Bernsen '94 writes about Muster in Baghdad

James Bernsen '94 wrote a piece on Texags about the Muster he and other Ags held last week in Baghdad; it's been getting forwarded around and now is posted here on the TAMU Student Affairs Web site. It's a great piece!

More on James Crawley

Some excerpts from the story on Mr. Crawley from his former news service, Media General:

RICHMOND, Va. - James Walter Crawley II was a journalist who climbed ropes, crawled on his belly, lifted weights, marched for miles, learned to use a gas mask and came under gunfire for the privilege of filing his military stories.

...

Crawley grew up in Oklahoma City and moved to Dallas his junior year in high school, where he joined the newspaper staff. He was in a pre-medical program at Texas A&M University, on the way to becoming an emergency room doctor, when he discovered a medical-school executive was taking kickbacks from a supplier, his wife (Melba Crawley) said.

Deciding to write a newspaper story about it, he went to the executive for comment, she said. "The man looked over his glasses and said, 'You're a second-year pre-med student and I can keep you from being able to get into a good medical school.'

"The next day, Jim changed his major to journalism and printed the story," his wife said.

Military reporter James Crawley '78 dies

I was shocked and very saddened to learn of Mr. Crawley's death Tuesday from brain cancer. Here are links and excerpts from Editor & Publisher.

James Crawley, Military Reporters and Editors President, Dies

James Crawley, a longtime military reporter who embedded during the invasion of Iraq and served as president of Military Reporters and Editors, died Tuesday night, according to Sig Christenson, a MRE board member.
Crawley, 51, had been battling brain cancer since late 2007, and had been unemployed for several months after being laid off from Media General's Washington bureau as part of a reorganization.

MRE's Crawley Was a Newsman and a Gentleman

In the weeks leading up to his death, Crawley was anything but a bitter or saddened figure. In several phone calls, he kept an optimistic outlook and seemed more interested in the well-being of his fellow journalists who were losing jobs than himself. He wanted no sympathy and remained adamant about keeping a positive focus.

I got to chat with him a little bit last year when I posted a little item about him. He was so kind and funny when we talked, and even got me to pull a running gag on an old friend of his. My thoughts are with his family and his many friends.

SMU seeks executive director of student media

Go here, hit Advanced Search and enter "979" for Job Opening ID to see the full posting. A snippet:

In addition to the administrative duties, the Executive Director serves as hands-on adviser to the news-editorial and photography staffs of The Daily Campus (the campus newspaper) and Rotunda (the campus yearbook) and their associated Web sites.

Journalism workshops Saturday in Houston

An early-bird discount (students $10, professionals $25) has been extended for folks who register by 5 p.m. Thursday for this conference:

NAVIGATING CHANGE

Network with fellow journalists, get great story ideas and talk about how to navigate change in the industry with the Texas Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Who: Professional and student journalists

When: Saturday, April 26

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: University of Houston Communications building, Houston

What: AAJA Texas is teaming up to offer great workshops. One-on-one critiques will be available on a limited basis.

Much more information, plus registration form, here.

WORKSHOPS

Investigative reporting

Mark Greenblatt, KHOU-TV 11News investigative reporter

Freelancing 101

Cynthia Greenwood, editor, critic, and performing arts journalist based in Houston

Immigration on Every Beat

Monica Rhor, immigration/ethnic affairs reporter in AP's Houston bureau

Broadcast Storytelling

Greg Groogan, FOX 26's special projects reporter

Softly call the Muster: Today's Batt front

Richard n' Roy, liveblogging the Spurs

Spring 2008 Journalist-in-Residence Richard Oliver '81 and wild man at large Roy Bragg '80, both at the San Antonio Express-News, liveblogged Saturday night's game and plan to commit the same acts Tuesday night. Join them 30 minutes before kickoff at Roy's blog.

Author, onetime Batt staffer to speak at Muster

The speaker at Monday's campus Muster service will be Dr. John A. Adams '73, who has written several books about A&M, including "Softly Call the Muster" (more in this Eagle story). The Muster Committee's bio for Dr. Adams, who heads Florida's economic development organization and whose three degrees in history are all from A&M, notes that he worked as a feature writer at the Battalion during 1974-75.

A&M press release on Leabo scholarship

It went out today: link here. They've been most helpful in getting this all done!

Watch KLRU interview with A&M president

Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith interviewed Texas A&M's new president, Dr. Elsa Murano, in February for an episode of "Texas Monthly Talks" that is available online here. (To the left of her mug shot, under "View Interview," you can click on either Broadband or Modem.)

Nothing journalism-specific in this interview, but I thought it might be of interest to our readers as she talks about issues such as minority recruitment and what is required for A&M to become one of the top 3 public universities. They also discuss A&M traditions (she gently chides the basketball fans, saying "Aggies don't boo"), the future of Bonfire and Fidel Castro stepping down, which had happened the day of the interview. And she closes with a "Longhorn joke."

A&M journalism scholarships deadline April 30

Application forms now available on the Journalism Studies site for the seven scholarships open to A&M journalism minors. Amounts range from $650 to as much as $2,300.

Also, greetings to Roberto Farias, the new program assistant for Journalism Studies -- to whom these applications are due April 30!

North Texas j-department to become college

This North Texas Daily story (via Pegasus News) says UNT's journalism department will split off from Arts and Sciences to become its own college in 2009. Congratulations! Also interesting was this mention of grants (second excerpt):

... the conversation was "re-ignited" when NT President Gretchen Bataille took office in 2006 and brought with her a new administration.

... (In the past) Wells said the department has applied for grants and has been turned down because of its status.

"A couple times we applied for some pretty lucrative grants and we were turned down because we were a department and not a school," he said.

He said the journalism school's free-standing status would make it easier to get such grants but would also make competition for them more intense.

Martin '91 one of political punditry's 'breakout stars'

Earlier this week, The New York Times wrote about commentators including Roland Martin '91 in "Like the Candidates, TV's Political Pundits Show Signs of Diversity":

Black commentators under 40 at CNN, like the journalist and radio host Roland S. Martin; Amy Holmes, a conservative strategist and a former senior speechwriter for Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, the former Senate majority leader; and Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist, Obama supporter and veteran press spokesman with international experience, have been “breakout stars” this election, Professor Newkirk said.

More Aggies rocking Texas APME

The UT-Arlington Shorthorn, whose advisor is Chris Whitley '94, took the first-place award for daily University Newspaper of the Year - for their fifth year in a row (and sixth year in the past seven) ... DMN assistant editorial page editor Michael Landauer '97 took part in a panel on civic journalism ... Kelly Brown '89 is on the Texas APME board, and Nicholas Roznovsky '01 runs their Web site.

Can't afford to be an intern?

Romenesko posted this Mindy McAdams column (she teaches journalism at Univ. of Florida) about intern pay being so low that some can't afford to take the internships that are often required by both journalism advisors and journalism employers. This strike a chord with any of y'all?