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January 2011
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Mizzou Advantage Facilitates Discussion
on Media of the Future
Panelists and participants discuss emerging issues surrounding food and fuel production at the Food, Fuel and Society Symposium. The Panelists talked through ways to report interesting and useful science news and to educate the public to lessen the disconnect from the farm to the table. Photo: MU News Bureau.
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Interactive Food, Fuel and Society Symposium Encourages Journalists to Bring Science News to the Public
By Samantha Craven
Master's Student
A diverse group of journalists, scholars, researchers and businesspeople recently gathered on MU's campus to discuss an emerging issue: the changing face of food and fuel production in our society.
The symposium, "Food, Fuel and Society: Stories From a Changing Landscape" was held Oct. 12 at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and featured NPR science reporter Ira Flatow as the keynote speaker. Flatow, an award-winning journalist, has been sharing his ideas and science news with public radio listeners for more than 35 years. The symposium's primary intention was to bring clarity to major issues surrounding food and fuel production.
At the symposium, Flatow's talk focused on ways to get meaningful coverage of science news in the changing field of journalism. He noted several challenges that science reporters face, which include getting past audience biases and science ignorance and using new media such as the Internet to bring serious science news to the public.
"It is difficult when you have a science topic to get meaningful coverage of the news," Flatow says. "As science reporters, we face a larger challenge in getting the news out, as networks dumb down science news or any kind of news that takes any explanation."
Flatow's keynote provided audience members with examples of how NPR is embracing the Internet as a way to reach the public as the field of broadcast journalism evolves. His program, Science Friday, provides science news to the public by posting videos online and sharing them with local public radio stations. NPR and Science Friday also use Twitter and Facebook to reach out to their audience and to teach the next generation how to report science news.
The symposium was funded by Mizzou Advantage, an initiative involving the top five competitive assets or unique strengths that set MU apart from other universities, as identified during a three-year process by faculty, students and alumni. The Food, Fuel and Society event was a collaboration among three of the five Mizzou Advantage initiatives, the others being Food for the Future and Sustainable Energy but was driven mostly by the Media of the Future initiative. Media of the Future will draw on the School of Journalism's century of international leadership in media research and hands-on training, along with other campus strengths in digital technologies, business, public policy, graphic design and creative writing to examine the cultural and economic impact of the evolution of journalism.
Charles Davis, associate professor of journalism and the facilitator for Media of the Future, says Mizzou Advantage will benefit students at the Missouri School of Journalism in the longterm, but they are already experiencing Media of the Future's rewards.
"Students are already seeing tangible benefits like events and speakers being brought to the School of Journalism," Davis says. "There are a lot of conversations surrounding how to make Mizzou Advantage meaningful for students."
Future Mizzou Advantage proposals will likely include stipends for undergraduate and graduate students to assist with research and contribute to the projects. Davis also hopes to add to the curriculum a certificate program for students interested in media entrepreneurship. Several groups that collaborate on projects for Mizzou Advantage are already working with journalism students, including those working as social media interns for Harvest Public Media, one of the partners of the Food, Fuel and Society symposium.
At upper-right: Assistant Professor Bill Allen discusses the need for good science and agriculture reporting to reduce the gap between the farm and the table. Allen says the key is to engage readers and get the facts right. Photo: MU News Bureau.
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During the Food, Fuel and Society Symposium, participants were able to interact remotely through various media, including live webcasts and podcasts available for download after the event. Davis says students and participants benefited from the multimedia available at the conference. "This event showed us that people have been embracing new tools and technology," he says.
In addition to Flatow's talk, the symposium featured a panel discussion moderated by Mike McKean, associate professor of convergence journalism and director of the RJI Futures Lab. Other panelists included Frank Morris, news director of KCUR in Kansas City; Charlene Finck, vice president of Farm Journal Media; and Bill Allen, assistant professor who specializes in science journalism. The panelists discussed the need for science reporting to reduce the disconnect between people and the food they eat. The panelists also talked about teaching students and future journalists to be good storytellers in order to bring interesting and meaningful science news to the mainstream media. Finally, they encouraged the public to speak out and let local media know they want more science news.
"As the Missouri School of Journalism emphasizes, we need to get students out in the field working on these stories," Allen says. "We also need to get them out of the classroom to see where their food comes from and meet the farmers. The students and journalists reporting on these issues need to understand the complexity. They cannot just write he-said-she-said stories like they might with a politics story."
Other discussions at Food, Fuel and Society were led by a diverse group of faculty members from the School of Journalism, the College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources, the College of Arts and Science, MU Extension and RJI. As one of the benefits of Mizzou Advantage, such collaborations among academic units across campus are bringing a wide variety of expertise to address challenges faced by society.
Nearly 200 people attended the Food, Fuel and Society Symposium, and about 200 more participated online through interactive discussions, webcasts and live blogs. Davis says the success of the event was immediately visible.
"The buzz in the hallway during the event, and the conversations taking place around the luncheon and receptions were so lively and energetic," Davis says. "There is clearly so much to be done around the intersection of journalism and agriculture, and people are really excited about it."
As another side effect, Food, Fuel and Society kicked off Harvest Public Media, a local journalism center consisting of a collaboration of public radio stations in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, including KBIA, the NPR affiliate owned by MU. The purpose of each local journalism center is to disseminate understandable information to the public on food and fuel issues. Harvest, one of seven local journalism centers being launched across the country with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, will examine issues related to agriculture production and consumption through radio broadcasts, podcasts, videos, photos, blogs and online discussions.
Janet Saidi, assistant professor of radio and television journalism at MU and one of the organizers of Food, Fuel and Society, says students will benefit from the partnership with Harvest Public Media. Several students have already partnered with Harvest, including the organization's multimedia editor and J-school alumnus Tim Lloyd, and students Lauren Hasler and Matt Velker work as social media interns.
"Many students participated in the symposium and will continue to submit projects to Harvest Public Media," Saidi says. "Harvest has expressed the generosity to work with students, and a partnership with such a high-quality venue will benefit students at MU."
Mizzou Advantage will include three rounds of funding through grants for workshops, conferences and specific projects and collaborations. The first round was funded in fall 2009, and the second round of proposals for funding was submitted in November.
Davis says about 20 proposals came out of Media of the Future. They spotlight three key issues: media innovation, media effects and media messaging. The media innovation proposals focus on building emerging media applications and technologies. The media effects proposals intend to study the impact of technology on society. The media messaging proposals center on refining messages and communicating with the public.
One media innovation proposal, spearheaded by Wenjun Zeng, an associate professor in the College of Engineering's computer science department, seeks to establish a credibility model for online news and to develop a search engine that will provide results based on credibility of sources and relevance of content to individual users. Saidi's recent proposal, titled Health, Wealth and Society, is a cooperative effort with NPR similar to that of Food, Fuel and Society. Her proposal seeks to bring news and information to the public about the impact of wealth and health policy on families and communities.
MU has allotted $6 million annually to increase the impact of the Mizzou Advantage through various projects driven by collaborations among faculty members, centers, departments, corporate partners and other universities. The investment in Mizzou Advantage will bring together ideas on a variety of topics from across campus, including unique contributions from the School of Journalism.
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