Jac Magazine

JAC Hampton University

SPRING 2014

Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications

DEBUT ISSUE Anita Blanton: Savvy, Strategic TV News Pro Scripps Howard Hosts 36th Conference on the Black Family Launching this Fall: Center for Innovation in Digital Media

magazine JAC DEBUT ISSUE Spring 2014

Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications

Upcoming events May 29 A handful of Hampton students will intern in the Scripps Howard Semester in Washington program. Their duties traditionally include covering the Scripps National Spelling Bee for a number of local newspapers.

July 30 to August 3 National Association of Black Journalists convention, Sheraton Boston Hotel & John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center. Scripps Howard School will host a reception.

Also, alumni and faculty will speak and present at forums and workshops.

Cover: Anita Blanton anchors an evening newscast at WAZYTV 10 in Norfolk.

Left: Scripps Howard School houses over 400 students in journalism and communications.

Photos by Michael DiBari Jr.

Anita Blanton, Miss Hampton University 2005

Senior Mariah Crews at the Winter Olympics, Sochi, Russia

ABC News Anchor Byron Pitts moderates during the Conference on the Black Family

features 6

Anita Blanton, ’05, Savvy, Strategic News Pro

Former Miss Hampton is congenial and conscientious

12

Scripps Hosts Conference On the Black Family National media stars, expert professionals, sage faculty heat up forums

18

Class of ’14 Senior Interns for NBC at Winter Olympics in Russia

Three months before graduation, Mariah Crews was schooled in Sochi

FOLLOW US Facebook Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications at Hampton U.

FILL US IN TOO Tell us what’s new in your career and your life. Visit shsjc.hamptonu.edu, go the alumni tab and complete and online questionnaire.

Or call us at 757-727-5437or send faxes 757-728-6011

JAC Magazine

3

JAC

DEBUT ISSUE Spring 2014

magazine

Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications Dean

Brett A. Pulley Executive Editor

Wayne Dawkins Graphics Editor

Michael DiBari Jr. Writers Jared Council Kathryn Kenny

departments 16

Scene and Be Seen

The bold and beautiful are spotted at the WHOV Lounge and the Head Over Heels Awards Banquet

22

Center for Digital Innovation

Students learn what’s app

23

Scripps Interns Go Global

As dozens fan out to U.S.-based media companies, a few jump continents

Members of the Scripps Howard School’s Board of Advisors Tim Armstrong: CEO, AOL Corp., Richard Boehne: President and CEO, E.W. Scripps Co., Subhash Chandra: Founder and Chairman, Essel Group, Barbara Ciara: Anchor and Managing Editor, WTKR NewsChannel 3, Norfolk, Virginia, Mark Cuban: Chairman, HDNet; Owner, NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Michael Days: Editor, Philadelphia Daily News, Pat Ford: Global Vice-Chairman, Burson-Marsteller, Simon Gillham: Senior Executive VP, Communications, Vivendi Corp., Michelle Hord-White: VP, Talent Development & Pipeline Programs, NBC Universal, Kim L. Hunter: President and CEO, Lagrant Communications, Sheila Johnson: Co-Founder, Black Entertainment TV; CEO, Salamander Hospitality, Rob King: Senior VP and Editor-in-Chief; ESPN Digital Media, Phyllis McGrady: Former Senior VP, Creative Development, ABC News, Michelle Miller: Correspondent, CBS News, Zenia Mucha: Executive VP and Chief Communications Officer, Walt Disney Co., James Murdoch: Deputy Chief Operating Officer, News Corp., Norman Pearlstine: Chief Content Officer, Time Inc., Mike Philipps: President and CEO, Scripps Howard Foundation, David Rhodes: President, CBS News, Desiree Rodgers: CEO, Johnson Publishing Co., Harry Smith: Correspondent, NBC News, Paul Steiger: CEO and President, ProPublica, Jim Wiatt: Strategic Advisor to AOL; Former CEO, William Morris Agency Inc., Michael Wolf: Founder and Managing Director, Activate

4

2014 Issue 1

Photographers Keeli Howard Editorial Assistants Mariah Crews Jentill Neal Seantasia Twiggs Amber Van Noy Deniqua Washington Julia Weldon-Hall Copy Editors Kathryn De Shields Shantel Hanley Nichelle Parker Contributors Battinto Batts Drew Berry Allie-Ryan Butler Earl Caldwell Mavis Carr Carol Davis William Leonard Kangming Ma Francis McDonald Joy McDonald Reginald Mitchell B. Davida Plummer Van Dora Williams April Woodard

Growing a Nation Dean Brett A. Pulley

welcome

Wondrous things are happening here in the midst of the old oak tree down by the sea.

This summer, nearly 50 Scripps Howard School students are working in paid internships at media companies around the country and overseas. They are spending weeks at places such as CBS News, Bloomberg News, NBC Sports, Black Entertainment Television, ABC “Good Morning America,” Al Jazeera, Burson-Marsteller, Essence, and The New York Times. These internships are just some of the burgeoning benefits of the many global media partnerships that we’ve been forming over the past couple of years. More people are learning what we already know: Scripps Howard students are exceptional, and valuable.

Here on campus, our facilities have been buzzing. We are doing talk shows featuring industry experts, produced before a live audience inside our television studio. Students are producing a live weekly newscast – one that airs on our new WHOV–TV 9 cable channel. Meanwhile, our legendary WHOV-FM radio station has never sounded better, broadcasting smooth jazz, gospel, talk and HU sports, and now heard globally on iHeartRadio, as well as Sirius satellite radio.

We have just been reaccredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. It’s a fresh stamp of approval from the global standard bearer in journalism education. And among the ongoing enhancements to our curriculum is a new focus on business journalism and communications, complete with a financial newsroom and news and stock ticker. Starting this fall, we’ll begin our first foray into the world of digital media research and entrepreneurship, when we launch the pilot for our Center for Innovation in Digital Media. It’s something that I’ve been lobbying for since my arrival here more than two years ago. And now, thanks to a generous grant from the Knight Foundation, it’s about to see the light of day.

Everyone here, from our dedicated faculty and staff, to our earnest and terrific students, deserves credit for the school’s upward trajectory. And now, we’re especially proud to introduce JAC, the Scripps Howard School’s first publication for alumni, supporters and friends. In these pages, you’ll find features on our school, its students and alumni, and personal and professional updates on our graduates, as well as photos from our events. I hope you enjoy it.

As our own Professor Wayne Dawkins, who we’re fortunate to have serving as the launch editor of this publication, likes to say: “We are building a JAC nation.” That, we are.

And by the way, I’ll hope to see you in Boston this summer, at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention. Be sure to drop by and toast the future with us at our “Black JAC Reception.”

Until then, all the best,

JAC Magazine

5

JACfeature 2005 Graduate

Anita Blanton Savvy, Strategic TV News Pro

By Jared Council

I

t was just before 3:30 p.m. in the newsroom of Portsmouth, Virginia-based WAVY-TV 10 on a Friday in March, roughly 90 minutes before a contract between the station’s parent company LIN Media and cable company Cox Communications was set to expire.

For Hampton University alumna Anita Blanton, it was also four hours before she was scheduled to be in nearby Newport News, Virginia to emcee a ball for the Tidewater Peninsula Baptist Association.

But the most important deadline for Blanton was 4 p.m., the start time of the evening news show she anchors. So at a desk sprawled with reporter notes, scripts, a desk phone with unchecked messages and a half-full Poland Spring water bottle missing a cap, Blanton did some final editing on a story for that show.

That is, until general manager Doug Davis called an impromptu meeting.

“Here’s the deal,” he said, explaining the latest on the Cox negotiations to a few dozen WAVY employees gathered around him. About 150 people are employed there. When the roughly 13-minute meeting was through, Blanton headed Anita Blanton of WAVY TV-10, reports on accidents in Norfolk’s downtown tunnel during an evening newscast.

Photograph by Michael DiBari Jr.

for the main studio.

“This turned out to be a much busier day than I thought it would be,” said Blanton.

But it wasn’t anything Blanton couldn’t handle.

The 31-year-old has been in the TV news industry since she graduated from the Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications in 2005. She worked at TV news stations in Texas, Richmond and Oklahoma City, reporting live and anchoring wall-to-wall coverage on some of the most impactful news events to hit those communities.

She’s covered tornados, blizzards and wildfires and has won several awards. She was a part of a team that covered the Virginia Tech shootings and NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s federal trial related to dog fighting. Even before she got in the industry she did internships throughout college, including interning at WAVY after her freshman year.

“She paid her dues. She’s got the experience, so she knows what she’s doing,” said WAVY evening news anchor Nicole Livas, who was at the station when Blanton was an intern. “She’s not a spring chicken.”

JAC Magazine

7

JACfeature Anita Blanton [continued]

Back in the studio, television monitors surround the room but don’t draw nearly as much attention as the personalities at the anchor desk. Blanton, in a black dress and a cropped cream blazer, is flanked by co-anchor Stephanie Harris to the left, and meteorologist Don Slater is farther left.

It’s 3:53:46 p.m., according to a jumbo digital clock on the opposite side of the room. Technicians check microphones and cameras as the newscasters check scripts. After some newscaster small talk, Blanton checks Twitter, one of the many responsibilities of TV journalists these days.

With about 45 seconds until 4 p.m., someone walking behind the remotecontrol cameras stumbles just slightly, prompting Blanton to pleasantly say, “Careful. We don’t want breaking news in the studio.”

“Thirty seconds,” a camera operator says.

B

lanton probably wouldn’t have been sitting in front of any camera in any studio if it were not for a key decision she made during her senior year at Hampton.

The previous summer, Blanton interned at NBC Universal in New York, specifically under a talent-recruitment executive whose job was to pull local newscasters up to the network.

“It was really cool as an intern. I saw Jacque Reid’s resume reel,” Blanton said about the nationallyrenowned journalist who now works at NBC 4 New York.

8 2014 Issue 1

Nicole Livas, left, co-anchors with Anita Blanton at WAVY TV-10.

Photograph courtesy of Anita Blanton

Blanton said that after the internship NBC officials recommended she apply to the NBC Page Program, which would have entailed doing “some of everything” behind the scenes at NBC Universal. She applied and got a job offer in October.

That spring, she participated in a National Association of Black Journalists short course at North Carolina A&T University, a boot camp of sorts for broadcast journalism students. Kerwin Speight, a night side executive producer with WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., was a mentor at the program at the time.

“In the classroom I remember that she asked a lot of questions and contributed a lot to the

we’ll get right to the weather. The weekend is here and everyone wants to know: Will it warm up?”

Slater gave a brief preview of the forecast for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and Blanton and Harris took turns relaying news about drug thefts from ambulances, a carbon monoxide leak at a local Wal-Mart and more before breaking for commercials. Later in the newscast, the story Blanton reported and edited about a pre-dawn fiery crash in the Downtown Tunnel would air.

Livas said one of the things that stands out about Blanton is her commitment to stay connected.

Blanton’s first job out of college was with KTXS-TV in Abilene, Texas, which she left after eight months and headed to KWTX-TV in Waco, Texas. Next came WRIC-TV in Richmond, followed by KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City and finally WAVY in January 2013.

Throughout that journey, Livas said she was familiar with Blanton’s activities.

“She always reached out to me for advice,” Livas said, “She would send me links so I could follow her work and I would see her sometimes at conferences.”

W

discussion,” Speight said. “She also anchored the newscast that year and her ability to anchor was outstanding amongst her peers.”

As with all students, Speight talked with Blanton about her post-graduation plans, and she told him about the page program. By the time Blanton returned to Hampton, she decided that she wasn’t going the page route.

“I don’t remember the exact words, but remember saying to her, ‘If you want to be a reporter and eventually be an anchor, you need to go do that,’” Speight said. “‘There’s nothing wrong with the page program, but you’ll get closer where you want to be by going and being a reporter.’”

“Ten seconds,” the WAVY camera operator said, and Blanton came in right on time:“First at 4,

hen a position opened up at WAVY in late 2012, Livas recommended Blanton apply for it and also put in a good word about Blanton, whom she felt was ready. Speaking generally, Livas said she has a folder in her e-mail account called “mentoring” with emails from people who keep in touch and impress her.

“When something comes up I say ‘Hey, let me send this reel to my boss or someone else,’” Livas said.

“I know a million people in the business now, and a lot of them are hiring mangers.”

She went on to say, “It’s not that many. I’m looking at the folder now. It’s not that many because most people don’t take the time to do it.”

Blanton fixed her hair during the commercial break, and then delivered more news when she was back on air. She sticked to the script but wasn’t afraid to sprinkle a personal touch after some stories, calling newborn baby animals cute on one occasion.

At 4:38 p.m. she said “Yay!” off-air when news came in that Lin and Cox reached a deal.

A promo of Blanton’s Downtown Tunnel story about a passenger car rear-ending a parked tunnel contractor vehicle would run soon, and a full version would

JAC Magazine

9

JACfeature Anita Blanton [continued] run during the 6 o’clock show. So she continued no connections initially but ultimately became writing the script during commercial breaks. deeply involved in the community. It was difficult

Blanton’s road to WAVY was not entirely to leave for that reason, she said, but things went paved with smooth asphalt. At her first job in sour at the station: She was replaced as morning Abilene – the 165th largest market – she was a anchor in April 2012. good writer but an un “It was definitely skilled editor, so she had a hit. It was a blow,” she to hone those skills there. said. “I was confused “My first story I put in as to why it happened was hideous,” she said. because I had so much

At her second positive feedback.” job in Waco, market No.

Speight said he 98 at the time, Blanton’s was working in Pittsskills grew markedly. burgh at the time of the Every few weeks at most, ordeal, and he said he she said, she was sharing told Blanton that that’s her work with mentors the nature of the she met along the way. “I business. “There are times was constantly when you’re replaced and sending them stuff,” she it may not be you. It may said. “OK, what do you be some other circumthink about this makeup? stances,” he said. “But What do you think about you’ve still got to keep this hairdo? What do you working and you’ve still think about this got to do a good job.” live-shot? What do you

Blanton said stathink about this story?” tion executives have their

“When they said own reasons for making I was ready to move, I the decisions they do, moved.” and there’s little

She left Waco in employees can do about In 2005, Anita Blanton was crowned Miss Hampton less than a year, but prior University. Photograph courtesy of Anita Blanton it. She said being passed to that she was interested over in Waco hurt, she in an anchor job she observed something similar in Richmond, and all frequently filled in for. The station hired some-one the situations strengthened her. else for the position.

“I learned that your existence can’t be in your job,” she said. “That’s why when I got to ext came Richmond, where she started as a Oklahoma I really jumped into things outside of night side reporter in November 2006. For my job. Because when things go sour, you will lose the first two months she had to endure getting off yourself if you don’t have an existence outside of work around midnight, but she eventually became your job.” a morning anchor. She left around October 2008.

When the 4 p.m. newscast wrapped up,

She spent the next four years as morning Blanton did a quick hit on her Downtown anchor in Oklahoma City, a place where she had Tunnel story for the 5 p.m. show, which was

N 10 2014 Issue 1

Above: Anita Blanton, above, talks with Chief Meteorologist Don Slater during an evening newscast. Right: Blanton takes about a minute to prepare herself before going on-air.

Photographs by Michael DiBari Jr.

anchored by 7-year WAVY veteran Tom Schaad. No one was seriously injured in the crash, but the workers at the site walked to the station to relay concerns about safety and Blanton took on the story the next news day.

“It’s a good story,” Schaad said at the anchor desk off-air. “It’s good to hear from these guys. It really is. Too often we don’t hear their stories.”

Council, a 2010 Scripps Howard School graduate, is a reporter at the Hampton Roads Business Journal.

JAC Magazine

11

JACnews Scripps Howard School Hosts the 2014 Conference on the Black Family

By Wayne Dawkins Photographs by Michael DiBari Jr.

B

illionaire Sheila C. Johnson, co-founder of BET and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts, was keynote speaker at the 36th Conference on the Black Family at Hampton University. The theme was “Essentially Black: The Media and the Modern American Family.” The Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications – among 11 schools within the university – was host March 19-21.

During the Wednesday night opening session, Johnson told an Ogden Hall audience the back story about her role in producing the hit movie, “The Butler.” After Washington Post writer Wil Haygood’s 2008 article morphed into a moving screenplay, Johnson said she was named executive producer. She was tasked with raising $30 million in order to make the movie. She wanted black investors, even rappers, she told an audience of about 900 people.

Johnson ended up bringing in three dozen investors. She said the movie took off once The Weinstein Company, controlled by studio mogul Harvey Weinstein, agreed to handle distribution.

So why was “The Butler” released last August, virtually killing its chances for Oscar or Golden Globe consideration? “We had to make our money back,” Johnson explained, so they chose a release date that would not face as much competition from other films at the box office. As of the day Johnson spoke on campus, “The Butler” had grossed $180 million, Sheila C. Johnson opened the 2014 Conference on the Black Family in Ogdon Hall speaking about the making of the successful theatrical movie, The Butler. The movie trailer played overhead.

Below: Hampton University students listen to Johnson’s speech.

JAC Magazine

13

JACnews a three-fold return on investment, she said.

Later during the opening ceremony, this year’s Honored Black Family, the Gardner-MillerMorial clan, was announced. Family members in attendance included octogenarian Edna Gardner, a 1946 alumna and matriarch of three generations of HU graduates; her niece Michelle Miller, CBS News correspondent, and Miller’s husband Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans.

The next day was full of standing-room only panel discussions and forums titled “50 Shades of Black,” “Spirituality, Sexuality and Multi-Ethnicity,” and “Health, Wellness and Longevity.” By night the campus Student Center ballroom was transformed into a Hollywood-style “WHOV Lounge” starring After 7, featuring Kevon Edmonds and the comedy of Willie & Woody.

At the Friday forum, “Love life? Love guns?” moderator Byron Pitts of ABC News guided an exchange that presented the face, numbers and psychological toll of gun violence. Nardyne Jeffries of Washington, D.C. held up a portrait photo of her teenage daughter Brishell Jones, then a second photo of her disfigured, bullet-riddled and lifeless face. Brishell was slain in 2010 with an AK-47 rifle during a turf war between gangs. The mother turned her grief into social action by working with grass-roots and nonprofit organizations for universal background checks.

Josh Horowitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence cited the numbers: Of 30,000 American firearms deaths on average annually, 12,000 of them were murders, and, of those homicides, 48 percent of the victims were African-Americans.

Candace Wallace, a Hampton University psychology professor, said mass media content – reality TV shows particularly – reinforced perceptions that black life was cheap. She also cited Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD] as a symptom prevalent in violent urban areas just as in battle zones.

During the audience Q&A, Rushard Anderson, a JAC student, told the panel he had witnessed gun violence up close at least twice in his hometown Richmond. He asked what to tell his friends who tell him “he’s made it” because he’s on campus and away from the mayhem while they remain in the crossfire.

14

2014 Issue 1

“I believe it’s going to change,” Horowitz replied.

“Murder and death rates are going down.”

Pitts meanwhile urged the audience to avoid the phrase “black on black” violence. Statistically, violence in America, said Pitts, often involves similar people living in close proximity, whether it is “white on white, black on black or midget on midget.”

The conference closed with a “Head over Heels” luncheon that paid tribute to a select group of women who achieved extraordinary success in communications, womanhood and family values. Debbie Pollock-Berry of D.C. area-based OX Communications was the keynote speaker, and the other honorees were Barbara Ciara, Bonita BillingsleyHarris, Lynne Harris-Taylor and Tina Lewis.

The conference planning committee included Chairman and Scripps Howard School dean, Brett

Pulley and co-chairs April Woodard and Allie-Ryan Butler, both Scripps Howard assistant professors.

Above: From left, ESPN NBA analyst Chris Broussard, HU Chaplain Rev. Debra Haggins, and Rev. Adrian Woodard of Favor Nation Church of Chesapeake discuss “Spirituality, Sexuality and Multi-Ethnicity.�

Right: From left, ABC News Anchor Byron Pitts leads a discussion on gun violence with community activist Nardyne Jefferies, Washington, D.C., and Josh Horowitz, J.D. of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

JAC Magazine

15

JAC

gallery

Scene and Be Seen Head Over Heels Awards Luncheon; WHOV Lounge After-Hours Party

1

5

2

3

4

Clockwise from upper left: 1) Edna Miller Gardner, Paul Gardner, Claudette Solomon; 2) Bonita Billingley-Harris, Debbie PollakBerry, Barbara Ciara, Lynne Taylor-Harris; 3) Marcella Jones, Stacey Pulley, Drew Berry, Michelle Miller, April Woodard; 4) Kevon Edmonds, Carletta Perry, Marc Harris; 6) Michael V. Roberts and Carol Davis.

16

2014 Issue 1

1

7

2

3

4

6

5

Clockwise from upper left: 1) Brett Pulley, Kim Perkins; 2) Carletta Perry, Chris Broussard, Debra Haggins, Adrian Woodard; 3) Tamika Quinn, Marc Morial, Sean Washington, Edith White; 4) Drew Berry, Sheila D. Brooks; 5)Marc Morial, William R. Harvey; 6)Claudette Solomon, Drew Berry, William Leonard, Allie-Ryan Butler, Kevon Edmonds, Lanette Johnson, Carol Davis, Brett Pulley, April Woodard; 7) Lynn Gardner, Paul Gardner Jr., Paul Gardner, Edna Miller Gardner, and Michelle Miller.

JAC Magazine

17

JAC

foreign affairs

Mariah Crews ‘14 Interns for NBC at Winter Olympics

By Kathryn Kenny

I

t’s a brisk February morning in Sochi, Russia, and the sun is barely peeking over the horizon. The freshly fallen snow is crisp under the soles of every busybody bustling about at such an early hour.

In front of a stream of lights, camera cords and a teleprompter stands Mariah Crews, senior broadcast journalism major from Hampton University, nervously reviewing her script as she prepares to go on-air for the first time. The sun continues to rise as the rays gently grace her face.

The cameraman counts down “...3...2...1.”

He cues her to speak. Raising the microphone, she looks into the camera confidently.

“Good Morning. This is Mariah Crews reporting live with NBC from Sochi, Russia, at the 2014 Winter Olympics...” She says the words as if they come naturally. This experience and many others were firsts for Crews while interning with NBC for the Winter Olympics. In an interview, Crews recalled that brisk morning in Sochi and discussed her time covering the Olympics.

“I got to go on a shoot every other day--literally every other day I would go to the mountains or go to do an interview with Meryl and Charlie,” said Crews. “Every other day I was doing something important. Other days I would

18

2014 Issue 1

type up information and do logging, ensuring that pictures were posted on the web from NBC photographers. Either way, I was doing something awesome. I felt like I got lucky.”

Over the past several years NBC has partnered with Bradley University, Ithaca College and Syracuse University and most recently, the Emma Bowen Foundation to recruit college students to aid with Olympic coverage. One school in particular, Ithaca, sent as many as 34 students at one time.

The Upper Marlboro, Md. native was one of the seven minority students selected to attend the Sochi Olympics via the Emma Bowen Foundation, a non-profit organization that prepares minority students for careers in media.

“If it were not for the Emma Bowen Foun dation,” Crews explained, “there would be hardly any minority students there. It just blew my mind that I got to be there. “Emma Bowen got our foot in the door. Emma Bowen has some amazing connections.”

A

fter a competitive application process, Crews found herself boarding an 11-hour flight to Russia. The month-long program lasted from Jan. 25 to Feb. 25.

Crews said, “When I heard I was going to Russia, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I mean, I don’t even know of anyone that’s ever been to Russia

Above: Mariah Crews, far right, poses with Summer Sanders, third from the right, and the Flower Kids of the Olympics at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia. The Flower Kids are the children who retrieve the flowers after every figure skating performance. Summer is an 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist, and the host for the P&G Olympic Journey Segments. Left: Mariah Crews poses with one of the mascots of the Winter Olympics, outside of the Athlete’s Village in Sochi, Russia. Photographs courtesy of Mariah Crews

before, so it was exciting.”

Previously, The Emma Bowen Foundation partnered with NBC in 2012, sending students to the Summer Olympics in London, Crews was offered a chance to attend but she declined.

Instead, Crews worked as an intern for C-Span for four years through the foundation.

While in Sochi, students acted as “runners” and “loggers” completing tasks and running errands. They also organized highlight reels from the events throughout the games.

“One good thing about the NBC Olympics program is that regardless of what you’re doing, you feel like you are important,” said Crews.

“You meet tons of people and you get to go to a lot

of the events.”

Initially, Crews started as a runner with most of the other interns in the program. It wasn’t long until she and one other intern from Ithaca University, were placed in the NBCOlympics.com division where they worked for the remainder of their stay.

In the online division, Crews had the opportunity to assist in producing and editing segments, an opportunity that many interns were not afforded. “I did not do any remedial tasks. I didn’t get anybody their coffee, anybody their food or anything like that,” said Crews. “Everything that I did, I felt it was very important. I felt like I was really involved in it. Either way, if I had to go get

JAC Magazine

19

JAC

foreign affairs

A local Russian native vendor sells both authentic Russian products, such as Matryoshka dolls and official Olympic merchandise, cups, scarves etc. Photographs courtesy of Mariah Crews

coffee I would have been doing jumping jacks and been happy about it.”

T

hroughout her time in the online division, Crews forged close relationships with many professional women field reporters. “The broadcast manager was like my mom. I know that sounds really cliché, but they were like a family. They took care of me even up to the last day, before boarding the plane.”

One reporter in particular, Summer Sanders, took Crews under her wing. Sanders is a former competitive swimmer and Olympian.

20

2014 Issue 1

Sanders is now a sports commentator and reporter for a variety of media outlets. Crews described this experience as “life-changing.”

“I met so many amazing people, especially amazing women,” said Crews. “It’s really powerful to see such strong women commanding the industry and having a family life at home.”

Much like Sanders, before journalism, Crews was also an athlete. She was a varsity cheerleader all four years of high school. “I guess you can say I was the All-Star cheerleader,” said Crews.

Though having previous knowledge in sports, Crews confessed that she had a lot to learn

about some competitive sports featured at the my skills in so many ways. I honestly feel like the Winter Games. best way you can learn is being out in the field.

“Before I went to Russia for the Olympics Yes, class is really important because it gives you I knew nothing about ice hockey,” said Crews, “But your headset and gets your mind right but nothing just getting to watch it there and experience it live could have prepared me for this experience because was amazing. It was interesting to watch because all every single day was a new experience for me and eyes were on the game. It was so intense – whenev- you’re learning constantly and you have to go be on er anyone scored or whenever a bad call was made, the fly. It never goes as planned.” everyone was up and roaring. I’ve never yelled at a

Crews attributes her journalistic success to scene before for hockey. I knew nothing about it her positive attitude. “People say I’m always before I got there but I know a lot about it now.” smiling- so when you’re always smiling people

Along with developing take note of that and they are an interest in hockey, Crews took going to be more inclined to particular interest in figure skating. give you more opportunities “Working with Growing up, she and her mother and to work with you because Summer really enjoyed watching the Winter you’re likeable” she said. opened my eyes Olympics specifically for the ice She offers advice to young dancing competitions. Crews journalists, telling them to to what it is to credits her interest to her mother’s “make their own sunshine.” be a woman in former experience in the sport.

“The biggest thing, I

“When my mom was encourage anybody who sports.” younger she used to be a wants to be successful to do figure skater until the coach told is to make sure you’re always -Mariah Crews her that she was too good to be excited and enthusiastic about taught in group classes and she what you’re doing,” Crews needed to be taught individually.” Crews’ grandpar- added, “Because no one is going to bring you to ents believed the one-on-one lessons were a scheme the next level when you can’t even be excited and to get more money so they pulled her mother from involved and wanting to do your best at whatever it the lessons. “It’s funny because, my mom was upset is that they’ve offered or given you.” about it,” she said. “Of course my mom thought

Crews is actively involved in a variety of she was going to be the next Yuna Kim.” organizations and projects on and off campus. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. rews will graduate in May. Before her internas well as a member of the Student Leadership ship, Crews aspired to be a political analyst.

Program and a former Hampton University She takes her learned experiences from the OlymPresidential Fellow. She is also the creator and pics and has used them to revamp her dreams director of a mentorship initiative, BOSS (Beauty, going forward.

Originality, Self respect, and Self Worth), a

“Now I’m definitely more interested in the program that was founded in honor of Crews’ sports side of things.” said Crews. “Working with childhood friend, who died recently in a car Summer really opened my eyes to what it is to be a accident. Crews is working on getting that program woman in sports.” incorporated.

Crews believes that nothing could have prepared her for this experience. She describes it Kenney is a 2014 graduate who will be participating as “invaluable lessons.” The internship “advanced in The New York Times Summer Institute.

C

JAC Magazine

21

JAC

in the news

Scripps Howard Receives $245,000 Media Innovation Grant

T

he Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications was awarded a $245,000 grant from the trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The grant will be used to create a pilot for a Center for Innovation in Digital Media. This will enable HU students to learn about and explore new ways of gathering and distributing media content, which will ultimately make them competitive industry executives as well as successful entrepreneurs.

“The news and information industry is hungry for innovations and ideas that leverage the power of digital technology,” said Brett Pulley, dean of the Scripps Howard School.

“We are establishing a program that will enable our students to be included among the great young minds now focused on creating new media platforms and pioneering the future of our industry.”

HU plans to launch the pilot next fall. The grant will cover strategic partnerships with media corporations, digital media research projects, producing business plans and media products such as apps, and further placing graduates in digital media jobs.

About the HU Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications “Give light and the people will find their own way.” This is the motto of the Scripps Howard Foundation, and it has been the guiding inspiration of Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications since its inception in 2002. At that time, the Foundation provided more than $10 million to build new facilities and turn Hampton’s former department of Mass Media Arts, which started in 1967, into a separate school within the university. The school prepares students for careers in media and provides a special environment that teaches the core principles of journalism and communications, while producing ethical and competitive leaders who pursue excellence in their field.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of communities in the United States where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers. The Knight Foundation invests in ideas and projects that can lead to transformational change.

Faculty Activities Assistant Professor Battinto Batts, Ph.D., director of the William R. Harvey Leadership Institute, in April returned full-time to the Scripps Howard School as assistant dean. Batts led the institute from November 2010 until his new appointment.

Meanwhile, Assistant Professor B. DaVida Plummer was named the new director of the William R. Harvey Leadership Institute. Plummer, who is news director of WHOV radio and television “Scripps Howard News watch,” will still continue to teach in Scripps Howard. This summer, Plummer will be an International 22

2014 Issue 1

Center for Journalists fellow at CNBC in New York.

Assistant Batts Plummer Butler Williams Professor Allie-Ryan Assistant Professor Van Dora Williams Butler was was awarded a full-tuition scholarawarded a fellowship from the Advership at Regent University, where she tising Educational Foundation, in a is pursuing a Ph.D. in communicaprogram designed for professors of adtions. Williams received the Azusa vertising, marketing, communications Street scholarship, an award based on and the liberal arts. He will spend two weeks this June in either Los Angeles or academic performance and work in the African-American community.

New York, working with Deutsch Inc.

Scripps Howard Interns Go Global Meanwhile, Dozens of Peers Fan out Across U.S.

Two Scripps Howard School juniors will hone their craft at summer internships overseas, while nearly four dozen fellow students will fan out across the United States to pursue other internships.

At press time, 43 undergraduate and three postgraduate internships were announced, with additional internship offers in progress. The bulk of the internships are in broadcast news.

Brandon Theo Dorsey was awarded the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition in Japan in addition to a NBC Sports fellowship.

Nia Vaughan was awarded an MTV Viacom

internship. She will report from Paris. “Please join me in celebrating the success of so many of our students who have landed great summer internships,” said Internship Coordinator B. Davida Plummer, an assistant professor.

“Some students have multiple offers.”

During the 2013-14 academic year, representatives from the following media companies visited the Scripps Howard School to recruit talent: Bloomberg, “CBS This Morning,” New York Times, Google, Scripps Howard Foundation, Paramount Webinar, Calkins Media, NBC Universal, and Disney/ABC. – Wayne Dawkins

Roll call of student internships: Ahmanda Jackson, Scripps TV, Tampa Stacy Green, Scripps Semester in Washington Meghan Kee, Scripps TV and CBS Fellowship Kristian Winfield, NBC Sports fellowship Nia Vaughan, MTV/Viacom-Paris Marlena Smith, NBC Sports Julian Sparks, Bloomberg Tyra Virgil, Metro DC Airports Authority Sekia Magnum, Scripps Semester in Washington Evan Winston, Scripps TV, Knoxville, Tenn.

Dekyan Dennis, WRAL-TV, Raleigh, N.C. Khadijah Givs, U.S. Department of Agriculture Simone Hunter, U.S. Department of Transportation John Earl Glenn III, Philadelphia Navy Yard Michael Pittman, Independence Blue Cross Porchia Bradford, Positive Dialogue Communications Katerra Jones, Prince George’s County, Md. Community TV Phillip Eric Jackson, Charles County, Md. Government Television Alyson Jones, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, Tenn.

Kathryn Kenny, New York Times Summer Institute, New Orleans Brandon Theo Dorsey, NBC Sports fellowship and Nine Days in Japan Kimani Bunch, NBC Universal “Disrupt with Karen Finney,” and BET Keeli Howard, UCLA Diversity Project/Summer in Indonesia Sydnei Fryson, Scripps TV, Indianapolis and

Scripps Semester in Washington

Deniqua Washington, ABC “Good Morning America” Bria Board, Macy’s Inc. Marketing Christian Lewis, Chris Broussard Tru Access Nigel Powell, Chris Broussard Tru Access Lawrence Rigby, Al Jazeera David Woods, STA Phocused Kia Robinson, Viacom Jesse Lyles, Respect magazine Amber Gardner, Simmons Rose Ashley Liggins, WHRO, Norfolk, Va. Marlena Smith, NBC Universal Joshua Perrin, The Brunswick Group Nia Warfield, ABC “20/20” Lauren Woods, Coca-Cola Company Chantell Thornton, Jenna Communications LLC Jordan Grice, ESPN.com Phillip Bolling, ESPN Radio Mikea Granberry, BCBG Ashia Aubrey, FOX-TV, Memphis Chya Staton, Scripps TV, Baltimore Danielle Hawkins, MSNBC “The Last Word with

Lawrence O’Donnell” Meredith Barnett, Virginia Association of Broadcasters,

Sinclair Entercom and American Red Cross Domanique Jordan, U.S. Marshal’s Office

JAC Magazine

23

Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications Hampton University 546 E. Queen St. Hampton University Hampton, VA 23668

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID HAMPTON, VA PERMIT NO. 73

Take your place in history…

Secure the future As a valued member of the Scripps Howard School, we invite you to permanently etch your legacy at our “Home by the Sea.” Give to the Scripps Howard School, burnish your name into its rich past, and play an integral part in preparing the next generation of journalism and communications professionals. We need you.

1. Take-A-Seat

Give a gift of $1,000 and memorialize your name, major and class year with an inscription in gold lettering on a black brass plate on a seat inside the Robert P. Scripps auditorium.

2. Gold Donors Wall

A generous gift between $1,000 and $5,000 will be acknowledged with your name on a gold plaque inside the school’s main atrium entrance.

3. Platinum Donors Wall

A generous gift of $5,000 or more will be acknowledged on a platinum plaque inside the school’s main atrium entrance, alongside our most prestigious donors.

Make checks payable to “The Scripps Howard School” and mail them to:

The Scripps Howard School of Journalism & Communications Hampton University Hampton,VA 23668

To pay by credit card, or for more information about giving, please call 757.727.5405