Learning by doing: University of Oregon journalism students gain hands-on insight

Andrew DeVigal is a professor of practice and endowed chair in journalism innovation and civic engagement at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication; he’s also the founder and director of the university’s Agora Journalism Center. (Photo credit: Fred Joe)

The Agora Journalism Center aims to study and create healthy news ecosystems

Andrew DeVigal is the endowed chair in journalism innovation and civic engagement and the director of the University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center. In 2015, DeVigal founded the Center to study community-centered journalism.

“The intentionality of Agora and its mission is to be a gathering place for civic engagement and healthy information,” DeVigal said.

“Our very first event was called Front 50, and it was a chance to bring in journalists, community leaders, academics and researchers. That gathering was fantastic, and it helped us create a kind of North Star,” he recalled.

Since then, the Center created a coalition of more than 1,200 people from around the globe who are keenly focused on community-centered journalism. They include freelancers, academics, representatives of hyperlocal and niche news outlets, public media, nonprofits and traditional local news publishers. Through in-person and virtual gatherings and a popular Slack channel, they exchange ideas and success stories about “doing good journalism, journalism that matters, journalism that’s relevant to the communities we’re serving,” DeVigal said.

“We have hundreds of case studies,” he added.

Just one of the many discoveries the Center’s researchers have made is about sourcing.

“Because of this time-strapped challenge that journalists have, to crank out five stories a day and post on social media, what do they do? They go to their normal, regular routines of sourcing. They go to the police chief. They go to the mayor. They go to these already established relationships because it's easier to do, and it's harder to build those relationships with community leaders and members. It takes a long time to build the trust, but it’s so worth it,” DeVigal observed. “Because then the news becomes far more relevant, and suddenly, theoretically, subscription levels should go up — or at least there’s more meaningful engagement, and the community will rise with it.”

DeVigal recommends local newsrooms conduct a two- or three-year source audit to challenge the status-quo approach.

Another skill critical to community-centered journalism is listening, which may not seem a particularly novel theory. However, shallow listening can be ineffective.

“During one of the conferences we hosted with Journalism That Matters, one of the takeaways we heard was the idea that listening is our superpower — journalists who have the skill set to listen authentically and to be open. I think that makes for better journalism,” DeVigal said.

In addition to leading Agora, DeVigal also teaches a class called “Engaged Journalism,” which gives students practical and theoretical insight into community-centered journalism.

"We collaborate with another University of Oregon entity, the Sustainable Cities Initiative, on a year-long project. Every year, they pick a city or town across Oregon, and we do a deep dive into it. … My class is focused on understanding the information health of that particular community. We facilitate information assessments, sometimes with the city itself and in collaboration with local media and community organizations,” he explained.

“My students design the survey. They visit the town. They talk to residents and community members,” he continued. “We ask them the survey questions and come back and analyze those responses as a class. They start learning how to approach a community differently and how to listen to them differently.” At the end of the term, they produce a report on their findings and offer recommendations to the town. To date, they’ve counseled five Oregon towns.

As the Agora Journalism Center’s research director, Regina Lawrence aims to more deeply understand journalism’s shortcomings and opportunities for improvement. Regarding the community-centered approach, she said, “That’s what journalists have always been doing, right? That’s the belief, especially at the local level, that they’ve always been connected to and responsive to their local communities, that they’ve always had to be out there among people, listening to people’s concerns.

“But I sense that, as journalism evolved or devolved, as the case may be, as resources have become scarce, newsrooms and budgets have shrunk, and it’s become harder for journalists to actually do that kind of work. There’s been a premium put on efficiency and having to crank out a lot of coverage, making this kind of community-centered journalism harder. … It really does mean getting out and into dialog with people and groups of people, not just with quote-unquote sources. [It] involves talking to people, not just because you've already decided what the story is and just need quotes to drop into it. You don’t assume you know what the stories are,” Lawrence stressed. “You’re really listening to the concerns of the community. What do people have to learn more about? Or what do they wish is being told and represented about their communities? That means a different approach that is more time-consuming, is a bigger commitment, and can’t be practiced very easily like many newsrooms are set up these days.”

To learn more about community-centered journalism, read the “Advancing Community-Centered Journalism” report by Damian Radcliffe on the Center’s website.

If you had to distill down to a single phrase the educational culture at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC), it might read, “a place for innovative experiential learning.” From SOJC’s newly designed curricula to internships, study-abroad opportunities, student-run magazines and radio and TV stations, graduates are exceptionally prepared for the ever-evolving, demanding fields they professionally pursue.

SOJC journalism student Julia Boboc, class of 2026, is the SOJC Audio Club president. In this collaborative space, students can learn and gain hands-on experience in audio production. She is also the student host and editor for the SOJC podcast, "One Cool Story," launched in November 2024. (Photo credit: Zakary Christen-Cooney)

SOJC offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in journalism. Within the undergraduate program, students can choose different pathways. They might focus on reporting and writing or more keenly study broadcasting or video and audio storytelling. Others prefer the photojournalism path and study digital photography, 360-degree cameras and drone operation. Students can also focus on sports journalism or dive into multimedia storytelling or documentary filmmaking.

Master’s candidates commit to an intensive one-year program. Some have journalism degrees or professional experience. Others come to the program with no journalism experience but are interested in starting a new career path — for example, former college athletes who wish to develop their sports reporting and broadcasting skills.

“All of the students come away with marketable skills,” said Seth Lewis, PhD, professor, director of journalism and the Shirley Papé chair in emerging media at SOJC.

Seth Lewis, Ph.D., is professor, director of journalism and the Shirley Papé chair in emerging media at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. (Photo credit: Jeremy Henkelman-Parker)

In 2024, SOJC faculty completed a several-year retooling of its curricula for journalism, advertising, public relations and media studies. This ambitious undertaking sought to provide students with educational experiences more reflective of the changing landscape of these professions.

“I think the roles and responsibilities have changed dramatically over the last 20 years, and I think the challenge for many journalism schools has been to keep pace with that, even while trying to maintain a grounded focus on the fundamentals,” Lewis said.

“We are now able to be much more responsive and adaptive when it comes to addressing new roles and techniques within the field, as well as new technologies,” Lewis said.

SOJC professor and award-winning journalist Peter Laufer, Ph.D., led the Interviewing and Story Development in Querétaro, Mexico, study abroad program in summer 2024, where a group of journalism students engaged with local journalists, developed their interview and storytelling skills, met with members of the indigenous Otomí population and explored historic sites. Some of the students' work was published in Mexico News Daily. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Peter Laufer)

“Just one example: I think a lot of journalism schools are quite good at teaching students how to tell compelling stories. There’s a big emphasis on narrative, but there isn’t always a corresponding understanding or emphasis on how that story will actually reach people. So, media distribution often gets sidelined,” Lewis observed. “With our new curriculum, we have a class that’s simply called Audiences. It’s about audience development and understanding how information moves in the digital environment and how news figures into the larger constellation of information circulation — not only how news is produced, but how it reaches people and makes a more discernible impact.”

In May 2024, 14 SOJC journalism students visited the headquarters of 16 publications while on a learning and networking trip to New York City, including the iconic Hearst Tower. Other notable stops included The New York Times, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal. The students also met with Pulitzer winners and SOJC alumni. (Photo credit: Mary Grosswendt)

The new curriculum also gets “back to basics.”

“We have a new Fundamentals of Reporting class that combines our previous Reporting 1 class and an elective we had on interviewing. But we realized that a lot of students today struggle to talk to strangers. We needed a class that teaches them the foundational skill of being much more adept at talking to strangers, getting to know them, demonstrating empathy and the required courage. For many in Gen Z, that’s a source of struggle,” Lewis explained.

The undergraduate program now includes a requisite Journalism & Democracy class, designed to give students insight into the history of journalism and how it’s a critical component of democratic societies. As a complement to theoretical study, there are plenty of experiential opportunities to learn while doing.

Under the guidance of a faculty adviser, students can gain practical experience producing several magazines or working in broadcasting at the DuckTV station or student-run KWVA 88.1 FM radio station.

Students working on the student-produced FLUX magazine serve as editors, writers, photographers, video storytellers, digital strategists and more. Before the magazine goes to print, students physically lay it out to make sure they are happy with the final result. FLUX is one of the many student-driven opportunities to gain valuable hands-on experience and be career-ready upon graduation. (Photo credit: Courtesy of FLUX)

FLUX is a yearly periodical that is entirely authored, illustrated, designed and produced by students. It was first produced in 1993 and has won a number of distinguished college press awards.

DuckTV brings together a team of over 100 students who create programming around campus and local news, sports, entertainment and other topics. They’re responsible for on-air broadcasts, script writing and editing, camera work and set direction, and all the “business side” duties, including marketing, audience development, social media channels and advertising.

SOJC students also have the opportunity to work for The Daily Emerald, the award-winning weekly campus newspaper and its companion 24/7 news website.

Off-campus, in the newsroom

Interns with the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism gain valuable experience in ethical news reporting and build connections in Oregon's communities. Many of the program's media partners hire Snowden interns to work full-time once the internship ends. Several former Snowden interns now work at The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington, including (l to r) Will Campbell, William Seekamp, Jessica Prokop, Chrissy Booker, Becca Robbins and Alexis Weisend. (Photo credit: Courtesy of the Snowden Program)

The Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism is directed by SOJC’s Brent Walth, an award-winning journalist and associate professor who teaches specialty courses in investigative reporting and data journalism.

“The Snowden internship is a summer program thanks to a large gift from the Snowden family,” Dr. Lewis said. “We are able to put students in newsrooms around the state. Many of these are in rural places.”

The opportunity is open to students from other institutions, as well. They’re given a stipend for both living expenses and housing, partially paid by the program and partially by the news organization to which they’re assigned.

“As a public institution in the state, we must serve the needs of the state,” he added. “Like so many other states, Oregon has a news desert problem. This internship has become vital because it gives students some essential experiences in places they might not usually go. It also helps shore up the news infrastructure in the state.”

Shane Hoffman, class of 2022, was a sports editor at the Daily Emerald, freelanced for The Oregonian and the Eugene Weekly, and reported and published stories through the Catalyst Journalism Program during his time at the SOJC. After graduation, he was a reporting intern at the Portland Tribune through the Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. He now reports on local sports for The Oregonian. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Shane Hoffman)

Students selected for the Catalyst Journalism Project gain practical experience in newsrooms statewide. Dr. Lewis explained that the program — also administered by Brent Walth — is intended to leverage investigative reporting skills and a solutions journalism approach.

A year ago, the local Eugene Weekly paper nearly folded when it became embroiled in an embezzlement scandal. The free weekly ceased print operations for a month, but it was resurrected by a group of volunteer reporters and editors, including Catalyst students, who kept it afloat.

John Adair, class of 2024, was a photographer and videographer for a trip to Colombia in 2023, part of the SOJC's Global Stories program led by Associate Professor of Journalism Ed Madison. Along with Madison, 13 SOJC students spent two weeks traveling throughout Colombia to document authentic stories for a multimedia project focusing on local musicians and dancers. (Photo credit: Josiah Pensado)

SOJC students also have the opportunity to study abroad during summer breaks.

“These travel courses are led by a journalism faculty member and managed through our Global Education Office at the University of Oregon,” Dr. Lewis explained. “They can earn credits. I've led one in Paris that focused on media literacy and media ethics.”

Professor of Practice Charlie Butler has taken students to Dublin to study sports reporting. Peter Laufer, Ph.D. professor and James N. Wallace chair of journalism, led students to Mexico for studies in interviewing, reporting and cultural studies. Professor of Practice Damian Radcliffe guided students to France to study food journalism.

Regina Lawrence is associate dean at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication in Portland, Oregon, and the research director at the Agora Journalism Center. (Photo credit: Fred Joe)

Fostering the next generation of journalists

E&P also spoke with Regina Lawrence, Ph.D., associate dean at SOJC Portland and research director at the Agora Journalism Center. Asked what attracted her to this university’s journalism program, Lawrence reflected: “The School of Journalism and Communication is focused on blending research and practice and really focused on innovation. How can journalism be better? How can it do things that are both more innovative and, at the same time, deeply ethical and with impact — with real-world impact in mind? I think those are tools that many schools say they do — and nobody can disagree with those values — but I really felt it when I visited here for my job interview, gosh, 10 years ago now. That was true of the culture here, that commitment to doing things differently, in better ways — better for communities and journalism.”

Photojournalism is a popular area of interest for journalism majors. Professor of Practice Dan Morrison, a professional photojournalist, regularly takes students to the field for professional experience. As a doctoral student, Beatriz Mira joined Morrison to cover the Camp Creek fire. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Dan Morrison)

Lawrence recently joined a panel discussion about the next generation of journalists and what compels them to choose the profession. In preparation for her talk, she surveyed her colleagues at the J-school about their observations.

“One thing I heard from them is that journalism students in their classes are still pretty idealistic. They want to make a difference in the world. Of course, they're very concerned about what the real career options will be for them. … They need to find a decent-paying job, which is a hindrance, especially to getting young people to stay in a place like Oregon, which has more rural communities and probably a somewhat lower pay level on average compared to more affluent states. That is a challenge, but they also really care about community — in the abstract or on principle — and they also care about the communities they are part of, whether those are geographic local communities or communities based on identity. They really take that seriously, serving communities.”

“This is a place with students who care a lot about doing good and making a difference in the world,” Dr. Lewis observed. “That has become a kind of orienting ethos. I think we also see, across society, that people are looking for a sense of meaning and purpose in life and in their work, too.”

Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.