blog posts

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  PAR Alumni Spotlight: Hannah Meisel returns to NPR Illinois

  May 4, 2021 8:00 am30 views

  Hannah Meisel has made a handful of stops on her journalism journey since completing the Public Affairs Reporting program in 2014. But she’s never strayed too far from the Illinois political beat.

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  5 Reasons to Pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs Reporting at UIS

  Apr 20, 2021 2:00 pm30 views

  Since 1972, the Public Affairs Reporting program at UIS has jumpstarted hundreds of careers in journalism and communications. There are dozens of reasons why a PAR master’s degree is a smart option to level up your chances at a job reporting on government, politics and other high-profile topics. Read on for five of the best reasons.

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  Join us April 28 for a discussion about nonprofit news

  Apr 13, 2021 1:30 pm14 views

  As privately owned media companies fight for survival and search for a funding model that is both sustainable and provides vital and trustworthy news coverage of local communities, we’ve seen more nonprofit journalism organizations (NPJs) emerge to report on specific topics and/or geographic areas that other newsrooms won’t or can’t adequately cover.

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  Celebrate Sunshine Week!

  Mar 16, 2021 9:00 am6 views

  As I’m writing this on Monday, thick, gray clouds are streaking across the sky above the UIS campus. The view out my window reminds me of what it’s like sometimes trying to get information from government agencies.  March 14-20 is Sunshine Week, an initiative that began in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors to promote the public’s right to know what its public officials are doing.

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  THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE…

  Mar 9, 2021 11:15 am12 views

  On top of an ongoing COVID Pandemic, a still confusing response, a mixed up political world, and a new standard of truisms, and of course, just to make things worse, the weather has now turned against us. In particular the Midwest and South was severely impacted. As of this writing I think we all have heard that Texas seems to have borne the brunt of this winter weather.

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  PAR Alumni Spotlight: Andrea Zelinski hikes 2,193-mile Appalachian Trail

  Feb 16, 2021 12:15 pm87 views

  In the years since completing the Public Affairs Reporting program in 2008, Andrea Zelinski has been covering politics and government for news organizations in Illinois, Tennessee and Texas. But in 2020, she pause her journalism career for a seven-month journey on the Appalachian Trail, the 2,193-mile hiking trail that covers 14 states.

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  Time to stop hating on journalists for reporting facts

  Jan 18, 2021 10:15 pm20 views

  I didn’t get into journalism to be liked. But I didn’t get into it to be hated, either. After the last four years of President Trump’s attacks on the media, his followers feel more emboldened than ever to direct hateful language and dangerous threats toward journalists trying to do their jobs.

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  PAR Alumni Spotlight: Daralene Jones helps reveal truth of Ocoee Massacre

  Dec 15, 2020 9:00 am164 views

  For 100 years, the story of the Ocoee Massacre remained largely untold. But thanks to the efforts of Public Affairs Reporting graduate Daralene Jones and her team at WFTV Channel 9 in Orlando, the truth of what happened to Black residents in Ocoee on Election Day 1920 is being revealed to a new generation of people in Florida and beyond.

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  Is It A Lost Cause To Get Young People To Read Newspapers?

  Oct 20, 2020 9:30 am28 views

  When we think about the average reader of a newspaper – the actual paper kind – the profile tends to be older, more educated and more affluent compared to a non-newspaper reader.  Combine that with the stereotypical image of a college student – younger and less affluent with their eyes and fingers glued to a screen – and you might think there’s little chance of ever turning a 20-something into someone who sips their coffee over the morning paper.  It might not all be a lost cause, however.

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  Trump Controversies Raise Journalism Ethics Questions

  Sep 15, 2020 9:15 am33 views

  An analysis:  two recent news stories that make President Trump look bad have launched important discussions about journalism ethics. 

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  We Don’t Want to Hear about Kamala Harris’ Shoes

  Aug 18, 2020 10:15 am66 views

  When vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris delivers her prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, pay attention to the words used to describe her.  Unfortunately, commentators, opinionmakers and sometimes even news reporters have a bad habit of describing female politicians in ways they rarely or never do about male politicians.

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  ‘Make a little noise with your pens, your pencils, your cameras’

  Jul 21, 2020 9:00 am19 views

  John Lewis had a familiar directive when it came to standing up against racial injustice – get yourself into some “good trouble” while doing it.  As tributes to the civil rights icon and congressman pour in following his death on July 17 at age 80, journalists need to remember those words apply to them, too.

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  Trump targets Twitter; what will happen to free speech?

  Jun 16, 2020 9:00 am59 views

  "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."  Back when I was the online editor of The State Journal-Register, this sentence went through my mind often as I kept track of the flood of reader comments that appeared under the online version of our journalists’ news stories.

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  Saving Local News

  May 26, 2020 8:45 am118 views

  Local journalism was in serious trouble before anyone heard of COVID-19, but amid a worldwide shutdown intended to stem the spread of the dangerous virus, the financial struggles of your local media outlet are even more serious now. So how can we fix this?

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  Local News – Needed Now More Than Ever

  May 19, 2020 8:30 am83 views

  Trif Alatzas discusses the need for local news in today’s world.  Alatzas led The Baltimore Sun team that was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting "for illuminating, impactful" investigations into city and state government.

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  May Public Affairs Minute: The Role of a Free Press in a Democratic Society

  May 12, 2020 9:00 am65 views

  Journalists are trained to be objective observers, uncover the facts, keep sources confidential and question stakeholders, citizens, politicians, corporate and military leaders, and their institutions. The purpose is to shed light, provide transparency, ferret out lies and insure accuracy. Indeed, this focus on the truth is the fundamental role of a free press in democratic society.

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  May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day. Thank a Journalist.

  Apr 30, 2020 11:30 am53 views

  World Press Freedom Day -- established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 and observed annually on May 3 -- is a chance to celebrate the free press principles we enjoy in the United States.  America’s journalists -- from the largest national outlets in New York and D.C. to the tiny newspapers in rural towns throughout the country -- work hard to reveal the truth the public needs.