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- Happy birthday to this newsletter — and to me!
Happy birthday to this newsletter — and to me!
Teaching influencer journalism, handling unredacted FOIAs, and how to talk about the FTC
Barbara Allen
March 23, 2025
Welcome to the College Journalism newsletter, and happy birthday to me!
Maryam Sicard for Unsplash
Today I’m celebrating my 21st annual 29th birthday. 😉
And what better way to celebrate as an unapologetic Gen Xer workaholic than by launching a new business! Happy birthday to College Journalism, a website and newsletter designed to help educators save time, money and energy.
My goal is to provide you with up-to-the-minute headlines, coverage, useful links, ethics case studies, resources, opportunities and everything else you need to teach and mentor collegiate journalists.
Case in point: I just published a story about the intersection of journalism and social media influencers specifically for J-school professors. It’s one of the hottest emerging trends in journalism, and this story represents my commitment to constantly monitor the journosphere to bring you the most current, meaningful and helpful resources I possibly can.
A little about me, then we’ll get on to the good stuff you can expect every week. I’m a 25-year veteran of journalism and education. I’ve worked as an editor to high schoolers, an adviser to college journalists, a student media director and most recently the director of college programming for Poynter.
Throughout my career, I’ve seen the need to get the latest, smartest and most meaningful resources into the hands of journalism educators.
I’m a one-woman operation, so I count on subscription revenue to keep myself fed and housed and to afford the occasional plane ticket back to Oklahoma. I’m honored each and every time someone opts to pay for my work.
Always keep in mind that I work for you, so never hesitate to reach out when you need help, are out of ideas or want to share a success story. Your feedback is not just welcome, but revered.
I will do my best to always help those who ask, to amplify student voices, and to serve as an ambassador for college journalism education.
Thank you sincerely for your trust. Together, I truly believe we can change the world.
Or at least climb some mountains together.
Now, on with the show!
Consider this:
Each year, The Journalist’s Resource gets the behind-the-scenes stories from finalists in the Goldsmith Prizes. Here are the first two:
How they did it: Minneapolis KARE 11 team uncovers Medicaid fraud in peer recovery services (If you use only one item from this week’s newsletter in class, make it this one. You will see great tips you never thought to teach.)
This is going to become increasingly important: CJR wrote about the efforts by some news organizations to loosen restrictions on anonymous sources when it comes to immigration coverage to protect people from deportation.
El Tímpano, a San Francisco-area publication, has this: Protecting immigrant sources
🆓 The Nutgraf asked journalism professors to weigh in this week: 'Journalism is needed most' amid anti-press rhetoric, professors say | As press freedoms face challenges, educators remind student journalists to stand firm and continue their work
📖 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a nice how-to for readers who want to request open records themselves. I love this kind of explainer journalism. Too often, we assume audiences understand activities that are second nature to journalists. What do your students think about this kind of work?
⚖️ A student journalist with cerebral palsy lost his case before the North Dakota state Supreme Court when it “upheld a state agency’s decision to discontinue vocational rehabilitation support for a Dickinson State University student with severe cerebral palsy, ruling that his chosen career goal of becoming a journalist or freelance writer does not meet the legal requirements for competitive employment,” The Dickinson Press reported.
🎤 The gutting of Voice of America feels so incredibly sad. It might be interesting to talk to your students about its history and role in keeping the world informed. Bonus headline: “Voice of America brought light to dark places. Just ask Martina Navratilova.”
🧱 It’s not unprecedented for media outlets to drop their paywalls during crises or natural disasters. But WIRED, in partnership with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, is dropping its paywall around FOIA reporting. 404 Media has always had that policy. Students might enjoy a conversation about the role of paywalls.
‼️ Read about the Cornell law professor who thinks “There is no good that can come in our universities or our society by making people focus on their skin color and their ethnicity and by doling out particularly government-funded benefits based on race or ethnicity.” (Chronicle of Higher Education)
👧 Elon Musk’s trans daughter is on the cover of Teen Vogue.
Talk about this:
No. 1: What do you do with student records you shouldn’t have?
The goal with certain AI surveillance in K-12 school communications “is to keep children safe, but these tools raise serious questions about privacy and security — as proven when Seattle Times and Associated Press reporters inadvertently received access to almost 3,500 sensitive, unredacted student documents through a records request about the district’s surveillance technology.”
Questions:
This is the opposite of those stonewall-y FOIA requests. What do you do now? Do you use the records in reporting, or hand them back over and tell administrators they’ve made a mistake?
Are there any legal ramifications you can think of that would create problems for journalists with these documents? How could you offset them before you even begin reporting or writing?
How will you show transparency to your audience once you’ve decided how you’ll act in your reporting?
Assign this:
Last week, President Donald Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners at the FTC. Have your students read the following stories, paying attention to the headlines:
Democratic FTC commissioners say they were just ‘illegally fired’ by President Trump (The Verge, via the Wayback Machine)
Trump fires both Democratic FTC commissioners, setting stage for legal brawl (New York Post)
Now, read this: We ran the wrong headline about Trump firing the FTC commissioners. (The Verge)
To discuss/assign:
Brainstorm a handful of potential headlines for the FTC firings, assuming you’re writing for a national political audience.
Did you use the word “illegal” in the headline? Why or why not?
What people and groups should you be serving when writing headlines?
Describe your loyalties/obligations when you write headlines.
Localize this:
International students are a financial lifeline for many colleges, and enrollments are just recovering from the pandemic. The Trump administration is pushing them away. (Inside Higher Ed)
Hot media stories this week:
His Death Was Interrupted, Just as He Had Planned (New York Times)
Take advantage of this:
The Scripps Howard Fund is providing interns to five nonprofit newsrooms (The Athens County Independent, The Current GA, Mississippi Free Press, Mountain State Spotlight and VTDigger). There’s a Zoom on Wednesday if you want to know more, or an FAQ.
One piece I loved:
Here’s a meaty look at 10 reality-based journalism films, told by a professor and journalist who was once portrayed by Steve Zahn! Not only is it an informative read that will spark reactions, it might yield some ideas for essay assignments.
One last thing:
Please enjoy this masked hero making custom Crocs for New York’s statuary.
Feedback:
I work for you, and I want to hear from you. What do you need to prep for your week in journalism education? Let me know! Fill out this survey or email me at [email protected]. Thank you sincerely for reading!
Editor’s note:
In celebration of our launch, I’ve removed the paywall from this issue so you can see what a full subscription will get you. But if you like what you see, please consider subscribing!
