Dateline Pickens County began its website on Jan. 1, 2003, as a service project in the College of Communication and Information Sciences journalism department under the supervision of Dr. Bailey Thomson, professor, veteran journalist and Pickens County native.
“We wanted to highlight a part of the state that didn’t get much attention or coverage from newspapers and television stations while teaching our advanced students how to use the Web in innovative ways,” Thomson says.
One of the goals is to make Pickens County more widely known through good journalism with hopes that potential employers and industries will bring new jobs to the area. Stories on Dateline Pickens County cover individuals, businesses, the school system and local government, as well as the many recreational activities for which the county is known.
During the 2003 academic year, John Latta, journalism instructor, will be editor and instructor in charge of Dateline Pickens County. The site is staffed by students who are hired to write, take photos and work with the Web design. This year advanced reporting classes also will use the site as a way to polish writing skills.
“You can use good journalism to create a site and draw good people to it because you’re providing good solid information,” Thomson says. “The site has gotten a lot of traffic and many people outside Pickens County have told us how much they enjoy learning about the county.”
A grant used to fund Dateline Pickens County will run out at the end of this academic year. Anyone interested in funding the site should contact Thomson, (205)348-8617, bthomson@jn.ua.edu.
Find Dateline Pickens County on the Web at http://www.datelinepickens.com.