journalism – Page 7 – Montana Journalism

April 6, 2016 montanajournalism Awards, Graduate, J-School, Student

Two grad students win fellowships to report from Crown of the Continent

The Crown Reporting Project sponsors students at the University of Montana to produce stories about the environment in the Crown of the Continent region.

For the second year in a row, two journalism master’s students from the University of Montana will head into the Crown of the Continent, to report in-depth, unique stories about the landscape and the people who live there. The 2016 Crown Reporting Project Fellows are Nicky Ouellet and Katy Spence. Spence will report on the role of beavers in helping to deal with climate change, while Ouellet will look at how decisions made by forest supervisors affect individuals and communities that depend on the Crown’s forest products for their livelihoods.

Both fellows are graduate students in the University of Montana’s Master’s program in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism. A native of the Kansas, Spence hopes her outsider’s perspective will allow her to approach her story with few preconceptions or biases. “So many people are excited about the possibility of using beavers as a natural water mitigation strategy, but just as many think of them as pests,” she said.

Ouellet’s journey took her from New Hampshire, where she grew up, to Ohio, Russia and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation before she enrolled at UM. She’s currently completing her master’s work on Native American natural resource management. “The Crown Fellowship means I get to spend time with a mycologist chasing down people in the forest and speak with them about what this really unique place means,” she said. “It’s almost an excuse to go camping, learn about the ecology and economy of mushrooms and meet really interesting people – all to produce some great radio that will hopefully connect listeners with a place I love so much.”

Through the Crown Reporting Project, both students will be matched with seasoned journalism professionals who will guide them as they report, produce and pitch their work. In telling her story, Spence plans to combine photography and writing skills she’s cultivated since her time at Truman State University, where she earned a B.A. in English with minors in Biology and Photography. “This story is important for the landscape and for the people within it, and working with a professional journalist to develop it may be the most important journalistic opportunity I’ve ever had,” she said. “I can’t wait to start reporting!”

Ouellet is gearing up to telling her story as a radio piece. She recently won Best in Festival in the student news competition for the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts, for “An ‘80s Cover Band With Global Dreams.” “The Crown Fellowship is the biggest opportunity this school has to chase down an in-depth story about how people are connected to landscapes,” she said. “And I’m really excited to do that in radio because that takes a lot of time – you have to be there to capture the voices of the people – and this fellowship really makes that possible.”

The Crown Reporting Project was inspired by Ted Smith, a pioneer of large-landscape conservation and lover of the Crown. In 2015, graduate students Ken Rand and Celia Talbot Tobin worked with Chris Joyce, of National Public Radio, and Ted Alvarez, of Grist and Backpacker Magazine, to report stories on aquatic invasive species and mining waste.

By Henriette Lowisch

March 25, 2016 montanajournalism Awards, Feature, J-School, Student

J-School Student Awarded Study Abroad Fellowship

Autumn Barnes-Fraser traveled to Germany for the first time between high school graduation and University of Montana orientation. Despite the nearly 5,000 miles between her hometown of Helena, MT and Berlin, Germany, “As soon as I hit the tarmac, I knew I had found home,” she said.

Now Barnes-Fraser will be going back to Germany two more times, as part of the Missoula-to-Berlin International Reporting course at the J-school and for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program for young professionals. The CBYX program is a public diplomacy fellowship funded by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag and covers most of the participants’ expenses.

Barnes-Fraser found out she won the CBYX fellowship on March 7^th, 2015, about a year after submitting her written application and successfully passing the interview process. The notification left her both ecstatic and dumbfounded. “I get to live in a culture that I love so much, and in a country that I feel so close to,” Barnes-Fraser said.

“Only 75 people across the US get this thing—that’s a big deal,” Associate Professor Henriette Lowisch said. “Passion and dedication are really a thing, they will get you where you most want to go. Autumn has just given us proof of that by winning this very competitive fellowship.”

Lowisch has worked with Barnes-Fraser as part of the Missoula-to-Berlin reporting project. The project’s goal is to document Germany’s response to the refugee crisis while teaching students journalism skills for reporting abroad, in a breaking-news setting. In the fall, students focused on fundraising efforts for the trip, but now they’ve started pitching story ideas.

“Autumn is one of the leaders of our Missoula-to-Berlin reporting project,” Lowisch said. “She’s put in an amazing amount of time and energy, not only for her own sake, but to make the entire team succeed.”

Dean of the UM School of Journalism, Larry Abramson, who is co-leading the trip, agreed with Lowisch.

“Autumn has a special link to Germany, and her passion for our trip to Berlin is evident in her class participation,” Abramson said. “It’s great to see her developing that passion through this trip, and I have no doubt that her coverage of the refugee crisis will be unique.”

Barnes-Fraser said the diversity of students in the class enhanced how they researched and reported their story ideas. While her double major is in Broadcast Journalism and German, others students have majors in Economics, Political Science and Business. “We all have different interests and different experience levels, so I think we’ll work really well together as a team,” she said.

A month after Barnes-Fraser returns to the States after the Missoula-to-Berlin trip, she will leave for the year-long CBYX program, which is divided into three parts: language immersion, semester studies and a five-month internship. She hopes to focus both the studies and internship on radio journalism. Both NPR Berlin and Deutsche Welle radio stations would offer her the opportunity to report in German, then produce pieces in English.

“I like the local perspective,” she said.

Based on her experience, Barnes-Fraser said locals are usually more willing to talk with foreign reporters who make the effort to communicate in their native tongue. Personally, her favorite journalism pieces relate to human features and long narratives.

Despite the fact that she won’t know where she will be interning until a few weeks before the CBYX trip starts, “I’m excited because of the flexibility and not knowing exactly what will happen.”

Stay up to date with the latest Missoula-to-Berlin news via their Facebook page.

By Jana Wiegand

March 18, 2016March 21, 2016 montanajournalism Awards, Feature, J-School, Student

Into The Newsroom: Two J-School Juniors Win NATAS Scholarships

One day in JRNL 100, Mason Birgenheier stood in front of the class and announced that KPAX-TV was looking for production help. He had been working afternoon shifts at the station, serving as a production assistant, when Ethaniel Fitzgerald heard his announcement. Fitzgerald soon landed a position at KPAX, helping manage and produce The Morning Show, clocking in at 3am and then leaving straight from work to go to class.

Now, three years later, both Birgenheier and Fitzgerald have won NATAS scholarships for their dedication to the broadcast industry.

The goal of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) scholarship program is to support promising students in their pursuits in the television field of journalism. As part of the award, winners travel to Seattle, Washington in June for further recognition and to go behind the scenes in a larger newsroom.

The UM School of Journalism has a long history of broadcast majors receiving NATAS scholarships. Of this year’s winners, Ray Ekness, Professor & Director of Student Success, said, “Both Ethan and Mason are exactly what the NATAS folks are looking for. They’re smart, take feedback well, are willing to learn and have been working hard at local television stations.”

Ethaniel Fitzgerald delivers the news with fellow reporters for NBC Montana.

Currently, Birgenheier and Fitzgerald work for KECI-TV, a local subset of NBC. Birgenheier mostly focuses on the production side and said that the team’s atmosphere revolved around the word ‘hustle.’ “It’s so fast-paced and you’re constantly on your toes,” he said. “But when something happens, you’re the first ones to know.”

As someone who grew up in Missoula, Birgenheier said that he enjoyed using his technological skills to keep people up to date with the local news. “I like knowing what’s going on in my community,” he said.

While Fitzgerald also has substantial production experience, lately he’s been working as KECI’s weekend sports reporter. He said the position functioned at a different pace than the news, but it was still fun and exciting.

Fitzgerald won NATAS’s specific Tricia Moen Scholarship, which emphasizes the producing and writing aspects of broadcast journalism. This scholarship honors Tricia Moen, a producer at KOMO-TV in Seattle, who continued to work even after being diagnosed with Stage-4 cancer. During the NATAS application process, Fitzgerald researched her story and felt touched by her journey. “I had goosebumps,” Fitzgerald said. “I wanted to be better at my job because of her.”

Yet Fitzgerald’s inspiration at the J-school came from Ekness, who gave him technical advice and pushed him to be a better journalist. “He’ll do anything for his students,” Fitzgerald said.

Birgenheier agreed. “I’m thankful to a lot of people, but especially Ray,” he said. “I owe a huge kudos to him.”

“I’m very proud of what they’ve accomplished,” Ekness said. “I’m looking forward to the great things they’ll do in the future.”

For Fitzgerald, the future revolves around finding a news team that works well together. “I like anchoring and being behind the scenes,” he said. “I want to have a lot of skills, and [someday] I’d like to just be able to roll the dice and go there.”

When Birgenheier started at UM, he didn’t see himself as a journalist. “But now that I’ve found it, I know it’s always been a part of me, “ he said. “I hope to anchor someday, and I feel more confident after winning this scholarship. It’s taken a lot of hard work to do this and to feel like someone actually noticed, is awesome.”

As both students head into their senior year, they plan to keep working at KECI and gain as much experience as possible from their jobs and from their classes. In 2016, the UM School of Journalism was ranked top-ten in the nation, and Birgenheier felt obligated to keep that reputation strong.

“We’re pretty good at what we do,” he said. “It’s up to us to carry the torch.”

Missed the 6 o’clock news? Follow Mason Birgenheier on Twitter, Instagram or the Montana Race Project for his contributions to local stories, and follow Ethaniel Fitzgerald on Twitter to catch up with the latest news in Missoula.

By Jana Wiegand