Media at Mizzou

This past week Mizzou has gotten a substantial amount of media attention, not just locally but on the national level as well. As a student who attends the University of Missouri, it has been an emotionally exhausting week on campus. Here is an overview of the things I have experienced:

On Sunday, November 8th, 2015, MU graduate student Jonathan Butler’s hunger strike had gained the media’s attention. Butler’s hunger strike was started due to the lack of attentiveness from the UM system president in regards racial issues and racism on campus. Also, The University of Missouri football team, along with head coach Gary Pinkel, went on strike to not play or practice until UM president, Tim Wolfe resigned his position. This was a big controversy due to the fact that Mizzou had a football game to play at the end of the week on Saturday, November 14th, 2015. A cancellation of the game would have cost the University $1 million.

On Monday, November 9th, 2015, The UM system president, Tim Wolfe officially resigned. Following Wolfe’s resignation, the chancellor of The University of Missouri-Columbia, R. Bowen Loftin also submitted his resignation that will take into effect at the end of this year, 2015. A video of MU School of Communications, Media Professor Melissa Click went viral as she engaged in a verbal confrontation with a senior journalism student at Mizzou. Not only was involved in the video, but Janna Basler, MU director of Greek Life was involved as well. Since this incident, Basler has been placed on administrative leave and Click has lost her courtesy appointment with the School of Journalism. There still has been no word if Click will lose her position or be reprimanded from the School of Communications at MU.

On Tuesday, November 10th, 2015, The University of Missouri-Columbia appointed a new interim chancellor, Dr. Henry “Hank” C. Foley. On Tuesday evening, many hate, racial, terrorist, and suicide threats fled into the feed of the anonymous social media site, Yik Yak. Law enforcement took immediate action and later arrested the young man, Hunter Park of Rolla, Mo. Park was a student at University of Missouri Science & Technology in Rolla, Missouri. Park was the suspect of the hateful crime and speech that was posted on Yik Yak.

On Wednesday, November 11th, 2015 many classes were cancelled or either labeled optional as a result of the threats. Campus was eerie and unsettling. Not many students were on campus and stores downtown were closed. Starbucks, on Ninth street in the downtown district closed because the employees were too scared to go to work.

On Thursday, November 12th, 2015, The UM system appointed a new president, Mike Middleton.

On Friday, November 13th, 2015, head football coach, Gary Pinkel announced his resignation of his position due to his health. Pinkel had been diagnosed with lymphoma in May and will not be returning after the end of this 2015 football season.

Needless to say, it has been a very emotional week to be a tiger. Not only has there been a plethora of media presence on campus, but there has been a lot of tension between students, as well as staff and faculty.

As a journalism student through this time at the number one journalism school in the nation, it has been a time to watch, learn, and apply my skills in anyway possible. I have been able to share information and inform the public through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Steller. My Facebook post which was informative of the un safe situations on campus has received over 3,100 shares and my Steller piece has received over 1,800 views. It is intriguing and interesting to know that my experience, craft, and art as a student journalist is seen all over the world. News travels fast. Word travels fast. Social media travels fast. MULTIMEDIA TRAVELS FAST.

Please pray for the continued safety of all students, faculty, law enforcement, journalists, community members and all associated in the events occurring on The University of Missouri-Columbia’s campus.

Women in the Media

On Monday, October 26, 2015 I attended The Women in Media Panel from 2-2:50 p.m. This event was held in the Fred W. Smith Forum, Reynolds Journalism Institute. This event was a part of the Missouri Honor Medal Winners.
Professor Jacqui Banaszynski lead the discussion of the three Missouri Honor Medal Women.

The event started off with a Subaru forester ad which showed many women driving the vehicle and them talking about how the vehicle drives and its power and then it ended with one woman saying,  “what do we know we are just girls?!”

The event was filled with a lot of wisdom, advice, funny stories, and past experiences shared from these three Missouri Honor Medal Recipients.

Recipient, Merrill Perlman,  has been in the industry for over 40 years. To start off, she shared a story from her time interviewing at the Kansas City Star. Meryl interviewed to be a part of the police beat at the KC Star. During her interview, the KC Star editor said “we just don’t have women doing those jobs.” At the time, she did not challenge this view and opinion. She ended this story stating that she hopes that women will challenge that if that is ever said to them during an interview.

Recipient, Meredith who oversees all of CNN Digital has been in the business for over 20 years. She started her career at The New York Times. As an aspiring journalist it is amazing to see that someone is able to start their career at such a well-known and large platform.

All three panelists touched on the fact that women today are getting tortured with balancing work and personal life and family time, and can we have it all? Barbara Ehrenreich who is currently an author and an activist stated that “I watch my daughters struggle to have it all” She said that she (Barbara) is the un-paid nanny. She stated that her children were small when she started her job as a freelance writer. She stated, “that’s good about the freelance aspect but u can’t make a living anymore.” In regards to this topic, Merrill shared with the audience that she didn’t have any friends who worked nights so she found friends in nurses and police officers since they had the same schedule she does/did.

The women also shared the most essential thing in success in their early years. Barbara stated, “I was able to support myself and still do entirely as a writer.” Meredith stated that she has always valued feedback. When she started her job at The New York Times in her twenties she was able to build her life around journalism but also built journalism around her life. She stated that she met her spouse at work because he was someone who understands the demand. Now, her husband is a stay at home dad to their six year old son.

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