The Optimist - Newsroom Dedication Section (Sept. 26, 2008)

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rthur Slater distributed the first edition of the Optimist at Childers Classical Institute in August 1912 and since that momentous day, students on this West Texas campus have produced award-winning journalism.

In 2008, the Optimist remains, but student media at Abilene Christian University has evolved into something Slater might never have been able to imagine. Where before student journalism was limited to the pages of a newspaper, new technology and new platforms to reach our audience bring the opportunity and necessity of evolution, just like the professionals.

This special section is not an attempt to boast, but to explain and explore the evolution of ACU student media. From its history on the printed page to its future on the World Wide Web. From the construction of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab to the structure of the student staff. From our dedicated advisers to the generous gifts that made this all possible. We are the JMC Network, and we proudly present the future of ACU student media.

Special News Lab Dedication Section

ACU community expects more from staff

By Sondra Rodriguez Student Contributor

1916

1912 Arthur Slater worked as a reporter, copy editor and typesetter to distribute the first edition of the Optimist.

The first copy of the student yearbook, the Prickly Pear, debuts.

It was named after the pear-shaped fruit of a common West Texas cactus. The yearbook had 125 pages and highlighted student groups and events.

1921 Wendell Bedichek begins his eventual three-year tenure as Optimist editor.

1950 KACC-AM first goes on the air with first general manager Bill Teague, future ACU president.

1957 The Optimist office moves to Chambers Hall. The office has been housed in several buildings during the years.

After 97 years, student media continues

By Michael Freeman Managing Editor

In August 1912, student Arthur Slater of Clyde distributed the first copy of the Optimist to Childers Classical Institute students. He worked on the first issue as a reporter, copy editor and typesetter.

Ninety-six years later, the kind of dedication shown by Slater still materializes in modern Optimist staffs.

The history of student media at ACU begins with that first issue Slater made, which mostly featured religious commentary, encouraging letters to the school and brief news pieces. For reasons unknown, he named the paper the Optimist. The name stuck as students joined to help produce the monthly newspaper. Slater was the first editor for issues produced on the old campus on North First Street. D.L. Petty, who later died fighting in World War I, became the paper’s second editor the following year.

A few years later in May 1916, the first student yearbook was published. Named after the common West Texas Pg. 2 cactus with pear-

shaped fruit, the Prickly Pear, complete with 125 pages and a royal purple front cover, began being printed annually, highlighting student groups and events. In the early 1920s, class editions of the Optimist were made as a competition, where each class of students elected a temporary staff to put together one issue of the paper.

As student media at ACC continued to grow on campus, so did its influence off campus. In November 1919, members of the Optimist and Prickly Pear formed the Press Club and joined the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, the oldest collegiate press association in the nation.

Although the newspaper was primarily an extracurricular activity, students devoted their time and effort to it, including Wendell H. Bedichek, who served three years as editor during 1921 to 1924—still the longest tenure in school history.

In 1925, the staff moved out of the administration building and into the science building, thus beginning a trek around campus that included producing the paper from Daisy Hall, Sewell Auditorium, the basement of McKinzie Hall, Chambers Hall, the basement of the

Library, in a barracks building where Christian Village Apartments currently stand, in the basement of the Campus Center and finally to the Don Morris Center in 1978, for 20 years on the third floor, and now in the new JMC Network Student Media News Lab on the second floor.

The constant moving did not pose the only obstacle to the staff; a few controversies arose along the way. On March 15, 1932, a faculty publications committee urged that a popular column, called Hoots of the Owl, be canceled. The unsigned column began running in 1928 and was written by a variety of staff members. The article featured an owl who said he roamed the campus, spying on people. But the committee said the column “had become too juvenile and undignified for a college newspaper.” The column was canceled. But a few weeks later, the Optimist started a new tradition on April 1 called the Pessimist.

“The Pessimist was a happy tradition for many years,” said Charlie Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty member of journalism and mass communication. “It was buffoonery, satire, slightly

veiled personal attacks and silliness all meant in fun.”

Early editions of the special issue had columns printed sideways and upside-down, and featured stories, often ridiculing faculty members and administrative policies.

The edition died out when the potential for libel became an issue in the early 1980s.

In September 1941, the Optimist began printing its issues on campus and continued until the late 1960s when the paper was shipped to various nearby towns, such as Stamford and Anson, before the Abilene Reporter-News took over the job.

The newspaper and yearbook were not the only forms of student media on campus.

In August 1950, on-campus radio station KACC-AM began its inaugural year. The station’s first manager was Bill Teague, future president of the university. Three years later, KACC started serving live and recorded broadcasts, ranging from political reporting to lighthearted comedy, to Abilene and surrounding areas within a 40-mile radius. Control rooms and equipment were located in the basement of McKinzie Hall and in Sewell Auditorium be-

fore being moved to the Morris Center in 1978.

As different media appeared on campus, so did an official department of journalism. In September 1955, Drs. Heber Taylor and Reginald Westmoreland directed the creation of the Department of Journalism, which was spun off from the English Department, but the department was short-lived. In June 1964, Taylor and Westmoreland left ACU, resulting in its closure four years later.

But the department would not stay dead for long. Marler, along with Dr. Chapin Ross, Dr. Lowell Perry, Dr. B. Edward Davis and Clark Potts worked to establish a mass communications degree within the Department of Communication, an important step in the process of building a nationally accredited journalism program.

“We needed journalism and mass communication,” Marler said. “The church needed it; the Christian universities needed it, and the secular media needed more Christians on their staffs because they had good work ethics and they were committed to truth.”

After the degree was added, student interest shot up from

The new broadcast and publishing capabilities of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab will improve the final product for readers on and off campus.

The newsroom is equipped with all new computers for video editing, page designing and publishing news, said Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program.

The newsroom also includes a Podcasting room.

Outside the podcast room, the rest of the newsroom runs on the standard university software, but also has added Adobe Creative

Suite 3 Design Pro software. This includes InDesign and Photoshop for publication design and photography purposes and Final Cut Pro—used for video editing.

“All of these are industry-relevant tools,” White said. “What we have right now might be as nice as or even nicer than what students will see in the professional world.”

White said because of the experience students will gain through working in such an environment, he expects ACU graduates to outshine others, post graduation.

Dave Hogan, instructor of journalism and mass communication, also said working in the newsroom will better equip students for a career in journalism.

He said publications will be looking for students with the broad range of experience this facility will provide.

“The news business is changing and multimedia is becoming much more important. I think it’s important for students to understand how to run a video or produce a podcast, as well as how to write a story in the traditional way,” Hogan said.

Because drastic technological advances were made for JMC students, readers will see changes in the final product. Readers are the ones who take an extra few seconds twice a week to grab a copy of the Optimist while treading through the masses after Chapel, and the ones who continue to

grant reporters insight into their lives and routines for the sake of a story.

“A certain event will happen and they pick up on it right away, like the noose incident. I hadn’t heard anything about it until I picked up a copy of the Optimist that day,” said Gregory Martin, junior interdisciplinary major from Cibolo.

Martin was unaware of the construction and opening of the newsroom but now anticipates the content and quality of this year’s issues with the upgrades.

Aundi Brown, senior accounting major from Wichita Falls, said as a student outside the JMC department, she thinks the newsroom will have a posi-

tive effect on both students and the newspaper.

“I know journalism is a hard field to get into, and hopefully this newsroom will give them the edge they need to break into it,” Brown said.

Ben Fulfer, junior sociology major from Memphis, Tenn., agreed with the decision to implement and practice multiple forms of media in JMC students’ education.

“Converged media makes everything quicker and easier for both the department and readers,” he said. “It’s all you see in professional journalism now.

This will definitely help out graduates in that are once they graduate and get out there.”

Donors provide funds for student media room

By Daniel Johnson-Kim Editor in Chief

Dr. Charlie Marler returned to Abilene Christian College in the fall of 1974 to find an Abilene “newspaper man” eager to reignite the ill-equipped mass communication program.

Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty member of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department, came back to Abilene after completing his doctoral studies at the University of Missouri, and the publisher of the Abilene Reporter-News, A.B. “Stormy” Shelton, donated $10,000 to equip the program with 15 “state-of-the-art” IBM Selectric typewriters for reporting and copy-editing courses.

Before Shelton’s generosity, journalism students at ACC had only pens, paper and four dated, manual typewriters to record and report campus news — Marler said the IBMs were a gift from above.

“The 15 IBMS were delivered fairly early in the semester; it was like Christmas morning,” Marler said.

Fast forward to 2008, and it is

Christmas again for journalism students at ACU as the Morris Center is now equipped with cutting-edge technology and a JMC Network Student Media News Lab. But beneath the new toys and fresh paint on the walls lies the faith of foundations and the individual donors willing to put their wallets behind the JMC Department and its vision to rethink and revamp how journalism is taught to prepare students for the ever changing industry.

“It had to; it just had to happen,” said Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the JMC department. “I just believed that we would eventually make it happen.”

The university approved a proposal Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, wrote for the construction of a converged student media news lab in January 2001. After approval, the JMC faculty estimated it would take nearly $1 million to make their dream of a converged media news lab a reality. The only problem was figuring out where to find the funds.

“The university has a policy that doesn’t allow you to begin

a construction project until it’s fully funded, and we were living under that policy,” Lewis said.

The first victory in the battle to raise funds fittingly came from The Shelton Family Foundation, named after the same West Texas philanthropist and former Abilene Reporter-News publisher who gave Marler his “state-ofthe art” typewriters. The Board of Trustees for the foundation begun by the late Shelton approved a challenge grant the ACU development office applied for in 2004. The foundation initially committed to give $250,000 to the department’s project.

“They said we’ll give you a certain amount of money if you raise ‘x’ number,” Bacon said.

After the Shelton Foundation’s initial donation, several individual donors and other foundations began to join the JMC dream. The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the Zoe Foundation followed in the Shelton Foundation’s footsteps. In addition to the foundation funds, Russell C. and Jane Varner Beard of Abilene, and Paula and Sterling Varner of Wichita, Kansas, and other individual donors made

substantial gifts to the cause. But the funds were still not all there for construction to begin in the five-year time frame the department had initially planned for.

In the end, it was the foundation named for Shelton that put forth the funds to begin the planning, construction and fine tuning of the converged media news lab, putting the grand total it donated to the project at close to $900,000 of the more than $1 million project and ending the fundraising effort in February 2007.

“I kind of look at it as it all happened when it was suppose to happen,” Lewis said, adding that although it took the department longer than expected to raise the funds, the longer time period was a blessing in disguise; without the delay the newsroom could not have been equipped with the technology that was available when construction began.

David Copeland, president of the Shelton Family Foundation, said the foundation’s donation is miniscule when compared to what the money was used for and what students will be doing in the new newsroom.

“The real focus really ought to be on the university and what they’re trying to do because that’s really the hard part,” Copeland said. “To make a grant is in the big scheme the easy part; the hard part is taking the money, building the right facilities and really equipping the students with state-of-the-art knowledge as they go out in the world.”

Although the donors are humble, Bacon said the department will be forever indebted to the list of donors for their kindness and courage to support this project.

“It was essential to provide [students] with what they need,” Bacon said. “I didn’t see it as optional. To me having this facility and using it well is a great opportunity and it’s also a absolutely essential opportunity.”

The IBM typewriters Shelton provided increased the quality of Marler’s students’ education and training. Bacon was one of those students, and in 2008, Marler hopes students also turn their “Christmas morning into producing great journalism.”

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Professors dedicate time to students, newsroom

By Colter Hettich Features Editor

With much of the focus on the JMC Network Student Media News Lab itself, students and visitors might easily overlook the elbow grease that went into realizing a ten-year dream.

Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, and Cade White, instructor of photojournalism, spent countless hours preparing for all aspects of the newsroom and even more piecing it together this summer. The two men, along with the JMC department, share a deep concern for giving students the highest quality student media experience possible.

“One of the hallmarks of this department is that we are constantly looking forward,” Pybus said. “[The newsroom] shows that we’re thinking about our students careers and less interested in protecting the status quo.”

The idea of constructing a converged newsroom was introduced to ACU more than 10 years. Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, made a presentation to a Visiting Committee on the benefits of a converged media space.

Pybus was on that committee and took the presentation seriously.

“I was intrigued because I was at a weekly newspaper where we were trying to figure out how to put our news online,” Pybus said. “[Dr. Lewis’

presentation] hit home; It was the very the challenge I had as editor of a newspaper.”

Pybus’ interest in journalism began with cartooning. Pybus cartooned for the Optimist his first year at ACU, but over time he grew to love the art of writing more.

White He reported for a year after graduating from ACU before attending Baylor Law School.

Amy Pybus, Kenneth’s wife, said her husPybus band’s interest in journalistic writing spiked while he was at Baylor Law. “Even through law school, he didn’t really enjoy it until he took his First Amendment class,” Amy said. “I think that’s what made him so interested in it.”

After law school, Pybus moved his family to Houston, where he accepted the position of managing editor of the Houston Business Journal. At the Journal, he learned both the production side of publication and the managerial side. Pybus’ diverse experience in the field has given him an understanding of the importance of being knowl-

Photo courtesy of Creative Services

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Cade White, instructor of photojournalism, coaches Ryan Self, staff broadcast assistant on how to use Final Cut Pro.

edgeable in multiple areas.

Pybus has already noticed the converged atmosphere’s effects on the newsroom.

“Students who don’t emphasize video like to pay attention and watch how it’s done,” Pybus said. “It’s the proximity; you can’t help but absorb something.”

Cade White spent his summer months on the second floor of the Morris Center installing software, hardware and configuring the new video editing station.

White graduated from ACU in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism.

“I was a photo hobbyist as a child, but it was just a phase like anything else,” White said.

“Somewhere between dirt bikes and guitars.”

Once he arrived at ACU, after receiving the fateful, high school graduation gift of a “decent” camera, White decided to take a photography class. By the time he completed the course, he knew what he wanted to pursue. Though he had direction, he would not develop a passion until taking two-week, photojournalism summer course taught by David Leeson.

In 2004, Leeson received a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. The award recognized him and his colleague Cheryl Diaz Meyers for coverage of the invasion of Iraq as embedded journalists. Also, Leeson’s documentary film “War Stories” (2003) won a national Edward R. Murrow award and a National Headliners award.

“Cade was actually helping me out for a while … he was sort of my Deepthroat kind of guy; he kept me informed on what was happening in video,” Leeson said.

“I don’t know if anybody knew on the campus just how ahead of the pack he was in video; he just did a fantastic job with his videos.”

Leeson recalled White’s fascination with developing technology, but more importantly his dedication to the craft. “[White] always and still is incredibly passionate and energetic.

1968 Robert English and Mary Grady became the first African-American staff members to work for the Optimist. The university had first admitted black students three years earlier.

2006

1972 The administration pulled and destroyed the 1972 edition of the Prickly Pear because of its supposed counter-culture themes.

1990 The JMC department receives new Macintosh computers.

With the popularity of online video sharing on the rise, the Optimist starts to post brief student-produced videos to YouTube.com.

2008 The Optimist begins its 97th year of providing news to the ACU campus.

eager pursuit of journalistic excellence Photo courtesy of Creative Services

Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, instructs Laura Acuff, opinion editor, during a deadline day.

The guy still moves like he’s 16,” Leeson said. “He is a wonderful human being.”

“I didn’t see his name anywhere, but I thought, ‘I know who’s behind that,’” Leeson said when he received an invitation to the unveiling of the converged newsroom.

Though Leeson never taught a university course before or after that summer class, he left a deep impression on White. White remembers Leeson making sure his students understood not only the inherent danger and alienation of photojournalism, but the unmatched satisfaction as well.

“He was incredibly inspirational,” White said. “Ever since he has been my mentor. David continues to influence my life and everything that happens here in the newsroom.”

White’s use of his faculty position to encourage students to think creatively and push the envelope is nothing new. In 2002, as

Prickly Pear advisor, he designed the first video journalism effort to record a companion DVD for the yearbook. Now, in 2008, White handpicked most of the newsroom’s software and, with the help of Nathaniel Jones and Technology Support Services, designed how the computers and network would be configured.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” White admitted. “As everything started taking shape, I realized I cared very much about the technical aspects of the newsroom.”

Throughout his time at ACU, White said he has been fortunate to be on the front lines of JMC’s transition from old technology to the latest in news technology. The converged media space is something many never thought would be conceived, much less materialized on ACU’s campus.

“I could never have imagined it would be like this back in 1996,” White said. “This is incredible.”

about 25 students enrolled in the program to about 125 students within a three-year period. By the mid-1970s, a professional journalism curriculum was formed in the Division of Mass Communication.

In 1978, Optimist editor Ron Hadfield and his staff moved from the musty basement of the Campus Center lined with lime green shag carpet to the third floor of the newly built Morris Center. With the move came new technologies. The staff began using Compugraphic’s Unified Terminal System video display terminals instead of typewriters. Despite the new system, articles still needed to be printed out on film, cut up with X-Acto knives, run through a waxing machine and placed on paste-up sheets in order to be put to press.

“It was a lot of busy work,” said Doug Mendenhall, instructor of journalism and mass communication and Optimist editor in 1980-81 and 1981-82. “Most of it was done over two days.”

The staff grew busier as the Optimist added a second weekly edition on Tuesdays in August of 1981. Before, is-

sues ran only on Fridays.

“In some ways, it was a lot harder,” Mendenhall said.

“But in some ways, it made things a little more sensible.

You wouldn’t have to wait a week to report on certain things. It certainly helped in that way.”

The mid-1980s saw a plethora of progress in the field of broadcast student media. In November 1983, ACU-TV began broadcasting on-campus talk shows; the next year, it produced Visions, a video yearbook. On June 2, 1986, KACU-FM, which had changed its name from KACC to stay in concordance with the university’s name change in 1976, began broadcasting; two years later, the on-campus television station KUF-TV7 went on air.

In September 1990, the JMC department received a Macintosh SE computer lab complete with 17 computer stations. Four Macintosh IIex machines and several laser printers were then installed in the Optimist office, and staff members started to use QuarkXPress system software to produce the paper. Student media had reached the digital age, and on May 1, 2002, the

“

The delivery systems are changing. What we’ll have 25 years from now is not going to look like today. :: Dr. Charlie Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty of JMC Department

Optimist launched its Web site www.acuoptimist.com.

“The Internet was creating a whole new medium,” said Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program.

“For the visual journalist and former photojournalists, it really presented an amazing opportunity to add some very powerful tools to your toolbox—the storytelling tools of sound and motion.”

Since then, the Optimist switched its focus to convergence, the combination of print, audio, video and online journalism. ACU student Jamin Blount, ’05, helped set up the Optimist’s server, which was stored in White’s office, for the hosting of online videos.

“It was very cool, very exciting,” White said. “There’s a lot of technology out there that really makes this a lot easier.”

”

However, as the server aged, it slowed down, forcing the Optimist to look elsewhere to post videos online. On September 7, 2006, the Optimist began publishing news videos on www. youtube.com/acuvideo.

After the renovation to the Morris Center in 2007, the JMC department now offers KACU-FM, a 33,000-watt National Public Radio station serving West Texas, KUF-TV, a LPTV station broadcasting to the Abilene area, the Optimist online, a Web site that features articles, YouTube videos and podcasts, and the Optimist, a twice-weekly broadsheet newspaper that has been rated All-American every year since 1975 by the Associated Collegiate Press.

The Prickly Pear published its final edition last year.

During the history of ACU student media, the program produced many alumni such

as minister and best-selling Christian author Max Lucado, ’83, CBS Emmy Award-winning producer Lance Barrow, ’81, and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Leeson, ’78. The department as a whole also has won thousands of state, regional and national awards since the mid-1980s.

ACU’s student media has advanced significantly since its inception in 1912. And despite the sudden and rapid growth, students of journalism and mass communication always will be needed, Marler said.

“The delivery systems are changing,” Marler said. “What we’ll have 25 years from now is not going to look like today.

But the basis is that the population of people in a given community doesn’t have the time, so they need some institution that’s playing the role of gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, reporting and evaluating information for them,” he said.

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Mobile interface to increase exposure

By Grant Abston Sports Editor

As ACU integrates new technology at a furious pace throughout its campus, the university sets the standard for colleges across America, offering two words to any competitors: keep up.

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at ACU has transformed the way it delivers news to students, expanding its range well beyond print news to other forms of communication and providing students the opportunity to access their news through newly developed iPhone or iPod touch interfaces.

“When we learned that all the freshmen would have iPhones, we quickly realized we would have to change how we reached them online,” said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and student media adviser. “We knew that many would read their news over the iPhone so we would have to develop some sort of iPhone interface specifically to serve them

and students who had iPhones.”

The JMC Network began developing the iPhone interface after Pybus and Cade White, instructor of journalism and student media adviser, were chosen to participate in the university’s Mobile Learning Initiative in the fall of 2007. ACU’s iPhone initiative was created to put iPhones or iPod touches into the hands of all incoming freshmen, providing students the opportunity to use the latest in mobile technology to aid them in everything from class schedules and maps to in-class, real-time surveys.

ACU was named a 2008 Campus Innovator in the area of Mobile Technology by Campus Technology magazine for its Mobile Learning Initiative launched this semester.

Because the iPhone would be in the hands of more than 900 freshmen, Pybus and White realized the opportunity of distributing news through the iPhone.

Pybus and White began researching the technology behind iPhone interfaces through

html, xml and the different Apple user guidelines.

“The beta site we experimented with was written in basic html, but the next version was authorized using dash code and to do that we sought the assistance of an outside programmer,” White said.

They hired alumnus Darby Hewitt to take on the project during his off hours when he was not working on the iPhone development team for the university. Hewitt was shown other interfaces from other news organizations and was given the task of developing a user-friendly interface.

“The real challenge for a news organization is to allow the user to navigate through a great deal of information and make it easy to find what they want to select,” White said.

Students may access the interface from a Web site using their phone, exactly like the myACU icon that was developed for all students. The interface was scheduled to launch Friday and can be accessed by logging

on to m.jmcnetwork.com A promotional campaign also will be launched after the interface goes live to inform students of the new interface and encourage students to add the icon to their iPhone desktop and receive news e-mails.

“We don’t know what it looks like on other phone applications, but I can imagine you can see it on other phones,” Pybus said.

“We haven’t tested it, knowing the vast majority of our readers our accessing it through the iPhone, and that’s where we directed most of our attention.”

While the interface was being developed, developers faced the task of finding ways to incorporate other things into the interface such as advertising, convincing outside advertisers that the iPhone platform will reach a large audience.

“We know more and more people will access their news and info electronically, and we want to stay up to date with the technology that allows that,” Pybus said. “[The interface] will be easier to

Left: Kelline Linton, chief copy editor, edits a page of the Optimist for errors.

Above: Michael Freeman, managing editor, works. Right: Zak Zeinert, chief photographer, sorts through the day’s photographs. Far right: Daniel JohnsonKim, editor in chief, assists Lydia Melby, arts editor, with her design.

read and students will be able to access it anywhere.”

White also added another goal for the interface. “One of the areas that we are going to focus on is looking for ways to provide interactivity opportunities for readers to comment on stories or participate in discussions. We want to make that as easy and seamless as possible.”

Welcome to the Network Here’s what JMC students have done with their converged media space so far.

JMC joins global shift toward convergence mindset

By Sara Snelson

Student Contributor

Print journalists used to only write, photographers only took pictures, and broadcasters gathered and wrote news to air for their stations. Now, a journalist must be able to do all of these.

“A single journalist must be able to do all sorts of things.

We are no longer experts in one area,” said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism.

Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the department took notice of future journalists’ needs to be equipped in numerous areas more than a decade ago.

“Students have to be prepared Pg. 4

to tell stories in more than one way,” Bacon said.

Thus, the JMC Network Student Media Lab was built and technologically equipped for the converged media era. Just as the JMC curriculum touches every media format, a functional, student-run newsroom was needed to bring all of it together and give students a real life feel of the converged media era.

In 2003, Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, presented her idea of this converged newsroom to faculty and the JMC Visiting Committee.

“We began planning a process no one was doing in journalism education in an integrated way,” Lewis said.

To get inspiration for the converged newsroom Lewis and

Bacon took trips to the Tampa Tribune in Florida and to the University of South Carolina before its Newsplex was built.

Lewis had begun researching converged media in 2001.

“I was thinking in the future tense about converged media in the marketplace and what that meant for media education,” Lewis said. “I wrote a scenario that placed students in a futuristic world in order to understand the vision.”

Lewis explained it as the learning theory of constructivism — the act of creating knowledge by collecting input from a variety of sources. When a student participates in constructing his or her own knowledge, he or she is more likely to retain it and apply it later. The newsroom allows students to apply what they are

learning in the classroom to create all types of media and have a deeper understanding of what they have learned. Then they can apply that knowledge in the JMC Network and in their future jobs.

The students get a real newsroom experience before they enter the professional field.

“This type of convergence is happening in the industry,” Lewis said. “The goal of the multimedia newsroom is to provide student learning opportunities in a progressive media environment that is functional, attractive and supports the curriculum.”

Pybus said with all of the outlets working together, readers can pick and choose how they want to receive their news.

“Younger people gather in eclectic ways, and now we are allowing them to choose their me-

dia preference based upon their own interests,” Pybus said. “We are recognizing this trend in journalism, forcing different mindsets to share space and breaking down those walls and being one of the first universities to do it.”

Bacon, Lewis and Pybus agree that so far the converged newsroom is everything they had hoped it would be. Although the school year has just begun, Pybus said regular online posts are happening (even on the weekends), more videos are being made and posted than ever before and more TV segments have been made this year so far than the last three years (youtube.com/acuvideo).

“We are taking on less of a newspaper mentality and more of a news mentality,” Pybus said.

Above: Colter Hettich, features editor, enters the newsroom. Below right: Sommerly Simser, multimedia management editor, edits video. Below middle: Laura Acuff, opinion editor, and Ryan Self, broadcast assistant, work on their latest assignments. Below left: DeLaina Parker, broadcast manager, watches the camera’s monitor as Pete Koehn, senior electronic media major, operates the camera. Left: Kimberly Prather, broadcast assistant, films a newscast with fellow broadcast assistant, Ryan Self.

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Network mirrors professionals on Internet

By Camille Vandendriessche Assistant Copy Editor

If newspapers were an army, they would be fighting an insurgency of unsatisfied readers right now.

The number of readers is diminishing because people are more interested in modern media like the Internet. In response to this disaffection, newspapers have strategically invaded the Web territory and they now abundantly use videos and podcasts as powerful weapons.

For David Leeson, ACU alumnus and 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner in breaking news photography for his coverage of the Iraq War, the comparison between newspapers and armies illustrates the crucial situation newspapers face: traditional methods do not work anymore.

To stay competitive, newspapers need to become more like the insurgents, Leeson said.

“There is not a whole lot of future in print newspapers,” Leeson said. “Less people are buying, but it’s not going to die. Newspapers need to be more like the people, they need to listen to [them], to be part of the social fabric.”

A photographer at the Dallas Morning News for 15 years, Leeson became a videographer in 2000, becoming a pioneer in the print industry.

“The Web is not showing just one photo, one point of view; it’s more inclusive,” Leeson said.

In 2005, Leeson switched to video consulting and started training new videographers at the Morning News.

But on Sept. 8, Leeson left the Dallas Morning News after 25 years at the newspaper. He said he now wants to focus on his own company, “Protege Films,” which already produced At War, a 120minute documentary about the war in Afghanistan.

“Video is powerful: it translates a still image into motion and sound. Still image is a moment; video is an extended mo-

Pg. 8

ment,” Leeson said. “In 1998, I was already posting videos on my Web site. I knew it would only get bigger.”

Leeson said like every pioneer he encountered skepticism and trouble because people thought it was crazy at the time. He said videos did not become important for newspapers until 2005.

Newspapers have now significantly embraced video podcasts; 92 percent of the biggest newspapers in the United States offered video podcasts on their Web sites, according to a study conducted in September 2007 by the Bivings Group, a firm specialized in online communications.

Since August 2005, the Optimist staff has posted its own videos on YouTube.com under an ACU account. With the technological support of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab, which includes a new TV studio, student journalists now record a newscast every Tuesday and a sportscast every Thursday and post them on YouTube.

However, Kimberley Prather, senior broadcast journalism major from St. Louis, Mo., said very few people on campus know about the podcasts.

“It should be more advertised,” said Prather, one of the four Optimist’s anchors. “We don’t have enough visibility.”

In addition to the newscasts, a crew of four to six students shoots videos about activities on campus. Sommerly Simser, junior broadcast journalism major from Las Vegas, said three to four videos are posted every week on YouTube. Video topics need to be timely, have good visual and correspond to what people want to see, Simser said.

Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program, said the Optimist is waiting on its online publisher, Collegepublisher.com, to upgrade its system and allow video podcasts on the Optimist’s Web site.

He said the YouTube channel is very effective though.

News Lab designed as converged setting

By Kelline Linton Chief Copy Editor

Zak Zeinert :: chief photographer Colter Hettich, features editor, speaks into a microphone in the podcasting room in the JMC Network Student Media News Lab.

“We had political videos that have received more than 20,000 views, but it’s not the norm,” White said. “A steady flow of visitors watches our videos every day.”

The two most popular ACU videos feature students sharing their political views before the primary elections in Texas. Interestingly, the video about conservative students on campus was viewed almost twice as much as the one on liberal students, which illustrates a fair representation of political trends online.

More recently, an interview of SA President Daniel Paul Watkins about the noose incident recorded 63 views on YouTube just five hours after its release. Twelve days later, the interview had been viewed 410 times.

“Online videos is not just a growing trend; it’s a tremendous transition in the industry,” White said. “Internet opened the door for new forms of story telling and new audiences. There is a massive audience for online videos, especially the youngsters. Newspapers are discovering that newsrooms can do much more than just a newspaper.”

White said the new generation does not mind where they get their information.

“The time will come when [newspapers’] Web sites will become primary and newspapers secondary,” White said.

A study conducted by the advertising consulting firm Borrell Associates in June 2007 revealed that newspapers develop and sophisticate their online newscasts to obtain more local ads than television Web sites. Newspapers’ newscasts target the young audiences and do not offer the same content as television newscasts; they also compete with television hours and geographical coverage. Although newspapers’ newscasts reach an extremely small percentage of audiences, they do seem to contribute to an increase of the overall online traffic, according to the study.

However, Leeson said newspapers should not try to compete with television.

“If newspapers want to be like TV, they will lose because they are not like TV,” Leeson said. “Why would they like to emulate TV since TV stations are struggling themselves?”

Leeson said newspapers must adapt their offerings to the people’s interests and habits but keep in mind their mission of truth, facts, criticism and story telling.

“If newspapers lose sight of their mission, they will lose,” Leeson said. “People still turn to newspapers for what they trust. We should not be about hit counts. Our privilege is to stand on the side of the truth. We need truth, and there is no champion of the truth. The key to keep readers interested is transparency.”

Leeson said he once argued at a meeting with managers of the Dallas Morning News because their goal was to try to make hit counts. He said he spoke up and told them ironically that he would shoot porn clips in order to boost online audiences.

Leeson said they acted like they did not hear him.

While the future addition of videos on the Optimist’s Web site may boost the audience size, White said the main goal is to give journalism students an “effective, working experience.”

“We want them to stay on the cutting edge of mass media,” White said.

Leeson agrees the newsroom is a wonderful addition to ACU. “It sets [ACU] apart from any institution,” Leeson said. “It is absolutely important to equip students technically for tomorrow.”

Professors who work in the Morris Center had a difficult time finding their old offices last fall because the interior renovations to the second and third floor transformed the building into a construction zone. Cables and wires hung from gutted ceilings, concrete floors and half-painted walls resounded with the echoes of saws and nail guns and piles of wooden frames and ladders tripped the unwary.

A local architect and ACU general contractor completed the renovation of the far south end of the Morris Center just in time for the start of the spring semester; they built offices and a large smart classroom on the third floor and an interior design space and the JMC Network Student Media News Lab on the second floor.

The Morris Center undertaking began in January 2001 when the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty began discussing the renovations of its facilities. Two years later, on Sept. 10, 2003, department representatives first talked with an architect. Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the department, and Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, met with Jack Harkins, one of the five partners of the Title Luther Partnership Architecture firm in Abilene. They actually began to conceptualize floor plans and a design layout in early 2006.

Harkins, an graying man with a large smile, has worked for Title Luther since 1969 and drew the original Morris Center blueprints in the 1970s; he was the principal in charge of the innovative multimedia newsroom job, which he thought was simple to design.

“They wanted a big open space that was multi-tasking and brought all the media together in one spot,” he said.

The hardest challenge he

faced was in splitting the available second floor area between the JMC newsroom and the interior design program in the Art and Design Department.

“He had a very difficult task to find a way to satisfy the competing interests of two programs,” Bacon said. “He was open and creative and came up with a solution that none of us would have imagined.”

He balanced the square footage between the two; satisfying both parties.

Harkins began the construction project by striving to understand the media needs for the space and used the suggestions and comments given by the representatives of the JMC Department.

“We redesigned that space two or three times; it wasn’t something we did once and moved on down the road,” Harkins said.

The department representatives wanted the newsroom designed for more visibility and visitors, generating a need for an outside entrance and stairs, he said.

Without an exterior entrance, visitors and students would walk up the main stairwell and down the hall to find their way to the room or enter through the back entrance by way of the harshly lit concrete stairwell.

“Once we settled on trying to find a way to bring people in through a new entrance, it flipflopped everything,” he said.

The offices and conference room switched places, an exterior stair was added and a window was removed.

“That became a major issue, trying to get them their own entrance that people could use and come into a nice entry point,” Harkins said.

Another challenge he faced with the project was the broadcast area near the back entrance.

The department wanted to shoot video in a space with a low ceil-

TV Studio Student Media News Lab

“

They wanted a big open space that was multi-tasking and brought all the media together in one spot... :: Jack Harkins, Title Luther Partnership Architect

ing, so the construction team removed the ceiling, painted it black and added volume.

After finalizing the general design layout, Harkins began the design development where he talked with the department about specific needs like special lighting, cabinetry and case work and the locations of electrical outlets, power outlets for equipment and telecommunications for computers. Once all the specific elements were confirmed, he made construction documents, the detailed drawings used by the general contractor to solicit bids for the actual construction work.

ACU stayed in house for this project, meaning it used its own employee as the general contractor, because the projected costs for renovations exceeded budget by $100,000, and an in-house general contractor would save the university money. The administration chose Eddie McFadden for the role because of his experience and abilities: he headed the construction for the Learning Commons in 2006.

McFadden implemented Title Luther’s architectural plans for the newsroom by organizing and supervising the construction. He managed the construction crews and hired subcontractors to reno-

”

vate such specifics as the walls, ceiling and electrical systems.

“I was very pleased to have a general contractor in house; I already knew Eddie, and he worked very hard to take care of us,” Bacon said.

McFadden finished a little below budget with a final price tag of more than $1 million, but the hardest challenge he faced was staying on time with the development. Construction began in September of 2007, and the department representatives wanted the project completed by November.

He finished the job in December, which was still acceptable because the spring semester had not yet begun, he said. Although McFadden was the project manager, Title Luther remained involved in the renovations.

“We don’t do supervision, but we do observation of the work as it’s being done just to make sure it is being done in compliance with the plans and specifications,” Harkins said.

The firm hired Crim & Bradshaw Engineering in Abilene as the consultant for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing aspects, and Donna Fowler, Title Luther’s interior designer, used her expertise to decorate the transformed areas after

McFadden completed the construction aspects.

Fowler initially met with Bacon and Lewis in May 2007 and discussed how the space would be used.

“We talked about what needed to be purchased to go in those rooms to fulfill the occupants’ needs,” she said. “[Bacon] wanted it to be a space that was contemporary in feel like it’s happening now.”

They started with the carpet choice because it had the least amount of options and set the tone and color for the space.

Bacon suggested blues, browns and greens for highlights, and they used a natural maple wood finish, light blue, lime green and off whites on the walls. The paint choice had personality, Fowler said.

After they chose the carpet and paints, they focused on furniture selection. Bacon wanted the seating area near the newsroom’s entrance to be slick and fashionable, to set the tone for the space and capture people’s eyes, Fowler said.

“The ultra modern look was a style new to the campus,” McFadden said.

All demolition, design, placement and technology installation for the project was finished more than seven years after the department first started discussing renovations. With construction now complete, visitors can explore the new rooms and watch students use the innovative amenities.

Pg. 5

acuoptimist.com For video of the JMC Network Staff in action, visit acuoptimist.com.

Broadcast branches out, on campus and online

By Rachel Davis Student Contributor

The newsroom is not just for print journalism majors anymore — now all majors in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication can play a role in getting news out to the ACU campus, thanks to the construction of the new JMC Student Media News Lab. Before completion of the new newsroom, broadcast journalism majors really had no place to call their own. Video editing computers were in separate locations, and there were no places to really shoot a newscast because the TV studio on the first floor of the Morris Center was frequently used for other productions.

Now, broadcast majors can shoot, edit and package their stories all in the same area. But it was not always that way, said ACU alumna Shelby Coates.

“We only had one place to edit video,” Coates said. “And if someone was there, we had to wait on them or come back at really random times of the day.”

Coates, who is now a reporter

Pg. 6

acuoptimist.com Check out our Web site to watch the JMC Network’s latest broadcast and videos. and weekend anchor for KRBCTV in Abilene, said she was often editing video at 1 a.m. or during Chapel.

“And the upstairs computers had different software than the [KUF] TV station computers, so we always had to export video files and it was definitely crazy,” Coates said.

John Best, director of broadcast operations, said he is really excited to see where the new newsroom will take ACU’s journalism program.

“We’re breaking new ground every time we go up there,” Best said.

Best also described the once-disjointed broadcast area of the department, saying it was difficult to get any form of news on the air.

“Before now, from a production standpoint, shows like Abilene City Magazine and McCaleb and Company were all done

on the first floor — all TV was confined to one location unless we were able to get out and shoot on scene,” Best said. “Including a studio for news broadcasting in the newsroom makes it evident that we’re dedicated to producing a high quality newscast.”

Now, students have the opportunity to participate in newscasts for the first time. Under the direction of multimedia managing editor Sommerly Simser, students put together two newscasts a week as JMC Network News on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each newscast runs about five minutes and covers three to five stories.

Simser, junior broadcast journalism major from Las Vegas, Nev., said the newscast has definitely increased broadcasting capabilities of the department.

Along with the new newscasts, all cameras are now hi-definition, and students get the benefit of shooting and editing HD video.

“We’re really working hard to differentiate from stories we’ve done in the past,” Simser said.

“Instead of the big picture, I want to focus on the unique things that people are interested in.”

Responsibility falls on student-lead staff

By Molly Byrd Page 2 Editor

Photo courtesy of ACU Creative Services

JMC’s new broadcast is equipped with two, industry-standard cameras with teleprompters, three flatscreen TVs, a green screen and lighting controls.

For example, Simser thought an interesting angle would be to cover someone who has served communion at Summit.

“It’s a great human interest angle and who knows what kind of story they’d have to tell?”

Simser said.

The newscasts are posted on YouTube, said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism.

“We’re trying to figure out, along with other major news outlets, how the Internet works with people on camera,” Pybus said. “TV news is different than the on-demand Internet — we have to make stories shorter and more concise to keep the audience interested.”

Not only do broadcast majors need to learn to work with the Internet, they also must figure in

podcasting, Pybus said.

“I foresee a time where we do several podcasts a week, and it’s good for radio and broadcast majors to engage in that kind of conversation,” Pybus said.

At first, it took quite a while to piece together the newscast, but the last one took them just 30 minutes.

Coates wished she could have had this kind of training.

“I learned how to write well while at ACU, but I never got on-air training,” Coates said. “I don’t think we did a single newscast while I was there. They’re so lucky to have all of that now.”

The ugly purple wall is gone.

In the old third floor newsrooms, a purple wall divided the Optimist from the Prickly Pear.

The mentality of keeping student media from crossing paths is no more thanks to the new JMC Network Student Media News Lab. One thing ACU’s Network Staff can agree on this semester is the close-knit community the updated news lab has created.

Regardless of title, photographers, editors and videographers are taking advantage of the integrated newsroom.

Daniel Johnson-Kim, editor in chief and senior journalism major from Abilene, said he cannot believe how blessed he is to be a part of the opportunities the JMC department is providing students.

He said he is looking forward to graduating in May because he has had experience dealing with convergence this year and he will be confident discussing the topic with future employers.

“I love our meeting room because we get to act a lot older than we really are by planning out important things,” Johnson-Kim said.

He said the whole facility is an incredible improvement over the old newsroom and temporary location.

“They were so small and cramped that we didn’t have room to blink, let alone work,” Johnson-Kim said.

Grant Abston, sports editor and senior journalism major from Rockwall, said he thinks the most beneficial thing about the integrated newsroom is having everyone in the same place.

It’s easier to work together as a group and the staff is capable of getting things done more efficiently with the way things are set up, he said.

Other staff members, Zak Zeinert, junior photojournalism major from Spring, and Ryan Clark Self, sophomore broadcast journalism major from Lubbock, agree the best part of the new facility is the community it has created amongst the news staff.

Self, broadcast assistant, said the environment and layout of the facility feels the way a professional newsroom is always portrayed because it is constantly buzzing with activity.

“It’s helpful having video, photography, and print all in one place because you can just yell across the room to talk to

anyone whenever you need JMC Network STAFF them,” Self said.

Staff memn Daniel Johnson-Kim, editor in chief bers also have n Michael Freeman, managing editor benefited n Kelline Linton, chief copy editor n Yuri Sudo, online editor from the new n Sommerly Simser, multimedia managing editor equipment n DeLaina Parker, broadcast manager the newsroom n Zak Zeinert, chief photographer provides. Abn Cody Veteto, chief videographer ston said the n Camille Vandendriessche, assistant copy editor equipment is n Molly Byrd, page 2 editor n Laura Acuff, opinion editor some of the n Grant Abston, sports editor best, and he n Colter Hettich, features editor thinks evn Lydia Melby, arts editor erything will n Chandler Harris, assistant sports editor only get betn Alex York, cartoonist ter once the n Tanner Anderson, page designer staff is completely comfortable with the new comput- son is new to the staff or not, everyone is encouraged to ask quesers and cameras.

Self is new to the staff this tions, to learn something new year. He said although he puts each day, he said.

As for future staff members, forth a lot of effort and things get frustrating at times, in the end, he Abston said it is good to stay on comes out knowing more than he top of things and to take advantage of all the cameras and podhad imagined each day.

“You learn a lot more through casts because that experience will trial and error than you do just benefit students when they try to find a job in the future. sitting in a classroom,” Self said.

Camille Vandendriessche, seZeinert, chief photographer, mirrored Self’s statement by say- nior print journalism from Anting he thinks the main point of ony, France, said the newsroom joining the news staff is to learn brings more professionalism into as you go along. Whether a per- the work of journalism students.

He said it puts the staff into conditions that they may find later on when they get a job.

“I have worked in different newsrooms in France and ACU’s newsroom doesn’t look any different,” he said. “I think the atmosphere of the newsroom is convivial; the quality of the equipment helps us to not stress out too much because we know we can rely on it.”

Vandendriessche, assistant copy editor, said many students are not aware the Optimist has a team that produces videos and posts them on YouTube for viewing.

“The staff does a great job, especially about picking interesting stories and topics to cover,” Vandendriessche said.

The new JMC network allows the news staff more opportunities to learn as a community.

Though it has had a few technical difficulties, the network has made headway toward providing more efficient news for students in a way most convenient to them, Zeinert said.

“I love how we’re this group of people all working together toward a common goal,” he said.

Pg. 7

acuoptimist.com For video of the JMC Network Staff in action, visit acuoptimist.com.

Broadcast branches out, on campus and online

By Rachel Davis Student Contributor

The newsroom is not just for print journalism majors anymore — now all majors in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication can play a role in getting news out to the ACU campus, thanks to the construction of the new JMC Student Media News Lab. Before completion of the new newsroom, broadcast journalism majors really had no place to call their own. Video editing computers were in separate locations, and there were no places to really shoot a newscast because the TV studio on the first floor of the Morris Center was frequently used for other productions.

Now, broadcast majors can shoot, edit and package their stories all in the same area. But it was not always that way, said ACU alumna Shelby Coates.

“We only had one place to edit video,” Coates said. “And if someone was there, we had to wait on them or come back at really random times of the day.”

Coates, who is now a reporter

Pg. 6

acuoptimist.com Check out our Web site to watch the JMC Network’s latest broadcast and videos. and weekend anchor for KRBCTV in Abilene, said she was often editing video at 1 a.m. or during Chapel.

“And the upstairs computers had different software than the [KUF] TV station computers, so we always had to export video files and it was definitely crazy,” Coates said.

John Best, director of broadcast operations, said he is really excited to see where the new newsroom will take ACU’s journalism program.

“We’re breaking new ground every time we go up there,” Best said.

Best also described the once-disjointed broadcast area of the department, saying it was difficult to get any form of news on the air.

“Before now, from a production standpoint, shows like Abilene City Magazine and McCaleb and Company were all done

on the first floor — all TV was confined to one location unless we were able to get out and shoot on scene,” Best said. “Including a studio for news broadcasting in the newsroom makes it evident that we’re dedicated to producing a high quality newscast.”

Now, students have the opportunity to participate in newscasts for the first time. Under the direction of multimedia managing editor Sommerly Simser, students put together two newscasts a week as JMC Network News on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each newscast runs about five minutes and covers three to five stories.

Simser, junior broadcast journalism major from Las Vegas, Nev., said the newscast has definitely increased broadcasting capabilities of the department.

Along with the new newscasts, all cameras are now hi-definition, and students get the benefit of shooting and editing HD video.

“We’re really working hard to differentiate from stories we’ve done in the past,” Simser said.

“Instead of the big picture, I want to focus on the unique things that people are interested in.”

Responsibility falls on student-lead staff

By Molly Byrd Page 2 Editor

Photo courtesy of ACU Creative Services

JMC’s new broadcast is equipped with two, industry-standard cameras with teleprompters, three flatscreen TVs, a green screen and lighting controls.

For example, Simser thought an interesting angle would be to cover someone who has served communion at Summit.

“It’s a great human interest angle and who knows what kind of story they’d have to tell?”

Simser said.

The newscasts are posted on YouTube, said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism.

“We’re trying to figure out, along with other major news outlets, how the Internet works with people on camera,” Pybus said. “TV news is different than the on-demand Internet — we have to make stories shorter and more concise to keep the audience interested.”

Not only do broadcast majors need to learn to work with the Internet, they also must figure in

podcasting, Pybus said.

“I foresee a time where we do several podcasts a week, and it’s good for radio and broadcast majors to engage in that kind of conversation,” Pybus said.

At first, it took quite a while to piece together the newscast, but the last one took them just 30 minutes.

Coates wished she could have had this kind of training.

“I learned how to write well while at ACU, but I never got on-air training,” Coates said. “I don’t think we did a single newscast while I was there. They’re so lucky to have all of that now.”

The ugly purple wall is gone.

In the old third floor newsrooms, a purple wall divided the Optimist from the Prickly Pear.

The mentality of keeping student media from crossing paths is no more thanks to the new JMC Network Student Media News Lab. One thing ACU’s Network Staff can agree on this semester is the close-knit community the updated news lab has created.

Regardless of title, photographers, editors and videographers are taking advantage of the integrated newsroom.

Daniel Johnson-Kim, editor in chief and senior journalism major from Abilene, said he cannot believe how blessed he is to be a part of the opportunities the JMC department is providing students.

He said he is looking forward to graduating in May because he has had experience dealing with convergence this year and he will be confident discussing the topic with future employers.

“I love our meeting room because we get to act a lot older than we really are by planning out important things,” Johnson-Kim said.

He said the whole facility is an incredible improvement over the old newsroom and temporary location.

“They were so small and cramped that we didn’t have room to blink, let alone work,” Johnson-Kim said.

Grant Abston, sports editor and senior journalism major from Rockwall, said he thinks the most beneficial thing about the integrated newsroom is having everyone in the same place.

It’s easier to work together as a group and the staff is capable of getting things done more efficiently with the way things are set up, he said.

Other staff members, Zak Zeinert, junior photojournalism major from Spring, and Ryan Clark Self, sophomore broadcast journalism major from Lubbock, agree the best part of the new facility is the community it has created amongst the news staff.

Self, broadcast assistant, said the environment and layout of the facility feels the way a professional newsroom is always portrayed because it is constantly buzzing with activity.

“It’s helpful having video, photography, and print all in one place because you can just yell across the room to talk to

anyone whenever you need JMC Network STAFF them,” Self said.

Staff memn Daniel Johnson-Kim, editor in chief bers also have n Michael Freeman, managing editor benefited n Kelline Linton, chief copy editor n Yuri Sudo, online editor from the new n Sommerly Simser, multimedia managing editor equipment n DeLaina Parker, broadcast manager the newsroom n Zak Zeinert, chief photographer provides. Abn Cody Veteto, chief videographer ston said the n Camille Vandendriessche, assistant copy editor equipment is n Molly Byrd, page 2 editor n Laura Acuff, opinion editor some of the n Grant Abston, sports editor best, and he n Colter Hettich, features editor thinks evn Lydia Melby, arts editor erything will n Chandler Harris, assistant sports editor only get betn Alex York, cartoonist ter once the n Tanner Anderson, page designer staff is completely comfortable with the new comput- son is new to the staff or not, everyone is encouraged to ask quesers and cameras.

Self is new to the staff this tions, to learn something new year. He said although he puts each day, he said.

As for future staff members, forth a lot of effort and things get frustrating at times, in the end, he Abston said it is good to stay on comes out knowing more than he top of things and to take advantage of all the cameras and podhad imagined each day.

“You learn a lot more through casts because that experience will trial and error than you do just benefit students when they try to find a job in the future. sitting in a classroom,” Self said.

Camille Vandendriessche, seZeinert, chief photographer, mirrored Self’s statement by say- nior print journalism from Anting he thinks the main point of ony, France, said the newsroom joining the news staff is to learn brings more professionalism into as you go along. Whether a per- the work of journalism students.

He said it puts the staff into conditions that they may find later on when they get a job.

“I have worked in different newsrooms in France and ACU’s newsroom doesn’t look any different,” he said. “I think the atmosphere of the newsroom is convivial; the quality of the equipment helps us to not stress out too much because we know we can rely on it.”

Vandendriessche, assistant copy editor, said many students are not aware the Optimist has a team that produces videos and posts them on YouTube for viewing.

“The staff does a great job, especially about picking interesting stories and topics to cover,” Vandendriessche said.

The new JMC network allows the news staff more opportunities to learn as a community.

Though it has had a few technical difficulties, the network has made headway toward providing more efficient news for students in a way most convenient to them, Zeinert said.

“I love how we’re this group of people all working together toward a common goal,” he said.

Pg. 7

Network mirrors professionals on Internet

By Camille Vandendriessche Assistant Copy Editor

If newspapers were an army, they would be fighting an insurgency of unsatisfied readers right now.

The number of readers is diminishing because people are more interested in modern media like the Internet. In response to this disaffection, newspapers have strategically invaded the Web territory and they now abundantly use videos and podcasts as powerful weapons.

For David Leeson, ACU alumnus and 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner in breaking news photography for his coverage of the Iraq War, the comparison between newspapers and armies illustrates the crucial situation newspapers face: traditional methods do not work anymore.

To stay competitive, newspapers need to become more like the insurgents, Leeson said.

“There is not a whole lot of future in print newspapers,” Leeson said. “Less people are buying, but it’s not going to die. Newspapers need to be more like the people, they need to listen to [them], to be part of the social fabric.”

A photographer at the Dallas Morning News for 15 years, Leeson became a videographer in 2000, becoming a pioneer in the print industry.

“The Web is not showing just one photo, one point of view; it’s more inclusive,” Leeson said.

In 2005, Leeson switched to video consulting and started training new videographers at the Morning News.

But on Sept. 8, Leeson left the Dallas Morning News after 25 years at the newspaper. He said he now wants to focus on his own company, “Protege Films,” which already produced At War, a 120minute documentary about the war in Afghanistan.

“Video is powerful: it translates a still image into motion and sound. Still image is a moment; video is an extended mo-

Pg. 8

ment,” Leeson said. “In 1998, I was already posting videos on my Web site. I knew it would only get bigger.”

Leeson said like every pioneer he encountered skepticism and trouble because people thought it was crazy at the time. He said videos did not become important for newspapers until 2005.

Newspapers have now significantly embraced video podcasts; 92 percent of the biggest newspapers in the United States offered video podcasts on their Web sites, according to a study conducted in September 2007 by the Bivings Group, a firm specialized in online communications.

Since August 2005, the Optimist staff has posted its own videos on YouTube.com under an ACU account. With the technological support of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab, which includes a new TV studio, student journalists now record a newscast every Tuesday and a sportscast every Thursday and post them on YouTube.

However, Kimberley Prather, senior broadcast journalism major from St. Louis, Mo., said very few people on campus know about the podcasts.

“It should be more advertised,” said Prather, one of the four Optimist’s anchors. “We don’t have enough visibility.”

In addition to the newscasts, a crew of four to six students shoots videos about activities on campus. Sommerly Simser, junior broadcast journalism major from Las Vegas, said three to four videos are posted every week on YouTube. Video topics need to be timely, have good visual and correspond to what people want to see, Simser said.

Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program, said the Optimist is waiting on its online publisher, Collegepublisher.com, to upgrade its system and allow video podcasts on the Optimist’s Web site.

He said the YouTube channel is very effective though.

News Lab designed as converged setting

By Kelline Linton Chief Copy Editor

Zak Zeinert :: chief photographer Colter Hettich, features editor, speaks into a microphone in the podcasting room in the JMC Network Student Media News Lab.

“We had political videos that have received more than 20,000 views, but it’s not the norm,” White said. “A steady flow of visitors watches our videos every day.”

The two most popular ACU videos feature students sharing their political views before the primary elections in Texas. Interestingly, the video about conservative students on campus was viewed almost twice as much as the one on liberal students, which illustrates a fair representation of political trends online.

More recently, an interview of SA President Daniel Paul Watkins about the noose incident recorded 63 views on YouTube just five hours after its release. Twelve days later, the interview had been viewed 410 times.

“Online videos is not just a growing trend; it’s a tremendous transition in the industry,” White said. “Internet opened the door for new forms of story telling and new audiences. There is a massive audience for online videos, especially the youngsters. Newspapers are discovering that newsrooms can do much more than just a newspaper.”

White said the new generation does not mind where they get their information.

“The time will come when [newspapers’] Web sites will become primary and newspapers secondary,” White said.

A study conducted by the advertising consulting firm Borrell Associates in June 2007 revealed that newspapers develop and sophisticate their online newscasts to obtain more local ads than television Web sites. Newspapers’ newscasts target the young audiences and do not offer the same content as television newscasts; they also compete with television hours and geographical coverage. Although newspapers’ newscasts reach an extremely small percentage of audiences, they do seem to contribute to an increase of the overall online traffic, according to the study.

However, Leeson said newspapers should not try to compete with television.

“If newspapers want to be like TV, they will lose because they are not like TV,” Leeson said. “Why would they like to emulate TV since TV stations are struggling themselves?”

Leeson said newspapers must adapt their offerings to the people’s interests and habits but keep in mind their mission of truth, facts, criticism and story telling.

“If newspapers lose sight of their mission, they will lose,” Leeson said. “People still turn to newspapers for what they trust. We should not be about hit counts. Our privilege is to stand on the side of the truth. We need truth, and there is no champion of the truth. The key to keep readers interested is transparency.”

Leeson said he once argued at a meeting with managers of the Dallas Morning News because their goal was to try to make hit counts. He said he spoke up and told them ironically that he would shoot porn clips in order to boost online audiences.

Leeson said they acted like they did not hear him.

While the future addition of videos on the Optimist’s Web site may boost the audience size, White said the main goal is to give journalism students an “effective, working experience.”

“We want them to stay on the cutting edge of mass media,” White said.

Leeson agrees the newsroom is a wonderful addition to ACU. “It sets [ACU] apart from any institution,” Leeson said. “It is absolutely important to equip students technically for tomorrow.”

Professors who work in the Morris Center had a difficult time finding their old offices last fall because the interior renovations to the second and third floor transformed the building into a construction zone. Cables and wires hung from gutted ceilings, concrete floors and half-painted walls resounded with the echoes of saws and nail guns and piles of wooden frames and ladders tripped the unwary.

A local architect and ACU general contractor completed the renovation of the far south end of the Morris Center just in time for the start of the spring semester; they built offices and a large smart classroom on the third floor and an interior design space and the JMC Network Student Media News Lab on the second floor.

The Morris Center undertaking began in January 2001 when the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty began discussing the renovations of its facilities. Two years later, on Sept. 10, 2003, department representatives first talked with an architect. Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the department, and Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, met with Jack Harkins, one of the five partners of the Title Luther Partnership Architecture firm in Abilene. They actually began to conceptualize floor plans and a design layout in early 2006.

Harkins, an graying man with a large smile, has worked for Title Luther since 1969 and drew the original Morris Center blueprints in the 1970s; he was the principal in charge of the innovative multimedia newsroom job, which he thought was simple to design.

“They wanted a big open space that was multi-tasking and brought all the media together in one spot,” he said.

The hardest challenge he

faced was in splitting the available second floor area between the JMC newsroom and the interior design program in the Art and Design Department.

“He had a very difficult task to find a way to satisfy the competing interests of two programs,” Bacon said. “He was open and creative and came up with a solution that none of us would have imagined.”

He balanced the square footage between the two; satisfying both parties.

Harkins began the construction project by striving to understand the media needs for the space and used the suggestions and comments given by the representatives of the JMC Department.

“We redesigned that space two or three times; it wasn’t something we did once and moved on down the road,” Harkins said.

The department representatives wanted the newsroom designed for more visibility and visitors, generating a need for an outside entrance and stairs, he said.

Without an exterior entrance, visitors and students would walk up the main stairwell and down the hall to find their way to the room or enter through the back entrance by way of the harshly lit concrete stairwell.

“Once we settled on trying to find a way to bring people in through a new entrance, it flipflopped everything,” he said.

The offices and conference room switched places, an exterior stair was added and a window was removed.

“That became a major issue, trying to get them their own entrance that people could use and come into a nice entry point,” Harkins said.

Another challenge he faced with the project was the broadcast area near the back entrance.

The department wanted to shoot video in a space with a low ceil-

TV Studio Student Media News Lab

“

They wanted a big open space that was multi-tasking and brought all the media together in one spot... :: Jack Harkins, Title Luther Partnership Architect

ing, so the construction team removed the ceiling, painted it black and added volume.

After finalizing the general design layout, Harkins began the design development where he talked with the department about specific needs like special lighting, cabinetry and case work and the locations of electrical outlets, power outlets for equipment and telecommunications for computers. Once all the specific elements were confirmed, he made construction documents, the detailed drawings used by the general contractor to solicit bids for the actual construction work.

ACU stayed in house for this project, meaning it used its own employee as the general contractor, because the projected costs for renovations exceeded budget by $100,000, and an in-house general contractor would save the university money. The administration chose Eddie McFadden for the role because of his experience and abilities: he headed the construction for the Learning Commons in 2006.

McFadden implemented Title Luther’s architectural plans for the newsroom by organizing and supervising the construction. He managed the construction crews and hired subcontractors to reno-

”

vate such specifics as the walls, ceiling and electrical systems.

“I was very pleased to have a general contractor in house; I already knew Eddie, and he worked very hard to take care of us,” Bacon said.

McFadden finished a little below budget with a final price tag of more than $1 million, but the hardest challenge he faced was staying on time with the development. Construction began in September of 2007, and the department representatives wanted the project completed by November.

He finished the job in December, which was still acceptable because the spring semester had not yet begun, he said. Although McFadden was the project manager, Title Luther remained involved in the renovations.

“We don’t do supervision, but we do observation of the work as it’s being done just to make sure it is being done in compliance with the plans and specifications,” Harkins said.

The firm hired Crim & Bradshaw Engineering in Abilene as the consultant for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing aspects, and Donna Fowler, Title Luther’s interior designer, used her expertise to decorate the transformed areas after

McFadden completed the construction aspects.

Fowler initially met with Bacon and Lewis in May 2007 and discussed how the space would be used.

“We talked about what needed to be purchased to go in those rooms to fulfill the occupants’ needs,” she said. “[Bacon] wanted it to be a space that was contemporary in feel like it’s happening now.”

They started with the carpet choice because it had the least amount of options and set the tone and color for the space.

Bacon suggested blues, browns and greens for highlights, and they used a natural maple wood finish, light blue, lime green and off whites on the walls. The paint choice had personality, Fowler said.

After they chose the carpet and paints, they focused on furniture selection. Bacon wanted the seating area near the newsroom’s entrance to be slick and fashionable, to set the tone for the space and capture people’s eyes, Fowler said.

“The ultra modern look was a style new to the campus,” McFadden said.

All demolition, design, placement and technology installation for the project was finished more than seven years after the department first started discussing renovations. With construction now complete, visitors can explore the new rooms and watch students use the innovative amenities.

Pg. 5

Mobile interface to increase exposure

By Grant Abston Sports Editor

As ACU integrates new technology at a furious pace throughout its campus, the university sets the standard for colleges across America, offering two words to any competitors: keep up.

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at ACU has transformed the way it delivers news to students, expanding its range well beyond print news to other forms of communication and providing students the opportunity to access their news through newly developed iPhone or iPod touch interfaces.

“When we learned that all the freshmen would have iPhones, we quickly realized we would have to change how we reached them online,” said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and student media adviser. “We knew that many would read their news over the iPhone so we would have to develop some sort of iPhone interface specifically to serve them

and students who had iPhones.”

The JMC Network began developing the iPhone interface after Pybus and Cade White, instructor of journalism and student media adviser, were chosen to participate in the university’s Mobile Learning Initiative in the fall of 2007. ACU’s iPhone initiative was created to put iPhones or iPod touches into the hands of all incoming freshmen, providing students the opportunity to use the latest in mobile technology to aid them in everything from class schedules and maps to in-class, real-time surveys.

ACU was named a 2008 Campus Innovator in the area of Mobile Technology by Campus Technology magazine for its Mobile Learning Initiative launched this semester.

Because the iPhone would be in the hands of more than 900 freshmen, Pybus and White realized the opportunity of distributing news through the iPhone.

Pybus and White began researching the technology behind iPhone interfaces through

html, xml and the different Apple user guidelines.

“The beta site we experimented with was written in basic html, but the next version was authorized using dash code and to do that we sought the assistance of an outside programmer,” White said.

They hired alumnus Darby Hewitt to take on the project during his off hours when he was not working on the iPhone development team for the university. Hewitt was shown other interfaces from other news organizations and was given the task of developing a user-friendly interface.

“The real challenge for a news organization is to allow the user to navigate through a great deal of information and make it easy to find what they want to select,” White said.

Students may access the interface from a Web site using their phone, exactly like the myACU icon that was developed for all students. The interface was scheduled to launch Friday and can be accessed by logging

on to m.jmcnetwork.com A promotional campaign also will be launched after the interface goes live to inform students of the new interface and encourage students to add the icon to their iPhone desktop and receive news e-mails.

“We don’t know what it looks like on other phone applications, but I can imagine you can see it on other phones,” Pybus said.

“We haven’t tested it, knowing the vast majority of our readers our accessing it through the iPhone, and that’s where we directed most of our attention.”

While the interface was being developed, developers faced the task of finding ways to incorporate other things into the interface such as advertising, convincing outside advertisers that the iPhone platform will reach a large audience.

“We know more and more people will access their news and info electronically, and we want to stay up to date with the technology that allows that,” Pybus said. “[The interface] will be easier to

Left: Kelline Linton, chief copy editor, edits a page of the Optimist for errors.

Above: Michael Freeman, managing editor, works. Right: Zak Zeinert, chief photographer, sorts through the day’s photographs. Far right: Daniel JohnsonKim, editor in chief, assists Lydia Melby, arts editor, with her design.

read and students will be able to access it anywhere.”

White also added another goal for the interface. “One of the areas that we are going to focus on is looking for ways to provide interactivity opportunities for readers to comment on stories or participate in discussions. We want to make that as easy and seamless as possible.”

Welcome to the Network Here’s what JMC students have done with their converged media space so far.

JMC joins global shift toward convergence mindset

By Sara Snelson

Student Contributor

Print journalists used to only write, photographers only took pictures, and broadcasters gathered and wrote news to air for their stations. Now, a journalist must be able to do all of these.

“A single journalist must be able to do all sorts of things.

We are no longer experts in one area,” said Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism.

Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the department took notice of future journalists’ needs to be equipped in numerous areas more than a decade ago.

“Students have to be prepared Pg. 4

to tell stories in more than one way,” Bacon said.

Thus, the JMC Network Student Media Lab was built and technologically equipped for the converged media era. Just as the JMC curriculum touches every media format, a functional, student-run newsroom was needed to bring all of it together and give students a real life feel of the converged media era.

In 2003, Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, presented her idea of this converged newsroom to faculty and the JMC Visiting Committee.

“We began planning a process no one was doing in journalism education in an integrated way,” Lewis said.

To get inspiration for the converged newsroom Lewis and

Bacon took trips to the Tampa Tribune in Florida and to the University of South Carolina before its Newsplex was built.

Lewis had begun researching converged media in 2001.

“I was thinking in the future tense about converged media in the marketplace and what that meant for media education,” Lewis said. “I wrote a scenario that placed students in a futuristic world in order to understand the vision.”

Lewis explained it as the learning theory of constructivism — the act of creating knowledge by collecting input from a variety of sources. When a student participates in constructing his or her own knowledge, he or she is more likely to retain it and apply it later. The newsroom allows students to apply what they are

learning in the classroom to create all types of media and have a deeper understanding of what they have learned. Then they can apply that knowledge in the JMC Network and in their future jobs.

The students get a real newsroom experience before they enter the professional field.

“This type of convergence is happening in the industry,” Lewis said. “The goal of the multimedia newsroom is to provide student learning opportunities in a progressive media environment that is functional, attractive and supports the curriculum.”

Pybus said with all of the outlets working together, readers can pick and choose how they want to receive their news.

“Younger people gather in eclectic ways, and now we are allowing them to choose their me-

dia preference based upon their own interests,” Pybus said. “We are recognizing this trend in journalism, forcing different mindsets to share space and breaking down those walls and being one of the first universities to do it.”

Bacon, Lewis and Pybus agree that so far the converged newsroom is everything they had hoped it would be. Although the school year has just begun, Pybus said regular online posts are happening (even on the weekends), more videos are being made and posted than ever before and more TV segments have been made this year so far than the last three years (youtube.com/acuvideo).

“We are taking on less of a newspaper mentality and more of a news mentality,” Pybus said.

Above: Colter Hettich, features editor, enters the newsroom. Below right: Sommerly Simser, multimedia management editor, edits video. Below middle: Laura Acuff, opinion editor, and Ryan Self, broadcast assistant, work on their latest assignments. Below left: DeLaina Parker, broadcast manager, watches the camera’s monitor as Pete Koehn, senior electronic media major, operates the camera. Left: Kimberly Prather, broadcast assistant, films a newscast with fellow broadcast assistant, Ryan Self.

Pg. 9

Professors dedicate time to students, newsroom

By Colter Hettich Features Editor

With much of the focus on the JMC Network Student Media News Lab itself, students and visitors might easily overlook the elbow grease that went into realizing a ten-year dream.

Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, and Cade White, instructor of photojournalism, spent countless hours preparing for all aspects of the newsroom and even more piecing it together this summer. The two men, along with the JMC department, share a deep concern for giving students the highest quality student media experience possible.

“One of the hallmarks of this department is that we are constantly looking forward,” Pybus said. “[The newsroom] shows that we’re thinking about our students careers and less interested in protecting the status quo.”

The idea of constructing a converged newsroom was introduced to ACU more than 10 years. Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, made a presentation to a Visiting Committee on the benefits of a converged media space.

Pybus was on that committee and took the presentation seriously.

“I was intrigued because I was at a weekly newspaper where we were trying to figure out how to put our news online,” Pybus said. “[Dr. Lewis’

presentation] hit home; It was the very the challenge I had as editor of a newspaper.”

Pybus’ interest in journalism began with cartooning. Pybus cartooned for the Optimist his first year at ACU, but over time he grew to love the art of writing more.

White He reported for a year after graduating from ACU before attending Baylor Law School.

Amy Pybus, Kenneth’s wife, said her husPybus band’s interest in journalistic writing spiked while he was at Baylor Law. “Even through law school, he didn’t really enjoy it until he took his First Amendment class,” Amy said. “I think that’s what made him so interested in it.”

After law school, Pybus moved his family to Houston, where he accepted the position of managing editor of the Houston Business Journal. At the Journal, he learned both the production side of publication and the managerial side. Pybus’ diverse experience in the field has given him an understanding of the importance of being knowl-

Photo courtesy of Creative Services

Pg. 10

Cade White, instructor of photojournalism, coaches Ryan Self, staff broadcast assistant on how to use Final Cut Pro.

edgeable in multiple areas.

Pybus has already noticed the converged atmosphere’s effects on the newsroom.

“Students who don’t emphasize video like to pay attention and watch how it’s done,” Pybus said. “It’s the proximity; you can’t help but absorb something.”

Cade White spent his summer months on the second floor of the Morris Center installing software, hardware and configuring the new video editing station.

White graduated from ACU in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism.

“I was a photo hobbyist as a child, but it was just a phase like anything else,” White said.

“Somewhere between dirt bikes and guitars.”

Once he arrived at ACU, after receiving the fateful, high school graduation gift of a “decent” camera, White decided to take a photography class. By the time he completed the course, he knew what he wanted to pursue. Though he had direction, he would not develop a passion until taking two-week, photojournalism summer course taught by David Leeson.

In 2004, Leeson received a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography. The award recognized him and his colleague Cheryl Diaz Meyers for coverage of the invasion of Iraq as embedded journalists. Also, Leeson’s documentary film “War Stories” (2003) won a national Edward R. Murrow award and a National Headliners award.

“Cade was actually helping me out for a while … he was sort of my Deepthroat kind of guy; he kept me informed on what was happening in video,” Leeson said.

“I don’t know if anybody knew on the campus just how ahead of the pack he was in video; he just did a fantastic job with his videos.”

Leeson recalled White’s fascination with developing technology, but more importantly his dedication to the craft. “[White] always and still is incredibly passionate and energetic.

1968 Robert English and Mary Grady became the first African-American staff members to work for the Optimist. The university had first admitted black students three years earlier.

2006

1972 The administration pulled and destroyed the 1972 edition of the Prickly Pear because of its supposed counter-culture themes.

1990 The JMC department receives new Macintosh computers.

With the popularity of online video sharing on the rise, the Optimist starts to post brief student-produced videos to YouTube.com.

2008 The Optimist begins its 97th year of providing news to the ACU campus.

eager pursuit of journalistic excellence Photo courtesy of Creative Services

Kenneth Pybus, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, instructs Laura Acuff, opinion editor, during a deadline day.

The guy still moves like he’s 16,” Leeson said. “He is a wonderful human being.”

“I didn’t see his name anywhere, but I thought, ‘I know who’s behind that,’” Leeson said when he received an invitation to the unveiling of the converged newsroom.

Though Leeson never taught a university course before or after that summer class, he left a deep impression on White. White remembers Leeson making sure his students understood not only the inherent danger and alienation of photojournalism, but the unmatched satisfaction as well.

“He was incredibly inspirational,” White said. “Ever since he has been my mentor. David continues to influence my life and everything that happens here in the newsroom.”

White’s use of his faculty position to encourage students to think creatively and push the envelope is nothing new. In 2002, as

Prickly Pear advisor, he designed the first video journalism effort to record a companion DVD for the yearbook. Now, in 2008, White handpicked most of the newsroom’s software and, with the help of Nathaniel Jones and Technology Support Services, designed how the computers and network would be configured.

“I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” White admitted. “As everything started taking shape, I realized I cared very much about the technical aspects of the newsroom.”

Throughout his time at ACU, White said he has been fortunate to be on the front lines of JMC’s transition from old technology to the latest in news technology. The converged media space is something many never thought would be conceived, much less materialized on ACU’s campus.

“I could never have imagined it would be like this back in 1996,” White said. “This is incredible.”

about 25 students enrolled in the program to about 125 students within a three-year period. By the mid-1970s, a professional journalism curriculum was formed in the Division of Mass Communication.

In 1978, Optimist editor Ron Hadfield and his staff moved from the musty basement of the Campus Center lined with lime green shag carpet to the third floor of the newly built Morris Center. With the move came new technologies. The staff began using Compugraphic’s Unified Terminal System video display terminals instead of typewriters. Despite the new system, articles still needed to be printed out on film, cut up with X-Acto knives, run through a waxing machine and placed on paste-up sheets in order to be put to press.

“It was a lot of busy work,” said Doug Mendenhall, instructor of journalism and mass communication and Optimist editor in 1980-81 and 1981-82. “Most of it was done over two days.”

The staff grew busier as the Optimist added a second weekly edition on Tuesdays in August of 1981. Before, is-

sues ran only on Fridays.

“In some ways, it was a lot harder,” Mendenhall said.

“But in some ways, it made things a little more sensible.

You wouldn’t have to wait a week to report on certain things. It certainly helped in that way.”

The mid-1980s saw a plethora of progress in the field of broadcast student media. In November 1983, ACU-TV began broadcasting on-campus talk shows; the next year, it produced Visions, a video yearbook. On June 2, 1986, KACU-FM, which had changed its name from KACC to stay in concordance with the university’s name change in 1976, began broadcasting; two years later, the on-campus television station KUF-TV7 went on air.

In September 1990, the JMC department received a Macintosh SE computer lab complete with 17 computer stations. Four Macintosh IIex machines and several laser printers were then installed in the Optimist office, and staff members started to use QuarkXPress system software to produce the paper. Student media had reached the digital age, and on May 1, 2002, the

“

The delivery systems are changing. What we’ll have 25 years from now is not going to look like today. :: Dr. Charlie Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty of JMC Department

Optimist launched its Web site www.acuoptimist.com.

“The Internet was creating a whole new medium,” said Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program.

“For the visual journalist and former photojournalists, it really presented an amazing opportunity to add some very powerful tools to your toolbox—the storytelling tools of sound and motion.”

Since then, the Optimist switched its focus to convergence, the combination of print, audio, video and online journalism. ACU student Jamin Blount, ’05, helped set up the Optimist’s server, which was stored in White’s office, for the hosting of online videos.

“It was very cool, very exciting,” White said. “There’s a lot of technology out there that really makes this a lot easier.”

”

However, as the server aged, it slowed down, forcing the Optimist to look elsewhere to post videos online. On September 7, 2006, the Optimist began publishing news videos on www. youtube.com/acuvideo.

After the renovation to the Morris Center in 2007, the JMC department now offers KACU-FM, a 33,000-watt National Public Radio station serving West Texas, KUF-TV, a LPTV station broadcasting to the Abilene area, the Optimist online, a Web site that features articles, YouTube videos and podcasts, and the Optimist, a twice-weekly broadsheet newspaper that has been rated All-American every year since 1975 by the Associated Collegiate Press.

The Prickly Pear published its final edition last year.

During the history of ACU student media, the program produced many alumni such

as minister and best-selling Christian author Max Lucado, ’83, CBS Emmy Award-winning producer Lance Barrow, ’81, and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Leeson, ’78. The department as a whole also has won thousands of state, regional and national awards since the mid-1980s.

ACU’s student media has advanced significantly since its inception in 1912. And despite the sudden and rapid growth, students of journalism and mass communication always will be needed, Marler said.

“The delivery systems are changing,” Marler said. “What we’ll have 25 years from now is not going to look like today.

But the basis is that the population of people in a given community doesn’t have the time, so they need some institution that’s playing the role of gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, reporting and evaluating information for them,” he said.

Pg. 3

ACU community expects more from staff

By Sondra Rodriguez Student Contributor

1916

1912 Arthur Slater worked as a reporter, copy editor and typesetter to distribute the first edition of the Optimist.

The first copy of the student yearbook, the Prickly Pear, debuts.

It was named after the pear-shaped fruit of a common West Texas cactus. The yearbook had 125 pages and highlighted student groups and events.

1921 Wendell Bedichek begins his eventual three-year tenure as Optimist editor.

1950 KACC-AM first goes on the air with first general manager Bill Teague, future ACU president.

1957 The Optimist office moves to Chambers Hall. The office has been housed in several buildings during the years.

After 97 years, student media continues

By Michael Freeman Managing Editor

In August 1912, student Arthur Slater of Clyde distributed the first copy of the Optimist to Childers Classical Institute students. He worked on the first issue as a reporter, copy editor and typesetter.

Ninety-six years later, the kind of dedication shown by Slater still materializes in modern Optimist staffs.

The history of student media at ACU begins with that first issue Slater made, which mostly featured religious commentary, encouraging letters to the school and brief news pieces. For reasons unknown, he named the paper the Optimist. The name stuck as students joined to help produce the monthly newspaper. Slater was the first editor for issues produced on the old campus on North First Street. D.L. Petty, who later died fighting in World War I, became the paper’s second editor the following year.

A few years later in May 1916, the first student yearbook was published. Named after the common West Texas Pg. 2 cactus with pear-

shaped fruit, the Prickly Pear, complete with 125 pages and a royal purple front cover, began being printed annually, highlighting student groups and events. In the early 1920s, class editions of the Optimist were made as a competition, where each class of students elected a temporary staff to put together one issue of the paper.

As student media at ACC continued to grow on campus, so did its influence off campus. In November 1919, members of the Optimist and Prickly Pear formed the Press Club and joined the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, the oldest collegiate press association in the nation.

Although the newspaper was primarily an extracurricular activity, students devoted their time and effort to it, including Wendell H. Bedichek, who served three years as editor during 1921 to 1924—still the longest tenure in school history.

In 1925, the staff moved out of the administration building and into the science building, thus beginning a trek around campus that included producing the paper from Daisy Hall, Sewell Auditorium, the basement of McKinzie Hall, Chambers Hall, the basement of the

Library, in a barracks building where Christian Village Apartments currently stand, in the basement of the Campus Center and finally to the Don Morris Center in 1978, for 20 years on the third floor, and now in the new JMC Network Student Media News Lab on the second floor.

The constant moving did not pose the only obstacle to the staff; a few controversies arose along the way. On March 15, 1932, a faculty publications committee urged that a popular column, called Hoots of the Owl, be canceled. The unsigned column began running in 1928 and was written by a variety of staff members. The article featured an owl who said he roamed the campus, spying on people. But the committee said the column “had become too juvenile and undignified for a college newspaper.” The column was canceled. But a few weeks later, the Optimist started a new tradition on April 1 called the Pessimist.

“The Pessimist was a happy tradition for many years,” said Charlie Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty member of journalism and mass communication. “It was buffoonery, satire, slightly

veiled personal attacks and silliness all meant in fun.”

Early editions of the special issue had columns printed sideways and upside-down, and featured stories, often ridiculing faculty members and administrative policies.

The edition died out when the potential for libel became an issue in the early 1980s.

In September 1941, the Optimist began printing its issues on campus and continued until the late 1960s when the paper was shipped to various nearby towns, such as Stamford and Anson, before the Abilene Reporter-News took over the job.

The newspaper and yearbook were not the only forms of student media on campus.

In August 1950, on-campus radio station KACC-AM began its inaugural year. The station’s first manager was Bill Teague, future president of the university. Three years later, KACC started serving live and recorded broadcasts, ranging from political reporting to lighthearted comedy, to Abilene and surrounding areas within a 40-mile radius. Control rooms and equipment were located in the basement of McKinzie Hall and in Sewell Auditorium be-

fore being moved to the Morris Center in 1978.

As different media appeared on campus, so did an official department of journalism. In September 1955, Drs. Heber Taylor and Reginald Westmoreland directed the creation of the Department of Journalism, which was spun off from the English Department, but the department was short-lived. In June 1964, Taylor and Westmoreland left ACU, resulting in its closure four years later.

But the department would not stay dead for long. Marler, along with Dr. Chapin Ross, Dr. Lowell Perry, Dr. B. Edward Davis and Clark Potts worked to establish a mass communications degree within the Department of Communication, an important step in the process of building a nationally accredited journalism program.

“We needed journalism and mass communication,” Marler said. “The church needed it; the Christian universities needed it, and the secular media needed more Christians on their staffs because they had good work ethics and they were committed to truth.”

After the degree was added, student interest shot up from

The new broadcast and publishing capabilities of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab will improve the final product for readers on and off campus.

The newsroom is equipped with all new computers for video editing, page designing and publishing news, said Cade White, instructor of journalism and mass communication and director of the photojournalism program.

The newsroom also includes a Podcasting room.

Outside the podcast room, the rest of the newsroom runs on the standard university software, but also has added Adobe Creative

Suite 3 Design Pro software. This includes InDesign and Photoshop for publication design and photography purposes and Final Cut Pro—used for video editing.

“All of these are industry-relevant tools,” White said. “What we have right now might be as nice as or even nicer than what students will see in the professional world.”

White said because of the experience students will gain through working in such an environment, he expects ACU graduates to outshine others, post graduation.

Dave Hogan, instructor of journalism and mass communication, also said working in the newsroom will better equip students for a career in journalism.

He said publications will be looking for students with the broad range of experience this facility will provide.

“The news business is changing and multimedia is becoming much more important. I think it’s important for students to understand how to run a video or produce a podcast, as well as how to write a story in the traditional way,” Hogan said.

Because drastic technological advances were made for JMC students, readers will see changes in the final product. Readers are the ones who take an extra few seconds twice a week to grab a copy of the Optimist while treading through the masses after Chapel, and the ones who continue to

grant reporters insight into their lives and routines for the sake of a story.

“A certain event will happen and they pick up on it right away, like the noose incident. I hadn’t heard anything about it until I picked up a copy of the Optimist that day,” said Gregory Martin, junior interdisciplinary major from Cibolo.

Martin was unaware of the construction and opening of the newsroom but now anticipates the content and quality of this year’s issues with the upgrades.

Aundi Brown, senior accounting major from Wichita Falls, said as a student outside the JMC department, she thinks the newsroom will have a posi-

tive effect on both students and the newspaper.

“I know journalism is a hard field to get into, and hopefully this newsroom will give them the edge they need to break into it,” Brown said.

Ben Fulfer, junior sociology major from Memphis, Tenn., agreed with the decision to implement and practice multiple forms of media in JMC students’ education.

“Converged media makes everything quicker and easier for both the department and readers,” he said. “It’s all you see in professional journalism now.

This will definitely help out graduates in that are once they graduate and get out there.”

Donors provide funds for student media room

By Daniel Johnson-Kim Editor in Chief

Dr. Charlie Marler returned to Abilene Christian College in the fall of 1974 to find an Abilene “newspaper man” eager to reignite the ill-equipped mass communication program.

Marler, professor emeritus and senior faculty member of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department, came back to Abilene after completing his doctoral studies at the University of Missouri, and the publisher of the Abilene Reporter-News, A.B. “Stormy” Shelton, donated $10,000 to equip the program with 15 “state-of-the-art” IBM Selectric typewriters for reporting and copy-editing courses.

Before Shelton’s generosity, journalism students at ACC had only pens, paper and four dated, manual typewriters to record and report campus news — Marler said the IBMs were a gift from above.

“The 15 IBMS were delivered fairly early in the semester; it was like Christmas morning,” Marler said.

Fast forward to 2008, and it is

Christmas again for journalism students at ACU as the Morris Center is now equipped with cutting-edge technology and a JMC Network Student Media News Lab. But beneath the new toys and fresh paint on the walls lies the faith of foundations and the individual donors willing to put their wallets behind the JMC Department and its vision to rethink and revamp how journalism is taught to prepare students for the ever changing industry.

“It had to; it just had to happen,” said Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the JMC department. “I just believed that we would eventually make it happen.”

The university approved a proposal Dr. Susan Lewis, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, wrote for the construction of a converged student media news lab in January 2001. After approval, the JMC faculty estimated it would take nearly $1 million to make their dream of a converged media news lab a reality. The only problem was figuring out where to find the funds.

“The university has a policy that doesn’t allow you to begin

a construction project until it’s fully funded, and we were living under that policy,” Lewis said.

The first victory in the battle to raise funds fittingly came from The Shelton Family Foundation, named after the same West Texas philanthropist and former Abilene Reporter-News publisher who gave Marler his “state-ofthe art” typewriters. The Board of Trustees for the foundation begun by the late Shelton approved a challenge grant the ACU development office applied for in 2004. The foundation initially committed to give $250,000 to the department’s project.

“They said we’ll give you a certain amount of money if you raise ‘x’ number,” Bacon said.

After the Shelton Foundation’s initial donation, several individual donors and other foundations began to join the JMC dream. The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the Zoe Foundation followed in the Shelton Foundation’s footsteps. In addition to the foundation funds, Russell C. and Jane Varner Beard of Abilene, and Paula and Sterling Varner of Wichita, Kansas, and other individual donors made

substantial gifts to the cause. But the funds were still not all there for construction to begin in the five-year time frame the department had initially planned for.

In the end, it was the foundation named for Shelton that put forth the funds to begin the planning, construction and fine tuning of the converged media news lab, putting the grand total it donated to the project at close to $900,000 of the more than $1 million project and ending the fundraising effort in February 2007.

“I kind of look at it as it all happened when it was suppose to happen,” Lewis said, adding that although it took the department longer than expected to raise the funds, the longer time period was a blessing in disguise; without the delay the newsroom could not have been equipped with the technology that was available when construction began.

David Copeland, president of the Shelton Family Foundation, said the foundation’s donation is miniscule when compared to what the money was used for and what students will be doing in the new newsroom.

“The real focus really ought to be on the university and what they’re trying to do because that’s really the hard part,” Copeland said. “To make a grant is in the big scheme the easy part; the hard part is taking the money, building the right facilities and really equipping the students with state-of-the-art knowledge as they go out in the world.”

Although the donors are humble, Bacon said the department will be forever indebted to the list of donors for their kindness and courage to support this project.

“It was essential to provide [students] with what they need,” Bacon said. “I didn’t see it as optional. To me having this facility and using it well is a great opportunity and it’s also a absolutely essential opportunity.”

The IBM typewriters Shelton provided increased the quality of Marler’s students’ education and training. Bacon was one of those students, and in 2008, Marler hopes students also turn their “Christmas morning into producing great journalism.”

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rthur Slater distributed the first edition of the Optimist at Childers Classical Institute in August 1912 and since that momentous day, students on this West Texas campus have produced award-winning journalism.

In 2008, the Optimist remains, but student media at Abilene Christian University has evolved into something Slater might never have been able to imagine. Where before student journalism was limited to the pages of a newspaper, new technology and new platforms to reach our audience bring the opportunity and necessity of evolution, just like the professionals.

This special section is not an attempt to boast, but to explain and explore the evolution of ACU student media. From its history on the printed page to its future on the World Wide Web. From the construction of the JMC Network Student Media News Lab to the structure of the student staff. From our dedicated advisers to the generous gifts that made this all possible. We are the JMC Network, and we proudly present the future of ACU student media.

Special News Lab Dedication Section