WKU Students, Faculty Visit
New Media Profesionals
November 26, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - Eight Western Kentucky University photojournalism students had an opportunity to explore new media jobs during recent visits to New York and Washington, D.C.
The trip was part of media mentoring tours initiated this semester by Dr. Pam Johnson, director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting. As part of the tours, students and faculty in each program - print journalism, broadcasting, advertising, photojournalism and public relations - are visiting professionals.
"The media mentoring tours have far exceeded our expectations," Dr. Johnson said. "There are three primary benefits of the tours: students are motivated by seeing the 'real' workforce and they get internship and job opportunities; the director, professors and students meet with our alumni; and the director, professors and students meet with executives of the media organizations."
On the Nov. 5-9 trip to New York and Washington, the WKU group visited several businesses including The Washington Post, USA Today, Musarium, Picture Projects, Sound Portraits Productions and The New York Times.
The visits were an educational experience for students and faculty, affirmed the photojournalism program's new media publishing track and helped define new media job opportunities for students, said James Kenney, director of the photojournalism sequence.
"We have the answers in traditional photojournalism, but we don't have a lot of examples to give in new media," Kenney said."We're trying to figure out how best to teach students and fashion our curriculum."
Dr. Johnson agreed. "New media opportunities are important for our students to see first hand because it is such a new area and it's changing every day," she said."We, as faculty, must update our curriculum to provide graduates who are ready to hit the ground running in new media opportunities."
Students (all seniors) participating in the visits were: Grant Swertfeger of Bowling Green; Steven King of Pelham, Ala.; Fielder Strain of Tullahoma, Tenn.; Brian Wagner of Knoxville, Tenn.; Hannah vanZutphen-Kann of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Lavondia Majors of Old Hickory, Tenn.; Matt Thorne of Morgantown, W.Va.; and Joshua McCoy of Fancy Farm.
In reports to assistant professor Tim Broekema, the students said the trip provided insights into the future of new media, regardless of the size of the business.
"Two of the most interesting places we visited were Musarium and Picture Projects," McCoy said. "These were two small businesses operated out of a house and an apartment building. These places gave us hope that multimedia content and life exist beyond the giants of New York and Washington."
Majors said "the smaller places gave me hope that I would be able to use this medium in a way that I see fit. I realize now how young new media is and how far we have to go."
"From the attic offices to the New York multi-leveled offices, it is evident that new media has become another tool of communication," Wagner said. "Personally, desiring to produce new media work of my own, the trip provided insight into how I can create, use and publish new media to larger markets than I thought possible."
McCoy said new media professionals have greatest job in world. "They have the opportunity to tell the stories of America through sound, pictures and words."
For more information, contact the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at (270) 745-4143. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
