FROM MANHATTAN to Moscow, students at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism continuedto break new ground with their summer internship experiences.This past summer, students from the Class of 2009 forged relationships with new internship partners,including Al Jazeera English and WRXP-FM in New York, WKBW-TV in Buffalo, The Times of Indiain Mumbai, Reuters in Brussels, and the Associated Press in Moscow. They also worked with familiar

employers such as NBC Local Integrated Media, The New York Times, and WNYC radio.“Employers continue to compliment our students on their work,” said William Chang, the J-School’s director of

career services. “I’m already looking forward to seeing where the next class will land internships.”The paid summer internship program is a unique feature of the CUNY J-School. As part of the curriculum, all

students work as interns for professional media organizations between the second and third semesters.The practical work experience is its own reward, and it becomes a huge plus when new graduates make their

way into the job market. But the School makes the deal even sweeter by guaranteeing all interns are paid at least$3,000 for 10 or 12 weeks of labor.

Twice during the summer, students are required to file reports with the J-School on their internship adventures.What follows are excerpts from some of the Class of ‘09 reports.

Aisha Al-Muslim, WKBW-TV, Buffalo

AT SEVERAL MEDIA CONVENTIONS I attended,journalists warned that their business was changing. Icould see some of the signs during my summer

internship at WKBW-TV in Buffalo. On a Sunday night, onlya director of operations and a producer were in the controlroom. I expected at least eight people like I saw at my intern-ship at WABC-TV in New York City.

At WKBW, the director preprogrammed the camera shotsand was in chargeof operating thecameras during theshow. But it wasn’talways like that.Management hadmade the decisionto cut productionjobs in order toreduce spending.That same night,what was sup-posed to be the 11o’clock news waspre-taped becausemanagement wasconcerned that ifan NBA Finalsgame went intoovertime, theywould have to payemployees over-time.

I learned that the radio scanners are one way the assign-ment editors decide what should be covered. On the first dayof my internship, a message came on the scanner about a“Mercy Flight.” I was told it meant that a serious accident justoccurred because a Mercy Flight is called when an emergencyinvolves a head injury.

Another time a message came over the scanner about abank robbery at a KeyBank in Williamsville, a wealthy neigh-

borhood in the greater Buffalo area. Areporter and a photographer were sent outand I tagged along. We listened to thescanner as we drove to the location of therobbery to find out who the police were looking for, descrip-tions of the armed gunman, and the status of locating him.

I found that being able to listen to over 10 scanners goingoff at the same time could be an asset to any station. Mostpeople in the newsroom can’t decipher the messages sent overthe radio. If I learned to do it as a reporter, I would be a

tremendous helpto any assign-ment editor.

I have learnedover time thatnewsrooms allover the countrymake differentethical decisions.At the stationwhere I interned,Facebook andMyspace wereused only tohelp locate asubject, butinformation orpictures accessi-ble on the pagewere not used inany story. I thinkthis is a smart

and precautionary decision because anyone can be whoeverhe or she wants to be online. When I went out in the fieldwith a crew, I learned that you should not shoot on privateproperty without permission, unless it is a shot of the doorknocker. Also it is best to avoid shooting license plates becausethey can identify people who might not be relevant.

My internship at WKBW-TV was an eye-opening experi-ence into how a smaller newsroom works in comparison to alarger market like New York City.

Nicholas C. Martinez, NBC News, New York

MY EXPERIENCES at NBC ranged from the mun-dane to the exciting: from logging b-roll for a storyon a cancer research to chasing down flight atten-

dants at Newark Airport all the while streaming live videoback to the WNBC control room.

I covered former President George H.W. Bush’s ritual birth-day skydive, pitched stories to NBC Nightly News, WNBC,and the Today Show, and even bumped into Late Night’sJimmy Fallon in the NBC hallways - literally.

What will I remember most? Well, I had a chance to lunchwith a Nightly News correspondent at a Friendly’s inConnecticut - and he paid the bill.

Here's the story: Ron Allen pitched a story about MuslimAmericans' reactions to President Obama's speech in Cairo inJune. I was asked to help him research mosques in Newark, NJ.

He found a Muslim family in Connecticut who producedreligious sensitivity and awareness videos for law enforcementand medical institutions nationwide. Since I helped them doresearch on the couple and log video for snappy quotes, he andhis producer Carla Marcus brought me along to Hartford asRon worked his magic: He interviewed the couple in theirhome and shadowed them as they attended Friday prayers attheir local mosque.

It was a day of firsts for me: I ended up taking the first yel-low taxicab ride of my life. I attended my first Muslim prayerservice (shoeless I might add,) and I had a look at the behind-the-scenes work that went into producing a Nightly News spot.

The story turned out great (it aired on the WeekendNightly News) and I had a chance to pick the brain of a veryaccomplished reporter and producer. He answered all of myquestions and gave me valuable insight into the world of atraveling foreign correspondent. He’s a good man, someone Iam proud to say that I worked with.

And I don’t say that only because he bought me lunch.Please turn to Page 5

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C U N Y G R A D U A T E S C H O O L O F J O U R N A L I S M • T H E C I T Y U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K • F A L L 2 0 0 9 • W W W . J O U R N A L I S M . C U N Y . E D U

INSIDESTORY

• CommencementSpeaker

• RecruitingSeason

• Report fromAspen

• Thanks to ourDonors

• SchoolNotes

• New Yorker EditorSpeaks

Summer Internships in the Students’ Own Words

Aisha Al-Muslimreports for Channel 7in Buffalo.

Nicholas Martinezworked with thepros at NBC News.

• Dean’s Corner

attended the South by Southwest Interactive Festival inAustin, Tex. While the admissions people were manning aninformation booth, the others were out reporting on theevent and the city of Austin for a new web feature calledRoad Trip (roadtrip.journalism.cuny.edu/).

Since then, whenever a team from the J-School has goneon an out-of-town trip, such as to the Deutsche WelleGlobal Media Forum in Bonn, Germany in June or theNational Association of Black Journalists’ annual conventionin Tampa, FL in August, they’ve showcased their work on

the Road Trip site.“Such activities havehelped raise the J-School’s profile withpotential students onthe national andinternational stage,”Dougherty said.

The added recruit-ment efforts have sup-plemented monthlyinformation sessionsat the J-School as wellas invitations forprospective studentsto sit in on classes andhear guest speakers.The admissions officekeeps them informed

of application deadlinesand special eventsthrough an email

newsletter it sends out several times a year.School officials hope the extra outreach will pay off with

more record-setting enrollment numbers. With 81 students,the Class of 2010 is nearly 40% larger than the 2009 groupthat will graduate in December. Early signs are encouragingfor the Class of 2011: Applications are running well aheadof where they were a year ago.

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e C U N Y G r a d u a t e S c h o o l o f J o u r n a l i s m , g o t o o u r w e b s i t e : w w w . j o u r n a l i s m . c u n y . e d u

Board of AdvisersRoz Abrams WCBS-TVNews AnchorDean Baquet WashingtonBureau Chief, AssistantManaging Editor of The NewYork TimesMerrill Brown New MediaConsultantDavid Carey GroupPresident, Condé NastPublicationsConnie Chung TelevisionJournalist and Anchor Les Hinton CEO of DowJones & Co.Jared Kushner Publisher ofThe New York ObserverMichael Oreskes SeniorManaging Editor at theAssociated PressNorman Pearlstine ChiefContent Officer atBloomberg NewsRossana Rosado Publisherof El Diario/La Prensa

Howard RubensteinPresident of RubensteinAssociatesArthur Siskind SeniorAdviser to News Corp.Chairman Rupert MurdochRichard Stengel ManagingEditor of TimeDavid Westin President ofABC NewsMark Whitaker WashingtonBureau Chief of NBC NewsMatthew Winkler Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg NewsMortimer ZuckermanChairman and Publisher ofthe New York Daily News andU.S. News & World Report

INSIDESTORYAmy DunkinEditorJohn SmockPhotographerRich SheinausGraphic Design DirectorMiriam SmithIssue Designer

You can read this and previousissues of Inside Story athttp://journalism.cuny.bepress.com/inside_story/.

Matthew GoldsteinChancellor, The CityUniversity of New YorkStephen B. ShepardDeanJudith WatsonAssociate Dean

Brown and Evans Chosen as Honorees for Next J-School Gala

2 F A L L 2 0 0 9 I N S I D E S T O R Y

ONE OF THE MOSTformidable couples in thenews business

will receive LifetimeAchievement Awardsfrom the CUNYGraduate School ofJournalism next spring.

On May 10, 2010, theSchool will honor TinaBrown, editor of TheDaily Beast, and authorHarold Evans for theirlong careers in journal-ism both in England andthe U.S.

Brown has served aseditor of The Tatlermagazine, Vanity Fair,and The New Yorker,which won fiveOverseas Press ClubAwards, four GeorgePolk awards, and 10National MagazineAwards during her six-year tenure.Since leaving The New Yorker in 1998,she created Talk magazine, wrote the2007 bestselling biography, The DianaChronicles, about the late Diana,Princess of Wales, hosted CNBC’sTopic A with Tina Brown, and lastyear founded The Daily Beast, a topi-

cal web site that offers original con-tent along with stories, blogs, and

videos from aroundthe Internet.

Evans dropped outof school at age 15 tobecome a reporter inWorld War II-eraBritain. He workedfor many years aseditor of TheSunday Times inLondon, wherehe quicklybecame knownas a championof investigativejournalism. Evanslater became thefounding editorof CondéNasteTravelermagazineandworked as

editorial director andpresident of RandomHouse. His new memoir,My Paper Chase,recounts his adven-tures in journalismand has just been

released. Queen Elizabeth knighted Evans in

2004 and bestowed the titleCommander of the British Empire onBrown in 2000 for their service tojournalism.

Last year, the CUNY J-School’s sec-ond annual Awards for

Excellence inJournalism honored

broadcast journal-ist BarbaraWalters. Theevent grossednearly $350,000,most of whichwas used for stu-dent scholar-

ships.

Harold Evans and TinaBrown have had impressivecareers in journalism.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Huffington Post, will be the keynote

speaker at the Class of 2009’s graduation ceremony onDecember 16.

Launched in May 2005, the HuffPost has become aninfluential media web site covering politics, business,technology, entertainment, and the green movement. Itis also a platform for thousands of bloggers who weigh inon a wide range of topics.

Huffington, who writes a nationally syndicated politi-cal column for Tribune MediaServices, is a frequent televisioncommentator, with appearanceson such shows as “Charlie Rose,”“Larry King Live,” and “TheO’Reilly Factor.” She is the authorof 12 books, including Right isWrong: How the Lunatic FringeHijacked America, Shredded theConstitution, and Made Us AllLess Safe.

In 2009, Forbes magazinenamed her to its list of MostInfluential Women in Media. Shehas also appeared on the Time

100, Time’s list of the 100 most influential people in theworld.

“Arianna is very entrepreneurial, a valuable skill in thisbrave new world of journalism,” said Dean Stephen B.Shepard.

Huffington will be the CUNY J-School’s third com-mencement speaker, following award-winning broadcastjournalist Bill Moyers in 2008 and Dean Baquet, assis-tant managing editor and Washington bureau chief ofThe New York Times, in 2007.

The 2009 commencement will take place at the TimesCenter in the New York Times building. A reception willfollow at the CUNY J-School next door.

Huffington to Speak At ’09 Commencement

Finding New Ways to Connect With Applicants

Arianna Huffington

IT WAS A TYPICAL DAY at the CUNY J-School: a classin news photography in one room, a freelance workshopin another. Or was it? The month was August, not a

time school is normally in session. And none of the 50 or sostudents was even enrolled. They were all applicants to theJ-School’s Class of 2011.

The two special seminars were among seven included inAugust Academy, a first-time production of the Office ofAdmissions & Students Affairs. The admissions departmentis always looking for new ways to reach out to prospectivestudents and the 2009August Academy –modeled on the suc-cessful JanuaryAcademy enrichmentseries for students -was one of severalinnovative programsadded to the recruit-ment calendar thisyear.

“August Academy ismeant to kick off along-term relationshipwith applicants,” saidAdmissions DirectorStephen Dougherty. “Itinvolves bringing theminto our community togive them a first-handunderstanding of theCUNY J-Schoolexperience.”

Though fall is the traditional recruiting season, theCUNY J-School’s outreach starts well before then.Admissions staffers have been wracking up frequent fliermiles covering reporters’ conferences, professional meetings,and graduate school fairs both at home and abroad all year.

Last March, a delegation of students, faculty, and staff

Maya Pope-Chappell (Class of '09), Jego Armstrong ('07), Carla Murphy ('09),and Angela Hill ('07) at black journalists' convention in Tampa, FL in August.

It was Friday, February 20 — one of thosebright, cold New York winter mornings. Justbefore heading to the subway, I checked mye-mails on my BlackBerry. The one thatimmediately caught my eye was from

Alberto Ibargüen, president of the KnightFoundation:

“I was talking with Walter Isaacson [President ofthe Aspen Institute] at dinner last night and hesuggested that…we should tackle exploration anddevelopment of biz models [for journalism]… I saidI was interested in supporting and suggested we dothis w/you and CUNY. Interested?”

Elated, I quickly thumbed back:“Are we interested? Yes. Yes. Yes. It would be a

dream come true to work on this with everyone…Alberto, thanks for keeping us in mind…”

We quickly formed a team headed by Jeff Jarvis,director of the interactive program at the CUNYGraduate School of Journalism and a leadingthinker about the future of journalism. We askedourselves these questions: What would happen if amajor metropolitan daily was no longer able to per-form the civic functions of a newspaper in a com-munity? What would replace it?

Actually, we had been thinking for a long timeabout how to support quality journalism in thisnew digital age. We had run conferences on thesubject, we had received a $3-million challengegrant from the Tow Foundation to set up a Centerfor Journalistic Innovation, and we had been work-ing with The New York Times, our next-doorneighbor, on a hyperlocal news project in theFort Greene section of Brooklyn, supported inpart by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.It wasn’t enough, we knew, to provide qualityjournalism. We had to find ways to pay for it in asustainable way.

After much discussion back and forth withKnight (thanks Eric Newton) and the Aspen Institute(thanks Charlie Firestone), we agreed to developbusiness plans, including detailed spreadsheetsbased on various assumptions, for two broad sce-narios: (1) providing news to a local neighborhoodand (2) for a major metropolitan area. The goal:present preliminary plans to a select audience of 50at the Aspen Institute in August.

Armed with a five-month, $250,000 grant fromKnight, we hired staff: Peter Hauck, an experiencedmedia executive who had worked with ProfessorJarvis at the Newhouse chain of newspapers;Jennifer McFadden, a spreadsheet-savvy analystwho had worked at The New York Times; two of ourown recent graduates, Matt Sollars and DamianGhigliotty; and several graduate students from theField Center for Entrepreneurship at CUNY’s BaruchCollege. Mignon Media, a well-known consultant,helped with the spreadsheets.

As a first step, we surveyed more than 110 localweb sites or blogs that were successfully serving localcommunities or cities. Some of them were supportedby foundations, like Voice of San Diego, MinnPost, andthe New Haven Independent. But others were self-supporting: Baristanet.com in Montclair N.J., WestSeattleBlog.com, The Arizona Guardian, and SunValley Online. Many of them shared crucial data withus: how big an audience, how much they charged forads, what they paid reporters and sales people, how

much they earned. Yes, earned. Many of them werenicely profitable while providing valuable news to acommunity that was actively involved in coveringthemselves. In short, by collaborating with their com-munities, they were creating both a journalistic andbusiness model.

Flash forward to August. There we were inAspen, with 200-page books loaded with spread-sheets and business plans. We proposed a newjournalistic ecosystem that had four main players:

• A New News Organization staffed by profes-sional journalists.

• A network of local bloggers covering variousaspects of a community, from schools and housingto health and crime.

• A service-providing framework that would offersales support and networking opportunities.

• Non-profit groups in the community, such as alocal NPR radio station.

Lo and behold,our models showedthat bloggerscould supportthemselves withlocal and networked

ads, events, and e-commerce. The New NewsOrganization (NNO, as we fondly called it) couldhave double-digit profit margins.

Yes, the NNO would be smaller and have lowerrevenues than an existing local newspaper, but itscost structure would be much leaner, creating nicemargins. By collaborating with local bloggers andsites, the NNO would be deeply rooted in the com-munity, providing a form of hyperlocal content thattraditional newspapers don’t offer. And it wouldopen up a source of hyperlocal revenue from localand regional advertisers that could be networked.

Over two days, the participants pored over ourmodels, offered criticisms, made suggestions.Some disagreed with our conclusions, but prettysoon nearly everybody was talking about journalis-tic ecosystems and New News Organizations. Weare now refining our models, working toward adeadline of January 31 for our final report. All ofour work is available for scrutiny and comment on aspecial web site, newsinnovation.com. We’d love tohear from you.

3

D E A N ’ S C O R N E R

Reporting On a NewJournalistic Ecosystem

STEPHEN B. SHEPARDDEAN, CUNY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

Modeling the Future of News

ADELEGATION FROM the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism delivered ahopeful message about the future of the news business to the Aspen Institute’sannual Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) in August. Initial

research from the J-School’s New Business Models for News Project shows financiallyviable options for gathering and disseminating news that could fill the void in marketswhere local newspapers fold up shop.

The project, funded by the Knight Foundation, “is exploring what happens to journal-ism in a city when a large daily newspaper disappears,” said lead presenter Jeff Jarvis,director of the CUNY J-School’s interactive program. “Will there be a market demandfor journalism? Can the market meet this demand? And who will pay for the journalismwe need? These are business questions and so we sought business answers in conductingour research.” Dean Stephen B. Shepard and Associate Dean Judith Watson accompaniedJarvis to the Aspen conference. (See Dean’s Corner, page 3.)

Out of the research came the construction of complete business models that CUNY issharing with the journalists, communities, entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors. Thefuture, Jarvis predicted, will no longer be dominated by a single entity, such as a largedaily newspaper. Instead a metro market will evolve into an ecosystem made up of many

players with varying motives, means, and models, work-ing collaboratively in networks.

The building blocks of that ecosystem are hyperlocalblogs, which now number in the thousands, according tothe hyperlocal network outside.in. “The most startlingand hopeful number we found in our survey of localsites,” said Jarvis, “is that some hyperlocal bloggers, serv-ing markets of about 50,000 people, are already bringingin up to $200,000 a year in advertising. After three yearswe project that a blogger could hire editorial staff andadvertising help – citizen salespeople who help support

the citizen journalists – and net $148,000 out of $332,000 revenue. That’s a conservativeestimate when you consider that a community weekly paper in such a town probablygrosses between $2 million to $5 million a year.”

The project also modeled a New News Organization (NNO) – the successor to thenewspaper newsroom – that covers city-wide stories, provides the best reporting that willremain the lifeblood of local journalism, and works collaboratively with many in thecommunity. It is the largest member of the ecosystem but, with a staff of 100 instead of1,000, it is much smaller than the old newspaper and has shed costs for printing and dis-tribution. “That’s why our model shows that it can be a profitable and sustainable enter-prise,” Jarvis said.

There are more contributors to the metro news ecosystem: technology and sales supportorganizations that enable these players to operate as part of ad and content networks (theproject also modeled a company that could perform these services); publicly supportedand not-for-profit entities; transparency of government actions and information (critical toenabling any citizen to become a watchdog); national networks, and the immeasurable butinvaluable force of volunteers who freely contribute to public knowledge.

Adding this all together, the models project sustainable journalism of scale but alsoenvision great potential for growth, especially if journalists learn to take advantage of thesocial engagement the Internet enables. “That’s ultimately how new news companies canmaximize their value,” Jarvis noted.

Next steps for the project include refining the models, researching local advertising fur-ther, exploring the link economy, and hosting a conference on November 11 at the J-School. “I’m an optimist,” said Jarvis. “Look at all the new opportunities there are togather and share news in new ways, to expand and improve it, to change journalism’srelationship with its public and make it collaborative, to find new efficiencies and lowercosts and thus to return to profitability and sustainability. It’s an exciting time for journal-ism.”

Go to newsinnovation.com for the latest on the New Business Models for News Project.Download the new business models spreadsheets at newsinnovation.com/models.

--------Hyperlocal blogs arethe building blocks forcommunity coverage.

--------

Dean Stephen B. Shepard,Prof. Jeff Jarvis, and theAspen Institute's CharlesFirestone in August

I N S I D E S T O R Y F A L L 2 0 0 9 4

$1 Million +Bloomberg L.P.Marian HeiskellRuth HolmbergJudith P. Sulzberger

$500,000-$999,999John S. and James L. Knight Foundation News Corporation Foundation

$100,000-$499,999Lorraine Barnathan Himan Brown The Carnegie Corporation of New YorkConnie Chung and Maury PovichLambert Family Foundation John D. and Catherine T. MacArthurFoundationMcCormick Tribune FoundationMcGraw-Hill Companies

$50,000-$99,999Joyce L. Barnathan Hearst Corp.Robert Wood Johnson FoundationThomas S. Murphy Howard J. Rubenstein Lisbeth and Daniel Schorr Lynn Povich and Stephen B. ShepardPaul W. SturmTime Warner Foundation

$25,000-$49,999ABC NewsAltman/Kazickas Foundation Daniel Barnathan Jacqueline Barnathan and Kenneth B.MarlinSid R. Bass, Inc.Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. Barry DillerConstance Laibe Hays FamilyThe Leonard & Evelyn LauderFoundationNational Public RadioNew York Times CompanyNewsweekRaymond & Gladys Pearlstine TrustPeter G. Peterson FoundationThe Pittman Family FoundationThe Randolph FoundationDebra L. Raskin and Michael YoungRattner Family FoundationSchlosstein-Hartley Family Foundation Stonehurst Associates LtdTime Inc.Marcia Brady Tucker FoundationMortimer B. Zuckerman

$10,000-$24,999Roslyn Abrams and Kenneth R. Showers American UniversityArnhold Foundation Carla and Michael BarnathanCity University of New YorkThe Correspondents FundAnnette and Oscar de la RentaDow Jones & Company, Inc.Jared Kushner Donald B. Marron FoundationSusan and Leonard NimoyKaren PennarLisa H. and Andrew G. SetosZaZa and Howard F. SkidmoreThe Wagner FoundationEvelyn K. and Barry WeinbergSuzanne and Bob Wright

$5,000-$9,999Brokaw Family FoundationDaniel BurkeArlette & William J. Coleman FamilyFoundation Committee to Protect Journalists, Inc.Jennie and Richard De SchererEhrenkranz Family FoundationGottsegen Family Foundation International Women’s MediaFoundation Josephine P. LawNorman PearlstineElizabeth M. and Robert C. SheehanKate R. Whitney

$1,000-$4,9994Kids Entertainment Licensing, Inc.Abekas, Inc.Andy AbrahamsAccurate Building Inspectors

Allegro FoundationARTnewsThe Associated PressMichelle P. and Elliot S. BarnathanMagda and Edward BleierGail and Mark BowdenSteve BrillMichael S. Brown Betsy Carter and Gary M. HoenigThe Capital Group CompaniesCharitable FoundationEllen Chesler and Matthew J. MallowMark ClementsConde Nast PublicationsJohn R. Cook, Jr.Julie Copeland and Robert J. BellerSusan and William T. DeyoAlfred A. Edmond, Jr.The Eisner Foundation Inc.Evergreen Partners, Inc.Liz and Keith M. FleischmanGE FoundationHolli and Edward GerstMarlene and Jerome GoldsteinThe Graduate CenterMyrna and Stephen D. GreenbergJames F. Hoge, Jr.The Hubbard Broadcasting FoundationHunter CollegeJewish Communal FundJohn Jay CollegeMarvin KalbHenry A. KissingerKingsborough Community CollegeAnn and Tom C. KorologosEdward KosnerSarah and Victor KovnerCarole and Frank LalliDeborah and Rocco LandesmanRobert L. LenznerJacqueline LeoElfriede and Jerome LuntzSusan Lyne Diane M. and William K. MarimowMarion and Frederick PierceReader’s Digest Susan M. and Eugene L. Roberts, Jr.Felix & Elizabeth Rohatyn FoundationRuth Rosenthal Cristine Russell and Ben W. Heineman, Jr.Susan Saint James and Dick EbersolPamela J. SabrinSybil A. and Martin SageLaura SaundersSchwab Charitable Fund Edith and Martin SegalMort SheinmanBarbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel

and Carl SpielvogelPaul SteigerRichard W. StubbeKatharine and Dennis D. SwansonLinda WachnerSherrie and David WestinJudy and Josh Weston FundMichele Willens and David CorvoMichael UbellLinda and Elmon L. Vernier, Jr.Narda Zacchino and Robert ScheerFanny and Richard Zorn

$100-$999Joel M. AdlerLisa G. and Stephen J. Adler Judith R. Aisen and Kenneth M. VittorAnonymousRussell AppelRobert L. ArnoldChristine and Robert BarkerRoy Barnes, Esq.Sarah BartlettElizabeth BasileBrenda BattenJaime BeauchampSoma and Bill BehrJoan M. and James J. BellConstance BennettLenore and Martin G. BerckRobin J. BernsteinCathleen P. Black and Thomas E. HarveyBetty and William BlandoDonna and Peter BonventreWarren Boorom

Diane Brady and Barry MaggsRosemary BradyBrooklyn T-Shirt FactoryCarol Bunevich and John MersonMartin BurackSue BuyerBenedetta and Frank CampisiSusan CanaanLauri and David CareyJohn A. CareyLee and John S. CarrollMaurice C. CarrollLinda F. and Ronald CarvalhoPui-Yu A. CheungMark H. Cohen Cynthia R. CookMindy and Daniel H. CookJorge CoraYana and Seth A. CorenTheresa and Raymond R. CorioGenevieve J. and Orazio Covelli

Peter H. CoyCrain Communications, Inc.Prudence CrowtherChester C. DawsonBianca M. and Charles L. De CiccoMarguerite DelGiudice and Doran TwerDavid Diaz, Jr.John A. DierdorffDavid DietzPhillip DixonByron DobellRobert DowlingDagny and Timothy Du ValRobin and Michael DukeRichard S. DunhamEllen DunkinMarsha and Anthony DurniakSarah D. and Ralph B. EdwardsPeter J. EngardioRosalind and Gerald EskenaziWilliam P. FarleyMargaret Feinstein and David A. Sattler

Martin FeinsteinRobert FeinsteinFrancesca and John A. FergusonFinancial Security Assurance, Inc.Merrel B. FinklerLois M. FramheinEllen V. FutterSteven GarfinkelAnn GeracimosJohn P. GilmoreStephanie and Paul GlaserG. William GlazebrookRichard GlazerGM Advisory Group, Inc.Margaret B. and John N. GoldmanRisa and Kenneth GoldFlorence and Selvin GootarHerbert A. GranathMargaret and George A. GrassoSusan M. Gregg and Steven SilberbergKaren and Sam GronnerNeil D. Gross

Ilona R. HalperShelly Halpern Kathleen and William A. HarmondKendall C. and Phillippe H. HarousseauThe Katherine Hatton and RichardBilotti FundJody and Andrew J. HeywardMary M. HilleySuzanne and Henry HirschbergR.P. and Edgar HirstKathleen C. and Gary B. HopkinsNancy C. and Joseph C. Inman, Jr.Irving X. Fabrikant FoundationSharon R. and Fred C. JahnkeJewish Community Federation ofClevelandKeith R. JohnsonLinda and Elliot JonasJudith and Paul KalesSusan and Stewart KampelThelma E. and Myron I. KandelDorothy and Morton I. KaufmanHelene P. and George KeramidasHenry S. KlibanoffKnight RidderJeremy Koch Lynnae S. and Clifford E. KorollJay L. KriegelManjeet KripalaniMary S. KuntzJacqueline S. and William P. Kupper, Jr.Martiza J. and Theodore S. KurtzArlene C. and Jeffrey M. LadermanDavid A. LaskinGretchen Leefmans and Allan M. SiegelLynelle and Jonathan LeessColleen LevineKarl LevittMyra J. and Fred I. LewisJoel B. LidovLinque Management Co., Inc.Walter ListerNina N. and Stuart H. LooryKristi and Gene G. MarcialScott MardenJulie A. and Daniel G. MarrDaniel MasseyWilliam L. Matzkin TrustPolly and Bruce McCallSteven J. McCarthyBarbara C. McCueJudith E. and Andrew J. McGowanMichael D. McNameeElaine A. MednickBarabara L. MeltzerCheryl A. Menzies and David P. HenryMarc MillerJeffrey G. MiltonAnnette and Marvin MordMark MorrisonDiane and Robert MossAnn and Steve MurphyAntonie U. and Ira L. NeigerNew York Times Company FoundationMatching Gifts ProgramThe New YorkerMartha A. Newman and Paul D. NadlerPatricia and Hayes NoelAnnette and Noah M. OsnosSusan S. and Peter L. OsnosParhan Family FundMark E. Pasquerilla

Peachtree Vascular Specialists, P.C.David L. PerlmanMauree J. and Mark W. PerryPlutarch Associates Inc.Bert PogrebinAnn Pringle-HarrisSelwyn RaabHarriet and Bruce RabbCecile and Sonny RaichlenCynthia A. and Frank RaphaelKathleen RebelloKatherine and Stanley F. Reed IIISusan K. ReedElizabeth and Whitelaw ReidSandra and Robert E. RiceAnn M. and Paul D. RittenbergRobert Spector TrustJulia G. and Anthony C. RoccoAnne and Harry RosenfeldStrawn and Richard J. RosenthalJoan Lee and Bernard RoshcoSeymour RubenfeldMarcia P. and Harold E. RubinSeymour RubinfeldEllen S. and Ira SagerJane A. SasseenAnita and David SaundersLaura Saunders and Christopher PowerHenry SchaferJudith Scherer and Michael J. MandelMarlene C. and Edward B. SchimmelRobert D. SchweizerHerbert L. SeigleLynnette SemrauSusan R. and L. Dennis ShapiroArlene SidarisJanice E. Siglin and Jonathan SternbergSylvia and Robert SilberbergNancy S. SimmonsVinita SinglaMarion P. and Stephen F. SmithHelen G. and Charles A. SteinbergIrena C. and Bruce E. SternCynthia StiversRichard B. StolleyJeanne Straus and Richard TofelJanet SullivanChristine E. SummersonElizabeth and Robert SurcoufLillian Swanson and David Y. Warner Catherine A. and William C. Symonds Anna and Ferdanand TamboneClare and John L. Templeman Helene R. and Ira TerrisTerri ThompsonCarll TuckerPamela A. TuckerStanley TuritzMolly and Robert R. TwayRobert N. UbellGarrick UtleyDavid Van Ness TaylorWachovia Matching Gifts ProgramBetsy Wade and Edward J. SilberfarbAnn and David WallaceJudie D. and Robert S. WallenThe Walt Disney Company FoundationDonald E. Weber Revocable TrustElizabeth R. WeinerThe Weiner Nusim Foundation, Inc.Lenora and William WeissGeorge WeissmanKimberly S. WeisulJudy and Josh WestonMargaret WhiteJoan and David WisePaula A. and James A. WisteWolf Weissman CPA’s PCMichael J. WolkVera and Sheldon ZalaznickMinyie ZenKacey A. and David A. Zucchino

In Kind GiftsApple Thelma and Myron I. Kandel

*The list above reflects gifts received between theinception of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalismin 2006 through June 30, 2009. Our special thanks toall the donors from the $1-$99 category, whosenames we could not include due to space limitations.If you believe any errors have been made or if youprefer to have your gift recorded in a different man-ner, please call Diana Robertson, director of develop-ment, at 646-758-7814, or email her atdiana.robertson@journalism.cuny.edu. Thank you.

CUNY is an educational corporation established underArticle 125 of the New York State Education Law and isa duly qualified tax-exempt organization for federalincome tax purposes under 26 U.S.C. 170 (c) (1).

We are extremely grateful to many friends for their generous support of the CUNY Graduate School ofJournalism, the only public graduate journalism school in the Northeast. Our first major gift cameto us before the doors to our new School opened in 2006. It was a $4 million scholarship fund in

honor of Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times from 1963 to 1992, given by hissisters Judith Sulzberger, Marian Heiskell, and Ruth Holmberg.

Since then, the Sulzberger sisters have been joined by many other wonderful and generous donors —individuals, foundations, and corporations — who have stepped forward to support our students withcontributions for our unique paid summer internship program and student scholarships. Such donors havehelped make it possible for our diverse student body to receive a world-class graduate journalism education.

As we approach our four-year anniversary, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is well on its way tomeeting a $3 million challenge grant to fund The Tow Center for Journalistic Innovation. The Center offersa fresh perspective and interdisciplinary approach to solving the problems of journalism in America.

Because we are a young school without a strong alumni base, we have established The FutureJournalists Program, to encourage career journalists and others to invest in our students — thejournalists of tomorrow — by supporting our summer internship program or funding scholarships forstudents in need. For more information on this program, please contact Diana Robertson, director ofdevelopment, at 646-758-7814 or send an email to diana.robertson@journalism.cuny.edu.

Thank you to all who have given so generously to ensure the success of our students and our J-School.

City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism Gifts and Pledges, 2006-2009*

STEPHEN B. SHEPARDDEAN, CUNY GRADUATE SCHOOLOF JOURNALISM

Rima Abdelkader, Al JazeeraEnglish, New York

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH is the firstEnglish-language world news channelheadquartered in Qatar. The channel

aims to give voice to untold stories, promotedebate, and challenge established percep-tions. It was launched in November 2006and has broadcast centers in Doha, KualaLumpur, London, and Washington, DC.

This channel is not to be confused with AlJazeera, the first independent Arabic newschannel in the world that was launched 12years ago. I’ve noticed that explaining thisdifference has been a challenge for AlJazEngreporters and producers. During the war inIraq, former secretary of defense DonaldRumsfeld accused the Arabic channel of“vicious, inaccurate, and inexcusable” reportsabout the war, which has left many in theWest with the impression that Al JazeeraEnglish disseminates misinformation andpanders to one side.

Al Jazeera English in New York works onpackages and live feeds from our Reutersoffice in Times Square to our office at theUnited Nations. I was tasked with coveringbusiness and international news, helping pro-duce packages, manning the Reuters officeor UN office at times, creating a list ofsources for our NY correspondent for futurestories, as well as going outside with ourcameraman and interviewing people on arange of topics, such as the 50th anniversaryof the Apollo moon landing.

Finding sources for broadcast stories tooka great deal of patience. Sometimes, I’d onlyhave a short amount of time to research thetopic, find a suitable person, and see if that’dperson would be available to come in thatday for a couple of minutes. It was definite-ly a great challenge to see how much I couldhandle.

Collin Orcutt, SI.com

My internship at Sports Illustrated’sweb site has been more than Icould have hoped for. I ate lunch

with Terry McDonell, the magazine’s editor,was assigned various video projects, andoverall was treated like a regular employeerather than an intern. Most of my lastmonth was spent in the field, where I wastrusted to make my own decisions and usemy own creative voice.

SI.com, I have learned, is re-upping itscommitment to multimedia. While themajority of its current content is text andphoto galleries pulled from the archives orGetty databases, they are working to incor-

porate more video and slideshows as a wayto fill out their site. It has been on that endthat I spent most of my time, be it coveringDavid Beckham's press conference preced-ing his return to Major League Soccer withGrant Wahl, SI's prolific soccer writer, orcapturing some of New York City's bestsummer basketball at the DyckmanSummer League in northern Manhattan.

Mary Stachyra, The Times of India

MUMBAI is an exhausting city. Forthe first few days, I hated it. Thepoverty, pollution, trash, and noise

were so overwhelming. As an obvious for-eigner, I also received a lot of unwantedattention. But a lot of things got better onceI started my internship. It felt great to getback into the routine of writing and report-ing. My first article was on Rudyard Kiplingand the children’s book market.

I think my major strength as an intern wasthat I was willing to talk with people manyTimes reporters overlooked. Just like inAmerica, there is a section of society thatfeels alienated from The Times and othermainstream publications. So sometimes, Ihad an advantage over others. For example, Iwas working on a story about Hindu-Christian relations, and found it very tough

to talk with small Christian charitable orga-nizations. “The only reason I talked to you isbecause you are American,” one person toldme.

The Timesreporters reallyhad a lot to offerand wereextremely gener-ous with theirtime. I followedreporters along topress conferences,mostly just to seehow they handlewriting stories ondeadline. Theyintroduced me topeople and let mesee the finishedproduct afterward (before it was inevitablyedited down). The fun part was, I could fol-low around reporters from sections I nor-mally wouldn’t have anything to do with. Itook a day to go to a tennis match with oneof the sports reporters. I would never dothat in the U.S.

Jim Flood, The New York TimesLocal, New York

IT’S AMAZING WHAT a difference sixwords can make. Being able to say, “I’mfrom The New York Times” has opened

up access and opportunities for me that stu-dent journalists often don’t have.

The name recognition was not even thehighlight of my internship, however. The bestpart was the flexibility and creativity thatcame with working for a local blog. I wasable to work out of my own home, report inmy own neighborhood, and pitch ideas that Icould then decide how best to execute usingmy own journalistic judgment.

The first post I wrote during the summer,published on June 1, came out of my expe-riences as a neighborhood resident. At thetop of my block, I noticed that a piece ofstreet art had materialized on the boarded-up front of an abandoned church. I men-

tioned it to Times Local reporter AndyNewman and he said he had a tip from areader that it was done by an artist namedSpecter. After some researching online, Ifound Specter’s real name and contact infor-mation and interviewed him about the art-work, a portrait of a homeless man he’d metin Manhattan. This is to me one of the bestpurposes of a hyperlocal blog: getting to thebottom of mysteries that may not be hardnews, but that people have been wonderingabout.

Jenni Avins, Saveur, New York

IKNOW FROM EXPERIENCE that anyhook can help, however tenuous it mightbe. So, I thought, this is a food magazine

— June is National Dairy Month. I comefrom a long line of dairy farmers, and mymom has always collected Elsie the Cowmemorabilia. (Elsie, a daisy-necklaced Jerseycow, has been Borden Dairy’s mascot sincethe 1930s.)

I pitched a nostalgic look at Elsie’s career,which Web Editor Katie Cancila loved. Iwrote it up for the web, and Katie ended upholding it, thinking it might have a place inthe magazine. When I spoke to DanaBowen, the magazine’s executive editor,about the story, I told her how I had writtenthe piece as a sort of distant, nostalgic, retro-spective look at Elsie.

Then, I told her a little bit more about mymom and my experience reporting the story.It turns out my great grandfather, a Swissdairy farmer, was exhibiting at the 1939World's Fair where the original Elsie was "dis-covered." Dana was thrilled with this connec-tion and wanted to know more about mymother’s Elsie collection and my family’sfarm.

What's special about Saveur is that a per-sonal connection to a subject is seen as valu-able, rather than problematic, as often is thecase in journalism. It’s funny because I'vespent so much energy in school working totake myself out of the story, and then Danaadvised me to put myself back in. (The Elsiepiece ran in Saveur ‘s October 2009 issue.)

Students Report on their Summer InternshipsContinued From Page 1

5 F A L L 2 0 0 9 I N S I D E S T O R Y

Rima Abdelkader covered business and international news for “AlJazEng.”

MaryStachyra

takes a sight-seeing break

in Lohgad,India.

Collin Orcutt shoots for SI.com at the Dyckman basketball court.

S C H O O L N O T E S

ALUMNI NEWSCLASS OF ’08: Francesca Levy has moved to Forbesmagazine to cover real estate after a stint as a reporterat The Deal. Maureen Ker is writing children’s books inWashington D.C.

CLASS OF ’07: Congratulations to Ana Toro and AndrewGreiner for being the first CUNY J-School couple to tie theknot. After their wedding in July, they moved to Chicagowhere Andy is deputy managing editor fornbcchicago.com and Ana is starting a freelance career.David Chiu is working part time at Us Weekly as aresearcher.

OTHER NEWSThe National Center for Courts and Media awardedAnastasia Economides (Class of ’09) a full scholarship toattend its Basic Legal Affairs Reporting for Journalists coursein Reno, NV from July 17 to 28.

Look for a relaunch this fall of Digital News Journalist, a web site dedicated toproviding students and professionals with tips, tools, and resources for producingleading-edge multimedia stories. For example, a recent series by interactiveinstructor Jeremy Caplan covers Google Docs for Journalists. John Smock, whoteaches courses in news photography and interactive journalism, is overseeing theredesign of the site, digitalnewsjournalist.com. The project was started by AssociateProfessor Sandeep Junnarkar of the interactive faculty.

All students now have the option to stretch their studies into a fourth semester.They may choose to pursue this option to take additional courses at the J-School orother CUNY college, take advantage of an especially good internship offer, spreadout their workload, or participate in asemester abroad.

The J-School said a fond farewellSept. 3 to its first director offinance & administration, GeraldoVasquez, at a luncheon in Room308. Vasquez resigned his post topursue a PhD in housing financeat Milano The New School forManagement and Urban Policy.Before joining the CUNY J-Schoolin 2006, he worked as a seniorauditor in the New York StateComptroller’s office. He is a certifiedpublic accountant who earned a B.A.and M.S. in accounting fromCUNY’s Queens College.

219 W. 40th St., Third FloorNew York, NY 10018

INSIDESTORY

Former finance &administrationdirector Gerry

Vasquez is pursuing a

PhD in housing finance.

DAVID REMNICK, editor of TheNew Yorker magazine since 1998,exhorted CUNY J-School students

to veer away from the famous and insteadsharpen their investigative skills because“that is what the country needs most of allfrom its journalists.”

He made the remarks in a conversationSept. 22 with Dean Stephen B. Shepardbefore a packed house of 150 in the J-School newsroom. Remnick was the firstguest speaker to appear as part of the2009-2010Brown BagSpeakerSeries, whichbrings promi-nent journal-ists to theSchool for aninformal audi-ence with stu-dents, alumni,faculty, andstaff. Theappearancesare oftenscheduledduringlunchtime —hence, thename.

Remnick,who is writinga book onPresidentBarackObama, has covered his share of famouspeople, from Pope John Paul II to boxerMuhammad Ali. Yet he spoke of how diffi-cult it is to write something original ordeep about someone who is practiced atkeeping reporters at bay.

He’d much rather see young journalistsput their efforts into the painstaking process“that reaps Abu Ghraib and the PentagonPapers. That kind of reporting is absolutelyessential to keeping power honest.”

Asked if he was worried that we can nolonger afford good investigative journalism,Remnick replied: “If you told me theInternet was going to be a great and pow-erful instrument of investigation of power— and it’s already happening in some ways— I’d be very pleased. We know a lot

more about Iran, for example, because ofthe web. In terms of the skills, the actuallydoing of the thing and having a fearlesstemperament, that is rare and desperatelyneeded.”

In a departure from many other printpublications, The New Yorker has investedonly modest resources into its web site,Remnick noted. “I cannot avert my eyesfrom the very core of what The New Yorkershould be doing. We have to be a greatmagazine,” he said. “Reading 15,000-word

pieces online oreven printedout on paper isjust not themode for it —yet.”

Readers sofar agree withthis approach,supporting themagazine witha phenomenal85% subscrip-tion renewalrate. What’smore, with thenumber of col-lege-educatedadults continu-ing to grow,Remnick said,more people“want what it iswe do.”

“I think whatwill end up happening is they’ll pay morefor it on the circulation side to make up forlost ad revenue. For magazines on the cuspthat people don’t want as much, it will bea hell of a lot harder,” he said.

Still, Remnick can see the day whenmore advanced digital technology alongwith the economic need to eliminate thethree P’s — printing, paper, and postage —could make the web the main form of dis-tribution for most publications, even his.

Referring to the pile of newspapers lyingoutside his door on Sunday mornings,Remnick said: “It can be a big hairy mess,with stuff falling out it. Do I know it’s notlong for this world? Yes I do.” But “what'sin those things, for all their faults,” headded, is enormously important.

New Yorker Editor Sees Solid SupportFor His Brand of Journalism

These relics of early 20th century journalism were recently donated to the CUNY J-School by the New York bureau of The Los Angeles Times. They are part of an antique

typewriter collection assembled by Robert E. Dallos, a New York-based LA Times businessreporter who died in 1991. The bureau, which displayed the machines for many years inits reception area, was forced to part with them after it moved to smaller quarters. The J-

School took 15 typewriters from the 30-piece collection and plans to exhibit them in itsnewsroom, lobby, and corridors. Others went to the Newseum in Washington D.C.

Word Processors of Old

DavidRemnickaddresses alunchtimecrowd in theJ-Schoolnewsroom.

Andrew Greiner

Ana Toro