Portal:1980s
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Missouri Journalism in the 1980s
As the School celebrated 75 years of innovation in journalism education, it took another step forward with computerization of the Missourian and advertising functions. Not surprisingly, it was one of the first newsrooms in the country to do so. Meanwhile, School officials strove to attain the financial support and training necessary to stay at the forefront of journalism trends.
Computers In The Newsroom And My First Book Idea
When I attended the journalism school in the early 1980s, the computers in the newsroom were in huge demand. Many times, I went on Friday night to write my stories because I always knew that I would be able to find an open computer then. One of the main concepts I learned in journalism school is that the death of thousands is a statistic but the death of one is a tragedy. When I developed the concept for my first book I kept thinking about that. My book titled Legends, Leaders, Legacies tells the stories of individuals who were killed for the various causes they advocated. Each chapter represents one person and one country, so you learn history through the story of that individual. Please feel free to view my Web site at:
http://www.susanv.com
P.S. I also worked part-time in college for Professor George Kennedy and typed a manuscript for the book he was working on at that time.
Susan (Miller) Vollmer, Bachelor of Journalism -- 1983
Advice Learned from a Professor
Submitted by Anita Kelso Edson, BJ '85
I am happy to share advice from one of my journalism professors, Ken Kobre, who often said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not CLOSE enough."
Mizzou Helps Shape Life, Career
Submitted by Sally Turner, BJ '81
I cannot articulate fully how my time at Mizzou shaped me as an adult and as a professional, expect to say it made me who I am today, but there are three experiences from the J-School (1979-1981) I had that affected me, which I would like to share.
First, as part of Mr. Bray's community journalism class we were sent to newspapers across Missouri. He did a great job of preparing us for the week away from Columbia, but when another student and I were sent to the Milan newspaper, we were treated like royalty. We shadowed the publisher, and we worked with the editor, a reporter and even the typesetter. We met with the stringers from the surrounding communities who sent in their copy, and we learned the role the newspaper played in the area. It was wonderful. Mr. Bray was one of my mentors (he advised me to take a job as sports editor of the Eldon Advertiser when I graduated) and taught me the vital roles newspapers play in their communities.
Second, I was interested in education, and Robert Knight took me on my first trip to a scholastic journalism meeting. We left Columbia early in the morning and drove to St. Louis–and saw the sunrise along the way–to attend a Missouri Interscholastic Press Association conference. He introduced us to high school advisers, who clearly adored him, and put us in the heart of the conference. On the way home he treated us to dinner at a truck stop along Interstate 70 for a debriefing, to talk about what we had learned and about how we could make our own marks in high school journalism. He was such a dear man.
Third, my senior year I took a class with Joy Patterson on women and the media. It was mostly graduate students, and I found the discussion and expectations stimulating. For my term paper I wrote on radio talk show pioneer Mary Margaret McBride, and I ventured to Paris, Missouri, her hometown, to interview people who knew her. I had never done primary research like that, but Dr. Patterson encouraged me and was so complimentary that I felt inspired. In fact, I was inspired by everything in that class, and I continued to study, and later teach, about women in journalism history and in the media.
There certainly are other memories of my time there: Mr. Taft's slides of San Simeon in History and Principles of Journalism, Hal Lister's News 105 class, covering sports at the Missourian for Randy Covitz, attending functions with PRSSA, and meeting with the dean as a student representative on an advisory committee. I am tremendously proud of my J-School education because it took me outside the classroom and into a profession to which I am proud to belong.
