Photojournalism Depth Reports
"The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," according to 19th century journalist Finley Peter Dunne. If Mr. Dunne were writing today, he'd no doubt set the same goals for broadcast and online news. And he surely would insist on the same goal for photojournalism.
Now, thanks to the generous gift from Howard Buffett, Joel Sartore and Tom Mangelsen, UNL journalism students will have a series of opportunities to fulfill Mr. Dunne's mandate.
The college is happy to announce a series of photojournalism depth reports open mostly to photojournalism students but also to some reporting students and some videography students.
The four projects begin in the fall of '07 and continue through to the spring of '09. These four projects are:
Poverty, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Fall '07:
Shannon County, South Dakota, is the home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation - the ancestral home of the Oglala Lakota, the native tribe that wiped out George Custer at the Little Bighorn and had their hearts buried at Wounded Knee. It is also home to the poorest people in the United States, a people who have a life expectancy about one-half the national average, a fetal alcohol rate about four times the national average and a suicide rate about five times the national average. Pine Ridge is a community of 20,000 spread across the second-largest reservation in the nation - a tragic collision of grinding, generational poverty and hopelessness played out across a landscape of haunting grandeur and beauty. Professors Bruce Thorson and Joe Starita.
Kosovo, Spring '08:
Kosovo is on the cusp of becoming the world's newest nation, seeking both its independence from Serbia and a place in the European Union. Through world aid, privatization of the economy and independence, the young and positive ethnic Albanian people hope to overcome the scars of 60 percent unemployment, environmental catastrophe and civil war. We want to produce photo stories that illuminate a country on the precipice of everything. (For more on Kosovo, check out the work of KIJAC students, who have partly been trained by UNL professors Kathy Christensen, Barney McCoy, Jerry Renaud and Scott Winter. See their work at kijacnews.net.) Professors Bruce Thorson and Scott Winter.
Poverty, Mississippi Delta, Fall '08:
The Delta of Mississippi begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and goes to Catfish row in Vicksburg. Our depth reporting team will work with editors in Mississippi to capture the essence of poverty in this region of rich farmland where the topsoil is 90 feet deep in. Some places. It is a region where many planters have gone broke in the last 30 years. It is a region of deep economic and racial divides. Professor Bruce Thorson and Dean Will Norton.
Ethiopia, Spring '09:
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capitol, is becoming the gateway to Africa for business and tourism. It has a new airport, an influx of aid money and has water and other natural resources that can make help it escape a cycle of poverty and desperation. But despite investment capital coming from both the West and the East, many Ethiopians struggle from meal to meal. We want to capture the beauty of this country, in both its landscape and its people, and portray the effort to build democracy in one of the ancient nations in the world. (For more on Ethiopia, contact CoJMC graduate student Zenebe Beyene at bzenebe2000@yahoo.com.) Professors Bruce Thorson and Rick Alloway.
Photojournalism students must be juniors or seniors, must have taken NEWS 406 and will be accepted through a portfolio review. Freshman and sophomores can be considered, but only if they show at least an intermediate understanding of photojournalism and a portfolio review.
Photojournalism students must have demonstrated a proficiency in the use of digital photography; proficiency in the editing process and image editing; an understanding of the journalistic purpose-that purpose is in finding interesting, relevant stories, and being able to tell those stories through photographs.
In most cases, at least one videographer and reporter will be included in each of these projects. For the domestic projects, the possibility exists to add more.
Students admitted to these projects are expected to research thoroughly the topic(s) of relevant interest they wish to pursue for each project.
Students will be required to pay a fee, most likely to aid in the travel cost of travel. Foreign travel fees could run up to $1,000.
Students may sign up for any, or all, of the projects.
Depending on time of year and other trip variables, each project trip could last from several days up to two weeks. On the domestic trips, the option is open for any needed return trip(s).
The material generated for the reports will be published, either in magazine form or as slideshows on the Internet or as a video documentary.
Students will receive two, possibly three, credits towards their degree.
For more information, contact:
Bruce Thorson, Associate Professor, News-Editorial
College of Journalism and Mass Communications
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
234 Andersen Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0474
bthorson2@unl.edu
402-472-8279 Office
402-472-8597 Fax
