The Ozarks News Journal, a news magazine about public affairs issues in the Ozarks produced by media, journalism and film students, has expanded its coverage to include television stations in St. Louis and Kansas City. The show, which has aired on Mediacom-22 every weekday and KOZK-TV every Sunday since it began in Fall 2009, now airs on Time Warner Cable channel 17 in Kansas City and KDHX-TV-980 in St. Louis.
Kevin Swift, assistant professor in media, journalism and film, created the Ozarks News Journal in Summer 2009 as a capstone course for advanced broadcast media students and explains that it fulfills the university’s public affairs mission while giving students real experience in broadcast journalism. “Our students are getting a real world experience in terms of preparation and quality of work,” Swift says. “They are also gaining a very practical understanding of what it means to follow the University’s public affairs mission, since our show is formatted around those three pillars.” The names of the three pillars—ethical leadership, community engagement, and cultural competence—also appear in the introduction to each show, underscoring the connection to public affairs.
This year, the Ozarks News Journal received several awards for its content. At the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association awards, the Journal picked up wins for Best Newscast and Promotional Video and Misty Cole’s “Cancer Walk” story took home Best News Package. At the Society of Professional Journalists Region 7 awards, Monica Scherer took first place in Television Feature Photography for her work on the story “Art Walk,” Adam Hammons received second in the Television News Reporting category for his work on “Book Ban,” and Katy Reed and Courtney Syberg took third in the same category for their story “Adoption.” These award finishes follow up several first- and second-place finishes in these events last year.
“In a few short years, our students have gone from not even having a show to airing on professional outlets and winning awards for their work,” Swift says. “It has impacted the students, the department and the faculty in a very positive way.”
The Ozarks News Journal now has an online presence as well. Dr. Andrew Cline, associate professor in media, journalism and film, is in his second year of publishing and maintaining the web portion of the Ozarks News Journal. Students in Cline’s multimedia journalism course serve as staff for the site, submit regular blog posts, and contribute to feature articles. Cline describes the impact as affecting both students and the Springfield community.
“The first impact is that students get to practice journalism in a venue that makes it real,” Cline says. “The second is that it fulfills the public affairs mission by providing journalism about the community.”
Cline says that the website typically draws between 100-150 unique visitors each day and anywhere between 300-500 on publishing days, which are the days that feature stories go up. These features are on a 2-week timetable, making the website a hybrid between a magazine and a newspaper. Students post blog entries whenever they are ready, taking advantage of the online presence to update asynchronously, and collaborate on the features.
In describing his goal for the Ozarks News Journal website, Cline says, “I want Ozarks News Journal to be thought of as a real place to get public affairs journalism; a credible adjunct to daily reporting that follows issues in multiple formats with greater depth. When people are calling us and saying that they want the Ozarks News Journal to cover an issue, that’s when I’ll know we’ve made it.”
You can catch the Ozarks News Journal broadcast on the following stations and times:
Springfield area: Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on Mediacom Channel 22 and Sundays at 11:00 a.m. on KOZK-TV
Kansas City: Mondays at 6:00 p.m., Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m., Fridays at 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. on Time Warner Cable Channel 17
St. Louis: Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. and Fridays at 12:30 p.m. on KDHX-TV-980
In addition to the television broadcast, you can also visit http://www.ozarksnewsjournal.com to get more information about the show, watch episodes online, and read additional coverage from Dr. Cline’s multimedia journalism students. You can also join the Ozarks News Journal’s group on Facebook.