Missouri School of Journalism Student Featured in New Editor & Publisher Column
Columbia, Mo. (Dec. 14, 2010) — The Missouri School of Journalism was selected as the first school to participate in a new monthly column for Editor & Publisher magazine.
The “Critical Thinking” column, which was published earlier this month, asks an undergraduate journalism student and a veteran reporter to answer a compelling question about an issue affecting today’s journalistic culture.
Senior Alex Ruppenthal was selected to write the first column. He and Philadelphia Daily News senior writer Will Bunch discussed how newspapers could outperform untrained bloggers and writers, or citizen journalists, in order to maintain relationships with companies and remain the leading source of news for citizens in today’s culture.
“For the first column, we wanted to pick a journalism school with a national reputation, and we knew Mizzou had that,” said Deena Higgs Nenad, associate editor at E&P. “Not to mention, one of our editors went there!”
Ruppenthal, a senior pursuing dual degrees in journalism and German, has been passionate about writing since the third grade. A story he co-wrote about changes in the University of Missouri athletics department won an Associated Press Sports Editors Top 10 Award for Explanatory Writing. Ruppenthal has interned at ESPNChicago.com and at the Chicago Tribune‘s RedEye. He was the 2010 recipient of The Kansas City Star C.W. Gusewelle Journalism Scholarship. Upon graduation in May, he plans to pursue a career in narrative journalism for newspapers, magazines or websites.
Each month, editors at E&P will ask a different journalism school to choose an undergraduate student to respond to the question in his or her own words. The column will highlight the similarities and differences in the way students and veteran journalists think about the issue at question. January’s issue will feature a student from Northwestern‘s Medill School of Journalism and a reporter from The Denver Post.
Updated: May 19, 2020