By Kiara Catanzaro
News Editor
Eleven St. Bonaventure students traveled to New York City to participate in a journalism history conference to discuss the role of advocacy in journalism. The conference, on Saturday, March 8, was located at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
The students who presented at the conference included three freshmen journalism and mass communication majors, Elyse Breeze, Catherine Brown, and Hannah Gordon; two junior journalism and mass communication majors, Casandra Nguyen and Lauren Olmstead; four senior journalism and mass communication majors, Emmariah Holcomb, Angelia Roggie, Matt Butler and Deirdre Spilman; and senior sports studies major Joel Jackson.
The students contributed their presentation titled, “Mediation: An Instrument for Social Change in Print, on the Air and Online” on a panel at the conference titled, “Changing News Systems.”
The presentation discussed journalists who advocated for specific causes and changed the world through their work. Specific journalists and their work were presented and the panelists discussed whether positive or negative effects came from advocacy or mediation journalism.
The students developed the presentation in the Women, Minorities and the Media course taught by Anne Lee and the Media and Democracy course taught by Richard Lee.
Breeze said she was anxious about the presentation because she never had an experience similar to the journalism history conference.
“We each presented a two-minute snippet of the proposal, each detailing the work of journalists advocating for a cause,” Breeze said. “I chose Gloria Steinem, her work with Ms. Magazine and her influence in the “Rape is Rape” campaign. I was so nervous because I’d never done anything like this before.”
In addition to presenting part of the proposal, Breeze said she enjoyed giving feedback to other researchers pursing their Master’s or Doctorate degrees.
“My favorite part was listening to research and being able to give feedback to graduate students and those attending who were finishing, or had already finished, their dissertations,” Breeze said.
Breeze said the opportunity was beneficial because it prepared her for future opportunities in journalism.
“Being able to have such a great opportunity to experience something like this as a freshman is really great and looks fantastic for any future opportunities I wish to pursue,” Breeze said. “It was definitely an unforgettable experience, and I hope that I’m able to be there again someday.”
Although Nguyen thought the conference was a positive experience, she said she was surprised how the conference was operated.
“It wasn’t entirely what I was expecting,” Nguyen said. “The panels took place in a classroom setting, which made it easier to speak in front of the strangers. I think it was assumed that we were all at the doctorate degree level, so many of the speakers jumped into their topics without explanation. I spent a majority of the day on my phone researching topics to be up to speed with everyone else.”
Although some of the comments on their presentation were critical, Nguyen said the feedback didn’t ruin her experience.
“Overall, I think the experience was worthwhile,” Nguyen said. “The moderator and audience members that attended our panel were full of criticism, but we were proud of the work that we completed and presented in such short notice. After all, they were just your average people so the criticism was aimed to be constructive.”
Nguyen recommends St. Bonaventure students explore public-speaking opportunities to help build their professional skills.
“I would recommend the experience to future St. Bonaventure students,” Nguyen said. “Any public speaking experience is helpful in the long run. New York City is a huge networking city, so it was nice to be around people with the same interests.”
Brown said she advises students to take opportunities like this because the conference changed her perspective.
“I witnessed brilliant minds conversing with one another, and that gave me a goal to one day be able to be to as intelligent as they are,” Brown said. “Take every opportunity that is placed in front of you because a new experience creates a new perspective.”
