January 2005

Contents:

Upcoming Events at the J-school

Other Upcoming Bay Area events
Upcoming Alumni events: San Francisco
Upcoming Alumni events: Washington, DC
Watch the new season of FRONTLINE/World with work of four J-school
Alums!
Professional Opportunities, Grants, Job Fairs and Workshops
Admissions Interviewers Needed/ College Visits
Alumni News
Bay Area Alums: Come audit courses at the J-school this spring!
New and Improved Online Alumni database

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Upcoming J-School Events:

Wednesday, January 26
6:30pm - 7:30pm, North Gate Library, UC Berkeley
The Creation of The Media: Paul Starr
Paul Starr is Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and co-
editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of The Social
Transformation of American Medicine, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize
for Nonfiction, Bancroft Prize in American History, C. Wright Mills
Award, and James Hamilton Prize of the American College of
Healthcare Executives. Professor Starr's new book, The Creation of the
Media, is scheduled for publication by Basic Books in March 2004. A
study of the shaping of communications in Europe and the United
States from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, the book
argues that political decisions from the founding of the republic led to
America's comparative advantage in communications and to the
American media's considerable power. Professor Starr has written
extensively on American society, politics, and public policy. In 1990,
with Robert Kuttner and Robert Reich, he co-founded The American
Prospect, a liberal magazine about politics, policy, and ideas. Published
quarterly in its early years, the magazine now appears monthly and
has a print circulation of more than 50,000 as well as two active
websites: http://www.prospect.org and http://www.movingideas.org.
Introduction by Mark Danner, Professor at the Graduate School of
Journalism
**No tickets required.

Please check out our Web site for full event details and an archive of
past events: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/

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Other Bay Area Events:

Wednesday, January 12
6:30pm-8:30 pm, Gordon Biersch Brewery, 2 Harrison Street , San
Francisco
SPJ's Monthly Mixer with Chance Martin and Doug Ferrari
Get a new view of San Francisco's infamous homelessness crisis at SPJ
NorCal's January mixer. Chance Martin, editor of San Francisco'sStreet
Sheet, will talk about its unique perspective in covering homelessness
issues, usually written by writers with first-person experience. San
Francisco's Street Sheet is the oldest street newspaper worldwide, and
has broken numerous stories since its launch 16 years ago, including
an investigation of a lavish expense account run up by a homeless
center director who was also cutting budgets for an indigent food
program. That coverage resulted in the director's dismissal. A 2001
story, called "Blood on the Clownsuit" publicized the homeless plight of
famed comedian Doug Ferrari, which led to Chronicle coverage and
then Ferrari's friends coming to his aid. Now back on the comedy
circuit, Ferrari and his wife Beth Ferrari are the brains behind a new
political humor column in Street Sheet that will be written, on an
alternating basis, by various San Francisco comedians.
**RSVPs are encouraged. RSVP: Bernice_Yeung@dailyjournal.com

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Upcoming Alumni events-San Francisco:

Tuesday, January 25
6 pm-7 pm, Bay Area Jschool Alumni Happy Hour
7 pm-9 pm, Mediabistro All Media Party
111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna, San Francisco
 Bay Area Alumni Happy Hour with Mediabistro
What better time than the start of a new year to catch up with old J-
school friends and get to know new ones? This is the first SF alumni
event that's part of our new deal with Mediabistro.com to have parties
and gatherings for UC Berkeley J-school alumni in many cities where
we're located. The happy hour is a private party just for us Northgate
alums (and our guests). Admission is free and drinks are at happy
hour prices. Mickey Butts, who is the alumni board's fearless leader,
will be hosting the event, greeting alumni and making introductions.
** RSVP to http://www.ersvp.com/reply/sfalumni

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Upcoming Alumni events-Washington, DC:

Thursday, January 13
6 pm-7 pm, DC area Alumni Happy Hour
7 pm-9 pm, Mediabistro All Media Party
Stetson's
1610 U St., NW, Washington, DC
Happy Hour for DC area Alumni
What better time than the start of a new year to catch up with old J-
school friends and get to know new ones? You can do just that at our
DC Alumni Happy Hour. This is the first DC alumni event that's part of
our new deal with Mediabistro.com to have parties and gatherings for
UC Berkeley J-school alumni in many cities where we're located. The
happy hour is a private party just for Northgate alums (and our
guests). Admission is free and drinks are at happy hour prices. From 7
pm - 9 pm, the party opens up to journalists from all over the area as
we are joined by Mediabistro's All-Media Party. So stay and schmooze
with other media folks, have some more drinks and have more fun.
**RSVP at http://www.ersvp.com/reply/dcalumni

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Watch the new season of FRONTLINE/World with work of four Jschool

Alums!
The work of three recent J-school graduates will be featured nationally
on FRONTLINE/World

Tuesday, January 1, 10 pm on KQED, Channel 9 in the Bay Area. (If

you live outside the Bay Area, please consult your local PBS listings to
locate FRONTLINE/World air schedule for your area.)
PBS's international newsmagazine returns for a fourth season with a
report on the dangers of covering the war in Iraq, where fifty-four
journalists have already been killed during the conflict. The constant
barrage of car bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, and beheadings
have turned much of the country into a "no go zone" for reporters.
FRONTLINE/World cameras follow reporters as they try to do their job
and survive in the mayhem of Iraq. Also featured: a dramatic, close-
up look at the war in Sudan's Darfur region including interviews with
rebel army leaders and the African peacekeeping troops trying to end
the killings.

Cassandra Herrman, MJ'01, "The Quick and the Terrible"

This 24-minute story on the humanitarian and political crisis in Sudan's
Darfur region, where over 70,000 have died in what the U.S. calls
genocide. This is Casey's fourth story for the series.
Serene Fang & Monica Lam, both MJ'04, "Silenced"
Co-Produced and photographed by Monica Lam, "Silenced" is a report
on the Muslim Uighur minority in western China, and a journalist's
nightmare Serene experienced trying to cover the story. A longer
version of their TV story will appear on the FRONTLINE/World web site
as well. Both the Sudan and China stories were edited at the
FRONTLINE office at the Journalism school.

Brent McDonald, MJ'04, "Toward Justice"

In the spring of 2004, FRONTLINE/World Fellow Brent McDonald
followed UC Berkeley anthropologist Beatriz Manz to Central America
to uncover the history of a village that was caught in the crossfire of
Guatemala's civil war. His FRONTLINE/World Fellows project on
Guatemala was launched on the FRONTLINE/World web site in
December:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/guatemala/index.html.

About FRONTLINE/World fellows program:

The Fellows program is designed to encourage curiosity and creative
thinking about the world, foster personal narrative and journalistic
voice, and reward intelligent, genuinely innovative work. All
FRONTLINE/World Fellow stories will receive the same hands-on
mentoring and stringent editorial scrutiny as do stories currently
published on the FRONTLINE/World Web site or broadcast on the
FRONTLINE/World television series. Take a look at the official site for
more information and stories: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/

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Professional Opportunities, Grants, Job Fairs and Workshops

Seeking Camera and Audio operators at the World Social Forum,

January 26-31
Daniela Broitman, MJ '00, is living in Brazil, working as an independent
filmmaker, producing and directing documentaries on the World Social
Forum (WSF). She's seeking volunteers who are good camera and
audio operators, and will be going to the WSF in Porto Alegre (26 to 31
of January) to be part of her crew. If you are interested, please
contact her at: daniela@videoforum.tv. For more info on the project:
http://www.videoforum.tv

Friday, February 4
Hyatt San Jose, San Jose, CA
ASNE 2005 Diversity Job Fair
The American Society of Newspaper Editors Diversity Job Fair is an
outstanding opportunity for you to meet recruiters from national and
regional newspapers in face-to-face interviews. Explore the many
professional career opportunities and internships available.Cost: $35
if registered by Jan. 19. Includes one free night double-occupancy
accommodation at the conference hotel to the first 30 registered
students traveling a distance of 75 miles or more. Also includes
luncheon with keynote speaker Joe Grimm, recruitment editor of the
Detroit Free Press, and resume critiques. Final registration
Deadline: Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005. For more information: Contact
Melissa Jordan, phone: (408) 920-5708; E-mail:
mjordan@mercurynews.com

Saturday and Sunday, February 19-20

Better Watchdogs:Investigative Reporting on the Beat
Better Watchdog Workshops, presented by IRE and SPJ, teach
journalists how to do investigative
and enterprise reporting while covering a beat and emphasize the use
of freedom-of-information
laws in the pursuit of these stories. The workshops specifically serve
journalists from small- to
medium-sized print and broadcast organizations.Training materials
include IRE's Beat Book series and SPJ's Open Doors handbook for
reporters,funded by the SDX Foundation. Introductory: Attend this
hands-on workshop and learn how to use Excel, a powerful electronic
spreadsheet, for deadline and beat reporting on budgets, salaries, and
Census data. Also learn how to dig deeper using the Internet and find
valuable datasets for your stories. Intermediate: If you can
comfortably move around, write a formula and import information into
a spreadsheet, this is the session for you. This hands-on workshop will
help reporters use Microsoft Access to delve into databases for more
in-depth stories. The session will cover searching a database,
summarizing and sorting data, and importing information into a
database. For more information and to register, please visit
https://www.ire.org/cgi-bin/secure-form.cgi?form=sacramento.
Sponsored by The Sacramento Bee.

March 6-13
"Covering Indian Country: Native American Issues in the 21st
Century"
"The People, The Issues and The Journalism" will be the focus of this
special traveling expenses-paid seminar which will take up to 25
professional journalists on a multi-state journey from the nation's
capital into the heart of "Indian Country." This unique seminar will
integrate traditional classroom seminar presentations with on-site
visits to tribal lands in California and New Mexico. Fellows will explore
such topics as sovereignty, Native American health, housing and
education issues, as well as resource management, economic
development and gaming with academic, governmental and private
sector experts. Who should apply: Reporters and editors specializing
in coverage of such issues as demographics, natural resources, health,
gaming, federal and state government, cultural heritage, labor and
economics from print, broadcast and online news organizations.
Fellowships (valued at $3,500) include transportation during the
seminar, lodging, meals and instruction. In addition, the WKC will
subsidize one-half of travel to and from the seminar to a maximum of
$300. The Western Knight Center is funded by the John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation and is a joint project of the University of
Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and the
University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Deadline is January 14, 2005. How to Apply: Application forms
are available at http://www.WKConline.org. Apps should include:
Completed application forms; strong letter of recommendation from
supervising editor that includes commitment to pay fellow's salary and
non-fellowship expenses; three samples of professional work
(photocopies or archival links are acceptable). Applications will be
accepted online or by email as long as hard copies of online
applications are received no later January 19, 2005. Sponsored by the
Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism USC Annenberg
School for Communication in partnership with The Native American
Journalists Association.

Sidney Hillman Foundation to Honor Social Justice Journalism

The Sidney Hillman Foundation ( http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/ )
is now accepting nominations for the 2005 Sidney Hillman Awards
honoring journalism that investigates issues related to social justice
and progressive public policy. The Hillman Award categories for 2005
will include Books (nonfiction), Newspaper Reporting, Magazine
Reporting, Film and Broadcast Journalism (including television and
radio), and Photojournalism. The 2005 awards will be given for work
produced, published, or exhibited in 2004. Editors, photo editors,
producers, reporters, and authors are invited to submit nominations
throughout the year. Winners will be awarded a $2,000 prize and a
plaque. Deadline: February 15, 2005

International Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowships

Applications are being accepted for the Fall 2005 International
Reporting Project (IRP) Fellowships at The Paul H. Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins
University. The program is a four-month fellowship aimed at improving
the quality of international news in the U.S. media.The program
combines 10 weeks of study in Washington, DC. and five weeks of
individual overseas reporting.Each year, two groups of U.S. journalists
are selected as IRP Fellows. The journalists choose their own overseas
project and offer the stories they produce to their news organizations
or to other media. Stories by previous Fellows are available at
http://www.journalismfellowships.org. The program is based at SAIS,
one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of
international relations. Located in downtown Washington, the school
enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career
professionals and has trained more than 9,000 alumni in all aspects of
international affairs. Deadline: April 1, 2005 for the program
beginning in September 2005. For more information, call (202) 663-
7761, fax (202) 663-7762 or email irp@jhu.edu.
NOTE: Two J-school alumni will be doing January 2005 fellowships.
They are: Aryn Baker, MJ 2001, associate editor of TIME Asia in Hong
Kong and Kelly Whalen, MJ 2001, freelance documentarian in
Oakland. Aryn will be traveling to Pakistan, and Kelly will be traveling to
Russia.

And remember to visit the J-school's J-jobs Web site for listings of
professional opportunities: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/jobs/

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Admissions Interviewers
It's hard to believe but it's almost that time of the year... We would
like to thank all alumni who have volunteered their time in the past to
interview prospective students. If you would like to interview for the
Fall 2005 admission cycle, please send an e-mail to Marisa Mariscal at
mariscal@berkeley.edu. Interviews take place from mid-January
through April, and we are looking for interviewers all over the world,
including here in the Bay Area.

Recruitment Visits
We are also looking for alumni who would be interested in visiting
college newspapers and/or college radio/TV stations in their area; our
outreach efforts only goes so far. We will do the research and find the
correct contacts at local colleges and universities, so that you can
coordinate a visit to meet with prospective students, give a brief
introduction to the program and talk about your experience at the J-
School. If you are interested in helping out, please send an e-mail to
Marisa Mariscal at mariscal@berkeley.edu.

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Alumni News:
Steve Linde, MJ 1986, is the night editor of The Jerusalem Post (a post
he's had for eight years), and director of Israel Radio's English News.

Karen Brown, MJ 1996, is a health reporter for WFCR, the NPR-affiliate

in Amherst, MA. She lives with her husband (an ethnomusicologist)
and six-year-old twins, Sam and Lucy. This fall, she produced her
second full-length radio documentary -- The Wild Child: Coping with a
Bipolar Youth -- which is making the rounds in the public radio world.
You can hear it at http://www.wfcr.org/features/wild_child.php.

Mark Hummels, MJ 1997, has worked as a reporter for five years for
the Santa Fe New Mexican, but left journalism three years ago to
attend law school at the University of Arizona. He earned his law
degree last spring, then placed first in the state out of hundreds of his
peers on the Arizona bar exam in July, 2004. He is now clerking for
Arizona State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Hurtwitz, and will join a
Phoenix law firm in September, 2005.

Denis Devine, MJ 2004, is working as the assistant editorial page

editor at the North County Times in Escondido, CA (returning to the
place he was quite happy at before J-school, though better job and
pay.) He writes editorials and opinion pieces for this 100,000
circulation daily covering the northern half of San Diego County, as
well as soliciting, collecting and editing syndicated and local guest
columns amid sundry other tasks. Any alums are welcome to submit
guest editorials/interesting work -- on local issues only, sorry to report
-- to Denis at ddevine@nctimes.com.

Jessica Ravitz, MJ 2004, spent the summer with The Patriot Ledger in
Quincy, MA. She then headed off to Salt Lake City, UT, where she's
now an education reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune and honing her
ice-scraping skills. Interested skiers are welcome to crash on her
newly purchased Aerobed. Wedding plans remain on hold.

Thanks for all of your updates: Keep them coming! And remember you
can look up contact information for your classmates in the alumni
database.
Please send all updates to our alumni email address:
ucbjalum@berkeley.edu

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Bay Area Alums: Come audit courses at the J-school this spring!

The J-School is inviting alumni to audit classes at the school this

spring. Alumni can come back to North Gate, free of charge, to audit
classes in everything from new media to magazine writing. <Please
note that certain courses are restricted to degree candidates. Alumni
will be admitted on a space available basis, at the discretion of the
instructor.>

The 2005 spring semester course schedule and descriptions are

available online at
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/program/#Curriculum
For more information about how you can participate, send an email to
Michele Rabin at rabinm@berkeley.edu.

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New and Improved Online Alumni Database

Be sure to check out the new and improved online alumni database
with increased functionality (you can now search by city, state, zip
code, or employer).
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/alumni/db/

If you need a password or login to access the online database, please

send an email to ucbjalum@berkeley.edu.

****** ********* ******

E-news flows out monthly. These electronic newsletters focus mostly

on events, professional development opportunities and alumni and
faculty news and profiles.

The J-School staff welcomes your input and updates. The deadline for
the February issue is Monday, January 31.

To contribute, please contact Michele Rabin at rabinm@berkeley.edu