Keynote: Brian Hocker, KXAS-TV, NBCUniversal

MARTIN HALBERT: [Slide 1, 00:00] I’m Martin Halbert, dean of libraries at the University of North Texas. It’s my pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker, who I advocated for very hard. Brian Hocker is vice president for digital media production and research at NBC 5 / KXAS in Dallas-Fort Worth. Let me tell you why … Continued

Tad’s tender trap

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website Tad Bartimus has a way of getting you tangled up in her universe. You say “yes” to some little request, and next thing you know you are helping to save the world. I first met Tad when she was an undergraduate J-School student at Mizzou and I … Continued

Developing storytellers strengthens community

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website Journalism should strengthen the communities it serves and help the members of those communities lead better lives. Journalists believe an informed citizenry leads to a stronger democracy, that they should speak truth to power, give voice to the voiceless, stand up for the average man and woman, … Continued

Program fits nicely with schools’ focus on access

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website In the Columbia Public Schools, we believe our students are our kids. We believe every one of our kids is entitled to A.E.O. — Achievement, Enrichment, and Opportunity. Three simple words, and each one denotes access. Access to a great teacher who will nurture and develop our … Continued

The possibilities are endless

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website Looking back on this academic year, I am most proud of my time with the Talk Story, Write Story program. I knew it was going to be a huge inaugural undertaking but had no idea how much this scholarship effort would consume my life. From Day One, … Continued

Reynolds Journalism Institute announces 10th fellowship class

Eight fellowships have been awarded for the 2016-2017 academic year by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. The projects range from emerging technologies and watchdog journalism to community engagement and navigating new business models. This year’s RJI Fellowships were selected from 369 applicants worldwide. Each spring RJI leadership identifies journalists, technologists, entrepreneurs, business strategists and … Continued

RJI Fellow alumnus leads team launching new social debate application

Team members behind a newly launched social debate application didn’t believe people had an adequate place online to share opinions about the latest news events and gauge support for their views. This led Advance Digital’s incubator Alpha Group to create The Tylt, which lets people vote on news topics such as Apple’s refusal to unlock … Continued

Documentary class in session at RJI with Professor Spike Lee

A highlight of my RJI stay happened last week, 30 feet from my office. Spike Lee gave a master class to documentary and photojournalism students. He was in Columbia, Missouri, to premiere “2 Fists Up: We Gon Be Alright,” a new ESPN documentary on racial unrest at the University of Missouri that uses footage from the … Continued