Mass Comm Week 08’ blew through VCU like a hurricane from October 6-10, giving students a whirlwind of exposure to the professional level of mass communications. The VCU School of Mass Communications’ week of events ranged from lectures and book signings to compelling speeches by accomplished professionals and alumni. Tradition was continued as Mark Ethridge, former editor of The Charlotte Observer and author of the book and upcoming film, Grievances, delivered the Turpin Lecture on News Management. The Miami Herald was duly represented by its police courts editor, Sergio Bustos, and its investigative journalist, Ronnie Greene, who have both recently published their first books. The two VCU Alumni returned to their alma mater to share their news room and book authoring experiences.
The cultural trend of online social networking was the topic of the day as Geoff Livingston, CEO of Livingston Communications, lectured on PR and Social Media. Livingston engaged a room of more than 80 students, all of whom received free copies of his award winning book on new media, Now is Gone.
After these and nearly two dozen other speaker events, the week was wrapped up with the Mass Comm Internship Fair, which attracted communications students hooping to follow in the footsteps of the week’s motivating guest speakers. Over 50 “dressed to impress” students mingled with internship providers such as WRIC TV, Radio Disney, the Richmond SPCA, Midlothian Exchange and Sprint.
The School of Mass Communications extends a resounding “thank you” to all those who helped make this week-long event a success!
In the Photo: The National Press Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a nationwide conversation that looks at where the news business is going and what news consumers should be demanding. The NPC panel discussion at VCU featured Bob Sullivan, who covers Internet scam and consumer fraud for msnbc.com; Reid Ashe, who supervises Media General's three operating divisions; moderator Gil Klein, a veteran national correspondent for the Media general News Service; Nancy Kent, news director for NBC-12; and Jeff South, associate professor of journalism.
