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Media Minds is a speaker series presented by
Vanderbilt Student Communications' Journalism Academy.
The series began in September 2005 and has featured
professional journalists and media experts.
Past and future Media Minds speakers have expertise in a range of areas,
including sports journalism, magazine design, publishing,
political reporting and business journalism.
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SPRING 2006
There are currently no presentations planned.
Please visit this page for future presentation updates.
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SPRING 2006
Peter Newcomb
Conversation with Forbes Celebrity Journalist
Peter Newcomb
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006
10-11 a.m.
Open to the campus
First Amendment Center
(on the Peabody campus at the corner of 18th and Edgehill Avenues)
First Amendment Center executive director Gene Policinski
discussed these issues with Newcomb and facilitated a Q&A session.
Forbes Celebrity Journalist Peter Newcomb
on Information Gathering
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006
5-6 p.m.
Open to Journalism Academy enrollees and VSC students
Sarratt 114
A veteran editor and writer at Forbes Magazine, Peter Newcomb
is one of the best known and most accomplished celebrity journalists in the country.
Newcomb has been in charge, for many years, of the Forbes annual magazine issues of the
"400 Richest People in America," "The Wealthiest Athletes and Entertainers" and
the "Forbes Billionaires List." Newcomb is one of the nation's top experts on wealth--who has it,
where they hide it, how they spend it and how they make (and sometimes lose) it.
A terrifically engaging speaker and writer, Newcomb will share his wonderful stories and
first-hand accounts of the many rich and famous people the rest of us
have only read and heard so much about.
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Bill Elsen
veteran journalist and former Washington Post editor
Presented: How to get a job in journalism
Wed., Feb. 1, 2006
4-5 p.m. in Sarratt 116
Bill Elsen retired from The Washington Post at the end of March 2004.
He is a contributing editor at Presstime, the monthly magazine of the Newspaper Association of America,
and is career development director and an editor for reznetnews.org, an online newspaper produced by
Native American college students. He is also a consultant, traveling to universities and conventions
to work with student journalists.
At The Post, Elsen started in sports as a copy editor and finished on the Metro Tab Desk as a slot.
From January 1994 to May 2001, he was director of recruiting and hiring for the newsroom.
Before that, he spent a month shy of 13 years as a night editor and assignment editor on the national desk.
Elsen came to The Post in 1970 and worked as a sports copy editor, executive sports editor, metro staff writer,
assistant foreign editor, night city editor and night news editor.
Before joining The Post, he was a reporter in Saigon, Vietnam, for Stars and Stripes; a reporter and copy editor for the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner; a sports copy editor for the Tennessean in Nashville; and a sports writer/editor for the Washington (D.C.) Daily News.
Elsen has taught at the Editing Program for Minority Journalists at the University of Arizona; the
American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota; the Native American Newspaper
Career Conference at Custer, S.D.; the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism at the University of Oklahoma;
the College of Journalism at the University of Maryland; and the Journalism Institute for High School Students at
Catholic University of America in Washington. He has been on the faculty of the North Carolina Scholastic
Media Association's summer workshop in Chapel Hill since 1994.
In the 2004-05 academic year, he consulted at DePauw, Vanderbilt, Iowa State and Kansas State
universities and the University of South Dakota. In the current academic year, he has consulted at the
University of Nebraska, the University of Mississippi, the University of Montana and North Carolina State University.
Elsen has also conducted workshops at the American Press Institute, a National Writers Workshop and
conventions of the American Copy Editors Society. He teaches journalism workshops for high school and
college students and at state and national scholastic press conventions.
In March 2002, Elsen was presented the Charles R. O'Malley Award for Excellence in Teaching
by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at Columbia University. In 1979, he was awarded
CSPA's Gold Key. In June 2003, he was given the Kay Phillips Distinguished Service Award by the North Carolina
Scholastic Media Association at the University of North Carolina.
He is a member of College Media Advisers, the American Copy Editors Society, the Native American
Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the
Asian American Journalists Association.
FALL 2005
Houston Ruck
section designer, U.S. News & World Report
Presented: Hurricane & Heartbreak
Monday, September 26, 2005
12:15 p.m.
Sarratt 363
Attendees learned how U.S. News & World Report reacted, raced the clock and
reported to the nation news from the Gulf Coast.
Magazine staffer and 2003 Vanderbilt grad Houston Ruck offered an inside look at a
week in the life of a national news magazine, with behind-the-scenes images and
insight into last-minute decisions.
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Neil Skene
Media lawyer, reporter, editor and publisher
Presented: Deep Throat, Deep Digging, Deep Trouble
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005
Noon-1:30 p.m.
Sarratt 189
When does a reporter's use of anonymous sources cross ethical and legal lines?
Attendees learned this and how editors balance ethics, law and news judgment
from a 37-year veteran journalist and attorney. Neil Skene has been a reporter and
editor for the St. Petersburg Times, editor and publisher of Congressional Quarterly
and an officer and investor in alternative newspapers in Atlanta, Charlotte and Tampa.
Other Helpful Information from Neil Skene
Developing Great Stories (pdf)
Developing Great Stories:
The Leadership Role (pdf)
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Willy Daunic
radio talk show host, 104.5 The Zone (Nashville)
former SEC basketball and baseball athlete (Vanderbilt University)
Presented: Sports Reporting: Covering All the Bases
Monday, November 14, 2005
Noon - 1 p.m.
Sarratt 189
Daunic spoke on a variety of topics, but the basics covered
included how to prepare for a daily sportscast or sports article, staying objective
during an interview, covering a team you have a vested interest in and remaining objective.
He also offered some tips on play by play and color commentary and shared his stories
about his career at Vanderbilt as a student athlete and
how he landed a job in sports media.
Please click here for highlights of Willy Daunic's
November 2005 presentation to Vanderbilt (pdf)
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