A vice president at the American Press Institute will come to Ball State this summer to lead a new program run by the Department of Journalism.
Warren Watson officially starts working with J-Ideas, a program developed to help connect high school journalism students with professionals, on July 1.
"I was excited about the prospect of making a difference in high school journalism," Watson said. "Tomorrow's professionals are practicing scholastic journalism today and need all the tools and advice possible to succeed in a media landscape that is constantly changing."
With J-Ideas entering into its second year, it has become a work in progress.
"I want to do what I can to help raise the bar, to help administrators, teachers and students learn as much as possible in the short time they have in high school," Watson said. "The key will be the various digital and others tools we will have at our disposal in this unique program."
J-Ideas was launched in November 2003 in Washington, D.C., with grants from the James L. Knight foundation, the Lilly foundation and Ball State University. J-Ideas took on the role of connecting high school journalism students with professionals.
Gene Policinski, deputy director of the First Amendment Center, headed the discussion board that created J-Ideas, along with associate director Christi Girton of Ball State. The group created the organization with two main purposes: to bring more awareness to the First Amendment and link high schools with professionals via video conferences.
Girton said that J-Ideas will help high schools use the technology they have and help schools without technology be connected to professionals and see what is in the future for them.
Professionals are then able to critique school newspapers, help with design and talk about journalism ethics issues and how it affects student media.
Professionals from both the Chicago Tribune and the Philadelphia Inquirer have already participated in video conferences and newspaper critiques with high schools. Students can see video conferences on the J-Ideas Web site along with free, downloadable resources including teaching handouts, curriculum suggestions and results of the journalism-related research projects.
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