Apri 15, 2008

Students get the scoop at Washington Post

BY SALLY ACHARYA


Jim Brady of washingtonpost.com with SOC students Casey Shellenberger and Dorry Samuels (Photo by Jeff Watts)

 

SOC and Washington Post working together
  • SOC and the Post mounted a Visual Journalism Summit with top Post editors to explore how photos, maps, graphics, and multimedia add depth and breadth to reporting.
  • Patrick Butler, SOC/MA ’96, vice president of the Washington Post Company, chairs SOC’s Dean’s Advisory Council.
  • Washingtonpost.com published a series of articles by Professor Jane Hall’s Washington Reporting class based on a survey of young voters in four battleground states.
  • The AU-Washington Post Speakers Series brings executives and reporters to campus to talk with students.
  • Jim Brady, SOC/BA ’89, vice president and executive editor, washingtonpost.com, and Desson Thomson, SOC/BA ’80, Post film critic, are active participants in SOC’s Alumni Mentoring Program.
  • Other alumni at the Post include Marissa Newhall, SOC/BA ’07, (Style Section); Terissa Schor, SOC/BA ’06, (Foreign Desk); Dan Zak, SOC/BA ’05, (Sunday Source); and Steve Goff, SOC/BA ’88, (Sports Department)

Last year on her birthday, Casey Shellenberger ’09 took the day off to read the Washington Post in bed.

Okay, that’s not all she did. But it’s her idea of how to start the perfect day. “I’m such a big journalism nerd,” said the junior from Baltimore.

She’s one of two graduate and six undergraduate students from AU’s School of Communication (SOC) admitted to a course that takes them to the Washington Post once a week for the Washington Post Semester Consortium, where they meet with editors and reporters to learn how stories are developed, discuss the future of newspapers, and delve into the news business where it’s made.

Students are selected competitively, based on their writing samples, and participate in the class with peers from Howard and George Washington universities.

“SOC loves this program,” says advisor Amy Eisman, director of Writing Programs at SOC and former executive editor of USA Weekend. “It clearly sets us apart from out-of-town competitors, who point to a semester in Washington as a draw. Here we are, routinely ushering our students on site through one of the most powerful news products in the world. It is hard to beat that.”

Shellenberger and classmate Dorry Samuels ’09 agree. “Today it was really interesting,” they said recently after returning from the once-a-week session. “We were learning how to work multimedia into [stories]. We were talking a lot about the future of news and how to break in.”

They’ve heard in class from top editors and journalists, including Pulitzer prize–winning reporters Dana Priest, Robin Givhan, and Jose Vargas, and got a behind-the-scenes look at how such projects as “Fixing DC Schools” and the series on conditions at Walter Reed Hospital evolved. The program is part of the Post’s Young Journalists Development Program.

“It’s one of those things you can really only get in Washington,” says Wendell Cochran, director of SOC’s journalism division “Not only is it a relationship with the Post; it’s another way we put students out into city to be involved, help the city be part of their education, and to see what expectations are at the very highest level of the field.”

It’s been an inspiring class for Samuels who is such an enthusiast for good writing that her friends call her “the grammar police.” “All text messages sent to her have to be grammatically correct before she’ll accept them,” says Shellenberger.

Both were drawn to AU because of SOC’s journalism program, which has strong links to many Washington journalism institutions, including the Post. “Over the years, quite a few of our students have found long-term careers at the Post, and have become leaders in the newsroom and in the online area,” Cochran says.

The Washington Post Semester class is a chance to get the scoop from insiders. “They’re able to discuss not only practical issues, but also talk about the future of the news business in general and where the Web is taking us,” Cochran says. “And these are some of the best journalists and managers in the world.”

One tip that stuck with Samuels and Shellenberger: Washington Post managing editor Philip Bennett told them frankly that it’s networking that gets reporters the jobs. He’s not likely to hire someone he hasn’t met, he said. After he left, Athelia Knight, director of the Post’s Young Journalists Development Program, said, in effect, “Well, you just met him. Remind him of that someday.”

They dutifully recorded the tip. Some day, they hope to be back at the Washington Post, armed with a reminder to Bennett of the time he met them as SOC students.

 MORE NEWS