Founded as St. Louis Journalism Review in 1970
“Covering agribusiness in the heartland is like covering Apple in Washington or Google in Silicon Valley.” This was told to more than two dozen journalists who cover agriculture by Craig Gunderson of the University of Illinois. Gunderson was speaking to the group as part of a three-day workshop on agribusiness reporting conducted by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
Consumers are increasingly interested in learning about food preparation and production. Writing about food is an expanding area for journalists. Many “foodies” can satisfy their appetites to learn more through locally produced newspapers, magazines, online blogs and television segments. The Society of Professional Journalists, St. Louis chapter, recently brought together three area food writers to talk about trends in food news.
Multicultural populations in the Midwest historically have been under-represented in political elections, community initiatives and in media. Business leaders in minority populations in Minnesota and Michigan have decided it is time for their communities to have a place at the political table. In these states, alliances have been formed between media outlets to enhance multicultural coverage and to bolster political clout. New Michigan Media (NMM) and Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC) each have unique projects and goals, but all came together to increase the opportunities for multicultural communities through media efforts.
The number of reporters covering statehouse news has decreased sharply while the complexity and volume of legislation continues to increase, and news organizations could be missing major stories because of this lower level of staffing. Those were the sentiments of Mike Lawrence and Terry Ganey during a session with journalism students at SIU Carbondale.
“Stand up. Speak out.” Those were words of advice from Mary Beth Tinker to more than 600 St. Louis area high school students. Tinker, who was a defendant in the landmark First Amendment case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, was the keynote speaker at the Sponsors of School Publications of Greater St. Louis Spring Conference at Webster University March 11.