Twenty years and counting

In 1989, Mark Russell, then a Plain Dealer staff writer, decided to create a program in Cleveland that would teach high school students about the journalism field. He recruited a mix of minority students from Cleveland-area schools and convinced his journalism colleagues to come talk to the youths and share their expertise. The result was the Urban Journalism Workshop, a series of Saturday classes that trained students in the art of interviewing and writing.

Since then, Mark Russell has gone on to becoming one of the highest-ranking blacks in newspapers, as managing editor of the Orlando Sentinel in Florida. And his brainchild, the Urban Journalism Workshop, has been a big achiever too. This program has been continuously presented every year, and many of its graduates have gone on to earn college degrees. Some are journalism professionals who have landed jobs working at respected news agencies.

In 2009, organizers of the Urban Journalism Workshop will celebrate their 20th year of putting on the purely volunteer-driven educational program.

Established as a result of the need for newsrooms to reflect diversity, racial sensitivity and understanding, the goal of the UJW is to encourage students of color to become interested in print and broadcast journalism through involvement and exposure. Each year, up to 30 high school students are accepted for this free in-depth program.

The workshop is held in the O’Malley Center on the campus of John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. Under the instruction of professional Cleveland journalists, students accepted into this free workshop will learn how to:
- Discriminate between news and entertainment.
- Write, edit and report news.
- Produce a newscast.
Publish a newspaper.
Produce their own blog.

An exposure trip (to an area location with state-of-the-art media capability) and a graduation reception are essential components of the program. The workshop takes place each spring, on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It begins promptly each morning with a news quiz. Each week, the students receive a comprehensive journalism education, continental breakfast and lunch. The student is responsible for transportation to and from John Carroll University.

To qualify, students must have an interest in journalism and have solid grammar skills. While grade point average is not a factor in acceptance to the program, a demonstrated interest and prior involvement in journalism will be helpful.

Each student must complete an application and also send in two letters of recommendation (from a teacher, advisor or other individual familiar with the student’s ability to comprehend and write).

In 2009, a gala salute to the Urban Journalism Workshop will be held, to celebrate its success and raise money to continue its work with Cleveland youth.

To learn more, please contact UJW Director Greg Richards at grichard@plaind.com or by telephone at 216-999-4621.

Help with your homework

Writing a news story can be difficult. It's not only tough to figure out and arrange the facts by importance, but the rules for handling and attributing quotes differ from those you often use in an academic paper. We've posted this story to give you some guidance.

If you click on the words in red, the comments will appear in a pop-up window. Once you've visited the comments, the word in red will turn to green. You may have to change the settings on your browser to view the comments.

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Three-time Emmy Award winner Dennis Knowles visited UJW and shared with the students his experiences and inspirations, as a producer and independent filmmaker. Coming from a diverse occupational background, Knowles informed students on the importance of gaining knowledge, developing skill, and working toward growth in order to reach success.

Knowles began his career in television as a manager at the cable television program TV-35, and working here, he claims, is where he developed a plethora of skills that enabled him to fully pursue a career in television production.

During Mr. Knowles' address to the class, he stated, "The skills I learned here aided to my strength as a producer."

Now, with careers in both filmmaking and producing, in addition to instructing classes at John Carroll University, Knowles claims that he owes much of his success to his Bachelor's Degree in journalism. He affirmed that reading books on journalism assists him in writing and editing the scripts he creates for the television series he produces entitled Applause. In sharing examples of his life experiences of learning and adapting to change, he stressed the importance of versatility and improvement.

Knowles stated, "I know I don't know it all, but I learn to grow and become better in my craft," and through relaying his personal accounts to the class, he passed this message on to them in hopes that they will do the same.

Many filmmakers find inspiration for cutting edge ideas in current events and technology, however Knowles is inspired by his love for classic films and childhood comic books.

"As a kid, I grew up reading comic books and they were almost like story boards," Knowles stated as he compared the content comic books to the development of film ideas.He recently collaborated with film director Marquette Williams with whom he edited the film entitled Unspeakable, which was in the 2008 Cleveland International Film Festival.

A new feature: excerpts from our guest speakers

Welcome to the blog for the Cleveland Urban Journalism Workshop 2008. This year, our participants come from public, parochial and private schools from Cuyahoga and Lake counties.

We aim to help high-school students experience real-world journalism. The profession is moving fast to take advantage of new media. We're no exception. Last year, we added this blog. This year, we're adding more multi-media and visual components.

Each week, for example, we'll post a link to an excerpt from our guest speaker. This week's speech comes from Julie Wynne-Martin, mother of Eric Scott Russell.

Eric was a 2002 workshop graduate. He gained national prominence when he was labeled "Blacky" in a team picture in his high school yearbook. Although he was urged to retaliate, he decided to work to fight racism in his school. Eric never graduated; he died abruptly at 17. The Cleveland Urban Journalism Workshop memorialized Eric by naming its annual scholarship after him.

The Inverted Pyramid

Hello, students!
I've used paragraphs from four different stories to demonstrate ways to complete this exercise. The composite focuses on organization and content. We'll deal with grammar and style in other classes.
If you click on the words in red, the comments will appear in a pop-up window. Once you've visited the comments, the word in red will turn to green. You may have to change the settings on your browser to view the comments. Gregory B. Richards

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The Cleveland Police Department has issued an Amber Alert for a 4-month-old female abducted from the south Collinwood area.

The victim's name is Shania McDade. According to Commander Wayne Drummond, of the Sixth District Police station, Shania was last seen with a woman by the name of Cyanni Dubose. The child was taken from East 145 Street and Aspinwall Ave. The woman Shania was last with has been verified as a suspect and was driving a 2001 Ford Taurus.

McDade's mother, Malaica Lusane indicated that her daughter was last
seen wearing a yellow shirt with pink flowers, purple and yellow shorts
also with pink flowers, and yellow and green bows in her hair. McDade
suffers from asthma and requires Albuterol for survival.


Cyanni Dubose has no relation to the child or family but she is a
friend of the mother of the missing baby. The suspect has no ties to the
Cleveland area. Cyanni was supposed to take the baby to a relative of
the family and never showed up. The mother Malaica Lusane is very
worried about the welfare of her daughter because of her medical
condition.

Instructor Biographies

You'll spend the next seven weeks chasing stories, and interviewing sources. You'll learn how to hold a camera correctly, and the difference between there and their. You'll understand how something as simple as spelling a name correctly marks you as a professional. And, at the end of it all, you'll experience the thrill of seeing your work in print or on video. Your instructors bring a wealth of experience to this program, and we intend to use everything we know to help you succeed. We are:

Gregory B. Richards, workshop director
Gregory B. Richards first encountered journalism while a high school student in Pittsburgh. He attended a Saturday program, similar to this one, that was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. After graduating from Hampton University in 1991, Richards became editor in chief of a weekly newspaper. He worked there for 18 months, then worked as a sports reporter and page designer at the Naples Daily News in Naples, Fla. Three-and-a half years later, he moved to the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. He came to the Plain Dealer in 1998, where he is a sports copy editor.

Margaret Bernstein, print director
Plain Dealer feature writer, Margaret Bernstein, is a main organizer for the Urban Journalism Workshop. She is a Los Angeles native and earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. As a metro columnist for the Plain Dealer, she won the 1992 first-place column award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. In 2000, she was named the National Big Sister of the Year in 2000 for her work with two Cleveland girls, Cora and Ernestine. Margaret is the author of "The Bond," the next book to be released by "The Three Doctors" Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins. The book is scheduled to be published in September by Riverhead Publishing, a division of Penguin Books.


Afi Scruggs, blog coordinator
Afi Scruggs believes that the modern journalist needs to have both primary and secondary skills. She is first and foremost a writer who has 20 years experience as a reporter, and is the author of three books. But she is passionate about the possibilities of online journalism and multi-media storytelling.
Afi is responsible for story posting, comment moderation, and general maintenance of the UJW blog. Her most recent blog,afiinitaly.blogspot.com, chronicles eight weeks she spent teaching journalism in Italy last summer.

Sandy Scott, television broadcast director
Sandy Scott brings 25 years of television experience into the UJW classroom. She began her career at WEWS NewsChannel 5 in 1981, where she worked her way up from videotape editor to supervising the "Live on Five" Show. Her career includes stints at WJW Fox 8, where she won an Emmy in 1991 for the series “The State of Black Cleveland,” and WKYC Channel 3, where she presently works as the weekend assignment desk editor.
Scott is currently a board of governor on the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Lower Great Lakes Chapter and is also the local chapter president of the Cleveland National Association of Black Journalists. She graduated from Cleveland State University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications.