montanajournalism J-School

New Semester Brings New Pollner Professor and New Course on Public Trust and ‘Fake News’

Spring semester brings a new face to the halls of the J-School and a new course on a timely topic: journalism and the public trust.

Deborah Potter will be this semester’s T. Anthony Pollner Distinguished Professor and her course  will explore why trust in the news media is essential in a democratic society, why trust has declined so precipitously, and what can be done to restore it.

A veteran journalist and newsroom trainer, Deborah has been a television network correspondent for CBS News, CNN and PBS. She also founded and ran the online journalism resource NewsLab for 20 years. Deborah has led workshops for journalists in the United States and around the world, from South Africa to Nepal. In 2014, Deborah was a distinguished visiting professor in journalism ethics at the University of Arkansas. She’s co-author of “Advancing the Story,” a digital and broadcast journalism textbook, now in its third edition.

Students in Potter’s course will examine the “fake news” phenomenon, learn techniques for fact-checking, and investigate what strategies newsrooms are using to retain or earn back the trust of their audience. Seminar participants will interview working journalists and produce a comprehensive report for online publication.

“Journalism & Public Trust,” or JRNL 494, runs Mondays and Wednesdays 11:00-12:20 in DAH 210. Students interested in enrolling in the course must be admitted to the school’s professional program and have the consent of Professor Dennis Swibold, dennis.swibold@mso.umt.edu.

The Pollner Professorship was established to honor the memory of Anthony Pollner, a 1999 graduate of the School of Journalism. After Anthony died in an accident in May 2001, his friends and family created an endowment that makes this professorship possible. In 2014, friends and family expanded the endowment to allow a distinguished professorship in both fall and spring semesters. Read more about Anthony and the professorship here.

montanajournalism J-School, Meet the Profs

Meet the Professors: Denise Dowling

We are constantly hearing from students that one of the J-School’s biggest strengths is the dedicated, talented, fearless, experienced, fun, doors-are-always-open faculty.

The Social Media and Engagement class set out to tell that story via Instagram. Over the coming weeks, we will highlight these stories, which illustrate the personalities, philosophies and experience of our top-notch faculty. This week, we give you the second in the series, Associate Professor Denise Dowling.

Denise, a graduate of our very own J-School, teaches intermediate audio, advanced audio, intermediate video reporting, advanced video reporting and ethics and trends in news media. Denise wanted to be a journalist because she, “wants to know everything about everybody!”


Denise came to the school after 20 years in the TV news, first at KPAX-TV while an undergrad at UM.  She moved on to stations in Montana, Colorado and Washington, working as a director, technical director, producer, executive producer and managing editor.

She spent 17 years working in Spokane, working at both the ABC and NBC affiliates. She won a number of Emmy Awards and Edward R. Murrow awards as part of teams that covered a firestorm, flooding, an ice storm and the arrest of a serial killer.

 

Other profiles in the #meettheprofs series: 

Jule Banville

Kevin Tompkins

montanajournalism J-School, Meet the Profs

Meet the Professors: Jule Banville

 

We are constantly hearing from students that one of the J-School’s biggest strengths is the dedicated, talented, fearless, experienced, fun, doors-are-always-open faculty.

This semester’s Social Media and Engagement class set out to tell that story via Instagram. Over the coming weeks, we will highlight these stories, that illustrate the personalities, philosophies and experience of our top-notch faculty. This week, we give you the first in the series, Assistant Professor Jule Banville.

Jule is currently teaching Opinion Writing and Elements of News Writing. This semester she also began advising the Montana Kaimin. “Learning how to express yourself well as a writer serves you in every kind of capacity you could think of,” Jule says.

Other profiles in the #meettheprofs series: 

Denise Dowling

Kevin Tompkins