jack on the radio: SCU journalist makes good... again!

Here's Jack! Listen to his interview on wjox.fm in Birmingham, via this podcast, as he discusses the latest installment of his USA Today series on the $$$$$$$$$$$ of collegiate sports. Listen for the number of documents he and his partners went through -- and his dismissal of a million bucks or so as "chump change."

Meanwhile, here's a taste of the latest story in the series:

Michigan State outspent the upstart [Northern Iowa] Panthers by $9.4 million to $1.5 million in men's hoops last year. Spartans coach Tom Izzo, who will be participating in his sixth Final Four this weekend, makes more than $3 million a year — more than 10 times what Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson had been making.

Yet their athletic departments have one thing in common: Without millions in help from their universities, neither could pay its bills. Michigan State's $81 million budget last year included $3.7 million in university subsidies. Half of Northern Iowa's $17 million budget came from subsidies and student fees.

http://podcasting.fia.net/5018/4250705.mp3

update: beware the conservative collegiate press...

What journalism is not.

First we posted this, re James O'Keefe, who was credited for breaking the ACORN story back when, then got caught breaking into a U.S. senator's office last month:

I got two emails from Jack yesterday. The first was a link to this NYT story about the wiretap attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's office (D -La) in New Orleans. Jack took issue with the following quote, from the father of the kid who had been arrested for the alleged tampering:

“He is an outstanding young man doing investigative journalism,” Mr. O’Keefe said of his son. “He studies a different form of journalism, and he pushes the limits a bit. What they were up to, I have no idea.”

To which Jack responded:

The father's quote infuriates me. Apparently his "reporter" son has never heard of Food Lion v. ABC. Wiretapping a senator is no "investigative journalism" I'd ever practice.

Now, more on the story from Eric Alter, via the Center for American Progress:

While we may never find out just who plotted the break-in by James O’Keefe and his comrades of Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) district office or why, we may be certain it was no accident or “misunderstanding.” It was the culmination of a long-term investment strategy by conservatives to rewrite the rules of professional journalism. Organizations like The Leadership Institute, the Collegiate Network, and the National Journalism Center—an arm of Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative youth organization—have been funneling millions of dollars into college newspapers and training programs designed to overturn what they believe to be a liberal bias on the part of the mainstream media. In doing so, they are also working to subvert the media’s professional standards.

As TPM Muckracker notes, The Leadership Institute, where James O’Keefe was employed to train young activist/journalists—and where he met Ben Wetmore, who put up the alleged criminals in Louisiana—claims on its website to “prepare conservatives for success in politics, government, and the news media.” So far, the organization boasts, it has trained more than 79,000 students since its inception in 1979. It claims assets of $11.8 million and a staff of 58.

Read more, much more here.

more from Jack:

Flunking Advanced Placement tests: When more high school kids sign on to AP classes -- does that up the failure rate? Jack has the data, today in USA Today. Read all about it here.

Amazing what numbers can tell you. bk

a good week for scu journalists

First this: I got two emails from Jack yesterday. The first was a link to this NYT story about the wiretap attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's office (D -La) in New Orleans. Jack took issue with the following quote, from the father of the kid who had been arrested for the alleged tampering:

“He is an outstanding young man doing investigative journalism,” Mr. O’Keefe said of his son. “He studies a different form of journalism, and he pushes the limits a bit. What they were up to, I have no idea.”

To which Jack responded:

The father's quote infuriates me. Apparently his "reporter" son has never heard of Food Lion v. ABC. Wiretapping a senator is no "investigative journalism" I'd ever practice.

And hooray for that. Jack also linked to the photo credit on a USA Today story on the same issue: Photo by Pat Semansky. (He also got a photo credit in the NYT piece.)

Which prompted Jack's second email:

Last night, Jeremy (Herb) and I were talking after dinner about TSC alums. And I got to thinking about three of us: Jeremy, roaming around the halls of the Capitol and chasing down Barney Frank about the financial crisis for the Boston Globe; Pat Semansky, racing to an impromptu press gathering with the ACORN pranksters for the AP; and me, frantically writing a page one story on deadline for USA Today. And it's only Wednesday!

Who says SCU doesn't teach you anything about journalism?

Finally, Jack's page one story. Apparently, he met his deadline. Here's the link. bk

jack's back ...

... with a hard-hitting investigation of collegiate spending on sports in USA Today. The story (plus sidebars) was based on a detailed analysis of four years of financial information from university athletic departments.

Here's a taste:

More than $800 million in student fees and university subsidies are propping up athletic programs at the nation's top sports colleges, including hundreds of millions in the richest conferences, a USA TODAY analysis found.

The subsidies have reached that level amid a continuing crisis in higher education funding. At some of the schools where athletics is most heavily subsidized, faculty salaries have dipped, state-funded financial aid is drying up and students are bracing for tuition and fee increases.

Taken together, the subsidies for athletics at 99 public schools in the NCAA's 120-member Football Bowl Subdivision grew about 20% in four years, from $685 million in 2005 to $826 million in 2008, after adjusting for inflation. At more than a third of those schools, the percentage of athletic department revenue coming from subsidies grew during the four-year period studied.

Congrats to Jack: Disturbing story. Great work. Often the two go hand in hand. bk

more from Jack

Jack forwards this piece from Monday's New York Times on the need for news organizations to protect journalists who do their jobs outside their comfort zones, vis-a-vis the detainment of Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee in North Korea.

The article points out the differences in the protection that buffers reporters backed by traditional news organizations versus the risk faced by freelancers, or journalists working for smaller start-ups, like Current TV.

The plus side of the risk-benefit analyis:

Start-up news organizations like Current TV are increasingly sending journalists to the world’s hot spots, putting a spotlight on news stories in new ways. It is, experts say, another consequence of the fragmented media landscape and the declines in international news coverage by traditional outlets.

The unconventional assignments are an expression of the generational changes in news coverage, especially in TV, where the jobs of camera operators, sound technicians and producers have, in many cases, been subsumed into one do-it-all position. And being unencumbered by a traditional news outlet has its advantages, as the reporters are sometimes free to take more risks.

On the other hand:

The Committee to Protect Journalists found that in 2008, at least 56 of the 125 jailed journalists worked for online outlets and that 45 of the total were freelancers.

“These freelancers are not employees of media companies and often do not have the legal resources or political connections that might help them gain their freedom,” the committee reported.

As news divisions hit by the recession make cuts in foreign coverage, freelancers shoulder more of the risks. “Pretty soon we’re just not going to have any of the types of stories Laura and Euna went to cover,” said Daniel Beckmann, a friend of Ms. Ling and a former colleague at Current TV.

j.linx: more than a clever name

Occasionally, things work. This photo of Melissa Segura and Jack Gillum popped up in my inbox over the weekend. The two former j-kids met, for the first time, at the IRE conference in Baltimore. Apparently, they found each other thru, ahem, jlinx.

I asked for the backstory. Jack wrote this:

If only you were here! Melissa looked me up and we met on the last night of the conference. It was great to hear what she's been doing with SI, and that they (for now, like USA Today) still value investigative reporting.

Melissa wrote this:

In this small, rather in incestuous world of journalism, I recognized Jack’s name (thanks to your blog), in the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference guide. Jack, the superstar that he is, was leading a hands-on workshop in Baltimore about how to export PDFs into Excel. Meanwhile, I tracked down my fellow Bronco and explained to him what life at SCU was like when Father Serra roamed the campus and the Mission was still under construction. I’m simultaneously frightened and relieved that someone so young is so smart.

But I was mainly thrilled that another alum was as infected with the Holy Ghost of Journalism as I am. And that, in turn, is a tribute to you!

points of connection

A few updates from some j-kids turned up in my inbox recently:

MELISSA SEGURA, '01, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, was interviewed by NPR's Robert Seagal on "All Things Considered" about the story she broke on baseball player Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonzalez, the former top prospect for the Washington Nationals, who faked his age and his name. It's all part of a story Melissa has been investigating in the Dominican Republic on money-skimming by international baseball scouts.

Listen to the NPR interview here. Read Melissa's story here. Read more about her investigation on this WaPo blog.


Also got an email from KEVIN GEMMELL, '98, one of the first students I ever taught. He is a sports writer for the San Diego Union Tribune, and forwards this link to a recent cover story.
And because I am an egregious self-promoter, I can't help including this part of his email:

"... I'm coming up on 10 years since graduating from SCU. I still get the thrill of seeing my byline, especially on cover stories, and I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks. So much of writing was influenced by you -- even 10 years later. It's been too long since I've said thank you. So, thank you."

I also heard from LIZ WEEKER, '07, who recently returned from a journalism workshop at the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley. She writes:

"There was a lot of talk about the future of newspapers and individual
journalists. A lot of us are just looking to survive. It made me wonder
about the kinds of discussions you and your students must be having right
now, so I checked out your blog. Your most recent posting about the business
model of newspapers was a major theme throughout the workshop. I thought you
might be interested in checking out this person: Lauren Rich Fine. She used
to work for Merrill Lynch as an analyst for publishing, advertising and
online industries. I tried to post an article she wrote today on your blog,
but it didn't quite work and I didn't want to accidentally double post.
Here it is."

JEREMY HERB, '08, now at Columbia Journalism School, just forwarded this link to a new digital journalism project he's working on at the New York Times. It just launched today.


And finally, JACK GILLUM, '06, turned up in my classroom yesterday. He's now a database editor at USA Today, and did a great job of showing -- as well as telling -- my students why reporters love what they do. bk

the beat goes on

Jack Gillum sent me a link to this Q-and-A with New York Times White House correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg. She discusses the ins and outs of Washington beat reporting, why you don't want to go to the chummy place with sources -- but how you can be shut out if you don't, especially when dealing with a freakishly secretive administration.

(Jack adds: "Note how long they've requested an interview with the president")

What she has to say can be applied to any beat reporter, even those of you struggling through the dog days of Comm 141. bk

P.S. Back to Jack. He also wrote: "I was in the newsroom on election night, and it was a flurry of activity. Then I went to downtown DC and saw people cheering in front of the White House and dancing on cars. What a country."

kudos

We knew them when.

Jeremy Herb reports that Jack Gillum, former EIC of The Santa Clara and on his way to a new gig at USA Today, won this award for "excellence in news" for a data-driven investigative series on social promotion in schools.

And Jeremy, also a former EIC of The Santa Clara and now a j-student at Columbia, just found out that an investigative series on clergy child sex abuse in the Diocese of Oakland that he worked on for the Fremont Argus last year won this award for public service from the APME. Read the first part of the series here.

Congrats, guys! bk