A group of student journalists from Peninsula College’s award-winning newspaper, The Buccaneer, met recently in Seattle with media professionals from The Seattle Times, KPLU-FM, KING 5-TV, KIRO-FM and msnbc.com.
Student journalists from across Western Washington gathered at the University of Washington for the Washington Collegiate Journalism Conference Saturday, Nov. 12. The topics addressed included “Journalism in a Digital World,” “Reporting on Suicide with Sensitivity,” “Covering Crime and Courts,” “Broadcast Journalism: Alive and Well,” “Status of U.S. Newspapers,” “What’s Next for News” and “Ethics in Your Campus Newsroom.”
Seattle Times reporter Jennifer Sullivan was part of the team who covered the frenzied manhunt for the Lakewood police killer Maurice Clemmons for a story which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for “Breaking News.” Sullivan told the backstory of how she received an early tip critical to identifying fugitive Clemmons as the suspected shooter on Sunday morning, Nov. 29, 2009.
Reporter Owen Lei and producer Kellie Cheadle of KING 5-TV and news director Erin Hennessey of KPLU-FM talked about the important role education plays in preparing student journalists to tackle assignments in the field.
Academics Paul Steinle and Sara Brown traveled to all 50 states in the nation last year to assess the financial health of American newspapers and how they are “repositioning themselves to compete in the digital age.” Their work includes a rich interactive map and video interviews from editors across America at: www.whoneedsnewspapers.org.
Author Mark Briggs explored emerging patterns of news and feature coverage across the Web. His book, “Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What’s Next for News,” was the basis of his talk. Briggs is the director of digital media at KING 5-TV.
P.C. students who attended the event, co-sponsored by SPJ’s Western Washington Pro and UW Student chapters, included Krystle Arnold and Ralph Davisson of Port Angeles and Katheryn Grice of Sequim.
Boneita Smith, The Buccaneer’s business manager and instructional technician, also attended.
