UA’s Journalism Department Places More Emphasis on Community Journalism

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The journalism department in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama is continuing to develop new journalism outreach programs, according to Dr. Ed Mullins, professor and department chair.

This fall began the second year for www.DatelinePickens.com, a site devoted to community news and information in Pickens County, just west of Tuscaloosa. John Latta, a part-time instructor and executive editor of Trucker’s News, a Randall Publishing Co. magazine in Tuscaloosa, is the editor. The site was founded and advised by the late Dr. Bailey Thomson, UA journalism professor who died on Nov. 26.

“We are committed to keeping the Black Belt project going,” Mullins said. “It is but one of many begun in the department by Dr. Thomson, but it was one that he believed in strongly because it is in keeping with so many of our objectives in teaching, research and outreach.”

Student writers update the site each week with in-depth stories about the county’s economy, health, culture, civic affairs and recreation. Their contributions have made Pickens, formerly underserved by the state’s news media, a rich source for readers all over the world.

This experience has deepened the journalism department’s commitment to community journalism and what Thomson called “service journalism.” Rural counties need more information about key subjects such as health care, emergency response, job creation and environmental hazards. Thomson believed that UA students, as part of the department’s emphasis on community journalism, should get first-hand experience in covering these subjects.

A second site will be launched in January, again with Latta serving as editor. The new Web site will serve a county in the Black Belt, soon to be announced.

Graduate students in advanced reporting classes will provide the staff writers. Student free-lancers also will be necessary, as they are with Dateline Pickens.

Funding for this project is part of UA’s economic development efforts in rural Alabama. The department also has received grants from the New York Times Company Foundation for Black Belt outreach projects, including ongoing reporting for Dateline Alabama, the award-winning news Web site of C&IS.

Another project of the department, funded by a grant from the Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation, sends students briefly to small newspapers to work and learn about life on small newspapers. More than two dozen Alabama papers have been hosts for these brief visits.

The College of Communication & Information Sciences is among the largest and most prestigious communication colleges in the nation. C&IS has graduated more than 12,000 students and consistently is ranked among the top 10 in number of doctoral degrees awarded and in many of its research programs. C&IS graduates have won four of the six Pulitzer Prizes awarded to University of Alabama alumni, and the forensics and debate squad, housed within the College, has garnered 14 national championships.