Sources: Samuel Mwangi, 785-532-3960, scmwangi@k-state.edu;
Sheila Ellis, 785-220-4483, smellis@k-state.edu;
and Kimetris Baltrip, kbaltrip@k-state.edu, 785-532-3596
News release prepared by: Jessica Grant, 785-532-6415, jgrant@k-state.edu
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
NEW K-STATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION GIVING VOICE TO HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN NEWSROOMS
MANHATTAN -- Groups that are historically underrepresented in newsrooms are getting a fresh voice at Kansas State University through a new student group.
Diverse Mass Communicators is a revamped student organization that started this year to promote cultural diversity through all media outlets and to actively recruiting prospective students of all ethnicities to K-State and the university's A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. It also an effort to enrich and increase the campus's cultural diversity.
"The students serve as resource persons on issues of diversity and make themselves available to share their experiences in classrooms whenever invited to do so by professors," said Samuel Mwangi, K-State assistant professor of journalism and mass communications and the faculty adviser to the group.
"This means if a professor is teaching a chapter or subject and feels his or her students would benefit by hearing the opinion or voice of someone who may not be represented in class, they are free to invite Diverse Mass Communicators to send a student or two to class to enrich the learning process," Mwangi said.
Since most of the group members are mass communications students, they decided it would be a good idea to write for student publications as a way of adding another layer of voices and opinion to issues of general interest, Mwangi said.
"We are striving to increase diversity coverage in student media by having a more diverse staff," said Sheila Ellis, junior in print journalism, Topeka, president of Diverse Mass Communicators and the campus news editor for the Kansas State Collegian.
"We're a group of passionate reporters who happen to be minorities," Ellis said. "We saw a problem with diversity coverage in the Collegian and instead of doing nothing and just complaining about it, we're trying find solutions for a problem that people have been ignoring for years."
The Collegian currently has 14 minority staff members -- the most ever for the newspaper -- and almost all of them are members of Diverse Mass Communicators, said Kimetris Baltrip, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications and Collegian adviser.
"Any time you can get a different perspective or people from different walks of life it's good for a newspaper," said Jonathan Garten, senior in print journalism, Lindsborg, and editor-in-chief of the Collegian. "Story ideas generally come from the staff and editors, and if you have the same type of people in those roles a staff is more likely to leave out a certain story or certain group. This group has helped bring new writers and stories to the Collegian and it has helped us to improve the overall quality of the publication. We're able to better reflect the community."
Diverse Mass Communicators also serves to recruit and act as a support group for multicultural students in the journalism school.
"When I first arrived at K-State, I was the only African-American at the Collegian and the newsroom atmosphere was not very comfortable," Ellis said. "This is a nationwide problem and the root of the problem is not enough diversity in newsrooms.
"We wanted to start a group that would serve as a support group for minority students who are interested in pursuing student media, but nervous to take the first step. By having an active group that has members in the journalism school and the newsrooms, we hope to help with recruitment to the journalism school and the student media entities," Ellis said.
Members of K-State's Diverse Mass Communicators include:
Summer Allen, senior in social science, Atchison; Yvonne Ramirez, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communications, Fort Riley.
From Greater Kansas City: Ja'Nae Gilliard, senior in electronic media, and Krystle Richard, senior in electronic journalism, both of Kansas City, Kan.; Clifford Watkins, sophomore in electronic journalism, Kansas City, Mo.; and Tierra Gordon, freshman in pre-journalism and mass communications, Overland Park.
David L. Griffin Jr., junior in social science, Manhattan; Annette Lawless, senior in print journalism, Wellington.
From Wichita: Montreal Devine, senior in social science; Jasmine Hammond, freshman in pre-journalism and mass communications; and Deborah Muhwezi, junior in electronic journalism.
From out of state: Donniece Parrish, senior in social science, Florissant, Mo.; Lacy Skinner, freshman in pre-journalism and mass communications, Memphis, Tenn.; and Awa Jobe, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communications, Irving, Texas.