David
M. Lubbers, J'86 alum and member of the SJMC National
Advisory Council, accepted a Prism
Award in the news Magazine category April 24, 2008
in Beverly Hills,
CA. The Prism Awards - which recognize movies and
TV shows for accurate depictions of mental health
and
substance abuse issues - are given by the Entertainment
Industries Council in collaboration with the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Lubbers and ESPN reporter Amy Nelson and actor Dolph
Lundgren
are
shown accepting
the
award
for
Outside the Lines Rod Beck Segment.
Neenah
Ellis, a journalism graduate of 1977, will visit
Drake's campus
Tuesday, March 27, 2007. Ms.
Ellis began her remarkable broadcast career working
at her parent's radio station as a teenager in Valaraiso,
Indiana. Since then, Neenah has become a New
York Times best-selling author and decorated National
Public Radio personality and producer. Stemming from
her production of NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All
Things Considered," Neenah transformed her weekly
segment, "100 Years of Stories," into the best-selling
"If I Live to Be 100: Lessons from Centenarians."
The book chronicles Neenah's year of travel across
the country, listening to and living through the
stories and memories of those who live to be 100
years old. Neenah's work as earned her three George
Foster Peabody Awards, the Radio-Television News
Director's Edward R. Murrow Award and the Alfred
I. DuPont Columbia University Award.
Junior National
Alumni Council... The
council consists of local and national professionals
who serve as a sounding board for staff members
when considering curricular, technological and
personnel
changes. Although every school on campus has a
National Advisory Council, the SJMC is the first
to devote
a similar group to recent alumni. The group’s
first meeting was a success, with nearly 15 professionals
in attendance to listen and provide feedback to faculty,
staff and students. The council began to work on
projects such as student recruitment, school promotion,
targeted curriculum assessment and alumni communication.
The group will meet in Des Moines at least twice
a year on the same day the school’s National
Advisory Board meets.
Drake
professor joins board of new academic journal
The Journal of Sports Media, to premier in March 2006, explores the growing connection between sports
media and society, according to Angela Renkoski,
assistant professor of journalism and mass communication.
The journal focuses on topics that indicate sports
media cover more than just "the game", such
as the dependence on national sports teams to heal
the country
after Sept. 11, 2001. The journal features scholarly
articles, essays and book reviews, as well as data
for all sports media personnel to help them strengthen
their stories and give their readers a more complete
view of sports. Contact Professor Renkoski for more
information about the Journal of Sports
Media and subscription details.
EXECUTIVE
IN RESIDENCE SERIES
Charla Lawhon, JO'78
January 25, 2006 on campus in Bulldog Theater
Charla Lawhon is Managing Editor of InStyle Magazine. InStyle,
published by Time Inc., is a celebrity lifestyle magazine
with 1.6 million monthly readers.
InStyle combines ideas and news about beauty, fashion,
decorating and entertaining with details of swanky
Oscar parties or elegant celebrity weddings.
Lawhon joined Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation
as an intern while at Drake, where she was a public
relations/advertising major. After her internship at
Meredith, Lawhon transferred to the New York office
as a secretary at Apartment Life magazine,
which became Metropolitan
Home in 1982. She served as the managing editor
of Metropolitan Home until its sale in 1992.
Lawhon joined the InStyle staff as a free-lancer
when the magazine was still in the planning stages
in 1993.
FALL
2005 —
COMMUNITY
IN DIVERSITY LECTURE SERIES
Award-winning
journalist and educator, Keith M. Woods of The Poynter
Institute delivered the third annual Community
in Diversity lecture in Drake University's Sheslow
Auditorium on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005 and delivered
an essay titled, "Race:
How to Handle an Explosive Topic Without Blowing
Yourself Up."
Woods is the dean of the faculty at The Poynter Institute,
St. Petersburg, Florida which provides journalists,
students and educators with media-related workshops
and seminars. Before joining the institute he worked
for 16 years at the New Orleans Times-Picayune as
a sports writer, news reporter, city editor, editorial
writer and columnist. He is the co-author of"The Best
Reporting on Race and Ethnicity in America: TheAuthentic
Voice."
A native of New Orleans, Woods hold a master's
degree in social work from Tulane University and
a bachelor of science degree in social welfare
from Dillard University.
The Community in Diversity Lecture Series began in
2003 to Provide Drake University and the metro area
an opportunity to hear diverse viewpoints from distinguished
media professionals. Speakers give a public lecture
and teach in several journalism classes as part of
their three-day visit to the campus.
NPR REPORTER,
AD EXEC EARN DRAKE JOURNALISM ALUMNAE AWARDS
The School of
Journalism and Mass Communicationl honored
two women as the 2005 Alumnae of the Year during
an alumni
event
Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005 in Meredith
Hall.
Donna Tweeten, a 1984 graduate, is president of the
Meyocks Group, a Des Moines-based advertising agency
with clients
including Hy-Vee, the American Red Cross-Midwest
Region Blood Services, Farm Credit Services of
America, Blank
Park Zoo and Croplife International. She lives
in Clive.
“ Donna's dedication to her profession and craft is equaled
by her dedication to the School of Journalism and Mass
Communication,” said Todd Evans, professor of journalism. “Donna
has kept an open door for our students needing
information, internships and jobs. Donna exemplifies
our core
values at work in the real world. I believe she
is deserving
of the recognition and stature this award represents.”
Tweeten will be the keynote speaker at the
awards event at 6:30 p.m. October 6. in Meredith
101.
She will talk
on,“Take The Hard Way Out. Ethics: What I Have
Learned From Life … And Life In Advertising.”
Neenah Ellis, a 1977 graduate, is a National
Public Radio reporter whose “If I Live
to Be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians” series
later became a best-selling book. Ellis also
worked on a 10-year
oral history
project for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
She lives in
Takoma Park, Md. “ Neenah
has had a distinguished, award-winning career
in broadcasting that combines good journalism
with public service,” said Kathleen Richardson,
assistant professor of journalism and executive
director of the Iowa Freedom
of Information Council. “She is a professional
role model and would be an inspiration for our
students."
Frontline Speaker
Talks to J-School Classes
Award-winning documentary producer David Fanning
delivered a message of
opportunity and story telling to Drake journalism
students who packed a classroom auditorium to hear
him speak. For Fanning, journalism is “the
making of something that wasn’t there before
... communicating ... telling something new about
the world.”“This business gives you
an amazing right — the right to be curious,” said
Fanning, who spoke to three journalism classes
Sept.29. “It gives you the possibility of
going places you would not be able to go unless
you were a journalist,” said Fanning, executive
producer of the PBS documentary series “Frontline.”
Fanning’s work has won him numerous Emmys
and two prestigious duPont-Columbia University
Gold Batons, the coveted prize for broadcast and
journalism. “Frontline” has been in
production for more than 20 years on PBS and lays
claim to being America’s only regularly scheduled
public affairs documentary series. “The great
contribution that ‘Frontline’ has made
is we decided to make complex films about difficult
things,” said Fanning. Frontline has focused
on “the big issues” in all areas of
the world. Fanning held his overflow audience captive,
discussing what he had learned throughout his years. “The
great lesson of journalism is, we can always be
better,” he said. One lesson that Fanning
stressed was fairness. “If you treat people
decently they are going to respond to you,” said
Fanning in answering a question about how “Frontline” is
perceived in the world. “In the act of journalism,
the test is whether you can stop building from
your own political views, and care,” he
said
Over the years, Fanning has held “Frontline” to
high standards, always attempting to do challenging
films that show the world as “others” see
it. He explained how he chooses which subjects
to cover on “Frontline.” “Is
what I’m telling people interesting and surprising?” he
said he asks himself. “We always try to tell
those stories that would surprise people.” On
the staff of “Frontline,” Fanning admitted,
he’s the “lazy one.” The reporters
and photographers do all the difficult work.
Fanning makes sure, however, that the story gets
told and
always keeps looking for the element of surprise.
Fanning started his career a little differently
than most journalism students. “I never had
the privilege of going to a journalism school,” he
said. Fanning started on the student newspaper
where, he said, “there was something about
that gathering of people on a Sunday night ...
the exchange of ideas ... the hands-on portion.”
Fanning began his professional work in his native
South Africa, where he produced programming on
race and religion for BBC-TV. “Frontline” began
in 1983 and is recognized as “the last
best hope for the TV documentary,” Fanning
said. The work of a video journalist is “all
about the tools,” said Fanning, something
he believes current generations are blessed with. “You
are inheriting the technology that is only going
to get better,” Fanning told the students. “Frontline” has
a commitment to young journalists all over the
world, believing that they can capture a view
that otherwise would be neglected. Its new series, “Frontline
World,” encompasses
that view. Frontline World’s Web site publishes
stories by student-journalists. “This was
my attempt to take the energies of the small
camera, energies of the young,” said Fanning.
Commercial television networks rarely air documentaries,
which is why public television has proved to
be the place for “Frontline.” “Public
TV was a place where I was given freedom,” said
Fanning. “It is one of the few places you
can do this.” The PBS audience is well-informed,
which is why Fanning believes public TV is the
right place for “Frontline.” “I
think it’s an important audience,” Fanning
said, because the audience is engaged and cares
about the world.
Fanning acknowledged criticism of television
news coverage and documentaries, but said he
sees the
issue differently. “Isn’t the issue
whether the culture wants this?” he asked.
If so, Fanning believes the resources will be there.
He believes documentaries like his are of extraordinary
value to the culture. Fanning hopes “Frontline” will
continue to draw a larger audience and inform more
people, especially through the Web. “Frontline” built
one of the first editorial websites in history,
and is now one of the largest. More than 50 of
its documentaries are available for viewing on
the Web, in their entirety. “What we’re
doing is, we’re doing this for keeps,” said
Fanning. “These works will survive.”
By Evan Jurkovich
Drake journalism student
Written for JMC54, Reporting and Writing Principles
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Prospective Students 
Drake Magazine, Drake Magazine Online, and 515 all
won first place nationally in their categories from
the Society of Professional Journalists, making three
Drake publications the best in the nation for 2005.
