School of Journalism & Media

JEM Students Place Second at SEJC Competition

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SEJC Awards Team

A student team from the UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media placed second among 26 schools in the onsite, deadline-driven team competition at the Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC), which was held Feb. 13-15 at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The Tennessee team earned two individual wins in the onsite competition: senior Gabriela Szymanowska in news and feature photography and senior Will Backus in sports writing.

Senior Kenneth Richmond took second in sports photography, and sophomore Allie Justis placed third in copyediting. Additional Tennessee representatives in the onsite competition included: Ainsley Kelso in arts and culture writing, … Read more “JEM Students Place Second at SEJC Competition”

Documenting Life

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Nick Geidner suspects that if he’d asked his students several years ago if they’d ever watched a documentary, few, if any, would have raised their hands.

So when Land Grant films was born in 2016, Geidner had no idea how wildly successful his documentary program would become.

“We hit at the perfect time,” said Geidner, an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media in the College of Communication and Information. “Netflix and cable have really changed the way people think about documentaries. All of a sudden documentary filmmaking is hip and there’s an audience for it.”

Read … Read more “Documenting Life”

Come Hail or High Water: UT Journalism Students Delve into Extreme Weather

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Melanie Faizer

Melanie Faizer, senior lecturer in UT’s College of Communication and Information’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media, encourages her digital news reporting students to sleuth out hard-hitting stories on significant news topics.

This fall their mission is to report on extreme weather issues, and the students are writing about everything from mosquito-borne illnesses to future fire risks in the Smokies to the way tobacco farmers are converting their fields to hemp.

Their stories, with accompanying info-graphics, will be presented online. Associate Professor Nick Geidner’s “Social Journalism” class is creating a Facebook page to promote the work, too.

Last year, Faizer’s … Read more “Come Hail or High Water: UT Journalism Students Delve into Extreme Weather”

Former NOVA Executive Producer to Spend a Week Mentoring Students at UT

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ORNL Documentary

Sixteen students in a documentary production class at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have spent much of the fall semester at Oak Ridge National Laboratory doing interviews and filming to make a 30-minute documentary about the Spallation Neutron Source.

Now the students—14 undergraduates and two graduate students—are getting an extraordinary opportunity: they will work alongside longtime NOVA executive producer and award-winning science journalist Paula Apsell, who arrives at UT Monday, October 28, for a weeklong distinguished lecturer residency.

As part of her visit, Apsell will deliver a free public lecture, “The Art of Science Communication,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October … Read more “Former NOVA Executive Producer to Spend a Week Mentoring Students at UT”

After Whitewater Canoeing, Kerns Finds Grad School Smooth Sailing

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Journalism PhD student Charli Kerns has fought her way through whitewater rapids and cascaded over waterfalls in her canoe. Knowing that adrenaline rush, she doesn’t get too stressed out over research, writing, or teaching a class.

Kerns been an action sports enthusiast since being introduced to kayaking through UT’s Outdoor Pursuits during her undergraduate days on Rocky Top. She later picked up canoeing and now considers whitewater canoeing her main sport. She’s traversed waterways across the United States as well as in Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, France, and India.

She’s managed to translate her love for action sports—the preferred … Read more “After Whitewater Canoeing, Kerns Finds Grad School Smooth Sailing”

JEM Students Earn Regional Journalism Accolades

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SEJC Onsite TeamStudents from the UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media (JEM) competed at the Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC), taking home two onsite victories and a wide range of additional awards. This year’s conference was held Feb. 14-16 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

JEM assembled an eight-journalist squad to participate in the onsite competition for the first time, finishing in a third-place tie with Lipscomb University in team scoring. The competition required a well-rounded group of specialists from writers and editors to photographers and broadcast reporters. The top three competitors for each division were recognized, including first-place finishes … Read more “JEM Students Earn Regional Journalism Accolades”

Watch Live as Team Provides Social Media Monitoring of Super Bowl’s Ads

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Stuart N. Brotman work with graduate student James Zhang and senior Maggie Akins to examine Super Bowl LIII's ads.A faculty member and a team of students from UT’s College of Communication and Information will be providing real-time analysis of Super Bowl LIII’s commercials for WLVT on Sunday.

Viewers will be able to see them at work on the station’s Facebook page and during the 10 p.m. coverage on WBXX, the CW Knoxville.

The team has been preparing and investigating the ads that were released early. They have been trained in the Adam Brown Social Media Command Center in the College of Communication and Information, which uses Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio software to analyze Twitter messages and trends.… Read more “Watch Live as Team Provides Social Media Monitoring of Super Bowl’s Ads”

JEM student and faculty productions accepted for screening at 2018 film festivals

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Knox Film Fest Header Image

School of Journalism and Electronic Media (JEM) professor Dr. Nick Geidner, and nine former or current JEM students will have their short-form documentaries screened at three upcoming film festivals: the Knox Film Fest https://www.knoxfilmfest.com in Knoxville, TN, the Full Bloom Film Festival http://fullbloomfilmfestival.com in Statesville, NC, and the Immigration Film Festival http://immigrationfilmfest.org in Washington, DC.

The documentaries to be featured at the Knox Film Fest (September 14-16, 2018) are:

  • “7 Days in America,” directed by JEM professor Nick Geidner.
  • “Welcome Home Brother,” directed by Isaac Fowler (JEM ’18) and Tim Morris (JEM ’18).
  • “Abigail’s Picnic,” directed by Brock Zych (JEM
… Read more “JEM student and faculty productions accepted for screening at 2018 film festivals”

Torchbearer Justin Crawford reflects on JEM-CCI experience, opportunities.

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Justin Crawford on the set of ABC's Good Morning America. Image courtesy of Justin Crawford. For Torchbearer and recent alum Justin Crawford, an undergraduate program in Journalism and Electronic Media was about more than just a degree.

Throughout the past four years of packed semesters, summer internships, and extracurricular programs, he found time to work as a career advisor with the Center for Career Development, a student director helping new arrivals in the Ignite program, and as an anchor and producer across the Knoxville media market, scoring spots at NBC, FOX, and ESPN affiliates.

That perseverance and dedication to his craft led to not one, but two prestigious post-graduation internships. In May, Crawford set off … Read more “Torchbearer Justin Crawford reflects on JEM-CCI experience, opportunities.”