up

Professionals who completed The Ladder said the experience helped them access the networks needed to take on high-level roles in the entertainment industry. Photo by Sherise Blackman

“You can right wrongs. You can be vocal, and you can change things that aren’t right or that make you uncomfortable,” she said.

One of the first areas they tackled were the hairstyles. “We had to find and train hairdressers of color who were comfortable working with Black hair in the fancy hairstyles of Bridgerton,” Fischer said.

Fischer launched The Ladder, which is funded and jointly supported by Shondaland and Netflix executives and staff, for Bridgerton’s second season. During the program, cohorts of 10 to 15 trainees are brought on and paid for the duration of a production. Each selects a specialty—assistant directing, sound, camera, props, locations or video—and receives mentoring, coaching and hands-on experience.

To reach locals from the United Kingdom who have struggled to get into the industry, Fischer—who is from Los Angeles—hired Sherise Blackman, a British actress and writer, as the program supervisor and diversity coordinator.

Blackman knew she wouldn’t be able to recruit through the traditional routes, such as agencies. Instead, she built interest through her networks, WhatsApp groups and outreach to diversity organizations.

Three years later, more than 40 professionals have worked on one of the Bridgerton seasons or Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story through The Ladder.

Many of the participants, like cinematographer Roger Russell, have years of professional experience but still encounter closed doors when applying for jobs. Over the course of several decades, he has worked in cinematography for commercials and music videos, but had not been able to access the networks needed to get on to a high-level narrative production.

Another program graduate, Zara Hughes-White, had never been on a set before she joined as a video trainee during the third season of Bridgerton. After completing the program, she left with more than a year of experience and is now working on a British production.

Iona Ryan appreciated the on-set experience and teamwork of the training program when she worked in the locations department on the Queen Charlotte set.

“I’m grateful for my team, that they allow me to make mistakes and learn and grow. They are always by my side to assist me and help me,” Ryan said in a Shondaland video.

When Sara Fischer sees disparity, “she doesn’t get frustrated and talk about it. She does something about it."

—Noelle Green, Netflix

Behind the scenes, but visible

The success of trainees is only one measure of The Ladder’s influence. The changes are also appreciated by the actors—India Amarteifio, the young Queen Charlotte, told Fischer she’s never seen anyone working on a set who looked like her—and others visiting behind the scenes.

While filming Bridgerton’s third season, “three directors of color shadowed our director, and each one said to me that they’d never been on a set with so many people who looked like them,” Fischer said. “That’s how much we’ve changed our set.”

Making that level of change required persistence and commitment.

“Sara’s got a really strong will and a great relationship with Shonda Rhimes that drives a lot of these opportunities,” said Noelle Green, a Netflix film production executive who partners with Fischer on a number of diversity, inclusion and access initiatives. When Fischer sees disparity, “she doesn’t get frustrated and talk about it. She does something about it.”

A Ladder to the U.S.

Access, of course, isn’t only a challenge in Britain. In 2022, Fischer started working with the Netflix labor department and union representatives to bring The Ladder to Shondaland productions filming in the United States. The experience of working on a set is crucial for trainees, in terms of both skill development and in meeting minimum work requirements to join a union local—key to getting any job on a major TV or film set in this country.

For Fischer, the effort is worth it to see individuals such as Mahogany Caldwell—a Ladder participant who trained in craft services—gain access to union jobs. Caldwell previously worked as a security guard on a studio lot, a job she found wasn’t getting her closer to her goal of working on a set.

It’s been challenging to continue momentum with Hollywood productions shut down due to the strikes by writers and actors, but the slowdown has provided the opportunity to get the word out about both programs. Once the strikes are over, The Ladder will be brought back into action. In the meantime, “we’ve stayed in touch with them—I’ve done weekend seminars and we’re making sure we keep them inspired and excited,” Green said.

Fischer is at the point in her career where many others retire, but she’s motivated to keep going. She said the approach they’ve taken to roll out The Ladder “is time consuming, but relatively easy to implement” and could be adopted by other studios and networks.

She gets emotional talking about the effect the program has had on individuals, and tells the story of meeting two British people recruited by Blackman. The first time she met them, they started crying.

“The fact that we’re changing peoples’ lives in such a profound way is the best feeling in the whole world, and I’m so glad that I’m able to do it,” Fischer said.

“I love our shows. I go to amazing places, I get to work with amazing people—but in the end, they’re all just shows. And this is changing peoples’ lives.”

Take This: Career Advice

Thinking on her feet is a skill Sara Fischer acquired working both in live sports and at a small commercial production company—where she did everything from estimating costs and hiring crews, to bringing bagels in the morning and taking the film to the lab at night.

The first TV show Fischer worked on was Remington Steele, in 1985, and she has since been involved with production of more than 35 scripted shows, including St. Elsewhere and Thirtysomething early in her career, and more recently, Grey’s Anatomy, Inventing Anna and the Bridgerton series. Fischer shared a few lessons that have helped her enjoy a meaningful career in the industry she loves.

Be nice to everyone.

“It’s really a small industry, and people come back,” Fischer said. “And people remember.” She told the story of interviewing for a line production job when the executive producer asked her, “Do you remember me? Many years ago, I worked in the copy room at MTM, and you were really nice to me.”

Any job you take is a learning experience.

When work was tight in 2008, she took a producing job on a reboot of Knight Rider—something she wasn’t excited about at first. “The car was always going 400 miles an hour, so everything out the window had to be a visual effect,” she said. “I learned how to get a car over a cliff and back up, and how to jump a car—not to mention all about visual effects.”

Be inquisitive.

When she hires someone, she tells them “to read everything—so that when I say ‘call so-and-so,’ you already know who that person is, because you’ve read it on a call sheet, or you’ve read it on a crew list, or you’ve read the script. Be inquisitive and don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

Hire carefully.

The wrong hire can wreck an organization’s culture, efficiency and effectiveness, which is why Fischer abides by her “no assholes” policy. “It’s self explanatory,” she said.

Illustration of Sara Fischer by Mallory Heyer

Alumna Sara Fischer decided Shondaland’s sets needed to better reflect the worlds she was helping create on series like Bridgerton.

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The Real People Behind the News

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 05:52:19 +0000

The Real People Behind the News Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/23/2022 - 22:52

By Malinda Miller (Engl, Jour’92; MJour’98)

How do journalists connect with audiences? What are the biggest challenges they face? Has social media changed how they report a story?

As news media have fundamentally changed over the years, the Pew Research Center has regularly tracked audience media consumption and gauged the public’s perceptions of the industry. But in an effort to “capture the other side of the story,” last spring it surveyed almost 12,000 journalists, said Amy Mitchell, the center’s director of journalism research, in a Q&A.

The Pew study found that 77% of journalists surveyed would choose their career again but identified several areas of concern, including political polarization and the impact of social media. Researchers also found that journalists think the pandemic has permanently changed the news industry.

CMCI Dean Lori Bergen had many of the same questions. She talked with three alumni from across the country—John Branch (MJour’89), Jackie Fortiér (MJour’13) and Vignesh Ramachandran (Jour’11)—over Zoom last summer about their day-to-day experiences as journalists.

Lori Bergen, PhD, is the founding dean of CMCI and currently on the boards of the Poynter Institute, Colorado Public Radio and the Colorado Press Association. Before joining academia, Bergen worked for several years as a journalist. She has co-authored several books, most recently News for US: Citizen-Centered Journalism.

John Branch (MJour’89) joined The New York Times in 2005 as a sports reporter. He won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2013 for “Snow Fall,” a multimedia story about a deadly avalanche in Washington State, and was a finalist for the prize in 2012. He is working on several months long multimedia projects. @JohnBranchNYT

Jackie Fortiér (MJour’13) is the senior health reporter for KPCC and LAist.com in Southern California and has also worked in public radio in Oklahoma and Colorado. She has won two regional Edward R. Murrow awards in California and one in Oklahoma. She works on quick-turn stories and hopes at some point to not just be reporting on infectious diseases. @jackiefortier

Vignesh Ramachandran (Jour’11) is a multiplatform editor for The Washington Post and co-founder of the Red, White and Brown Media newsletter on Substack, which focuses on South Asian American stories and community engagement. Previously, he worked at the PBS NewsHour, ProPublica, the Stanford Computational Journalism Lab and NBC News Digital. @VigneshR

Bergen: As we’ve been talking, it’s great to hear the differences in the work that each of you are doing. There’s this common thread of storytelling and the way each of you have applied your interests and skill sets in ways of connecting. I’m curious, what are some ways you engage with your audience?

Ramachandran: The last two years the number of in-person interviews has dramatically dwindled. A lot of it has been sourcing engagement through social networks. This year I’ve been experimenting with the audio function on Twitter to host conversations and see what issues people want to talk about. Some of the discussions ended up being more substantive and more engaging than I had expected, so it’s been a good experiment so far.

“I just want people to remember, there are real people behind this news.
—John Branch

Branch: Most of my connections are still pretty traditional with readers. It’s the usual social media and reader comment kind of channels. I’ll give you an interesting quick story, though. We did a big multimedia piece on a story I wrote about 18 months ago about the threat to some of the iconic tree species—the redwoods, the sequoias, the Joshua trees in California. A musical director at a pretty big concert hall here in California was moved by it and was trying to figure out how to connect arts to climate change. He commissioned several composers to write pieces off of that story. They’ll be performing unique and original works based off something I wrote, which has never happened to me before.

Bergen: Amazing. Whoever thought you’d be the muse to an orchestral performance? Jackie, has social media changed how you engage with your audiences?

Fortiér: I’ve never not had social media as a journalist, so it’s not that different than what I was doing before. (The pandemic) has meant a lot of over-the-phone interviews that I would really have preferred not to do over the phone, but that’s just the way it had to happen. It’s been really difficult to have patients, family members, nurses, doctors crying to you on the phone, talking about how difficult it’s been treating people or going through COVID, and you’re not there in person. A lot of them didn’t want to have video on while we were talking. I think that has been the hardest part of the pandemic for me.

Bergen: That’s interesting. I brought my generational perspective to this because I wanted to delve into how social media may have changed some of your work, but you’re reminding me that this has always been part of your reporting.

Fortiér: I covered the Planned Parenthood shooter in Colorado Springs. None of the institutions were on Twitter so I couldn’t pull any information from that. I was doing live updates because there was this shooter on the loose in Colorado Springs, and it was when people were traveling. It sounds morose to say, but we’re going to have another breaking news situation, and so now that institutions are actually putting that information out there, it helps from a journalistic perspective.

Ramachandran: In some ways it’s broken geographic barriers to reach people around the country or world. But in another sense, particularly when trying to reach marginalized communities, are we self-selecting the sorts of people who would want to speak out anyway or who are comfortable with engaging on those platforms?

When I was doing a lot of reporting on the pandemic spike in anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents, there were a lot of folks on the forefront talking about the issue on social platforms. But when talking to some of the folks who have been personally impacted by these issues, it’s trying to build rapport with someone whose child has been stabbed in a parking lot because of a hate crime. Trying to do that interview over Zoom is just a very different dynamic versus really ingraining yourself in the community and trying to understand the story and all its nuances and complexities. I think in some ways (Zoom) is such a useful tool, but in other ways, I think it’s a means to launch a conversation in a traditional way.

Branch: I think it’s just a different conversation when you and I are looking at each other, even if it’s through a camera. But I do worry that media companies will use it as a crutch and not send people out because it’s too simple and much cheaper to do it this way. I still think the best reporting is face to face, in person, not face to face over a monitor. It’s a totally different dynamic. I mean, I can see you in your little box right now, but I don’t know what the environment is around you. There’s not a whole lot of spontaneity when you and I are talking like this. There’s no, “Let’s just jump in the car and go get coffee somewhere,” or I can’t see what you have posted on your refrigerator that might elicit a whole line of questions.

Bergen: Good point, John. I’m curious, what form is most of your content being created in and how is it distributed to audiences?

Fortiér: Everything I do is multiplatform, from a 20-second spot to a full-fledged feature. If I go out to do a story, it’s pictures, tweets while I’m there, video, hopefully, depending on what’s happened. We create content specifically for TikTok. Usually I’m trying to find sources, but sometimes just to engage audiences. I kind of feel like the legacy journalists are just kind of catching up, to be honest with you, now that The New York Times and The Washington Post are like, “Oh, audio is a thing.”

Bergen: Well, that sounded like you guys need to respond to that one.

Ramachandran: Honestly, the last 10 years have been everything from print to writing for the web to audio work to video work to data analysis. I think the best editors have always given me the advice to just tell the story in the medium that tells the story best.

Bergen: I love that. It’s what we try to teach our students, but it always sounds so much better when somebody else says that.

Branch: I’ll say that what has been one of the changes post-“Snow Fall” is we have had a lot more conversations about the best way to present the story. Now, it’s like, what if this is nothing but a photo essay? What if this is actually a big, dynamic graphic? What if it is text? What if it’s video?

I’m working on a story now that we hope to make a full-length documentary. Some of my stories they’ll have me read so we can deliver them to podcast and audio audiences.

I think it has kind of exploded the environment and the imagination that we have for what’s the best way to deliver this to people. It’s exciting times to be a part of it.

Making a difference

Bergen: Could each of you talk a little bit about your experience with how journalism has made a difference?

Fortiér: I was the only health journalist in Oklahoma. We had a huge opioid lawsuit against Purdue (Pharma) settled, but Johnson & Johnson was the one that actually went to trial.

The trial happened to be in the town that I lived in, Norman, Oklahoma. I did a bunch of stories leading up to it, and then I just filed and filed and filed with NPR’s newscast. I was the only reporter that was there every day.

Because I tweeted the whole thing—and that was really the only way that people knew it was happening because it wasn’t being broadcast live—I had a ton of people following me on Twitter, both for and against opioid companies, which was interesting.

It showed me how important local journalism is because I was there. I had other journalists telling me the only reason they came was because their editor heard what I was doing and thought, “Oh, we better get over there.” Parachuting in has its merits in some cases, but most of the time you need local people who know the ins and outs and the subtleties of what’s going on.

Bergen: Although my question was, how does journalism have an impact, what you’ve really underscored is, journalists have an impact.

Ramachandran: Before the pandemic, I worked for ProPublica’s Chicago office. We were local reporters living in the communities that we were reporting on. There were tangible impacts of laws changed. We had colleagues who did investigations on the tax assessment system there; the corrupt assessor who ended up getting voted out the next election; how they were targeting Black and brown communities of Chicago in disproportionate ways; and then how those policies were kind of changed in Chicago.

In my own reporting on Asian American communities, it’s interesting to see a different sort of impact. I did a few stories on how South Asian Americans have a higher risk of cardiovascular ailments, and I got emails saying, “Hey, I signed up to get a heart scan,” or, “I’m going to be talking to my primary care doctor.”

Branch: One theme I’ve had the last 10 years has been stories about CTE, the chronic brain disease caused by repetitive hits in a lot of sports. I’m here in Colorado right now, and I just saw a friend the other night who said, “I can’t watch hockey the way I used to anymore, thanks to you. I can’t watch football the way I used to because of the reporting that you and your colleagues have done.”

You know, anytime you hear somebody talk about political news or sports news or celebrity news, or on global news of some sort, I want to say, “You realize that’s media, right? You’ve been bashing the media, but you realize everything that you talk about, everything that connects us through conversation is media.”

I just want people to remember, there are real people behind this news.

Moments of joy

Bergen: I’m just curious, are there moments of joy in your work?

Ramachandran: I think when you tell the stories that you want to tell, tell the stories that impact folks, that kind of stuff is what keeps me going.

Branch: I find joy in small places, like when I’ve written a nice sentence. Most of my joy comes in very private moments: When I’ve received a callback that I’ve been waiting for, or just got off the phone on a really good interview, and I can’t wait to tell my editor what I’ve just found out.

Fortiér: I think I find the most joy when I get to take a listener somewhere that they don’t normally go or hear from someone that they wouldn’t think to speak to. What I really love about audio is that I can take 20 seconds and let that quote breathe. It has a pacing to it. It’s very experiential.

Trust and credibility

Bergen: What are the biggest challenges you face as journalists?

Branch: Credibility and maintaining trust with audiences that are as fractured as ever. I work in what’s derisively called the mainstream media. I worry about how we get that mainstream news to a wide swath of people, across socioeconomic lines, across political lines, across racial divides, so that we’re all working with a core set of facts. That’s become trickier and trickier as the years have gone by.

Bergen: And that’s probably not going to change in the future.

Branch: Our goal at The New York Times is to keep delivering truth as we believe it should be told and hope that people come around, and not try to bend to certain people, not just play to your audience. I think that’s what the original journalism tenets were—deliver truth as unbiased as possible and let people absorb it as they absorb it, but don’t try to steer your news to an audience necessarily. That’s tricky, because you get into conversations about bias and unintended biases and so on. We’ve been doing it for 170 years. We’ll keep going and hope that more people keep believing what we’re delivering.

Fortiér: I would add to that: staying relevant. In order to be consumable by younger audiences, we really need to get more Black and brown people in newsrooms and in positions of power within newsrooms. You know, I can think of one public radio station that has a woman as the CEO or president off the top of my head. So, we talk about diversity all the time. We talk about diversity in sources, but we really need more diversity
in journalism.

Ramachandran: I feel like earlier in my career, I would’ve said it’s the economics of journalism, which I think is definitely a concern, but it feels like we’re going to figure that out. But to John’s point, I’m personally very concerned—and I feel like it’s a challenge for journalism—this credibility and trust question. I think that’s just the biggest thing we’re going to be grappling with for many years.

Fortiér: I will say having been a reporter in Oklahoma at a public radio station where people don’t really like journalists, that as I consistently did accurate, solid reporting, I got respect. It took a little while, but as I kept doing the good work, people realized that I wasn’t biased.

Bergen: Just a good reminder how much relationship building can have an impact on this.

Branch: To what Jackie said, that’s my mission, just keep doing the good work. I don’t know what else we can do.

CMCI Dean Lori Bergen talked with three alumni from across the country—John Branch (MJour’89), Jackie Fortiér (MJour’13) and Vignesh Ramachandran (Jour’11)—over Zoom last summer about their day-to-day experiences as journalists.

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Then and Now: Fall 2022

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 07:29:40 +0000

Then and Now: Fall 2022 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/22/2022 - 00:29

Explore 100 years of journalism education at the ��«��Ƶ in "Then and Now." From telegraphs and typewriters to virtual reality, this collection of photographs offers a glimpse into student life from the 1920s to today.

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Journalism Through the Decades

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 16:14:49 +0000

Journalism Through the Decades Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/26/2022 - 10:14

Journalism students in class, date unknown. Photo by Charles Snow

By Shannon Mullane (MJour’19)

On April 21, 1922, the University of Colorado Board of Regents approved the new Department of Journalism and set in motion a century of journalism education in Colorado.

That fall, the university’s first four-year journalism degree program launched with two professors and about 25 students. Over the past 100 years, the program has seen many changes: It has taken up residence in numerous buildings across campus, shifted its organizational structure and pursued journalistic excellence amid the biggest historical events of the 20th and 21st centuries.

That first semester of classes laid the foundation of the College of Media, Communication and Information, which houses the current journalism department at CU ��«��Ƶ. In late 2021, faculty, staff, students and historians took to the archives to learn more about the department’s history, searching through old yearbooks, photography collections, newspaper archives and historical documents. Their research resurfaced details about the department’s history that help connect the past to journalism education today.

CMCI kicked off a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary on April 21 in 21st-century style: with social media posts, an interactive multimedia timeline, a website and online articles.

“It’s such an honor to celebrate the extraordinary work by journalism students and faculty, now and in the past,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI. “The journalism industry has seen tremendous change over the past 10 decades, but our goal has been the same: teach students to find truth and hold power to account. As we move into the next century, we’re excited to continue that pursuit—maybe in ways we can’t even imagine today!”

The first years

In early 2022, Mona Lambrecht started combing through student directories, yearbooks, newspaper articles and more to uncover the first years of the new journalism program.

“Researching the 1920s is actually a lot of fun,” said Lambrecht, curator of history and collections at CU ��«��Ƶ’s Heritage Center. “Each source provides different bits of information and adds another piece to the puzzle.”

She learned that journalism classes, which began in 1907, were initially taught in the English language department but were connected to the College of Commerce. The focus seemed to be on professionalizing the trade “for the practical demands of business.”

By 1920, ��«��Ƶ had about 11,000 residents, and 2,800 students studied on campus. The university, established with just one building—Old Main—in 1876, had grown to include more than 20 buildings and 30 academic departments.

Two years later, the journalism department was established with Professor Ralph Crosman at its helm. Students walked to class through the halls of Old Main, where the journalism program was housed, and joined the student newspaper, The Silver and Gold.

Some classes were similar to those offered today, like Reporting, News and News Writing, and Newspaper Production, a practical laboratory course that simulated a newsroom. Others taught about methods of preparing telegraph copy and legal matters, like government censorship in wartime, according to the 1922–23 course catalog. Several of the four-year program’s first graduates, the class of 1926, went on to careers in local, state and national news.

“Researching the people has been the most satisfying, albeit time-consuming, part of this project,” Lambrecht said. “Of the 13 known students initially considered journalism alumni, only six completed all the specified courses and received their degrees.”

Students in the School of Journalism work on typewriters, pull feed from news wires, consult with faculty and develop photos in darkrooms, dates unknown.
Source: University Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections

The war and Red Scare

The 1920s and 1930s were marked by new buildings, expanding departments and financial blows. The ��«��Ƶ campus even faced near-closure as it vied for support in the Colorado Legislature and for limited state funds during the economic turbulence of the Great Depression, according to The University of Colorado 1876–1976.

In the 1920s, The Silver and Gold issued editorials condemning the Ku Klux Klan, which held power in the state at the time. In 1937, the journalism department became the College of Journalism, housed within the College of Arts and Sciences.

As the 1940s rolled into the 1950s, ��«��Ƶ’s population grew to about 19,900 residents, including 7,700 university students. During World War II, the campus was used for education and as a naval installation. In 1953, The Silver and Gold ended, and the next student publication, the Colorado Daily, began.

Student newspapers covered the Red Scare, the hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War, as it seeped into campus life. The state Legislature demanded a sweeping investigation of Communist influences at state schools, including CU.

Melvin Mencher (Jour’47), who taught journalism at Columbia University for 30 years, landed in ��«��Ƶ in the early 1940s after a stint in the Navy. He picked CU because it had a good journalism department—and journalism and dentistry were the two careers that escaped unscathed from the Great Depression, Mencher said.

“I didn’t want to spend my life looking into people’s mouths, so I went into journalism,” he said. “I grew up in a practical era.”

During one of his first classes in 1946, Mencher remembered Professor Zell Mabee—an alumnus who studied journalism at CU before graduating in 1924—handing him a fact sheet so he could type up an article. The only issue was that he did not know how to use a typewriter. Plus, the machines in the journalism department had blank keys, he said.

“I was terrified because I had no idea,” he said. “They have a system of grading where you lost five points for every typographical error. Of course, my first paper was something like minus 85.”

During his studies, most of the classroom assignments relied on fact sheets. Students rarely reported in the ��«��Ƶ community, he said. He described the journalism of the time as “he-said, she-said.”

“We just quoted people, and we didn’t dig beneath the surface,” said Mencher, who wrote News Reporting and Writing, a journalism textbook used by more than a quarter of a million students. “Today’s journalism student should be dedicated to digging.”

Watergate and new journalism

John Mitchell’s Public Affairs class seemed brutal but provided the most lasting lesson. Understanding how government was supposed to work and how it actually worked provided a foundation for a lot of the reporting we did then, and it’s still crucial today."
Jeanette Chavez (Jour’73)
—Former managing editor at The Denver Post

In the 1960s and 1970s, the journalism program, formerly housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, became a separate entity called the School of Journalism. In 1964, the school launched its master’s degree program and began a broadcast news sequence two years later. Meanwhile, newswriting practices were shifting during the New Journalism era, when writers started incorporating literary techniques into their articles.

In 1970, John Leach began his studies as a math major. Realizing that wasn’t the right fit, Leach soon turned to journalism.

“I’m the only former math major I’ve ever met among any journalists or journalism students,” said Leach (Jour’74), who was a reporter and editor for more than 40 years. He is now a journalism lecturer in CMCI.

Taking classes in Macky Auditorium, journalism students took up the tools of the trade: pens, paper, phones, typewriters and photography darkrooms. Broadcast equipment was relatively primitive, and tape recorders were still in the not-so-distant future, Leach said.

News reporting was primarily event-driven: Reporters would go to a meeting, find a story, turn it in. But after the Watergate scandal, students—Leach included wanted to investigate waste, fraud and abuse, to dig deeper and to be more skeptical, he said.

In one memorable class, Reporting of Public Affairs with faculty member John Mitchell, students completed nine stories and covered ��«��Ƶ City Council. If the council meeting ended at 2 a.m., the article was still due at 5 p.m. that day. Points were deducted if it was late, and students failed if they had any factual errors in their stories.

“It frankly caused some people to leave journalism, which might’ve been healthy, and was legendary in my era,” Leach said. “I went from that to covering government politics for the ��«��Ƶ Daily Camera, and boy, I was ready to roll based on that course.”

The rise of the internet

In 1986, the school was renamed the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The next year, NewsTeam ��«��Ƶ aired its first 30-minute newscast, laying the groundwork for a long-running, student-run TV broadcast program. In 1989, the SJMC launched its postdoctoral degree program.

Then, the rise of the internet in the 1990s fundamentally transformed the news industry.

The flow of advertising revenue morphed or dropped, in many cases cratering newsroom budgets. As publications consolidated, daily newspapers began to shutter—dropping from about 1,600 daily publications in 1990 to 1,380 in 2012, according to Statista based on U.S. census data.

Print articles became online news packages stuffed with slideshows, videos and other multimedia components. Journalists had access to more databases and reporting resources online.

In classrooms, lessons on page design gave way to multimedia editing and web design. Students learned about updating online breaking news stories over time and how to incorporate audio, video and interactive graphics.

“I went from newspapers that had one or two deadlines a day to doing the web, and it’s like a deadline every minute essentially,” Leach said.

I started a print publication for Black students called Extensions that featured personal essays, poetry and artwork by and for the African American students on campus and communities of color in the ��«��Ƶ area. I was a Black studies minor and was inspired by the classes I took in that area. At the time there was no media targeted to us, so the experience really deepened and enhanced my time at CU."
Linda Villarosa (Jour’81)
—Journalism educator and contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine

During my last semester at CU in the spring of 1996, one class I took connected us to internships. I covered high school sports for the ��«��Ƶ Daily Camera, including Broomfield girls basketball on deadline. It helped me understand how important the basics are to a story, including keeping statistics, making detailed notes and getting things right."
Brent Schrotenboer (Jour’96)
—Sports investigative journalist at USA Today

The new college

"I was an intern at the Daily Camera my junior year and then Dave (Martinez) connected me with the Chips Quinn Scholars program, an initiative that connects student journalists of color with paid internship opportunities and mentorship. Through this, I was able to get a summer internship at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which led to my internship at The Denver Post during my senior year. I was hired at the Post out of my internship and learned so much from all these experiences.
Elizabeth Hernandez (Jour’15)
—Enterprise reporter at The Denver Post

Just before the turn of the 21st century, the SJMC incorporated the Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism and later moved into the Armory building. The student newspaper, now called The Campus Press, became an online-only publication in 2006, years ahead of most college newspapers.

However, challenges within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication rose to a boil in the 2000s and cast uncertainty on the program’s future.

In 2011, the university discontinued the SJMC, citing the need for strategic and budgetary realignment, and the desire to explore a more interdisciplinary approach in response to the changing media landscape.

That same year the school ran into accreditation issues. It was out of compliance on academic standards because of “intractable disputes” in the school’s governance, according to a report from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The graduate program faced additional compliance issues related to assessing learning outcomes, and diversity and inclusiveness.

By 2012, the school was back in compliance, and the ACEJMC recommended it for reaccreditation. Throughout the disruption, the program was enrolling students and attracting new faculty. Students were graduating, generally seemed content and were finding jobs, the ACEJMC report said.

Two years later, the university’s effort to follow a more modern “Journalism Plus” model reached its final form: The Board of Regents voted to approve CMCI. The new college held six departments: Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design; Communication; Critical Media Practices; Information Science; Journalism; and Media Studies. The next year, the university appointed Lori Bergen, a former journalist and longtime journalism educator with a doctorate in mass communication, as CMCI’s founding dean.

Previously siloed in their own fields, faculty formed new relationships across disciplines. New departments coalesced, and students gained access to a uniquely interdisciplinary educational experience, said Leach, who was chair of the Journalism Advisory Board at the time.

Within the new college, students focused on sports journalism can pick up minors in information science, or combine their interests and double major in public relations and journalism.

Current students can join courses about designing virtual reality experiences; check out drones, cameras and other top-of-the-line equipment from The Vault; and participate in new enrichment programs outside the classroom.

For Hayley Sanchez (Jour’17), enrichment programs and the journalism training at CU ��«��Ƶ helped prepare her to take on her current role as a host and editor at Colorado Public Radio. At first interested in print journalism, she remembered studying newspaper layout and design at CU, and learning about multimedia storytelling using photos, audio and text.

Those skills have come in handy at CPR, she said, where journalists are often expected to produce both radio and written pieces. As a student, Sanchez also took advantage of new programs offered to CMCI students, like the Pathways to Excellence summer bridge program and CU in D.C., which sends CMCI students to Washington, D.C., for internships.

“Mentorship was something that’s really, really meaningful to me. I learned a lot about making connections and networking through (Pathways),” Sanchez said. “I wanted to help students coming behind me, and even now in my career, I’m finding mentors who can help me grow.”

The view from today

Since its founding, CMCI has grown into the fourth-largest college on campus with about 2,400 students and 100 faculty. The university as a whole has also grown: 30,000 students live in a city of about 108,000 residents, according to recent estimates.

In 2020, journalism students shifted into remote classes during the worldwide upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic. They reported on the widespread social unrest that followed and a mass shooting within miles of campus. Today, they continue a 130-year legacy of providing student-led coverage for their community.

Looking ahead, Sanchez anticipated that diversifying staff will be increasingly important for newsrooms. As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, news outlets will need to reflect that shift and incorporate broader perspectives in their coverage.

One lesson for young journalists: Always be prepared, whether that means having a go-bag in your car or the right writing tools for any situation, she said.

In the future, Leach hopes the journalism industry can find a way to maintain its audience and secure stable funding. Students should keep an open mind if jobs are scarce—public relations and editing are always good options, he said.

“Find a way to do storytelling if that’s what you’re ultimately about,” Leach said.

At Columbia University, Mencher became famous for his one-liners. “Follow the buck,” he would tell students. “If they like you, you’re doing something wrong.”

His advice for students today: “Question authority.”

“I just hope that students have the same drive that students of my era had, which was to serve the public by giving people the information they need to lead decent, fulfilling lives,” he said. “I just hope they have the same drive for finding out the truth.”

One hundred years ago, the University of Colorado approved a new Department of Journalism and launched its first four-year journalism degree program. This year, CMCI launched an effort to explore its own heritage—and to uncover how the past impacts journalism education today.

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‘Every Story Is Important’

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 05:53:41 +0000

‘Every Story Is Important’ Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 08/21/2022 - 23:53

Juan Espinosa’s Journalism Legacy

��«��Ƶ students march to Regent Hall to peacefully protest in response to late financial aid in fall 1973.

By Anthony Albidrez
Photos by Juan Espinosa (Jour’74)

The clock hit 3 a.m., and only three men remained in the game. For the men stationed at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam, payday meant a long, late night of poker. During this particular game in 1968, Juan Espinosa (Jour’74) would cash out with more than just the winning pot.

“There were only about three of us still playing, and the pot was huge because we had all the money of everybody that already dropped out,” Espinosa said, recalling his time in the U.S. Air Force.

During the final hand, Espinosa threw in $20.

“One of the guys that was still in, he says, ‘Look, I don’t have 20 bucks, but I got this camera. I’ll throw it in the pot if you’ll accept,’” Espinosa recalled. “He threw the camera in the pot. And I won the pot, and I won the camera.”

For Espinosa, that camera, a 35 mm Canon rangefinder, and that early morning in 1968 marked the beginning of his photographic career. Now 74 years old, he has kept his finger on the shutter button ever since.

Espinosa’s decadeslong, illustrious career in Colorado journalism has been marked by leadership and deep roots in his community. At CU ��«��Ƶ in the early 1970s, he launched El Diario de la Gente as a member of the campus group United Mexican American Students (UMAS), which aims to build cultural awareness of the Chicano community in ��«��Ƶ.

He later moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where he co-founded the alternative community newspaper La Cucaracha and embarked on a 22-year journey in community journalism at The Pueblo Chieftain.

Through his journalism and photography, Espinosa has captured Colorado history, documenting Chicano movements and activism. His extensive photographic archive has been featured in museum exhibits, documentaries and news stories.

“I have always worked for my community, my whole journalistic career,” Espinosa said. “If I saw something wrong, I reported it just the way I saw it.”

A new voice in ��«��Ƶ

"I have always worked for my community, my whole journalistic career. If I saw something wrong, I reported it just the way I saw it.
-Juan Espinosa

After his time in the Air Force, Espinosa completed his associate degree at Mesa College in Grand Junction then enrolled as a journalism student at CU ��«��Ƶ in 1971.

His arrival followed the swell of Chicano activism in the Southwest in the 1960s, known as the Chicano Movement or El Movimiento. At CU, Espinosa quickly deepened his involvement with UMAS and the growing Chicano community on campus.

By 1972, he and other students launched El Diario de la Gente, an independent Chicano newspaper on campus, to give the community its own platform. The newspaper covered a wide range of topics, such as boycotts, protests and tensions with CU ��«��Ƶ administration.

“We felt we were being misrepresented in the mass media, that they didn’t know who Mexicans were. They didn’t know who Chicanos were,” Espinosa said. “And we decided that we needed our own publication to tell our own story, in our own words, using our own vocabulary, and that was really one of the goals that I set for myself in starting El Diario.”

That same year, he photographed students as they protested the firing of Ricardo Falcón, assistant director of UMAS Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), who was later killed in a racially motivated confrontation in New Mexico.

In 1973, Espinosa was covering a campaign stop by Chicano and workers rights leader César Chávez in Denver when Chávez recruited Espinosa to work for the United Farm Workers’ (UFW) newspaper, El Malcriado. There Espinosa photographed many pivotal moments during UFW’s struggle for farmworkers’ labor rights in California.

Back in ��«��Ƶ, Espinosa covered increasing tensions between Chicano students and the CU ��«��Ƶ administration over financial aid. When administrators lost financial aid files and issued late stipend checks, students enrolled in the EOP couldn’t pay tuition
or living expenses.

Many believed the issues were purposeful—meant to deter Chicano students from enrolling in the program.

“Most of us had never even aspired to go to the University of Colorado. And all of a sudden, the doors were open, and we could attend,” said Espinosa, who both covered the events and joined student protests. “We think it was an attempt on the part of the university to keep UMAS from growing so fast.”

In May 1974, UMAS students occupied Temporary Building 1 (TB-1), a small, administrative building at 1715 Pleasant St., to urge negotiations and remedy the ongoing issues.

While TB-1 was occupied, loud blasts could be heard all over ��«��Ƶ. Within two days, two cars were bombed, killing six activists and students who had been involved in the protests. The six people killed would come to be known as Los Seis de ��«��Ƶ: Una Jaakola, Reyes Martinez, Neva Romero, Francisco Dougherty, Heriberto Teran and Florencio Granado.

“It wasn’t until cars started blowing up and students started dying from these car bombings that the university agreed to negotiate,” Espinosa said.

After 18 days of occupation, the administration agreed to negotiate with the students. All demands were met, and the occupation of TB-1 ended.

Espinosa documented these events within the pages of El Diario. Based on Espinosa’s photography, CU ��«��Ƶ alumna Jasmine Baetz in 2019 created images of each of the Los Seis de ��«��Ƶ victims on a sculpture that is located in front of the Albert and Vera Ramirez Temporary Building 1 next to the CU ��«��Ƶ Recreation Center. In September 2020, the University Libraries announced that it had acquired the sculpture as part of its Rare and Distinctive Collections.

“If students had power, student publications also had political power. My goal was to make a publication that had power,” Espinosa said. “What we really were trying to do was tell our own story. We were not represented well in the media.”

‘The truth speaks for itself’

When Espinosa moved to Pueblo after graduation, he found that Chicano communities also lacked media representation in the city.

Espinosa co-founded La Cucaracha in 1976 with his wife, Deborah Espinosa, and David Martinez, longtime friend and colleague. After his time at La Cucaracha, he began reporting at The Pueblo Chieftain in 1988. As a Chicano journalist, Espinosa reported for both publications on issues and challenges facing the Chicano community.

“The things that we wanted to accomplish with our own newspapers, I was trying to accomplish at a daily newspaper,” he said. “I was trying to represent Chicanos and people of color accurately and let them speak for themselves as much as possible.”

Espinosa began at The Chieftain on the police beat but would later cover the education and government beats. He wrote a popular column titled “Juan’s World” for 17 years.

“He’d been publishing La Cucaracha, which was a wonderful protest newspaper. And it just really attacked wrongdoing in the district attorney’s office and other places, and his journalism was just exemplary,” said Steve Henson, who reported alongside Espinosa before becoming managing editor of The Pueblo Chieftain.

Henson’s predecessor recruited Espinosa, saying the young journalist’s perspective was needed in their newsroom.

“We were all thrilled because we all admired Juan and what he had done,” Henson recalled. “For a young guy like Juan, who was in his 20s, to be taking on this kind of power was pretty courageous.”

La Cucaracha published weekly until 1983, and special editions have been published thereafter. After his 22-year journey at The Pueblo Chieftain, Espinosa retired in 2009. While working at the daily newspaper, Espinosa also taught social studies from 1993 to 2007 at Centennial High School in Pueblo.

“I was trying to represent Chicanos and people of color accurately and let them speak for themselves as much as possible.
-Juan Espinosa

Espinosa’s journalism tells us the story of life, culture and society in Pueblo, which he calls home to this day.

“The truth speaks for itself, and Juan’s always been about that,” Henson said.

Honoring a journalism legacy

In May 2022, CU regents awarded Espinosa an honorary doctorate for outstanding achievement in the field of journalism.

“We both look back in awe that we saw so much history. We have witnessed change. We changed ourselves, grew tremendously with all of the experiences,” said his wife, Deborah Espinosa, who was the director of El Pueblo History Museum for 25 years and worked for History Colorado. “And now we’re considered elders often sought for our opinions, direction, research. We assist a lot of students who are wanting to know about that era—although it’s not an era to us, it’s our life.”

Martinez was one of many friends, colleagues and supporters to nominate Espinosa for the honorary doctorate.

“It’s a very notable punctuation as well as recognition for the good work that he has created and produced during his own journalistic career. He is also a role model for future journalists,” Martinez said. “Probably the most important component of his work is the education that was brought to his audiences.”

For Espinosa, his career in journalism was like having a front seat to history. Camera in hand, he captured significant moments in ��«��Ƶ and around Colorado.

“Every assignment, every story is important,” Espinosa said. “And together, they create a knowledge about a community. I believe that my stories have helped define who we are as Chicanos in this country and in the part of the world that I’ve interacted with. And I think that’s really important.”

In the 1970s, Juan Espinosa (Jour’74) embarked on a journalism career that has spanned a lifetime and documents key moments in Colorado history. In May 2022, CU Regents awarded Espinosa with an honorary doctorate degree for outstanding achievement in the field of journalism.

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Payden's Passion

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 21:22:28 +0000

Payden's Passion Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/10/2021 - 14:22

Bill Payden (Jour’57) loved traveling the world and being a journalist. He loved his collection of miniature cars and airplanes. He loved his older sister, Joan Payden, and his cat, Neely. And he loved being a professor.

In 2005, his passion for teaching and desire to reward those who have chosen teaching as a career led him to establish an eponymous faculty award given out annually at the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Payden and his sister were born in Connecticut but attended grade school in Jakarta, Indonesia, where their father worked for Union Carbide. He started college at Notre Dame and very much enjoyed the academics, but the weather and his desire to go West convinced him to make a move after two years. He’d spent a summer in Colorado working near the Four Corners and, because of that, chose to finish his undergraduate studies at the ��«��Ƶ in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. According to Joan Payden, he knew immediately that CU ��«��Ƶ was the right fit.

After graduation, Payden returned to the East Coast and became a reporter and feature writer for the Mamaroneck (N.Y.) Daily Times. He liked small-town life and once turned down an opportunity to write for The New York Times because he did not want to live in the city. Eventually, he paused his reporting career and moved to California to earn a master’s degree in American studies from California State University, Los Angeles.

In 1970, 13 years after graduating from CU ��«��Ƶ, he turned his attention to teaching. He joined the faculty at Los Angeles Valley College, developed its journalism program and chaired the journalism department for more than a decade.

Payden never forgot CU ��«��Ƶ and was a loyal donor for many decades. In 2005, he started the William R. Payden Faculty Excellence Award, which recognizes superior teaching and research or creative work with a $20,000 cash prize. This prize, first given in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and now at CMCI, is the largest faculty award given at the school or college level at CU ��«��Ƶ.

“Bill thought professors gave up a lot in order to teach,” Joan Payden says. “He was very conscious of that.”

In 2010, he donated $500,000 to endow this award and ensure its future.

“The Payden Award provides CMCI the unique opportunity to present a significant monetary award to an outstanding professor,” says Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI. “Faculty members in higher education seldom receive this level of acknowledgment and reward.”

Although Bergen never had the opportunity to meet Bill Payden, she has gotten to know him through conversations with his sister. “We are very proud to have him as an alumnus and very grateful for the impact he has had at CMCI,” Bergen says.

Although he died in 2013, Payden’s impact at CMCI continues to grow.

Joan Payden, who runs Payden & Rygel, a global investment management firm, contributed to Bill’s legacy by directing more than $800,000 from his estate to CMCI. Those funds were used to create a second endowment, the William R. Payden Endowment for Teaching Excellence, which is used to award smaller grants to CMCI faculty to reward outstanding work and support innovation in teaching, professional development and research. In June 2021, Joan donated an additional $500,000 to the Payden teaching grant endowment, ensuring that faculty can benefit from the award for years to come.

Payden teaching grants have helped CMCI evolve by supporting faculty engagement in curricular development. In 2019, Pat Ferrucci, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism, received a Payden teaching grant for his leadership in establishing CMCI’s sports media minor. Ferrucci also received the Payden Award in 2020.

“Receiving the Payden Award meant a great deal to me,” Ferrucci says. “As a professor, I started teaching to make a difference and maybe help students think about journalism through a more critical and equitable lens. This award is a nice recognition that I’m hopefully accomplishing these goals.”

When Joan Payden thinks of her brother, two words come to mind. “Bill was passionate and committed no matter what he did,” she says.

Journalist Bill Payden (Jour'57) created the William R. Payden Faculty Excellence Award, the largest faculty award given at the college level at CU ��«��Ƶ, to recognize superior teaching, research or creative work.

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Leading Forward

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 21:08:07 +0000

Leading Forward Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 11/10/2021 - 14:08

Jess Clifton (Advert’03) is thriving in her digital advertising career. Always one to use innovation to solve a problem, Clifton realized young women needed female mentors in the field—so she came up with a solution.

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Alumni

Paying it forward

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From peaks to front lines

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Peak performer

Climbing the ranks

Hands on with the news

‘Doing the work because she loves the work’

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What’s better than fiction?

Righting wrongs by speaking up

Behind the scenes, but visible

A Ladder to the U.S.

Take This: Career Advice

Be nice to everyone.

Any job you take is a learning experience.

Be inquisitive.

Hire carefully.

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The Real People Behind the News

Making a difference

Moments of joy

Trust and credibility

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Then and Now: Fall 2022

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Journalism Through the Decades

The first years

The war and Red Scare

Watergate and new journalism

The rise of the internet

The new college

The view from today

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‘Every Story Is Important’

A new voice in ��«����Ƶ

‘The truth speaks for itself’

Honoring a journalism legacy

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Payden's Passion

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Leading Forward

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A new voice in ��«��Ƶ