COMMUNICATORTThhee AAlluummnnii MMaaggaazziinnee ooff tthhee SSIIUUEE DDeeppaarrttmmeenntt ooff MMaassss CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonnss

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GlobalVillagereturns to air

The manyfaces of Riley

JackShaheenexplores‘reel badArabs’

New SIUEalumnidirectorfrom MassComm

Spring 2007

PATRICKCLARK

goesoffbeat

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The president reflectsEmig-Hill answers questions about her career

page 4

The many faces of Riley MaynardDr. Maynard makes a second career in costume

page 6

Jankowski new SIUE alumni directorFormer Channel 5 newsman takes on top position

page 7

Global Village returns from sabbaticalStudent-produced program reaches Metro area

page 10

‘Reel Bad Arabs’ real eye-openerEmeritus professor Shaheen debunks Arab stereotypes

page 11

New Alestle adviser brings new visionOnline delivery is the future of news media

page 12

Alum’s video invention aids law firmRamey Elliot finds way to simplify field editing

page 13

Faculty News & Notespage 13

Lance SpeereEditor

Megan GattungAdvertising

Megan McClureDesign Concept

Aaron SudholtLauren KramerNicholas JohnsonJessica MillerKatherine JungJanelle DobsonMatthew BruceSara BraddockStephanie WalkerContributors

Dr. Kimberly VossCopy Editor

Andy RathnowSteve BerryPhotos

OFFBEAT&At HomeMass Comm alum Patrick Clark is on the road looking for Offbeat America

pages 8-9

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Staff

Spring 2007

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Mass Communicator is the annual publication for the alumni of the SIUE Mass Communications Department. The publication is created by the faculty and students of thedepartment. Students in Dr. Voss’ MC324 Public Affairs Reporting class wrote the stories. Students in Prof. Speere’s MC323 Publication Design course worked on designconcepts for this issue. Photographers for The Alestle took the photos.

Camille F. Emig-Hill is the presidentof the SIUE Mass CommunicationsAlumni Association. She graduated

from SIUE in 1972 and was hired byRalston Purina that same year. In 1976, shewas hired by Anheuser-Busch. During herearly years at Ralston, she realized she need-ed more of a business background andbegan working on a master’s degree in busi-ness. She finished her MBA in 1977 aftermaking the move to Anheuser-Busch.

The East St. Louis native just retired atthe end of 2006 as director of humanresources of shared services for the brewerygiant.

In the days prior to her retirement, shetalked with seniors Matthew Bruce andStefanie Walker about her time at SIUE andher experiences after graduation.

BRUCE: Where did you grow up?EMIG-HILL: I grew up in East St. Louis.

And then I lived in Granite City near GlenCarbon and then Collinsville and nowEdwardsville.

WALKER: What did you get out of theMass Communication program?

EMIG-HILL: I felt I got a good educationas far as the tools of how to write, layoutand photography. But I think one of theimportant things about the program washow they structured it so you had to dointernships. It really focused you on not justdoing classroom work but also doing realwork. I did an internship with theEdwardsville Intelligencer and got a lot ofgood experience. Although it wasn’t part of

the journalism program, I worked on theAlestle and kind of did everything there,which also was really good experience. Andalso, I worked one summer at the WoodRiver Journal.

So by the time I was graduating, I hada pretty good portfolio to show people ofthings I had written and edited as far as myinternship, the Alestle and working at theWood River Journal. I think the programgave you the basic skill tools, but also thefocus on actually writing as much as I couldbecause that’s how you get better.

BRUCE: What was SIUE like back whenyou went here?

EMIG-HILL: It was really about the samesize it is now because it hit a high point inthe early ‘70s. There were like 12,000 stu-dents. In looking at the campus, it lookspretty much the same other than there’smore buildings now.

The big thing was the parking lots wayout in no man’s land that you had to walk infrom. Other than growing and addingthings, it looks pretty much the same.

BRUCE: What was the Alestle like backthen?

EMIG-HILL: When I started, it wasn’tpart of the journalism school. ... I guess itwas after Christmas my first year there and Ikind of got tired of just hanging around andplaying cards.

So a friend of ours was a photographerand he said, ‘Oh they’ll hire anybody as astringer so why don’t you see if you can gethired.’ So my friend and I got hired. I had-n’t declared a major yet, so I wasn’t in jour-nalism.

I started working as a stringer, that’show I really got interested in going intomass communications. And after I diddeclare my major I stayed and I moved up

to different (positions). I was the business manager, I was the

managing editor, I was the associate editor. Iwas the editor for a quarter and then I thinkI was the advertising manager. I met myhusband. He was a sports editor – BobEmig. So it just all kind of worked out forme. One of the interesting things was wewere I guess twice a week. During the stu-dent unrest in 1970 after Kent State(University), the editor decided we weregoing to become a daily newspaper. So wepublished four times a week.

There was no planning, no money. Wejust did it. That went on for a couple ofyears. That was pretty interesting.

WALKER: What was your first job aftergraduation?

EMIG-HILL: I worked at Ralston Purinain the public relations department. One ofthe things that I think back on that wasimportant, when I was there and I was inthe journalism (department) we were told‘OK, you’ve got to prepare yourself to workfor a newspaper. You can’t expect to be writ-ing magazine articles and do the glamorousthing. You’ve got to work your way up tothat.’

Well, then I happened to run across anad hanging up in the Mass Communicationsdepartment. It was a blind ad for a maga-zine editor. And it was a business communi-cations association. I really didn’t know whatit was and I applied for it.

It was this job at Ralston doing a maga-zine for employees. And this was really atthat time – in the early ‘70s – this businesscommunications area was just beginning togrow. So there wasn’t much of a focus on itat any of the universities that were teachingjournalism. But that’s what I got into.

The presidentreflects

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Story ByMatthew BruceStefanie Walker

Emig-Hill opens up in a Q&A about her life during and after SIUE

So writing for employees and other business audiences. I reallyfelt fortunate that I got into that area and I really liked it. So I guessthe message there is keep your options open. Don’t just focus in onedirection.

WALKER: What were you hired to do at Anheuser-Busch origi-nally?

EMIG-HILL: They brought me here to start a new magazine forbeer wholesalers called “Team Talk.” It was a magazine to helpwholesalers sale more beer, so to put in ideas about how to be morecreative in selling beer. So it was really a fun project. I started fromscratch.

Now there I really got to go to a lot of different places – differ-ent wholesalers around the country. I did that for I guess two orthree years.

And then I did employee communications – a newspaper foremployees. And then I did the annual report, the financial commu-nications side. And then I moved into human resources.

But then I got the communications group back and through theyears did things like employee communications meetings, whichwere like these big slide shows and presentations for employees inthe brewery. And I traveled with executives to those. So I had a lotof great experiences doing all that.

WALKER: Why did you become president of the MassCommunication Alumni Association?

EMIG-HILL: Well, I was glad I had been asked to join so I couldcontribute something back to the mass comm department, because Ireally felt like it gave me good rooting and basis for me to build mycareer.

Serving as the president was just another way to give a little bitmore back to the department. Although they told me that I didn’thave to do all that much. I just have to get to all the meetings. Andthen they said I would have to write something once a year.

BRUCE: What do you plan to do in your retirement?EMIG-HILL: Just some of the things we want to spend more time

doing like traveling. And I want to get more involved with somecharitable things. We have a foundation that my son started in honorof my late husband Bob and I want to do more work with that. Itook up piano lessons when I was 51 and dropped them and I’d liketo pick that up again. I’m my piano teacher’s oldest student, but Iwant to get back into that.

Just kind of golf and bike and we go to the Lake of the Ozarka lot. I want to go there more and just do a lot of traveling. I likeMajor League Baseball. We have season tickets for the Cardinals.

We want to around go around and visit all the Major LeagueBaseball stadiums in the country. Just stuff like that. Just fun things.

See President, Page 5

President, from Page 4

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Camille F. Emig-Hill

CONGRATULATIONS2007 Department of Mass Communications

Award RecipientsRobert L. Emig Mass Communications Scholarship

Tristan Denyer

Bob Hardy Broadcast Journalism ScholarshipHolly Meyer (2 yr); Zach Groves (1 yr.)

John Rider Graduate Achievement AwardHannah Reinhart

Elmer C. Broz Award for Achievement in JournalismKathy Ferrero

Kamil C. Winter AchievementJamie Kennedy

Judy Landers Creativity in Strategic Media Award –Jane Gallagher & Eric Seiffert

Press Club of St. Louis AwardMatthew Schroyer

Belleville News-Democrat AwardCatherine Klene

St. Louis Newspaper Guild Outstanding Student in JournalismMegan McClure

St. Louis American Outstanding Student in Journalism AwardJulius Richardson

Alumni Achievement AwardPatrick Clark

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Although his main job is as a MassCommunications professor, Dr.Riley Maynard has been in the tel-

evision business for many years doing workin front of the camera.

After graduating from college in WestVirginia, he landed a reporting job in thesame state just two weeks after finishing hisdegree. Throughout the years, he hasworked in several states. While he was atAlabama, he decided that he wanted to startto teach.

After taking a couple of other jobs, heheaded to Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville where he is still teaching stu-dents in the mass communications field.

About 15 years ago, Maynard stumbledinto acting. He did a favor for a friend whohappened to be an agent. Afterward, shewanted to pay Maynard. Upon his refusal,she said that if he would give her picturesand a resume, she would guarantee that hewould get a job.

“She gave me a name of a photogra-pher in town who was very good and mademe look better than I look,” Maynard said.“About a week in a half later, I got a job.”

Ever since, he has had thousands ofparts including modeling, performing, actingand voice work.

One of his more memorable auditionswas for a part as a professor that he did notget.

“I thought I had that one,” Maynardsaid, “but then I saw the commercial andthe guy who got the part looked a lot morelike a professor than I do.”

Maynard joked that the man may havemissed his calling in life.

Many jobs that Maynard did when hewas younger were what he called “coveralljobs.”

“It’s really amazing to me that when Ifirst started, everything I did was basicallymanual labor and I wore coveralls for yearsand I remember thinking, ‘Am I ever goingto wear clothes?’” Maynard said. “And so Iwas a mechanic, I was a farmer, a refineryworker, and then I came out of it and start-ed wearing clothes.”

Maynard’s “clothes” jobs include a doc-tor, lawyer, stockbroker and congressman.He has even had the privilege of being Elvis.

At the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis,Maynard played many characters includingthe King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The LempMansion is a dinner theater restaurant

where he worked as a performer for eightyears. The performance consisted of tellingpatrons there had been a murder, which hadto be solved.

“That was the most fun I’ve ever hadbecause I got to be Elvis,” Maynard said. “Igot to be Sherlock Holmes and I got to beMark Twain. I’ve been Riley for over 50years, I can take being Elvis for a fewhours.”

Maynard said Elvis was one of the mostexciting characters to play during the per-formance because it was so easy to get alaugh from the audience.

“You walked into the room, everybodygets it immediately. It’s funny. What’s he[Elvis] doing here? And I’m a detective.I’m Elvis and I’m going to solve the crime,”Maynard said.

He has also had the honor of present-ing at the St. Louis Emmy Awards.Introduced on stage as a professor andcaught with ‘ad-lib’ on the teleprompter,Maynard walked up to the microphone andsaid, “That’s right. I’ve been a professor atSIUE for 25 years and I recognize a lot ofmy students in the audience tonight.

“In fact, there might be a few out herewho I flunked. I hope there’s no free-float-ing hostility in the room.”

Maynard said he got a chuckle so hepresented the award for audio editing. Heopened the envelope and said the name ofthe winner.

“This guy walks there on stage and he’sbeaming at me, smiling, and just that lookon his face. I knew he knew me. I didn’tknow him,” Maynard said. “He ran up,shook my hand, heartily, and was smiling.He said ‘Good to see you, Riley.’

“And I said, ‘Good to see you.’ Hewalked over to the microphone and said,‘Riley was a teacher of mine at SIUE manyyears ago and he flunked me in BroadcastWriting,’ and that broke up the room.”

Even when he’s flunking them, SIUEstudents seem to have a respect for Maynardthat may be hard to find in any other class-room, but maybe that is because studentsare on the top of Maynard’s priorities, evenwhen he has so much else going on.

“I love talking to students and interact-ing. This is my job. I’m a professor and it’sthe basis of everything I do,” Maynard said.

SIUE graduate and former IllinoisBureau Chief for KSDK-TVChannel 5 News Steve Jankowski

became the SIUE Director of AlumniAffairs, effective Dec. 4.

“I hope to bring what I consider a highlevel of energy to the position,” Jankowskisaid.

Jankowski earned his bachelor’s of sci-ence degree in mass communications in1974 and has been a mainstay in St. Louismedia for more than three decades.

“I have worked for the past 34 years ina business that thrives on pressure and dead-lines,” Jankowski said. “Working in thatenvironment has given me tremendousopportunities to develop my creativity, myability to think on my feet and the empathyneeded to connect with a wide spectrum ofpeople.”

Jankowski also said he is excited aboutwhat is happening at SIUE and wants tomake the SIUE alumni aware of what theyhave been missing.

As the new director of Alumni Affairs,Jankowski will be responsible for developinga strategy to strengthen the relationship withthe more than 70,000-plus SIUE graduates.

Jankowski also will work with the SIUEAlumni Association Board in planning activ-ities involving SIUE alumni, including sup-port for enrollment efforts, fundraising, pro-

gram development opportunities and publicrelations initiatives.

“I also believe this may be time to put a‘new mind set’ in place in the office,”Jankowski said. “By that, I mean where thefocus of the effort rests. I believe it shouldrest on the students ... past and present.”

Jankowski said he hopes to improvecommunication between Alumni Affairs andthe other department offices on the campus.

Before landing an opportunity withKSDK-TV in 1999, Jankowski worked withKMOX Radio from 1995 to ‘99, KMOV-TV from ‘91 to ‘95 and KEZK Radio from‘86 to ‘91.

During his tenure at these media out-lets, Jankowski held a variety of positions,including reporter, show host, news director,program director, on-air talent and bureauchief. Before his time in St. Louis, Jankowskiworked in Arkansas in television and radio.

During the 1980s, Jankowski taughtbroadcast and public speaking courses as anassociate professor at Lewis and ClarkCommunity College. He also supervised theradio program and managed WLCA 89.9-FM, the college’s radio station.

As an SIUE student, Jankowski report-ed news and sports for WSIE 88.7-FM andeventually became the station’s news direc-tor.

Jankowski frequently hosts St. Louis-Metro area events for many organizationsand has lectured in SIUE television produc-tion classes.

“I simply enjoy doing it, and I believeit’s an opportunity to give back to the com-

munity,” Jankowski said. “It provides me anopportunity to share insights I have gained,and hopefully enable people to laugh,understand and see things a little more dif-ferently.”

A version of this story was originally publishedin The Alestle on Nov. 16, 2006.

Jankowski new SIUE alumni directorStory byNicholas Johnson

Story bySara Braddock

The ManyFacesof RileyMaynard

Steve Jankowski

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Professor Riley Maynard has taken on many personali-ties, including (clockwise from top right) Mark Twain,Elvis, a nightclub crooner, a prison inmate, a dead manand an adoptive father.

38th Annual Alumni Mass Communications EventA fun networking opportunity for Mass Communications alumni

that also includes student and alumni award and scholarship recipients

DATE: April 20, 2007 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.LOCATION: Anheuser-Busch, 12th & Lynch Streets, St. Louis, MO 63118. DIRECTIONS from Illinois: Take I-55 to the Arsenal Street exit. Follow the signs for the

Anheuser-Busch brewery tour.

For more information, see our website http://www.siue.edu/MASSCOMM/or contact Barbara Randle in the Department of Mass Communications at 618/650-2230

He travels throughout the coun-try, searching. Ever watchful,he remains alert. His mission?

To find the most unique people, plantsand places.Patrick Clark is the host of the show

“Offbeat America” on HGTV. He hasbeen working with the show for two years. “It is the perfect job,” said Clark, a

1994 graduate of the SIUE MassCommunications department. “I findinteresting people with offbeat houses,gardens and even one man who madesculptures out of horse manure.”

Another aspect that makes the show appealing to Clark isthe people. He said he likes the commonality that all the ofthe people on the show share. Each one was told their ideawas crazy and would not work; however, they did it anyway.Clark said they “followed their gut instinct” and their ideasusually worked.

Even after all his travels, one episode sticks out in Clark’smind. The episode was about John Ivers from Bruceville, Ind.

“He built a rollercoaster in his backyard,” Clark said.The seat for the coaster came from an old Pontiac. A

bicycle chain was used to catch the coaster after it completedone full loop. Its speed was 20 mph.

“I asked him how he knew that for sure,” Clark said.“He told me he had a buddy that was a state trooper and thathe brought over a radar gun [to test the speed].”

After a brief two-year run, the show is not being pickedup again for another season. However, Clark is currentlypiloting another travel show. He is also preparing to shoot afood show.

Clark is used to the ups and downs of the televisionindustry. He has worked as a reporter and field producer forKDNL-TV in St. Louis. Later, he moved to the St. Louis WBnetwork, KPLR-TV, where he worked for six and a half years.

Brian Ledford, a news photographer/editor at KPLR andan instructor in the SIUE Mass Communications Department,first worked with Clark in 1998 and calls him “extremely tal-ented in many different capacities.”

They were often paired together to work on stories withClark being the reporter and Ledford being the photographer.Together, they have had many adventures. They have metfamous athletes as well as entertainers.

“There was this one time in Memphis, in a poor attemptat professional wrestling, where I snapped-suplexed him on a

hotel bed and almost broke it,” Ledford said.He also said he enjoyed watching Clark’s “Offbeat

America” show. “My favorite episode was the first one,” Ledford said.

“Not so much because of the content, but because I knew alocal boy had made [it] good.”

Before working with HGTV, he hosted a show calledG4tech. For his work with the show, he won an Emmy Awardand a Telly Award.

However, there is more to Clark than just his reporting.He has also recorded two albums and is working on his third.Clark describes his music as being of the pop genre. On thealbums, he plays the piano, guitar and harmonica.

What has helped to make Clark so successful? He creditshis education from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

“You get so much hands-on experience,” Clark said.He said he liked the radio and television production class-

es the most. Clark also said he enjoyed getting to try newthings from directing to creating graphics to producing hisown audio.

Clark said other than just great classes, SIUE has greatprofessors.

“Half of it is the great people there like Judy Landers andPatrick Murphy, just to name a few,” Clark said.

He has advice for those who desire to follow in his foot-steps. Clark recommends that students should work at WSIE,the school’s radio station, or on the public access show inorder to gain experience.

“Show initiative and be passionate if you want to make aliving in it [the print and broadcast industry],” Clark said.

OFFBEAT

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at HOMEPatrick Clark hits his strideexploring the quirky side

of America on Home and Garden TV

Story ByLauren Kramer

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2005

Clark is hired tohost “OffbeatAmerica” onHGTV

2001

Clark releases his second album, “American Maid”

1998

Clark releaseshis first popalbum, “Nonethe Worse forthe Better”

1996

Clark is hired by St. Louis television stationKPLR WB 11

Patrick Clark was named the recipient of the 2007 SIUE Mass Communications Alumni Achievement award and master of ceremonies of thedepartment’s 2007 Alumni Week awards reception.

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After a one-year hiatus, SouthernIllinois University Edwardsville’sGlobal Village is back.

“It’s been tough getting our audienceback,” SIUE Global Village executive pro-ducer Ralph Donald, Ph.D., said. “We’rejust now starting to get feedback that folksare tuning in.”

The student-produced 30-minute week-ly magazine has been on air for six years.Last year the show was not produced due toDonald’s and SIUE Professor RileyMaynard’s sabbatical leaves.

Donald created the show to give televi-sion students an outlet for their work. At thetime, print journalists could write for TheAlestle, and radio students could work atWSIE-FM. He wanted to offer the sameopportunity to television students.

“It’s amazing how much better studentwork becomes when they know that sloppywork or mistakes could be seen by a poten-tial audience of two million people,” Donaldsaid.

The show has two hosts who vary eachsemester and are selected early each semes-ter through an open audition process. Thehosts interview two different guests at thebeginning and end of each show.

There are numerous reporters eachweek from the SIUE mass communicationsadvanced broadcasting class. If people are

not enrolled in the course, they can volun-teer to be a reporter for the show.

SIUE graduate student Holly Koofer isthe Global Village producer and in chargeof the students that shoot, edit, and produceone-minute to one-minute and thirty secondnews packages dealing with SIUE, commu-nity life and St. Louis that are featuredthroughout the show.

Koofer said the show does not rely onadvertisers, giving the students more creativefreedom.

“It’s interesting, timely, and creative,”Donald said.

The students attend weekly staff meet-ings where they pitch their story ideas.

Once their ideas are approved, theybegin shooting.

“I am constantly on the lookout forinteresting stories and guests for the show,”Koofer said. “I am in charge of finding theguests.”

Donald and Koofer have high standardsfor the students’ work.

“Our policy is that if a piece is not well-produced, Holly and I reject it, and the stu-dent producer must improve or re-shoot thepiece to our satisfaction,” Donald said.

“That way they learnwhat’s professionallyacceptable, and what’snot. This raises thebar on quality.”

According toDonald, students who work for the showhave an advantage over others.

“It gives them more good tape to edittogether into a resume tape,” Donald said.“This helps them get their collective foot inthe door for the best internships and entry-level jobs.”

He said students from the program aremore experienced and have more confidencethan graduates from other schools.

The program can be viewed on everycable television system in St. Louis city andcounty on the Higher Education Channel.SIUE students living in the dorms andCougar Village can watch it on SIUE-96,and Charter carries the show in the MetroEast.

Story ByJanelle Dobson

(Top) Students film and host the Global Village weekly magazine show. (Above left)Students also run the control boards during taping. (Above right) Dr. Ralph Donaldcritiques the show in class each week after the taping. (Right) Students listen toDonald’s critiques and apply the lessons to future tapings.

GlobalVillagereturns fromsabbaticalStudent-producedprogram reaches

St. Louis metro area“Hurtful and harmful stereotypes donot exist in a vacuum. Continuouslyrepeated, they denigrate peoples, nar-row our vision and blur reality.”

-Dr. Jack Shaheen

Emeritus Mass Communications profes-sor Dr. Jack Shaheen has dedicated much ofhis academic study to diminishing negativestereotyping of Middle Eastern and othercultures by the American entertainmentindustry.

As an international scholar, he hasrecently released the documentary “ReelBad Arabs – How Hollywood Vilifies aPeople” on DVD. This documentary focuseson the repeated negative portrayal peoplefrom the Middle East receive in movie roles.

Middle Easterners have roles in filmsthat show them as being anything other thangood, a people who should be feared andwatched carefully, devoid of feeling, thuscausing misguided and warped opinions ofthem.

Shaheen would rather see Hollywoodtake an active role “in promoting peace inthe Middle East by producing motion pic-tures that illuminate, rather than denigrate,a people, and that highlight similaritiesrather than differences among people of dif-ferent cultures and race,” according to pub-licity materials used to promote his manyspeaking engagements.

The author and media critic discoveredthese stereotypes by studying more than 900films including blockbuster hits such as “TheMummy” and even the Disney movie“Aladdin.”

By studying these various films,Shaheen discovered how people from the

Middle East are constantly viewed as being“bad guys” or “terrorists.”

Not only are Arabs constantly viewed asbad, but their behavior is constantly por-trayed in the entertainment media in waysthat alienate mainstream America.

“You never see Arab families,” Shaheensaid in a television interview. “You never seepeople who look and act and behave likeother people.”

Shaheen also criticizes how the mediatends to portray people from other culturesincluding African-Americans, Latinos andAsians, but he emphasizes how much of thediscrimination to those cultures has shifted.

Unfortunately, it was more than twodecades ago when Shaheen wrote in an arti-cle for “Americans For Middle EastUnderstanding” that, “Only the Arab hasbeen excluded from television and culturalreorientation.” His work today demonstratesthat the trend continues.

Shaheen shows how these portrayals ofdifferent people substantially influence opin-ions and does not allow room for open-mindedness. Through studying, writing andgiving lectures, Shaheen continues toattempt to shape the world in a differentway.

The documentary is based on his 2001book “Reel Bad Arabs – How HollywoodVilifies a People.” Shaheen has publishedmany books throughout his lifetime includ-ing hundreds of various writings for publica-tions such as The Wall Street Journal, TheWashington Post and Newsweek.

Some of his more popular publicationsinclude “Arab and Muslim Stereotyping inAmerican Culture,” “Arabiaphobia inAmerica,” “The Influence of the ArabStereotype on Children,” “The TV Arab”and “Nuclear War Films.”

His work led to more than 1,000 lec-tures in nearly all 50 states and four conti-nent, including a visit to SIUE during thisspring’s Mass Communications Week for a

showing and discussion of his documentary. He has appeared on talk shows such as

“48 Hours,” “The Today Show” and “GoodMorning America” and was also a CBSnews consultant on Middle Eastern Affairs.

Shaheen has received numerousawards, including two Fulbright teachingawards, for the contributions he has made tothe study of Middle Eastern stereotypes.

Shaheen continues to travel the worldin hopes of reversing the negative roles andstereotypes of Middle Eastern people creat-ed by Western media.

‘Reel Bad Arabs’real eye-opener

Story ByJessica Miller

Emeritus professor debunks Arab Stereotypes

Dr. Jack Shaheen, an emeritus professor at SIUE, pro-duced the documentary ‘Reel Bad Arabs’ based on hisbook of the same name.

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Bill Brinson/SIUE Photographic Services

Bill Brinson/SIUE Photographic Services Andy Rathnow/The Alestle

Andy Rathnow/The Alestle

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Story By Aaron Sudholt

Most video editing is done incramped rooms with high-pow-ered workstations, staring at the

computer screen trying to figure out whatframe needs to go where, when the scenelooks best and making sure the audio andvideo synchronize properly.

Ramey Elliot, owner and founder ofAbacus Group of St. Louis Ltd and aSouthern Illinois University Edwardsvillegraduate of the class of 1972, had to dosomething unconventional when a law firmdefending the manufacturer of heating cablefor the cement in multi-million dollar homesasked that Abacus make a video showinghow the opposition’s demands were unrea-sonable.

“(The plaintiff ’s) solution was to rein-stall these cables,” Elliot said. “Some ofthese houses were itty-bitty. Others weresubstantial houses in the millions of dollars.”

Tearing out the concrete in all of thehouses down to the foundation to replacecables worth less than $1,000 apiece wouldbe an expensive venture. His clients askedhim to show the court just how expensive itwould be to replace the cable in each of thehouses in the class-action lawsuit.

“I heard numbers bantered around inthe $600 million range,” Elliot said.

Elliot and his crew had to work hun-dreds of miles away from their home base inSt. Louis at the site of the other home inMinnesota. Though there would be hugequantities of data to process, Elliot had tofind a way to do his editing on the go. Heanswered that question the same way mostpeople who work on the go do and bought alaptop.

A Sager Notebook Computers 9860laptop was used with a Pentium 4 3.8 giga-hertz processor with two 60 gigabyte inter-nal hard drives and 4 gigabytes of RAM. Aseries of Maxtor 300 gigabyte external hard

drives daisy-chained together were used forstorage.

The goal was to make parts easy toreplace, and the crew often went to Best Buyfor additional components.

“I’d go in and I’d say, ‘I need a drive, Ineed 10 drives,’” Elliot said.

The team combined their mobile com-puting power with a copy of Premiere Prorunning on Windows XP Home Edition.

“We had to invent all this stuff alongthe way,” Elliot said. “How to edit on loca-tion, how to buy storage material whilewe’re on location, what kind of video are wefeeding this? How’re we going to archive it,how’re we going to backup all these materi-als? If something should go wrong, how arewe going to keep going?”

Four terrabytes of external hard driveswere used overall to store the footage, withanother four terrabytes of external hard-drives filled with copies of the footage forbackup.

“We accepted this assignment from alaw firm in St. Louis two years ago,” saidproject producer John Moorman, a formerSIUE professor and founder of Cyesis,which helped Abacus Group. “We thoughtit’d be a two-week assignment. It turned outit was an eight-month process.”

The crew took turns recording the con-struction as it took place. Lighting was set-up on site, along with four cameras eachcapturing video that was immediatelyrecorded to their portable hard-drives.

Elliot himself would then edit all thevideo on the scene or in the client’s offices.He had to continually send DVD copies ofthe movie back to St. Louis and to the otherlegal teams on the defense, and VHS tapeswere sent to the plaintiffs as part of the legaldisclosure agreement.

“We didn’t know what their capabilitieswere. We sent a hundred VHSs,” Elliot said.

Elliot founded the Abacus Group in1971.

“We’re the oldest continuous video pro-duction company in the St. Louis metropoli-tan area, as far as I know,” Elliot said.

The Alestle at Southern IllinoisUniversity Edwardsville has under-gone many changes this year.

Perhaps the most significant is the additionof the new adviser, Lance Speere.

Speere was the adviser to the studentnewspaper at SIU Carbondale for the pastdecade but came to Edwardsville after theprevious adviser, Mike Montgomery, retired.

Speere says there are some differencesbetween the two newspapers, but he hashigh hopes for the future of The Alestle.

“The paper at SIUC was a daily news-paper with a much bigger circulation, biggerstaff, and bigger operating budget, andthere was also more structure to the dailyoperation,” Speere said. “But I would likefor The Alestle to eventually be seen as adaily publication through it’s website, with atwice-a -week print edition.”

As an added responsibility, Speere isalso the president of College Media AdvisersInc. Started in 1954, this organization wasdesigned to help student journalists andtheir faculty advisers with issues related tonewspapers, yearbooks and other media out-lets. CMA represents about 900 collegemedia advisers around the country andsponsors two major national conventionsand several smaller workshops each year.

As for SIUE, Speere has seen only posi-tive changes in the staff and operations thatgo on at the newspaper.

“We have hired more reporters andassigned them to specific beats, and we havealso put more emphasis on the website, “Speere said.

With almost everyone having access toa computer these days, the switch to digitalnews in an obvious next step. It allows stu-dents a more updated look at what is goingon not only on campus but also around theworld.

“The Internet allows the staff to pub-

lish news as soon as it happens,” Speeresaid. “We can also put more content on thewebsite, including sideshows, video and pod-casts.”

Even though the expansion of the web-site is important, Speere knows the focus ofthe newspaper is still to put out the bestprint edition it possibly can.

As a result of this focus, The Alestlewon an award at the National CollegeMedia Convention in October. This con-vention, sponsored by the AssociatedCollegiate Press and CMA, is the largestgathering in the United States for collegejournalists and this year was visited by morethan 2,500 students and advisers.

The Alestle staff entered their 2006Back to School Survival Guide and won aBest of Show honorable mention in the cat-egory of Special Publications, competingagainst all newspapers at 4-year colleges anduniversities. First, second and third-placeawards were handed out, with The Alestle

receiving the only Honorable Mention.“I like to tell people we essentially had

the fourth-best special publication in thenation. No matter how you spin it, I’mproud of the students for the work they putinto that issue and it is nice for them toreceive some national recognition.”

With all the new activity that has beengoing on at the newspaper, Speere says thatright now is a great time to work for TheAlestle, and students can gain valuable expe-rience from writing for the publication.

“They should be able to learn to thinkquickly and critically about evaluating waysto report and tell news stories to a massaudience as fairly, accurately, completely andindependently as possible,” Speere said.“They need to experience the daily deadlinepressures that exist in professional mediaoperations.”

New adviserbrings newvision toThe AlestleStory byKatherine Jung

Alum’s video invention aids law firm’s defense

MMCC MMCC

Ramey Elliot findsway to simplifyfield editing

DR. DONNA HALE worked sixweeks last summer as a reporter for theIndianapolis Star.

She was one of 20 professors nation-wide who received fellowships from theAmerican Society of Newspaper EditorsInstitute for Journalism Excellence. Therecipients were placed in various newspa-pers throughout the United States.

The main objective of the programwas to update the professor’s newspaperexperience and to help news professionalsunderstand journalism education.

Hale had 16 stories published, bothin print and on the Indystar.com website.She worked with the wire editor to local-ize national wire stories and make themrelevant to Indianapolis area readers.

She wrote stories about theDiscovery space flight based on interviewswith astronaut David Wolf, anIndianapolis native. She wrote three cen-terpiece stories for the Faith and Valuespage, and made the front page with astory about a newlywed couple fromIndianapolis who were evacuated fromLebanon on the U.S.S. Nashville whenthe war started.

In the past year, DR. KIMBERLYWILMOT VOSS has received researchgrants from the University of Michiganand Texas Woman’s University. She hashad refereed articles published inJournalism History, Media HistoryMonographs, the Southwest HistoricalQuarterly and the Florida HistoricalQuarterly.

She currently has a book contractwith the University Press of Florida toexamine women’s page editors in thepost-World War II era.

DR. ELZA IBROSCHEVA wasawarded a Democracy, Globalization andCulture fellowship to attend a two-weekpost-doc program, “Culture as Resource:Culture and Democracy in the GlobalSystem,” at Central European Universityin Budapest, Hungary, in July 2006. Theprogram.

In the past year, she had a refereedpublication accepted for the GlobalMedia Journal and a chapter accepted forpublication in the forthcoming book“Globalization and MediaTransformation in New and EmergingDemocracies.”

Faculty News and Notes

Steve Berry/The Alestle

At one of the paper’s Friday all-staff meetings, Lance Speere, the new Alestle adviser, praises the student staff forawards won in the Illinois College Press Association competition in February. The Alestle won 11 awards, includingfirst place for Sports Page Design and first place for Feature Photo.

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Edwardsville, ILDepartment of Mass Communications1031 Katherine Dunham Hall, Box 1775Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville, IL 62026-1775