Al-Baaj, 35, and her family are living proof that Iraqis can successfully adapt to the U.S. / Photo courtesy Nebraska Mosaic–Gabriel Medina

Since the 1980s, thousands of refugees have rebuilt their lives in Lincoln. They’ve come from Afghanistan, Vietnam, Bosnia, China, Sudan and dozens of other countries, placed by resettlement agencies, or relocating in Lincoln from elsewhere in the United States after receiving good reports from family or friends.

But Lincoln’s refugee communities aren’t immediately visible — at least they weren’t to Jacyln Tan, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student working on her master’s degree in journalism.

And over the course of the past semester, she’s learned why.

“They’re not in the grocery stories or downtown,” said Tan. “They’re in their own communities.”

This semester, Tan and six other UNL journalism students are working to make those communities more visible. Their medium is an online community called “Nebraska Mosaic,” which strives to be a resource for both non-refugees and refugees in Lincoln, said Tim Anderson, UNL associate professor of journalism. The site went live on Nov. 3, the same day as a celebration of the project at the Ross Film Theater.

The site currently features stories and videos by Tan and others about refugees’ lives in Lincoln. Among the first stories posted to the website were a profile of an Iraqi refugee who was helping to build his own family’s Habitat for Humanity house and a story about the recent influx of the Karen refugees — an ethnic minority who live mostly on the border of Thailand and Burma — into the Lincoln public school system.

The project began unofficially more than a year ago when Anderson and journalism professor Jerry Renaud taught a multimedia class together and required their students to write half of their stories about immigrants.

“What we discovered was that these were very rich and robust stories,” Anderson said.

That class piqued both Anderson’s and his students’ interest in Lincoln’s many refugee communities. It also spurred him to apply for a grant from J Lab, which aimed to fund journalism efforts based in communities that had either lost their voice or never had one, Anderson said.

The College of Journalism and Mass Communications received the grant, and last fall Anderson and advertising professor Phil Willet offered a class, evenly divided between journalism and advertising students, that researched the refugee communities in Lincoln. The class’s goal: Find out what kind of news and information the refugees wanted.

Martha Riek of the South Sudan is learning English / Photo courtesy Nebraska Mosaic–Becky Gailey

This fall, with additional funding from a Knight Community Information Challenge grant, matched by the Lincoln Community Foundation, Anderson has been teaching the journalism class not only on campus but also at a Community Learning Center in Lincoln. At the Community Learning Center refugees join the college students to become involved in telling their own stories.

The semester has been a learning experience, Anderson said. He and many of the students initially envisioned writing dramatic, emotional stories about refugees’ lives before relocation. But the research last fall indicated that Lincoln’s refugee communities, particularly those of Iraqi, Sudanese and Karen people, weren’t particularly interesting to refugees: Nearly all of them had had painful and dangerous experiences before moving to Lincoln.

“What they were more interested is what is life like here,” Anderson said.

So the students have focused on stories like the Habitat for Humanity house, about a local Baptist church that has seen its congregation swell with Karen refugees, and about the Family Literacy Program, which recently lost its funding.

Charlie Litton, Anderson’s graduate assistant, said it was also important for non-refugees to be more aware of their new neighbors.

“They’re not really welcome in their own countries, and they don’t quite fit in this one,” he said.

For his master’s project, Litton is working on an interactive map for the Mosaic website, which will include bus routes, listings of free and inexpensive community events and activities and other services that refugees might find useful.

In time, Anderson said, he hopes that refugees will want to contribute their own stories to the website.

Haider Al Haider, an Iraqi refugee who came to Lincoln with his wife and five children 19 months ago, attended the Nov. 3 launch event.

He first became acquainted with Nebraska Mosaic when Litton wrote the story about the Family Literacy Program, which had helped Al Haider’s own family, losing its funding.

It’s important for people outside the refugee community to be aware of circumstances like that, he said.

But he said it was also important for his family to be part of the Nov. 3 event, where he was joined by refugees from other countries, by UNL students and faculty and by others who live and work in Lincoln.

“I think it is necessary,” he said.

The Innovators in Residence program brings students and media innovators and entrepreneurs together. Innovators in Residence in the college to date are Shiv Bhaskar Dravid, founder and chief executive of The Viewspaper – The Voice of the Youth of India; Susan Poulton, head of National Geographic’s digital sites and projects; Jessica Mayberry, founding director of Video Volunteers in India; Oh Yeon-ho, founder of South Korea’s citizen journalism website OhmyNews; and Alexander Zolotarev, founder and CEO of SochiReporter.ru in Russia.

Poulton and Dravid both visited the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications in September 2011.

NatGeo Digital VP Fourth CoJMC Innovator in Residence
Susan Poulton, vice president of content and production for National Geographic digital media, visited the CoJMC September 19-21 as the college’s fourth Innovator in Residence.

Poulton joined National Geographic in 2006 with more than 14 years of experience in online media, developing digital strategies for both the nonprofit and entertainment industries.  Before joining National Geographic, she worked for AOL, rising from a line producer in 1997 to the position of director of programming in 2004, where she worked until she became director of feature programming and promotions for National Geographic Digital Media in 2006. She became vice president of content programming and production in 2007.

Media entrepreneur Dravid is Fifth Innovator in Residence
Shiv Bhaskar Dravid, the founder and chief executive of The Viewspaper – The Voice of the Youth of India, was the fifth Innovator in Residence at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. He visited UNL Sept. 26 and 27.

Theviewspaper.net presents opinions of youth on a variety of subjects that include politics, environmental issues, entertainment and literature in India and the United Kingdom. The website itself is a combination of documentaries and videos, music, games and photos.

The Viewspaper is India’s largest youth paper with a network of 6,000 contributors, 149,000 Facebook followers and a small paid editorial team. The Web paper plans to expand into the U.S., Dubai, Australia and Singapore.

Founded only four years ago, The Viewspaper is gaining national recognition from the global entrepreneur community. In 2010, Dravid was a finalist in the Staples Young Social Entrepreneur Competition, and The Viewspaper made the short list of the TATA NEN Hottest Start-up Awards. TATA is an Indian business group with international ties, and the National Entrepreneurship Network is India’s leader in entrepreneurship education.

The Viewspaper generates revenue from advertising placed on the website and became self-sustaining in 2010.

Dravid is a graduate of the University of Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce.

More details at: http://go.unl.edu/cze

Adam Wagler

Imagine a world where news only comes in the form of a newspaper in the morning and the evening news at night. Getting directions takes a paper map or a stop at a gas station.  And Facebook? What’s Facebook?

It may be hard to believe that for most people, this was all reality only about five years ago.

In a society that revolves around anything that is quick and convenient, mobile media and the apps that comprise it are a prime target for anyone looking for the instant news, games, social networking or information that a mobile app can supply.

That’s exactly where CoJMC professor Adam Wagler’s Mobile Communications and Social Media class comes into play.

“In a nutshell, what we really do is spend time thinking about the mobile space, and that includes social media. A lot of people believe that most of what mobile is right now is a social space so anything you do on mobile should be social, and anything you do on social should be mobile,” Wagler said. “They kind of go hand in hand.”

The class – called Mobile 491 by students – was made available by a push from Dean Gary Kebbel, who added a number of new electives to the CoJMC.

“The mobile class was one of them, and I was excited to develop the new course,” Wagler said. “I expressed my interest in teaching it, and Dean Kebbel had talked with the Omaha World-Herald about a class conceptualizing mobile solutions for them. Those two things initiated the class and took off from there.”

Wagler said the course is for any CoJMC student who is interested in mobile and social media. During the Spring 2011 semester, he said he taught a mix of journalism and advertising, graduate and undergraduate students with an array of different interests.

Senior advertising major Sara Leimbach decided to take the class to broaden her scope and hopefully, make her more employable after graduation. She said it’s given her the opportunity to learn about new technologies that are currently breaking ground in the advertising industry.

“A lot of employers are looking for young professionals who can understand the digital world, and I think Mobile 491 offers you a chance to learn the skills needed to impress prospective employers,” Leimbach said.

She thinks it’s important that students learn about mobile technologies because it is so closely integrated in the industry, and it gives students a fresh view that others within the field might not have.

“By learning and keeping up to date with new and upcoming trends, we offer prospective employers a perspective that older generations may not have,” she said.

Senior News-Editorial major Marcus Scheer agreed and acknowledged that it is getting harder for someone with only one skill to get a job.

“This class not only gives me a better chance of getting a job, it focuses on the things I [find] interesting: technology, data and new/interesting ways to present information. And if I can write and edit my own story, shoot photographs to accompany it, develop and code my own app to aggregate and present my information, I can not only make myself more likely to get a job, I can almost create my own job, business or outlet,” Scheer said. “Plus, everything continues to change – especially in the mobile world.”

Over the course of the Spring 2011 semester, the class worked to develop an app for the Omaha World Herald. Wagler said the class worked closely with Jeff Carney, the Assisting Managing Editor at the Omaha World Herald.

“The semester went really well, I think the students got a lot out of it and will benefit from having an entire semester to think strategically about this new medium,” Wagler said. “The students presented their plans to Jeff Carney and he was thrilled with the directions they pitched. Jeff and I plan on getting together this summer to discuss future directions and collaborations between the CoJMC and OWH.”

No offense to Europe, but Kay Kemmet isn’t impressed. The junior news-editorial journalism major wants to go somewhere raw, somewhere changing, she said. This summer, that somewhere is India.

“Not that I have anything against Europe, but that’s for vacation,” she said. “India is for reporting.”

From July 16 to 31, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications took 19 students and three faculty members to New Delhi, India for Digital Media India, a three-credit-hour class. The trip was led by Scott Winter, an assistant professor of journalism, Bruce Mitchell, an advertising lecturer, and his wife Nancy Mitchell, an advertising professor and the director of general education in the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

The trip will significantly help the college’s goal of forming a partnership with India, Winter said.

In New Delhi, the group met up with the World Media Academy Delhi. Originally a pilot project funded by the Knight Foundation and managed by the International Center for Journalists and named the International Media Institute of India (IMII), the program was expanded and improved. Todd Baer, a graduate of the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications, is a Knight fellow assigned to the WMA Delhi. He is an international television correspondent who has worked for Al Jazeera English, CNN and ABC News Radio. Christopher Conte is the other Knight fellow and a former correspondent and editor for the Wall Street Journal.

“In many ways this is a dream come true for me,” Baer said. “I am passionate about international news and I want to share my experiences with anyone who’s interested.”

The plans for the trip have evolved over time. Originally, the IMII was located in the Delhi suburb of Noida. It has now been expanded, renamed and moved to South Delhi. Additionally, courses don’t start at the academy until August so past, present and future students have volunteered to work with the UNL group on stories.

“Everything that you plan when it comes to an international reporting venture tends to not work out,” Winter said. He said the key is to be able to readjust plans, even with little notice.

“Great reporters are kind of like marines,” he said. “They adapt and overcome.”

Bruce Mitchell said the uncertainties of the trip have been slightly nerve-wracking. The hotel, who the group will be working with and even the WMA Delhi’s facilities have all been somewhat up in the air.

Kemmet is not only a student on the trip; she took it as an independent study class and assumed a leadership role in the planning. Kemmet had never traveled out of the country, so it has been a learning experience, she said. And before, during and after the trip she is responsible for the web and social media content.

“I designed a website and will post all the stories from the trip so we can share our reporting and experiences with the world,” she said.

The group also traveled to Lucknow and Agra, other Indian cities.

Winter said he was most excited for the food and the friendships the travelers formed with local journalists and others. He hopes students form lasting relationships with Indians that will change their world perspectives.

“Until you actually experience it, I don’t think you have a true understanding of what India is all about,” Mitchell said.

Kemmet summarized the trip before the group left Nebraska.

“We are going to work with Indian journalism students, see New Delhi, Lucknow, and the Taj Mahal, and tell the most amazing stories of our college careers,” she said.

More information is available on the CoJMC_India Facebook page and Twitter.

Imagine having the opportunity to study in a Zen temple or a small coastal village or on the Isle of Crete.

In the past year, 71 students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications studied in a foreign country with the help of 10 faculty. The students had the opportunity to study in places like Japan, Costa Rica, Greece, Bolivia, Africa and Kazakhstan.

Through the University of Nebraska–Lincoln students have the opportunity to study at hundreds of universities around the world and spend a semester or a year to study in a foreign land.  Specifically, the CoJMC provides students with the option for international travel that combines college credit with the study abroad experience.

However, these trips are more than just studying in a far-away country. They are about having the opportunity to immerse oneself in a different culture.

“We want to study it there because you understand the context better,” said associate professor Frauke Hachtmann. “Once you start interacting with people, you understand better how things are communicated on the page or on the screen wherever you are.”

Hachtmann led a group that went on a two-week trip to Japan. In a partnership with the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, she and associate professor Dana Fritz from the Department of Art and Art History had a goal of increasing students’ knowledge of art and advertising through visual culture.

“We wanted them to look at the world through the art lens … and from advertising in an applied sense; so how does the advertising in Japan look different and how does it communicate to someone who’s not from Japan?” Hachtmann said.

Another trip followed the same lines, but instead of looking at a developed country, professor Phyllis Larsen took her group of students to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica study abroad group

“We wanted to expose students to mass media use in a developing country so they could see how media is used differently in another country and why it is used differently,” Larsen said.

Rather than having the students stay in hotels in Costa Rica, the students stayed with host families in the country. This created an entirely different experience for the students.

“The students were completely immersed in the culture, so they weren’t outside observers,” Larsen said. “They got involved in the families and cultures.”

But study-abroad trips through the college are more than just learning. Students actually have the opportunity to be real life reporters, as was the case in both trips to Africa and Bolivia.

Carolyn Johnsen, assistant professor of practice, took three students to Zambia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, where they had the chance to be paid professional reporters writing features stories for INTSORMIL publications. INTSORMIL is a consortium of land-grant university scientists who are developing varieties of sorghum and pearl millet that will resist drought, disease and pests while increasing production. These students received reimbursements for all travel expenses as well as an hourly rate for their reporting on INTSORMIL scientists and projects.

In Bolivia, Professor Luis Peon-Casanova took students on a mission to write a depth report. Funded through a grant by the Carnegie-Knight Foundation, the students looked at Bolivia from perspectives of natural resources, economics, politics, and gender and social issues.

“Bolivia has the first indigenous president in 400 years and has revitalized the identity of the native people and with that comes a lot of social change,” Peon-Casanova said. He gave a challenge for his students. “To go in there, and to look at the issues … things are a lot more complex than meets the eye.”

Bolivia’s complexity allowed students to conduct background research and onsite interviews to fully understand how Bolivians’ economic, social and environmental situations affect behavior.

While some students were able to secure funding for their trips through scholarships like the Global Gateway Scholarship offered through the International Affairs office, others became paid professionals like the students who wrote feature stories in Africa. But most of these students funded their own trips. Ruth Stark began saving for her trip a year or more in advance.

A junior majoring in advertising, Stark went to Greece to study photography and said the cost “was well worth it.”

“It made me so much more aware of my outside world, seeing just a completely different culture, with completely different values and work ethic,” Stark said. “It sparked my curiosity about the outside world; it made me want to do bigger things because I saw what was out there. “

The seminars are taught by experienced faculty members who use a variety of engaging, classroom-tested techniques to make topics meaningful and interesting. Participants will practice the concepts they’ve learned in state-of-the-art classrooms and computer labs in Andersen Hall, home of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications on the UNL city campus.

Half-day sessions are $75 per person; a full day is $125. Parking is available in nearby parking garages

To view the seminar schedule and class descriptions, go to http://journalism.unl.edu/projects/oneday/shtml or contact Trudy Burge at gburge2@unl.edu or 402-472-7077.

One Day University also offers a more customized approach if a business would benefit by a training program.

CoJMC students Kate Veik, Jamie Klein and Jenna Gibson (kneeling, front row) interviewed research scientists in Ethiopia, Zambia and Burkina Faso in summer 2010.

Last summer, Jenna Gibson, Jamie Klein and Kate Veik got paid to eat mangos in Burkina Faso, watch dancers over dinner in an Ethiopian restaurant, sightsee in an African nature preserve and, finally, write about the scientists they met on a month-long trip to countries representing three different regions in Africa.

The three students, all three news-editorial majors in the college of Journalism and Mass Communications, traveled with CoJMC faculty member Carolyn Johnsen to Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zambia last May to write stories about the work and people of INTSORMIL, the International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program.The group was guided on their trip by INTSORMIL staff.

INTSORMIL is a research and development program that works with farmers and scientists in Africa and Central America, and is headquartered at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The trip was part of a two-year project, funded by an INTSORMIL grant, to produce a promotional magazine that communicates some of the organization’s work over its 30-year history.

INTSORMIL, which is staffed by scientists from six land-grant universities in the United States, educates African and Central American scientists, students and farmers about improved agricultural practices and technologies. Since the program’s beginning, more than 800 graduate students and more than 200 post-doctoral students from Africa and Central America have been supported by INTSORMIL’s programs. Those students then return to their home countries to implement that knowledge.

Gibson, Klein and Veik wrote about several of those students, as well as other INTSORMIL scientists working in Africa. In all, six CoJMC students worked on the project and three of those traveled to Africa. All six students took a science-writing course taught by Johnsen during the spring 2010 semester to gain enough background knowledge to be able to interview and write about the subject matter. The course taught them how to “translate” science into something the general public can understand.

Students also traveled to other INTSORMIL universities in the United States and interviewed researchers about their work here in the states.

According to Johnsen, INTSORMIL’s grant paid for all of the students’ travel, tuition for the science-writing course and fees associated with the project. It will also pay for a promotional magazine to be produced at the end of the project.

“(The INTSORMIL grant) enabled those six students to take the (science-writing) course,” said Johnsen. “I think any good reporter needs to know how to write about science, because every beat has a science element to it these days.”

Johnsen’s science-writing course taught students how to write about science for the general public, and the INTSORMIL project gave them the opportunity to apply that knowledge.

Gibson pointed out that not every college student has access to such opportunities, and not every student can afford it. Gibson and Veik have both traveled abroad previously with groups from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, and they say that the opportunities far outweigh the costs.

Gibson said the college supports international study experiences and often is able to help students financially.

“They have donations or grants to do these trips,” she said. “I don’t think they’d do them if they had to make students pay thousands of dollars.”

From touring an African nature preserve, to being fed as a sign of respect in an Ethiopian restaurant, the INTSORMIL project gave students a taste of the world beyond Nebraska.

“Every place is different,” said Veik. “I think flexibility was a big thing for me … One second we were in the back of the car, driving two and a half hours to an interview and the next we had to be in an office, where it was very official.”

Gibson says the need for flexibility on the trip helped her grow as a journalist in ways even internships have not been able to.

“It’s not the same at all,” said Gibson. “It’s completely different because with internships you’re … in more of a comfort zone, you know? There’s kind of a daily routine … You go into the office at a certain time and you write as many stories as you can and you leave and you go back the next day and you go to events if you have to. Everyone speaks the same language as you, and you’re writing just day to day stories. But there (Africa) it’s more about just taking everything in. You’re not necessarily writing 10 stories a week, but you’re taking everything in and then compiling it into one big story, so even journalistically it’s a different mindset.”

Andy Boyle

Growing up, Andy Boyle noticed his dad reading the Omaha World-Herald in the living room every day.

For a young, aspiring journalist from South Sioux City, writing for the state’s largest paper seemed like a dream job — and a long shot.

Now, thanks to the generosity of the World-Herald, four J school juniors or seniors every semester have a chance to see their names in print while they work for the paper. The students are part of a special program at UNL called The Real World.

“It’s an honor,” said Boyle, a senior news-editorial major who was one of the program’s first four fellows in the spring ’09 semester. “I always thought the Sunday World-Herald was the coolest invention in the world. It’s just cool to work for that thing that my dad was always reading.”

John Gottschalk, a retired publisher of The Omaha World-Herald, created the program. Under Gottschalk’s guidance, the World-Herald established a $1 million endowment at the University of Nebraska Foundation for the program to build a relationship with one of the top journalism schools in the country and to discover potential employees.

John Gottschalk

The program goes beyond a typical internship. Up to 20 students take The Real World class each semester, with the tuition for the one-hour class paid for from the endowment. After interviewing with World-Herald editors, four are selected to be fellows, interning for the paper’s Lincoln bureau the following semester. The students chosen for the fellowship are paid $100 a week and receive a $2,500 stipend at the end of the semester. The newspaper’s endowment also pays the tuition for three hours of credit the four students receive for the semester.

The goal of the one-hour Real World class is to help prepare students for the workplace. Each week, different World-Herald reporters or editors come to the class to talk about subjects ranging from covering tragedies to being a team player in the office.

The course is a popular one among students. Associate Professor Mary Kay Quinlan, who supervises the class, said the spring 2010 semester class is full.

Those who continue on as reporting fellows generally write at least one article a week, each with a hard-news angle.

“It’s very challenging,” said Leslie Reed, the Omaha World-Herald bureau chief in Lincoln and the students’ primary editor. “Usually interns get assigned to do a lot of spot news and news conferences. We’re asking them to do enterprise stories and find a fresh angle.”

The program is unique in the way it is structured, Reed noted.

“Not only do we pay them, but they’re getting college credit for it. So we want to treat them as more than just part-time workers. We want to get different kinds of news articles in the paper and take advantage of their talent and their time and do some really exciting work.”

Interim Dean Charlyne Berens, one of the professors supervising The Real World class, said the program is a huge benefit to the college.

“It means that the World-Herald believes in this program,” she said. “They wouldn’t put the money and commitment into it if they didn’t think this program is important. It gives our college a little extra recognition.”

Larry King, director of special projects for the World-Herald emphasized, as Gottschalk envisioned, the importance of establishing good relationships with journalists at UNL as a key to the paper’s future success.

“Working with UNL on a regular basis allows us to spot potential future employees and to work with the faculty to build a relationship that will allow us to spot and hire the best and the brightest in the future,” King said. “Many of the students in the J school are Nebraskans. It is good for our state, for our region, for our community and for our company to have the strongest program possible that can attract the top students from Nebraska to UNL.”

Joining Boyle in the inaugural class of fellows were Jordan Pascale, Tanna Kimmerling and Johnny Perez.  The reporting fellows in fall 2009 were Aaron James, Kiah Haslett, Jamie Klein and Molly Youjg. Those selected to be fellows in spring 2010 are Travis Beck, David Houfek, Kate Veik and Caitlin Kern.

The four original fellows were glad to lay the foundation for the joint venture between the J school and the World-Herald.

“It’s Nebraska’s newspaper,” Boyle said. “And we’re Nebraska students.”

Matt Waite holding his copy of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, awarded to the St. Petersburg Times staff

Lincoln, Neb., July 28th, 2010 — Matt Waite, a 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Politifact.com, will teach this fall in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Waite will teach a new course, “Developing New Media,” designed to teach students to develop new digital information products.

“We’re going to talk about audience, journalism, business models, technology, marketing — the whole spectrum you have to go through to go from idea to launch,” Waite said. “We’re going to argue, we’re going to build, and we’re going to have fun.”

A journalist and programmer and UNL alumnus, Waite is the principal developer of PolitiFact.com, a website on which St. Petersburg Times reporters fact-check statements by politicians and publish the evaluations. It was the first website to receive a Pulitzer for national reporting.

PolitiFact combines reporting with Web development, and also has won a Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism. Waite won a second Knight-Batten Award this year for The Obameter: Tracking Obama’s Campaign Promises. The Knight-Batten Awards recognize creative, innovative news and information efforts that help involve citizens in public issues and supply opportunities for participation. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the award program, offering a $10,000 grand prize and $6,000 in special distinction awards.

“Journalism today is helping people get the information they need to make decisions that improve their lives,” said Gary Kebbel, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “Politifact and the Obameter do exactly this, using data, fact-checking, reporting and easy-to-understand graphic displays. Our students will learn from the best in the business how to create 21st century information projects.”

Charlyne Berens, associate dean of the college, agreed: “This kind of class will help our college take another step toward preparing our students not only to work in new media but to actually be able to make new media. Matt created and built PolitiFact, combining his journalism skills and his Web skills. In this class, he will help our students explore that same kind of creative combination.”

“I’m probably out of my mind,” Waite said, “but I can’t think of anything more fun than real world, pedal to the floor, see your idea built before your eyes kind of mayhem.”

The three-credit hour class begins Aug. 24 and runs for 16 weeks.

Waite graduated in 1997 from UNL with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and began his career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock. In 2000, he moved to the St. Petersburg Times, covering crime and city government in a suburban county. In 2003 he moved to the metro staff, and later to the investigative staff. Waite combined his reporting skills and Web experience to create an accessible and usable database of information for news consumers during the 2008 election. Launched in 2007, PolitiFact.com fact-checked the 2008 presidential campaign, then expanded to fact-check congressional and White House members in January 2009.

From 2005 to 2007, Waite co-authored a series of award-winning stories about Florida’s vanishing wetlands. That work was later expanded into a book, “Paving Paradise: Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss,” published in 2009 by the University Press of Florida. In 2009, he co-founded Hot Type Consulting, a company that builds applications for media outlets. Hot Type helped to launch a major new nonprofit journalism entity at the Texas Tribune and has produced award-winning websites for other clients.

Computer screen shows the parties who are participating in the town hall meeting in KIJAC's studio

If one goal of higher education is to make students’ world bigger, the journalism college has found an efficient and cost-effective way to do that:  Get students from UNL talking in real time with college students in Kosovo, Norway and South Africa via an international town hall meeting.

“It’s really empowering to share ideas with people from around the world,” said professor Barney McCoy, who has led the J school’s involvement in the meetings. “By engaging in these meetings, we find that we have more in common and wish to do more than we imagined to make this world a better place.”

The college has been part of seven such meetings since the gatherings began in 2008. Discussions have focused on topics that matter to people around the world with specific attention to how the media have dealt with those topics.

Technical assistance for the hour-long, real-time meetings has come from professor Mike Goff, staff members Luther Hinrichs and Vance Payne and graduate assistant Belita Kalala.

Other participating universities are:  Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication in Kristiansand, Norway; the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communication in Pristina, Kosovo; University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; and the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.

UNL students who attended the Feb. 24 town hall meeting about press censorship and press freedom wrote about their reactions to the process.

The technology was amazing

Marie Brew: I thought it was so neat how the set-up was and that you can actually connect with people across the world in a press conference online. I was very surprised and so impressed with this. I thought the meeting was very interesting, and it was really neat to hear the different opinions of the students and faculty members from the different institutes.

Jana Schneider: The video conference connecting Gimlekollen University in Norway, Wits University in South Africa, the University of Mississippi, the Kosovo Institute of Journalism and Communications and UNL is honestly what I found the most impressive about the international town meeting on Wednesday.  Technology has come such a long way, and to be able to accomplish this kind of interaction between students from all over the world is astounding.

The discussion of press freedom was fascinating

Nicol Woody: Knowing very little about this subject myself, I found the conversation quite interesting and wish there would have been a little bit more time.

Jana Schneider: Freedom of press varies greatly around the world today, and I found it really interesting when the professors from Norway stated that their journalists self-censor because the audience is very critical.  Even though they are not bound under any kind of law or procedure, they find it necessary to censor their work because of the citizens.  It’s similar in Kosovo and South Africa, while the professor from Kosovo explained that they have “no clear cut forums of censorship, journalists receive a lot of complaints and pressure from the government” and also backlash from their own people.

Press freedom is a complicated topic

Lauren Peterson: More than a third of the world’s people live in countries where there is no press freedom.  This statistic blew my mind.  I believe that many people in America, along with myself, take for granted the fact that we, as citizens of the United States of America, have the right to publish newspapers, magazines, and books without government interference or prior censorship.  It was particularly interesting to hear about the differences in degrees of censorship in countries right across the Atlantic Ocean.

Nicol Woody: I thought it was a good question South Africa posed to Kosovo about having parallel circumstances in a newly freed society and wondering what similarities they were experiencing.  It seems to be all about financial pressure to not print or report the truth at times because the government and interest groups are heavily involved financially

Marie Brew: From the professor in Kosovo, I learned that regular newspapers started functioning after the Second World War and that often many of the homework assignments given to students pertain to advertising in the media and how that creates a marketing issue. When discussing with the faculty from Norway I learned that they experience a lot of controversy. … In South Africa, the professor explained how they have a solid constitution guaranteeing freedom of media and speech but still experience problems with it and how the press is used as a weapon of struggle.

Lauren Peterson: I learned that in countries without freedom of the press, the government actually believes that the media exists to benefit them. As I listened to the students in other countries and even those sitting around me share stories of how they put themselves in danger to fight for the freedom to express themselves without government interference, I wondered if someday I would have the courage to do the same.