Taylor Mirfendereski

Taylor Mirfendereski is a multimedia journalist from Columbus, OH with a passion for storytelling, technology, and diversity.

She joined SPJ in 2008 during her first year at Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She has served on the OU SPJ executive board for the past three years and currently serves as the vice president of the chapter.

Taylor sees life in the context of a story and finds herself viewing the world through the lens of a camera. As one of a select group of campus correspondents for CNN during the 2008-2009 school year, she produced a series of news packages to air on CNN.com. Through this experience, she gained knowledge and expertise in pitching focused story ideas, writing conversational scripts, capturing visually appealing b-roll, and editing packages with continuity.

In addition to her work with CNN, Taylor has held several local and national internships. In 2008, she was a communication’s intern for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. During the summer of 2009, Taylor interned with Central Ohio’s NBC affiliate WCMH-TV. Most recently, in the Fall of 2009, she held internships with NBC’s TODAY Show and NBC Weekend Nightly News with Lester Holt.

While Taylor’s internships have offered her hands-on opportunities, some of her most valuable experience has stemmed from her independent reporting. She has produced several stories on Iran, including an article about the treatment of Iranian homosexuals and transsexuals, and several Q&A stories about Iran’s 2009 presidential election fallout. She also produced a story about the homeless in Columbus, OH, in which she sought out five homeless individuals and profiled their living conditions.

Beyond her passion for storytelling and reporting, Taylor is intrigued by technology. She’s been producing and editing video for eight years and is proficient in both linear and nonlinear editing systems, including Final Cut Pro, Avid, and Grass Valley
Aurora Edit. In 2008, she began work as a video editor for Best Light Video in Columbus, OH. She produced 30-second commercials for businesses in the area. Her editing on a project for the North Market in Columbus, OH helped to win the company an Ohio Interactive Award.

Taylor also has experience with video camera operation, still photography, computer assisted reporting, and web design (using XHTML and CSS).

Taylor is now a junior attending Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in the Honors Tutorial College. In addition to her involvement with SPJ, she serves as the president of the Radio-Television Digital News Association campus chapter. She is also an active member of Students for Global Media and Diversity and the Asian American Journalist’s Association. Taylor is the co-coordinator of a new AAJA student broadcast organization called the Asian American Student Broadcast Journalists.

Taylor also volunteers at the Athens County Dog Shelter in Chauncey, OH. She is presently designing a multimedia website for the shelter to maximize pet adoption, educate potential adopters, and recruit volunteers.

When not in school, volunteering or reporting in the field, Taylor enjoys traveling, writing, and spending time with family, friends, and pets. She travels annually to Iran and has visited several other locations in the Middle East and Europe.

Kym Fox

Kym Fox joined SPJ while an undergrad at Arizona State University in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  She has been president of the San Antonio Pro Chapter and is currently the co-adviser to the Texas State University student chapter.

Fox spent the first 20 something years of her career as a reporter and editor, first at the Mesa Tribune, a 40,000 daily in a suburb of Phoenix, and then 18 years at the San Antonio Express-News. She was the deputy metro editor when she left the Express-News to take to the classroom at Texas State.

Most of her career, she spent covering courts and legal affairs, thus her affinity for Freedom of Information projects.Over the years she has covered everything from high school sports to George H.W Bush signing NAFTA. She has interviewed the Queen of England and Michael Jackson, though not at the same time.

Along with her B.S. in journalism, she earned an M.A. in communications from the University of the Incarnate Word while an editor at the Express-News. At Texas State she is a senior lecturer and coordinator of the journalism sequence. She teaches a variety of writing classes as well as multimedia journalism.

Her take on the future of journalism: “Newspapers are NOT dying. They are evolving.”

Find her on Twitter @kymfox.

SPJ has arrived in NYC for the 2010 College Media Advisers convention in Times Square! We are currently in the exhibit hall, but will be breaking out soon! Make sure you stop and see our table on the 5th floor!

Happy Friday to you all!

Tomorrow is a very busy day in my part of the world. The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Scranton, which is arguably one of the most important days of the year in Northeastern Pennsylvania, will be held on Saturday – rain or shine.

However, the celebration cannot last too long. I am leaving early Sunday morning for the Crossroads of the World. I will meet up with my fellow Student Representative Tara Puckey, and attend the College Media Advisers’ Spring 2010 National College Media Convention.

We plan to post a whole lot of news and information on the blog over the next few days about the convention. There is no better way to get my fingers ready than to type a comprehensive edition of The Weekly Index.

So, here we go…

• The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has been viewed as an impenetrable wall to many student and professional journalists around the country. SPJ’s FOI Committee has a new guide to make that wall look a little less intimidating. David Cuillier, chair of SPJ’s FOI Committee, has a post and link to the new guide here.
• Why is it a good time to join SPJ? Well, Holly Fisher, chair of SPJ’s Membership Committee, knows why. She has a post on The SPJ Garden Center. You can read her post here. For me, joining SPJ has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve met so many new friends and connected with so many professionals that I could not imagine my career without SPJ. Also, as a student entering the ever changing world of journalism… I think an SPJ membership is the safest investment you can make. One of my internship supervisors put it best. He told me that being a member of SPJ is, “just the right thing to do.”
• The Washington Post found themselves in a very interesting situation after running a photograph of two men kissing in front of a D.C. courthouse. The picture ran on the front page of the paper after the District started accepting marriage applications from same-sex couples. Andrew Alexander, The Post’s ombudsman, blogged about the negative response from readers, and defended the pictures place in the paper. A handful of people even canceled their subscription over the photograph. Some also suggested that the picture should have been buried on an inside page. Alexander posted an update that said readers led a counterattack against the negative comments about the picture. Some said they would subscribe to the paper to fill the void left by those who canceled their subscription in protest.

There was a time, after court-ordered integration, when readers complained about front-page photos of blacks mixing with whites. Today, photo images of same-sex couples capture the same reality of societal change. ~ Andrew Alexander

• There is an unfortunate case involving the University of Kansas and The University Daily Kansan. According to an article from The Kansan, Mason Heilman, student body president, lobbied that The Kansan’s funding be removed from the media fee charged to students. The motion passed the Student Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, which means the paper will lose approximately $83,000 next year. The paper says it is 8% of their operating budget. Heilman told the paper, “The parallel to me would be if Congress stepped in and said The New York Times is about to go under and we think they are an important news source so we are going to fund them, but then we are going to expect them to provide unbiased coverage of us.” However, the paper is reporting that this is the only cut to the media fee. I plan on looking into this a little more, and will get back to you all with what I find out. You can read the articles about this in The University Daily Kansan here and here. Update! Scott Leadingham, Managing Editor of Quill, points out that the measure must still pass the entire Student Senate on March 24. Thanks, Scott!
• Does anyone have friends at North Carolina State University? If so, send them to the newspaper office, because they need help! The campus’ 90 year old paper is in danger of shutting down this semester due to a series of unfortunate events. They need more students to get involved, and even put out a help wanted ad as an editorial. You can read the editorial here.
• The long legal fight surrounding the Medill Innocence Project may be over. The Chicago Tribune reported that the attorney for Anthony McKinney will drop the evidence obtained by the Project, even though it may help establish McKinney’s innocence. The information gained by the students at Medill was questioned and much of the material was subpoenaed by prosecutors.
• I want all professional members that stumble upon our blog to sign up to be a mentor in SPJ’s Mentor Match Up. SPJ assigns mentors to young professionals first and then starts assigning them to students. So please encourage all SPJ Pro members to be mentors for their younger counterparts. I bet many will find that the experience will be beneficial to each party. So sign up here!
• The deadline for applications is drawing near for the Ted Scripps Leadership Institute. As a 2009 graduate of the Institute, I can say that the experience is completely worth the time and investment. I met so many people, and it really helped me get my foot in the door on the national level. You can find out more information here.
• Some of us have not even had our regional conferences yet, and national already has a tentative schedule for Vegas! Can you believe it? Well, you don’t have to. You can see it here.
• And finally, why don’t you take a trip over to the link for the SPJ campus chapter of the University of Central Florida? They have a great website, and get to have their regional conference in Disney World! You can also follow them on Twitter @spj_ucf, and check out their Facebook page.

That is all for now. I will have another post up later today, and then I need to finish packing for my journey to the Big Apple. Make sure you check back for photos and videos starting on Sunday, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @CampusCopy.

And just to show you how important St. Patrick’s Day is in my neck of the woods… Here is Michael Scott, Scranton’s most notable resident.


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Andrew M. Seaman is a senior communication studies student at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is one of SPJ’s student representatives on the national board and you can follow him on Twitter @aseaman06.

Happy Friday everyone!

This week was my first week of the last semester of my undergraduate career. I spent my time in classes, at the dentist, and morphing our campus chapter at Wilkes into a regional student chapter.

I would recommend that your schools consider looking to other local institutions for members, because it can really do wonders for your membership.

Linda Hall, membership coordinator for SPJ, pointed out this portion of our bylaws to me.

Section Seven. City-or area-wide campus chapters may be established by four-year and two-year universities or colleges within a radius of 75 miles, provided that at least one university or college involved has a school or department of journalism or offers courses of study relevant to the scope of the Society as defined in Article One, Section Two.

That being said, let’s get to The Weekly Index!

• The keynote speaker for the Spring 2010 National College Media Convention in New York City was announced yesterday. Terry Moran, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline will headline the event on Monday, March 15. The convention, which is put on by the College Media Advisers, Inc., will take place from March 14 to the 16 at the Marriot Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City at Times Square.
• John Ensslin, SPJ’s Region 9 director, talks about his “excellent SPJ weekend” on the Rocky Mountain SPJ Blog.
• Jay Mathews, an education columnist for The Washington Post, writes about why novice reporters should cover national education, and more experienced journalists should spend time on the local level.
• Here is an interesting discussion on the AP’s Facebook on how journalists should act in a crisis. The discussion stems from one of their own reporters and his reports from Haiti.
• In related news, The Los Angeles Times has an interesting article on the delicate line walked by medical correspondents when they are called upon to assist in a crisis.
• The National Sports Journalism Center has a great editorial from Jason Fry, a veteran web journalist. He argues that news organizations should embrace a young writer’s blog instead of forbidding them.

Plenty of young sportswriters could use personal blogs to make themselves into cleaner, stronger writers who better understand their own business and are more open-minded about its possibilities. ~ Jason Fry

• Of course you couldn’t turn anywhere in the world of journalism this week without hearing about http://www.nytimes.com/ planning to charge for content starting next year. Could this be the start of something good?
• SPJ’s diversity blog has a really useful post from Leo E. Laurence on whether to use the word “Latino/Latina” or “Hispanic.”

When journalists use the word Latino for a person whose ancestry can be traced to Spain, they are generally safe. But, using the word hispanic may offend many Latinos. ~ Leo Laurence

• Leo also wrote a great post on the diversity blog about why journalists should avoid the term “illegal immigrant.”
• The first Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professor in Business Journalism at Arizona State University is veteran New York Times business reporter Leslie Wayne. Here is the press release.
• Want to make your sports webpage POP? Make a heatmap! Here is a post on how to make them.
• The Washington Post celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by having some of their staffers, including Ben Bradlee, recite part of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and asking viewers how King inspired them.

Here’s the video:

Have a happy and safe weekend!

p.s.You can always follow us on Twitter, too!

Top: Tara Puckey and Andrew Seaman; Middle: Sue Kopen Katcef and George Daniels; Bottom: Neil Ralston

Welcome to The Campus Copy, the new blog for the SPJ campus community!

Here you will find information for students and advisers on internships, fellowships, awards, activities, professional development, general news and information, and some great interactive activities.

Let us know if you ever have a question, suggestion, or idea for a post. You can find our emails by clicking here.

But first we want to introduce ourselves – the campus members of SPJ’s Board of Directors.

Tara Puckey
Student Representative
Tara Puckey is a senior journalism student at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She also produces freelance work for Broadway Magazine and Ameriforce Publishing, as well as being very involved in the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and other community organizations. A non-traditional student, she is married with two little girls.
As a student representative, Puckey hopes to put students together with professional journalists who can answer questions and offer support. Student members are the future of journalism and she hopes to help bring more members to the organization, assist in starting new chapters nationwide and work toward continued support of the First Amendment.

Andrew Seaman
Student Representative
Andrew Seaman is a senior communication studies student with concentrations in journalism and broadcasting at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is a contracted freelancer with USA TODAY, where he is a former national desk intern and a current Washington Bureau intern. He also interned on the national desk of The Washington Times, and as a producer/assignment editor at WBRE-TV and WYOU-TV in Wilkes-Barre.
Andrew plans on making communication a priority during his time on SPJ’s board, and working to resuscitate inactive student chapters. He is working on several projects regarding journalism education and ensuring First Amendment rights for all student media.

George Daniels
Campus Adviser At-Large
Having served previous as Journalism Education Committee chair, George Daniels is the newest Campus Adviser At-Large. He’s looking forward to working with the senior Campus Adviser At-Large, Sue Kopen Katcef to provide assistance to campus chapters and to represent their interests in SPJ national affairs. Locally, Daniels is the co-adviser for the University of Alabama chapter in Tuscaloosa. He teaches multimedia reporting and several other classes at University of Alabama. In SPJ, Daniels is also working this year with the Diversity Committee and the Government Relations Committee.

Sue Kopen Katcef
Campus Adviser At-Large
Sue Kopen Katcef serves as SPJ’s nation campus adviser at-large. She is an award winning veteran broadcast journalist who is now a member of the faculty of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland where she teaches broadcast news writing and production. In addition, she helps with the daily TV news show, “Maryland Newsline,” produced by the college’s advanced broadcast news reporting class for UMTV, the campus’ cable TV channel operated by the Merrill College of Journalism.

Neil Ralston
Vice President, Campus Chapter Affairs
Neil Ralston serves as a campus adviser at large for SPJ’s national board of directors. He is an assistant professor of journalism at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. Ralston has bachelor’s degrees in communication and industrial technology from Northeast Missouri State University and a master’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University where he was a fellow in the Kiplinger Program of Public Affairs Reporting. He earned a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2002. Additionally, Ralston was named SPJ’s campus chapter adviser of the year for the 1998-99 school year. He has been a member of the SPJ board since 2003.