Dr. Spaulding

A few recent anniversary stories–the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Phylicia Barnes–have me thinking: what makes an anniversary story good?

Readers sometimes complain such stories are “lazy and pointless.” Scholars often point out that these stories are filled with myth, not fact. Others say these stories are often forced into a predetermined story formula–either the tearjerker or the inspirational piece–often ignoring the obvious, as this Daily Show parody of 9/11 anniversary coverage demonstrates:

I agree with many of these critiques and often find anniversary journalism to be a shallow attempt to grab viewers and clicks. However I also believe it is important to study history. Understanding the past can explain the present and guide decisions we make about our future. How did we get here? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? What can we try next? Whether or not you decide to make a life for yourself in Baltimore, understanding how past events impact a community’s quality of life can help you build a better future–wherever it may be.

I also believe that understanding local history is key to building and enriching our sense of citizenship and our shared responsibility for our community. I interviewed journalist Michael Olesker this summer after reading his book Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore. He said the stories we tell about our past not only explain who we are, but also bring us together.

“They are a binding experience—a binding and a bonding experience. They tell us that we are a part of the same community,” he said. “By sharing not only the initial experience, but the retelling of the story, they become our common history. They become our experience. And they remind us that we have things in common, that we’ve been through stuff together.”

So here’s our challenge for the spring semester:

Can we produce anniversary journalism that succeeds in examining the ongoing cultural, social or economic impact of a past event on today’s urban cityscape?

Notable Anniversaries

Here are a few that have either just passed or are coming up:

• The “Baltimore Believe” campaign launched 10 years ago during the spring of 2002 with this commercial. Today, Gov. Martin O’Malley claims it was a success, despite widespread doubt and mixed results at the time of its launch (after all, this city has seen its fair share of PR campaigns.) There’s been a number of clever spinoffs, rendering the Believe campaign still visible (see here, here and here). Of course O’Malley would claim the program was a success–he was a mayor planning to run for governor when it launched, today he’s a governor who’s rumored to be planning a 2016 presidential run. What’s the real legacy of this campaign?
• The Bicentennial of the War of 1812. Commemorative planning is also happening at the city and state levels.
• The Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, which included several Maryland battles and dramatically affected the lives of citizens living in Maryland and Baltimore.
• The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP in 1912.
• In 1952, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute integrated its advanced college preparatory track, two years before Brown v. Board was decided. Baltimore was the first city in America to desegregate its schools, though white flight effectively re-segregated them shortly after. (See: Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore by Michael Olesker, Desegregating Baltimore Schools, Brown vs. Board of Education: 50 Years Later)
• The Wire premiered 10 years ago in 2002. Besides receiving widespread acclaim, it’s being used to teach urban sociology in schools and to intervene in the lives of at-risk youth. The show has even won David Simon a prestigious MacArthur “genius” grant. But some say that it permanently brands Baltimore with a bad image will only further entrench drugs, guns, violence and murder.
• On the subject of iconic Baltimore movies, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos came out in 1972, Barry Levinson’s Diner came out in 1982. Some say these films made Maryland one of the top destinations for filmmakers in the 1990s, creating Maryland’s film industry. Yet according to the Maryland Film Industry Coalition, that industry is in decline today unless lawmakers consider additional incentives to stay competitive.
• In television, the Buddy Deane show began 55 years ago in 1957. (The host of the show died in 2003.) This was the original (and segregated) show that the movie Hairspray was based on. Unlike in the movie, the show was taken off the air because producers did not want to integrate it.

Anniversaries happen in odd years too

For the purposes of this class, let’s not be concerned with whether the anniversaries are in round numbers or not. Here’s a few other significant dates that deserve remembering:

• In 1955 (1953 in some articles), Read’s Drugstore downtown was the site of a civil rights sit-in five (or seven) years before the launch of the sit-in movement. Last year, a developer announced plans to demolish the building. Preservation activists are working to save it. The controversy has brought more attention to Baltimore’s role in the civil rights movement. I’ve linked to a number of Read’s articles on the MCOM 407 tumblr.
• The 1968 riots are the subject of a new website and book. What’s the legacy today?
• Another new book: Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther by Marshall “Eddie” Conway. See an interview with the co-author here. In the wake of Occupy Baltimore, I’m really interested in protest groups of the past. According to Conway’s book, the Panthers had a successful breakfast and education program for children here in Baltimore and were doing a lot of good work in neighborhoods abandoned by the city. Where are they now? What does their experience have to teach the Occupy and other political protest movements today?
• Where are the Catonsville 9 today, and what’s the legacy of civil disobedience today in the wake of police violence against peaceful Occupy protesters?
• At 6:00 in this video, journalist Marc Steiner talks about “occupying” techniques of protest he participated in 40 years ago. Who are the forerunners of the occupy movement here in Baltimore? What’s their legacy today?
• The Baltimore News-American closed in 1986. The Evening Sun closed in 1995. There have been studies by both Pew and NewsTrust on today’s news ecosystem. However, there are dozens of reporters around who worked at one or both of these newspapers. (See here, here and here.) What’s really different between now and then? What was it like living in a city with a half-dozen newspapers? How did the news affect city politics and priorities? What have we lost?
• In 1968, the same year as the riots, the Movement Against Destruction formed. This was a cross-race, cross-class, cross-neighborhood grass-roots organization that successfully stopped a highway project that would have obliterated neighborhoods and historic areas throughout the city. Sources still in the area include Baltimore Sun columnist James D. Dilts, 1968-1969 MAD president Art Cohen, 1967-1968 MAD president Stuart Wechsler, among others.
• The iconic family-owned Baltimore department store company Hutzler’s closed in 1990 after 132 years of business and is the subject of a recent book. This subject could be the jumping-off point for a project examining the historic effect of suburban flight on downtown business, the legacy of family-owned vs. corporate-owned downtown shopping and the future of the downtown economic district. (On a related note, the Women’s Industrial Exchange just reopened downtown, and the famous Haussner’s could become a brewpub.)
• Along the same lines, Harborplace opened in 1980. Many credit the development of shopping, hotels, convention and arena space with transforming downtown Baltimore. Others say it has drained much needed resources from poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
• It’s been 14 years since the Felix Guevara case here in Baltimore, in which a Baltimore police officer resigned after being accused of stealing money from Latino immigrants. The case strained the city’s relations with the Latino community. The case also inspired Angelo Solera to become the first Latino to run for city council and became the centerpiece of Michael Olesker’s book Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore which examines the city’s immigrant history. This was a highly-publicized case at the time. What is the legacy of this case today in the context of the city’s rapidly growing Latino population? Where is Felix Guevara today? What is the state of relations between the city and the Latino population?
• Sandtown Habitat for Humanity opened in 1989 and since then has built 300 homes for low-income families. But has the building helped eliminate blight and turn around the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood?

Other issues

I haven’t examined these closely enough yet to know what the important dates are in their timelines. However I think they are relevant and interesting, and they’ve certainly impacted city life:

• The effects of blockbusting and white flight. To get a foothold in this beat, I’d first read Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City and interview Antero Pietila.
• The Jewish migration throughout the 20th century from Corned Beef Row through Northwest Baltimore and out into the county. For background, there’s several chapters each in Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore and Hometown Boy.

Places to scout your own ideas

You’re free to investigate any of the ideas above. If you’ve got another idea, let’s conference about it. If you’d like to dig up your own idea, here’s a few tips:

• Consider visiting a few museums: the Museum of Industry, the Maryland Historical Society, the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, the Sports Legend Museum.
• Read up on local history. If you’re interested in Baltimore, I recommend The Baltimore Book, Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore and Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City. The authors of each of these books would be happy to talk to you.
• Attend a few sessions of the Aging Newspaperman’s Club, or other similar community organization, and listen to the stories people tell. You’re bound to hear something interesting. (I’m at the Newspaperman’s Club most Fridays and would be happy to introduce you around. Email me if you’re interested.)
• Remember, you’re looking for an event that clearly had a dramatic and ongoing effect on city life. The keyword here is ongoing. We’re not just looking for interesting events–we’re looking for events that had a vivid and long-lasting effect on citizens, an effect that may be overlooked, misunderstood or still unresolved.
• Also, look for an event with great sources. You’re looking for real Baltimore characters, the people who experienced these events and can tell you what it was like to witness them. Sources for the 1968 riots or fight against the highways are still easy to get into contact with and often eager to share their stories. The Civil War and the War of 1812 are trickier topics, but because of the recent anniversaries you’re probably likely to find enthusiasts, historians, park rangers, historical actors, and descendents, etc. who are able to explain the legacy of the event.

An example from my own work

Here’s a package example from my own work: In 1982, the NAACP protested the performance of a Baltimore City police officer at a downtown hotel who planned to perform Al Jolson tunes in blackface. In class, I’ll share with you how I would structure this into a three-part story package that examines the legacy of Al Jolson, minstrelsy and this NAACP protest on Baltimore, and what it tells us about the shifting politics of race in the police department, the newspaper and city affairs.

If you’ve been in Baltimore long, you’ve probably seen the billboard, the courtship commercial and the wedding ceremony. This genius campaign was created by MGH Marketing for Smyth Jewelers, which resulted in a 15 percent increase in diamond sales.

Last November, the blog The City That Breeds asked readers to write the back story of the Boh-Utz love affair. Of the four entries, this one by Steve Earley was my favorite:

See the winning entry by SpaceManAndy here.

Congratulations to all of my students who completed fall internships this semester. My favorite internship evaluation came from Tyler Green, who wrote:

The internship opened my eyes to how thrilling working in the city can in fact be. For future interns, I offer this one piece of advice. Go in with an open mind, and the city will open itself back up to you. Whatever judgments or thoughts you may have previously had about the city, ignore them. Let Baltimore show you what it has to offer, and find out for yourself why it has earned itself the name of Charm City.

Here’s what my interns did this semester:

Adam Salk | MotorWeek

I have been interning for the automotive television show MotorWeek since the summer of 2011. My time spent at Maryland Public Television’s longest running show has been a dream come true. If you are passionate about automotive journalism, MotorWeek can give you real experience in the field. I have improved my broadcast writing, learned television production (on and off a set), and of course driven some amazing cars. Check out my blog which highlights everything from writing, photography, and my on camera appearances.

Olivia Obineme | Baltimore Magazine

Three years ago, I would have never thought I would be a marketing intern. But, overtime the media industry has changed and the way we receive information has definitely changed. In the past I think so many have overlooked the advantages of good marketing for a newspaper or magazine. Now that online media has emerged as the way most of us receive our information, good marketing has become much more prevalent in media. Over the summer, I applied for an editorial internship at Baltimore magazine, only to find out all of the positions were filled. But when I was asked if I had any interest in joining the marketing team, I said ‘why not?’ Given the responsibility to manage the magazine’s social media, I was able to see first-hand how social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter impact readership. People don’t just want to read magazines or watch news packages, but they also want to know who’s behind the stories and videos –and it’s through the social networks, writers, reporters and photographers can connect with their readers. Aside from the social media, I was still able to put my video skills in use and I shot, edited and produced online videos for the magazine. So, if there’s any advice I can give, it’s keep an open mind to all the things journalism can offer. There is a lot more to it than having a byline.

Daniel Ciarrocchi | Bleacher Report

Writing for Bleacher Report was rewarding not only because it combined my loves of writing and sports, but provided me with valuable experience for a constantly evolving field. In addition to writing five to six articles per week, I was in regular contact with five editors who helped me improve my content, style, online media creation and search engine optimization. Once the internship ended, I had over 50 articles and 90,000 hits to my credit. Writing everyday and being in constant contact with my editors and other interns for feedback is what made this internship truly worthwhile, and is a lesson I can carry with me to my future endeavors.

Tyler Green | Baltimore Magazine

As an editorial intern for Baltimore Magazine this past summer and fall, I wrote pieces for the Charm City Chatter, It list, and calendar columns, as well as spent numerous hours fact checking stories for various pieces in the magazine. I learned the value of patience and persistence when trying to contact a source to verify information, and how truly important fact checking is to the entire journalism industry. It was during this internship with Baltimore, that I learned so much about the city that I had never known before. Whether it was new neighborhoods I had previously never explored, the exposure to Baltimore’s emerging food truck scene, it helped to make me feel more comfortable about where I was going and how to get around. The internship opened my eyes to how thrilling working in the city can in fact be. For future interns, I offer this one piece of advice. Go in with an open mind, and the city will open itself back up to you. Whatever judgments or thoughts you may have previously had about the city, ignore them. Let Baltimore show you what it has to offer, and find out for yourself why it has earned itself the name of Charm City.

Daniel Rodgers | The Baltimore Sun

The Baltimore Sun gave me a real-world experience during my internship. My hours were from 4:30 in the afternoon until past midnight. Even though it was brutal because I had never worked anything similar, I really felt bad for the staff that worked those hours five or more days per week. I was given the opportunity to get involved with the editing and writing aspects of the newspaper and both proved to be valuable experiences. My first internship had less to do with what I actually wanted to get involved with, so my time at the Sun really taught me a lot. The most important piece of advice I can give is that while searching for an internship, make sure that the duties you will be required to perform reflect what it is you’re looking to do once you graduate and look for a job.

Christopher Peifer | Fox Business Network

My experience at the Fox Business Network was very rewarding.  From September to December I had the privilege of working alongside of some of the best and brightest in the broadcast news industry.  In addition I had the chance to meet some of the people we read about everyday.  I met senators, congressman, former governors, and ex-presidential candidates among others.  I got to assist producers and reporters in the field.  Furthermore I listened, logged, and transcribed press briefings, congressional hearings and interviews to pick out newsworthy sound bites for news broadcasts. From a technical side I had the chance to meet and greet on air guests and prepare them for broadcast.  Overall my experience with Fox was educational and remarkable.  It was absolutely worth traveling to Washington D.C. two times a week.  If you are a Mass Communications student and are looking for a challenge and desire to learn from the best, then you should look to the Fox Network to start your career.

It was the death of Johns Hopkins on Christmas Eve in 1873. Here’s what happened:

The Sun missed the story by a curious freak of chance. It was Christmas Eve, and every man who could possibly be spared had been given liberty. The counting room, or business office, had only a solitary occupant and the editorial rooms were operating with a skeleton staff. To avoid interruptions by drunken loafers, the city room door was locked, and when an ancient Negor servant came with a note from Dr. Alann P. Smith, the attending physician, announcing Mr. Hopkins’ death, he was turned away by the watchman, one Adolph Schuch. Not knowing what to do, he wandered across the street to the office of the American, where he was fervently assured that he had come to the right place, and so went home satisfied, leaving The Sun people to read the biggest news of the day in their rival’s columns.
 
–From The Sunpapers of Baltimore, 1937, by Gerald W. Johnson, Frank R. Kent, H.L. Mencken, Hamilton Owens. p. 132

I’m sad not to be teaching Literary Journalism this spring, where I get to read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote each year.

Instead, I’ll leave you for Christmas with a story Capote published in Mademoiselle magazine in 1956. It was later filmed for television with Capote narrating.

Happy holidays to you all.

(and a h/t to Baltimore21201.typepad.com)

Thanks to Brandi Bottalico and Courtney Lockwood I have one. I’ve got it right over my computer where it’ll always remind me of you guys and the amazing MCOM 257 class we had this semester. Thank you!

Check out these memes from j-students who work at the Columbia Missourian:

Congratulations to the winners of our second MCOM 407 Best In Show contest!

The winners, clockwise from left:

• Alex Sutton, who won Best Photos for Baltimore Urban Agriculture
• BoJo Bauer, who won Best Multimedia for Loch Raven Mountain Biking
• Anni Milli, who won the Judges’ Choice Award for Best Overall Project for Baltimore Community Groups
• Not pictured: Tim Connor, who won both the Best Reporting award and the Judge’s Choice Award for Overall Project for Hamilton Agriculture and Sustainability.

Judge Justin Fenton provided the judges’ feedback:

Though the judges bent the rules and picked two winners, there was so much to like about your projects, and I know that some of you probably wanted some feedback after investing so much time putting these packages together. I was genuinely impressed with the level of depth to some of the reporting, and as well as the web design. Having designed a WordPress site earlier this year myself, I know it is no easy task. (Confession: I had a web developer clean up some of my messes after I was done).
 

General comments and then a few selected works that I thought required kudos.
 

The topic of “urban renaissance” for most likely brings with it a connotation of “positive stories.” But where I thought a lot of people came up short was in believing that telling those stories meant ignoring or not exploring some of the real struggles that come with doing positive work. This should not be confused with “going negative.” In fact, the struggles that people overcome to provide services to the needy, battered women, disadvantaged youth, and fledgling urban farmers are also part of their stories of triumph. To understand how far they’ve come and where they want to go, you need to address the obstacles they’ve confronted. Undoubtedly, this would have opened up a whole new area to explore and changed how your pieces turned out.
 

Writing: the best way to “show” the work of an organization is through its people, be it staff or those it helps. Where it might seem like you’re focusing in too closely on an individual, the goal is actually to find someone whose story is emblematic of the broader initiative. Some of you really knocked this out of the park, and overall I was impressed at some of the more obscure groups and initiatives that you all found. Many made good use of statistics to illuminate trends; others made assertions that things were growing and I’m not sure there is proof of that. It may be completely anecdotal, but you have to support – somehow – the contention that what you’re writing about is part of a trend.
 

For those who got city officials, bravo. As a professional journalist, it’s hard to get these folks to talk, and I remember being a student and calling people who said, “This story is running where? Oh, it’s a class project? <click>” The same could be said for some of the “regular” people interviewed as well. It’s not easy to get people to open up, and most of you did that.
 

With that, I wanted to say I really enjoyed Brittany Jakubowitz’s piece on Andre Alston. This was probably the best example of what I just described above in terms of using people to illustrate the story you’re trying to tell. Explaining his circumstances illuminated how the Baltimore Center for Green Careers helps real people, and he was used as a sort of bookend for statistics and quotes from people involved in the project.
 

Asia Hinton’s pieces also did a great job of this. The Vehicles for Change program is pretty interesting and I hadn’t heard about it before. The interview with one of the students at the Esperanza Center, again, provides far more insight into the program than any statistics or highlights from their brochure. I wanted more about him.
 

I appreciated Patrick Clarke’s premise of going back to check up on the status of a project touted by city officials. This is important in terms of holding officials accountable and understanding why neighborhoods continue to struggle despite all these great initiatives. Samantha Sherer’s stories were punchy and easy to read, and had sweep to show us how what she was writing about fit into the larger picture.
 

Allison Balcerak’s piece needed more sources, but her questioning the proposals for a third entertainment district was, again, important perspective. It’s easy to profile the initiative and the proposal, but to debate the pros and cons, which ultimately will determine the success of the program, was astute in my book. Jordan Russell was also thinking this way with his “old vs. new” piece, though I felt it got bogged down in a somewhat petty argument and could have benefited from some perspective on other ways progress is being stalled by these conflicting viewpoints.
 

Kristin Pattik’s graphics and the design at the top of her page were really, really good. Alexandra Sutton’s use of the apple for a graphic was terrific. And Raquel Hamlett’s image across the top of her site was especially dynamic.
 

Andrew Constant’s pieces had some great turns of phrases, and he grasped the concept that explaining the city’s renaissance includes discussion of some of the things holding it back.
 

Annie Milli and Tim Connor, who were our eventual winners: Annie’s pictures and multimedia were exceptional, and her stories had depth and were well-written. I really liked Tim’s photos as well, but his writing stood out the most.
 

If you weren’t mentioned here, don’t fret. There were many other pieces that I liked, and you should be proud of your work. You got out of your comfort zones (particularly the two of you who ventured into West Baltimore’s Poppleton neighborhood to visit the Poe House – tough area!), and by reading these pieces I learned new things about the city. Thanks for inviting me to judge and good luck.

A big thank you to…

• Our panel of judges: Justin Fenton, Rachel Fauber and Thom Lieb
• Rafael Alvarez for providing and signing copies of his book Hometown Boy for the winner
• All of you who brought in food! BoJo, Garrett, Lauren, Sarah, Rachel, Lauren, Samantha.

I wasn’t the only one taking pictures of the winners after class. Check out the paparazzi fan club: Kristin and Garrett. You guys are a great cohort. Congrats to those of you who finished the coursework for your graduate degree that night!

I’ll be adding these to the MCCS internship announcement page later this week:

b and bthesite.com — Baltimore’s premier publication for young adults — is looking for spring and summer interns. The internship opportunities here are varied: news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle reporting and blogging; social media; copy editing; publication design and graphics; photography; video production; web production. Our interns have interviewed celebrities, reported cover stories, shot major local events, created humorous photo galleries, designed covers, recapped shows for our TV Lust blog and much more. For the spring, we have several openings but are especially interested in applicants for: features reporting, design, sportswriting, social media/UGC, web content and production. Most internships will involve some web production. We’re in The Sun newsroom, so our interns will be working with us but also interacting with people across The Sun organization. This is an unpaid internship; interns MUST earn academic credit and be able to show proof that they are earning academic credit. Hours are flexible, starting at about 12 hours a week. Incoming juniors, seniors and grad students preferred. We prefer students who have some sort of media experience, such as working on the Towerlight, blogging, etc. Anyone interested should e-mail a cover letter, resume and work samples (or links to work samples) to anne@bthesite.com.

MarylandReporter.com, an online news website covering state government and politics, is offering several paid 13-week internships in 2012 with an emphasis on investigative reporting. One of the internships will run from February through May and will involve covering the 90-day session of the Maryland General Assembly. The other two internships in Maryland will be offered in June and September. The internships are open to rising seniors, master’s candidates or graduates and students or graduates who have had experience on student newspapers or other publications. The internship is also open to non-traditional students and career-changers from other fields who wish to pursue a career in journalism and who have the necessary writing and reporting skills. The internship is designed to enhance your skills as a journalist covering state government and politics with a special emphasis on ethics and investigative reporting skills. We will task you with a wide range of assignments, hopefully geared to your interests and strengths, but also designed to stretch your capabilities. The internships are supported by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. This is temporary full-time employment paying $400 week with no benefits. You will work out of your home, the State House in Annapolis and/or the offices of MarylandReporter.com in Columbia, Maryland. You will need a car and smart phone, and you will be reimbursed for mileage and phone use. To apply for this internship, send a letter spelling out your qualifications and availability to Len@MarylandReporter.com, along with a resume and 5-10 clips of your work (URL links are fine.) In the subject line, specify February, June or September internship. The deadline for the February internship is Monday, Nov. 21; for June internship, Friday, March 2; and for September, Friday, June 15.

Also, the City Paper job opening Rachel Fauber told us about in MCOM 407 last week can be found at the City Paper website.

For those of you who remember reading Strunk & White with me in MCOM 257 or MCOM 407: