For the study, Reader analyzed professional disagreements over the value of 'prepared' letters to the editor used in advocacy-group campaigns. "Journalists derisively call such letters 'astroturf' and disdain the 'fake grass-roots' nature of such letters; advocates suggest such 'sample letters' help more people to get involved in public discourse," Reader explained.

Reader said his analysis "finds a rhetorical struggle between the two groups that forms a hegemonic concordance through which letters-to-the-editor forums are seen more as battlefields to be defended or conquered than as sites for consensus-seeking debate, which in the end feeds or reflects the hostile and monopolistic nature of modern public discourse."

Reader is the author of six additional published studies focused on the ways news media and the public use letters to the editor.

This fall WTOP Radio (103.5 FM) will be presented with its Edward R. Murrow Award for electronic journalism excellence for wtopnews.com. The awards will be presented at the Radio Television News Directors Association Awards Dinner on October 13 in New York.

John Meyer (BSJ ’95), Director of New Media for WTOP says, "The WTOP website, wtopnews.com, has grown to such an extent that it has become a brand and a product in and of itself. This is a direct result of a dedicated and passionate staff that has made this site world-class. It’s tremendously satisfying to have all the hard work recognized by your peers."

Murrow Award winners are chosen by The Radio-Television News Directors Association. In all, 54 news organizations are being honored with 77 awards out of an initial pool of 3,459 entries from several hundred news organizations.

RTNDA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the electronic news profession.

WTOP Radio has served the Washington region since 1926 and has been Washington’s only all-news radio station since 1969. WTOP is the most widely listened to radio station in the Nation’s Capital.

WTOP is one of three stations in Washington, D.C. owned by Bonneville International. Its sister stations are Talk Radio 3WT (1500 AM, 107.7 FM, 820 AM) and Federal News Radio AM 1050.

Bonneville International (www.bonnint.com) is an award-winning, dynamic and diversified media company with television, radio, advertising, and satellite operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City. Known not only as a leader in the industry but also as a values-driven company, Bonneville’s mission is to "Make a Difference" in the communities where it operates.

"When I described to Bill Reader, the journalism professor, my vain effort to find out what happened in my neighborhood and my disappointment in the laxity of online citizen journalists, he surprised me by asking why I was being such a scold. The question stung."

When I learned I would be working for ABC News in New York this summer I was ecstatic. Ever since my high school days, I hoped to acquire an internship with a network news operation before college graduation. I had no idea what I was really in for when I applied. My researching, reporting and writing skills have been strengthened through this fellowship.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York selected four students to participate in the Summer Institute at ABC News, me being the only undergrad. We worked with the Brian Ross Investigative Unit as “Carnegie Fellows” researching and reporting major news stories.

The first week consisted of major training and understanding about how things operated at ABC News and in the Brian Ross Unit. Meeting Brian Ross in and of itself was an experience. My respect for him and his work as a journalist is very high and talking with him only made me realize the ethical nature he has when approaching a story. I was mesmerized when I later observed a broadcast of “World News with Charles Gibson” and “Good Morning America.” The coordination, planning and producing of those shows was incredible.

A few days into the fellowship, we were encouraged to come up with some story ideas for the Blotter, the Investigative Unit’s website. By the end of the day, I was sitting down with the senior producer for the Ross Unit, Rhonda Schwartz, discussing my story ideas. We chatted for about an hour and she gave me great advice, which continued throughout the course of the fellowship.

Working in the Investigative Unit reinforced ethical training and clear decision-making. It was important to build trust with sources and treat them with care and respect. The Ross Unit has earned all of their esteem from the high quality reporting and balanced stories produced each week.

With so much going on from day to day, I developed a way to constantly multitask. Smaller stories would fill-in the gaps between the big television stories. In the field, I was able to continue strengthening my video shooting skills. The Investigative Unit was totally open to creative shots and new ways of showing and telling the story.

I feel the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University has prepared me to work in this ever-changing industry. I felt especially confident and contributory when producers would ask for my advice. Having a great deal of video experience was beneficial; however, I wanted to continue to build on my reporting skills.

I have taken away a number of new techniques, including how to focus an interview. Asking questions that prompt relevant and concise answers can be a real challenge. I have grasped new tactics through this fellowship of creating a conversational atmosphere better suited for an accurate story.

The Carnegie Fellows’ major investigation will air this fall on “Good Morning America,” “World News with Charles Gibson” and “Nightline.” The subject cannot be discussed at this time.

Best College Newspaper - Daily

1st: The Post, Ohio University.

Best College News Writing

2nd: “City Turns Up Heat on Landlords to File Tenant Agreements,” Kantele E. Franko, The Post, Ohio University.

Best College Opinion Writing

1st: Caitlin Broo, The Post, Ohio University.

2nd: Brittany Hughes, The Post, Ohio University.

Best College Sports Writing

1st: “Moments Here and There,” Katie Carrera, The Post, Ohio University.

Television (Small Market)

Best Documentary

1st: “Milton Holland,” Mark Leff, WOUB-TV.

"I am going to begin coming in on a weekends to do some reporting here soon -- so I am very excited."

Walsh also is freelance reporting for U-Wire, an affiliate with CBS News and the Washington Post.

"I will be focusing on the youth vote in the upcoming election."

Sites are evaluated for frequency of updates, relevance of content, site design, and writing style.

Students Brian Boesch, Luke Florence, and Zach Swartz along with Director Tom Hodson combined to write game and feature stories, fill the team’s website with content, and do play-by-play and color commentary for 40 Copperhead baseball games in six weeks.

The team, in its seventh year of existence, is part of the 11 team Great Lake Summer Collegiate League, a wooden bat league co-sponsored by Major League Baseball.

Boesch, who will be entering his second year as a Honors Tutorial College journalism student, was the director of media and public relations for the team. His position was jointly sponsored by the Copperheads and the Scripps School of Journalism.

He was in charge of all pre-game media relations, official statistics during home games, posting data to the teams website, and doing the play-by-play of 20 road games through the Internet.

“His live broadcasts of our away games were clearly superior to any others in the league. His love of baseball and warm personality allowed us to follow every step as our team was on the road,” Dave Palmer, general manager of the Copperheads, said.

Boesch, who already did color commentary for Ohio University women’s basketball and play-by-play for Ohio University baseball, will only be in his second year as a student in September 2008.

Florence, a Scripps senior, did double duty, acting as part of the broadcast team for 20 home games and being a staff writer for the website. Over the summer, he was able to pursue both his broadcast and writing interests.

“I could not have asked for a better internship,” Florence said. “It was truly a tremendous experience from the onset. I was able to hone both my broadcasting and news-writing skills. The professional manner in which the Copperheads organization is run made me fell as if I was working for a minor league franchise. This internship was more than I could have asked for and I would recommend it to anyone with a passion for journalism and sports.”

Swartz, also a Scripps magazine senior, was a staff writer covering games plus doing in-depth feature stories. He also wrote some columns for the website. It was his first experience being a “beat” reporter.

“Having to write on deadline, especially for a website that needs updated as soon as possible, helped me improve my writing and interviewing skills,” Swartz said.

"But, what I learned most from the experience was that there are so many facets to covering sports outside of journalism. If you really want to be an informative and interesting writer, you really have to understand what those facets are, how they operate, and most importantly, how to get them to help you in what you are doing.”

Palmer lavished praise on the writing and reporting of both Florence and Swartz. He described their articles as “amazing, informative, factual , honest, and often eloquent.”

“I’ve had so many people say they enjoy reading their accounts,” Palmer added.

Hodson has been with the Copperheads since their inception. This year he served as the chief radio voice of the Copperheads during their 20 home games. He and Florence worked as a team.

“It is always a great experience. It is important for me to keep my journalistic skills fresh and it gives me an ideal opportunity to work with a group of outstanding journalism students on a professional basis,” Hodson said.

Palmer praised both Hodson and Florence for being “communicators.” “Tom and Luke are outstanding at knowing when to converse and when to follow the action. They balance describing the traditions and color events at the ballpark with a solid knowledge of baseball and the skills of those playing the game,” Palmer added.

“Whether the listener is a baseball fanatic or novice, a casual listener or a loyal fan, the Hodson/Florence broadcast crew kept those listening informed and engaged.”

Applications for 2009 Copperhead internships will be taken during Winter Quarter.

In this video Dan Reimold discusses his Fulbright, his career goals, and research interests.

Dan Reimold, a Scripps Howard Teaching Fellow and Ph.D. candidate within the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, took a leap of adventure when he opted out of a secured tenure-track teaching position and, instead, decided to travel to Singapore beginning in the fall as a U.S. Student Fulbright Fellow.

Reimold had just a weekend to decide which path to follow and is hopeful that his Fulbright year will enrich his already impressive scholarly career. Reimold specifically has been given a mandate to study modern Singaporean student and youth journalism, while serving as a visiting scholar in the Singapore Internet Research Centre (SIRC). Reimold says the intersection of new media and the student press possesses an incredibly strong influence on how traditional news will be produced and disseminated in the future. College journalism, Reimold notes, is raw, innovative, and very influential to its student readership.

The fellowship also offers an opportunity for Reimold to interact with Singaporean student journalists in the classroom. During the upcoming academic year, he will co-teach a news editing and news writing course within the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University. The experience builds upon Reimold’s teaching stints within Scripps and at Temple University, where he earned his master’s degree in journalism. He is a two-time Great Ideas For Teachers (GIFT) scholar (‘06-‘07 & ‘07-‘08) within the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC); a recipient of of the 2007 Graduate Associate Outstanding Teaching Award (GAOTA) at Ohio University; the first-place graduate student winner of the 2007 AEJMC “Promising Professors” award; and a recent winner of the “Outstanding Ph.D. student” honor presented by the Scripps School of Journalism.

Even though Reimold describes himself as a Netflix addict (lately he has been on a Woody Allen kick), he still finds time to actively serve as head of the Graduate Education Interest Group (GEIG) within AEJMC; publish in journals such as Journalism History, Newspaper Research Journal, and College Media Review; and advise Ohio University’s student-run webzine, Speakeasy Magazine.

For Reimold, the adventures and accolades seem to just be beginning.

Hodson chaired two sessions and helped facilitate the educational programming that was designed to help court public information officers learn about the new journalistic landscape.

The conference, comprised of panels of experts and guest speakers, addressed some of the changes currently occurring in journalistic coverage of courts. Over 80 court public information officers from 30 states, the federal courts, and two territories attended.

One of the featured speakers was Peter Shaplen, a veteran of network television news and the media liaison between media and the courts in the Michael Jackson and the Scott Peterson cases. He currently is a media consultant and freelance producer.

He stated that currently we are witnessing the “destruction ??“ the dissolution of the American media as we know it.” He also believes that it “cannot be resuscitated.” Therefore, he indicated that courts must become their own content creators and distributors.

Shaplen argued that the time when media would thoroughly cover courts is over due to cutbacks in the media industry. Instead, he shifted the burden to the courts to supply content and directly deliver it to audiences within the general public. The delivery mechanisms will be many and varied depending upon the court and the audiences. But, courts will be supplying the information directly to consumers instead of relying on the mainstream news media.

He admitted that his view of media might be controversial to current judges. However, he claims that the majority of judges will change their minds and share his thinking in just a few years.

He cited that many corporations and public relations’ specialists have already adopted this model of direct communication.

Smedley will be one of two editors managing AP content on the iPhone, and will develop new storytelling methods for other mobile devices. Her new position begins Sept. 2, 2008.

As for my spare time, I remember saving every Friday night for a late-night bagel snack from a popular vendor on Court Street, the concerts and lectures at Memorial Auditorium, the Halloween parade festivities and football games.

I even took time to take lessons in ice skating and tennis. And I played flute in the school band.

At OU, I got to know a group of students from New York City. They impressed me for their leadership skills and broad cultural interests. After I graduated, I moved to the Big Apple to continue those friendships and get a taste of Big City life and its professional challenges.

My studies at OU helped to round out my interests in international journalism. A class taught by then Dean Wilhelm concluded with an internship at a bureau of a major news outlet. This was just the type of practical experience that I craved. While I didn’t get posted overseas, I did manage to land an internship at the Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald. One of my tasks there was editing the foreign wire coverage. That gave me insights into world news and left a lasting impression on me about how U.S.-centric most of our news coverage is.

My interest in Asia, and China, is mostly from DNA. My dad, who was a history professor at OU, nurtured my interests in events beyond my small home town of Lancaster, Ohio. He and my Mom, a kindergarten teacher, would always take our family on extended vacations overseas, including Asia. I got my natural curiosity and thirst for international travel from them -- though OU helped to cultivate this interest. I am glad that my degree in journalism focused on a well-rounded education with classes in economics, history and the arts.

I took Spanish language courses at OU -- too bad that I didn’t take Mandarin! Now that would have really come in handy for all my reporting expeditions to China. Well, there’s always a chance to come back to OU!

Rebecca Fannin
Author, Silicon Dragon
International editor, Asianfn
Contributor, Worth, Inc. and Fast Company
Columnist, Huffington Post
www.rebeccafannin.com