Author: Belinda Clarke

Medill announces John M. Mutz Chair in Local News

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date December 2, 2020
No Comments on Medill announces John M. Mutz Chair in Local News

A newly endowed chair will study and support innovation in local news at Medill thanks to a gift from Medill alumnus John M. Mutz (BSJ57, MSJ58).

The John M. Mutz Chair in Local News will focus on local news sustainability. It will advance the aims of Medill’s Local News Initiative, an innovative research and development project aimed at providing greater understanding of how digital audiences engage with local news and finding new approaches to bolster local news business models.

“Local news is vital to our democracy and an empowered citizenry,” said Medill Dean Charles Whitaker. “As the media industry has transformed, local news outlets face unprecedented challenges. We are deeply grateful for John’s visionary generosity, which helped Medill launch the Local News Initiative and will now cement our place as a leader in addressing the crisis facing local news.”

Mutz’s $2 million gift to create the local news chair counts toward We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern, raising his total giving to Northwestern to over $2.3 million. The chair was supported in part by alumni Patrick G. ’59, ’09 H and Shirley W. Ryan ’61, ’19 H (’97, ’00 P) through the Ryan Family Chair Challenge, which matches gifts made by other Northwestern supporters to establish new endowed professorships, or chairs, across a wide range of disciplines. In 2017, Mutz’s commitment of $250,000 to the Local News Initiative was instrumental to the program’s launch. He also is a member of the Henry and Emma Rogers Society, which recognizes those who have included Northwestern in their estate plans.

Mutz earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Medill in 1957 and 1958. He also participated in the Medill Cherubs program for high school journalism students in the summer of 1952. Mutz’s daughter, Diana, is a 1984 graduate of the School of Communication, and his son, Mark, graduated from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in 1983. Two of Mutz’s grandchildren are also Northwestern alumni: Fletcher, who graduated from Weinberg College in 2017, and Maria, who graduated with a joint degree from the McCormick School of Engineering and Bienen School of Music in 2020.

Mutz is a business leader and politician who served as lieutenant governor of Indiana, Republican candidate for governor and president of Lilly Endowment Inc., one of the world’s largest private foundations. Mutz also served as president of PSI Energy, Indiana’s largest utility (now Duke Energy).

“My political experience has dramatically shown me how important reliable local news sources are to local governments and economies,” Mutz said. “Without it we may lose our democratic society and that would be a tragedy.”

Medill Senior Associate Dean and Professor Tim Franklin is the inaugural holder of the John M. Mutz Chair. Franklin is the leader of Medill’s Local News Initiative.

Franklin joined Medill’s faculty in 2017 after serving as president of The Poynter Institute, a leading international school for journalists and a media think tank. Before that, he had a distinguished career in journalism serving as top editor of three metropolitan newspapers, The Indianapolis Star, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun. His newsrooms won numerous national journalism awards, and The Sun was a Pulitzer Prize finalist during his tenure. Before joining Poynter in 2014, Franklin was a managing editor in the Washington bureau of Bloomberg News, helping oversee coverage of the White House, Congress, Supreme Court and many federal agencies. He also had a 17-year-career as a reporter and editor at the Chicago Tribune.

“I’m honored to serve as the inaugural Mutz Chair,” Franklin said. “John knows from first-hand experience during his political and business career about the importance of local news in our democracy. He’s passionate about the need for robust local news in our society, and he’s also passionate about Medill. With John’s generous gift, Medill will continue to be a national leader for years to come in developing partnerships, programs and new tools to help local news organizations and the communities they serve.”

Medill’s Local News Initiative began its work in 2018 in partnership with Medill’s Spiegel Research Center by analyzing 13 terabytes of reader and subscriber data from the Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Star and San Francisco Chronicle to gain insights into online reader behavior. Medill now has conducted data-mining research in more than 20 local news markets. Next year, the school expects to roll out a new tool, the Medill Subscriber Engagement Index, which was awarded a Google Innovation Challenge grant. These findings, coupled with additional research and product development by Medill’s Knight Lab, are providing actionable guidance to media leaders about news and information consumers will pay for and how to grow reader revenue.

The funds raised through the “We Will” Campaign are helping realize the transformational vision set forth in Northwestern’s strategic plan and solidifying the University’s position among the world’s leading research universities. More information on We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern is available at the We Will website.

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Two Major Industry Players Join Medill’s New Subscriber Index

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date December 7, 2020
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By Mark Jacob

Two major news industry organizations, McClatchy and Mather Economics, have signed on to the new Medill Subscriber Engagement Index, a tool designed to give local news outlets more actionable intelligence on their readers than ever before.

McClatchy, one of the nation’s largest local news chains, is providing data from its 30 local outlets, including such well-known outlets as the Miami Herald, Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star and Sacramento Bee, according to Shannan Bowen, McClatchy’s Director of Product Engagement.

Mather Economics, which manages subscriber information for many of the world’s top news outlets, “is in the process of getting many of its 500-plus North American newspaper clients to participate in the index,” said Mather President Matt Lindsay.

The subscriber engagement index, developed by Northwestern University’s Medill Spiegel Research Center, will allow participants to better understand which aspects of their online content are boosting the acquisition and retention of subscribers and which are leading to dropped subscriptions. This is vital intelligence at a time when local outlets are shifting from reliance on advertising dollars to a greater emphasis on reader revenue.

The index, expected to be ready in early 2021, will allow newsrooms to measure their performance against other news outlets participating in the index, highlighting best practices. And it will offer a groundbreaking feature: a ‘What-If” tool that will use current data to forecast how specific strategic actions would affect a news organization’s financial bottom line.

“Our goal was to make the Medill Index a go-to place where local news organizations could measure and benchmark their performance in growing reader revenue,” said Tim Franklin, who is Senior Associate Dean and John M. Mutz Chair in Local News at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. “Our partnerships with Mather Economics and McClatchy will help make the Medill Index a unique, robust, indispensable tool for many local news outlets who will now have unparalleled insights into the behaviors of their paying readers. Eventually, we hope to have hundreds of local news organizations be part of the Index.

The index is part of Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative, a project headed by Franklin that promotes financial sustainability for local journalism in challenging times. Development of the index is being funded by a grant from the Google Innovation Challenge program.

Jonathan Copulsky, Spiegel’s Executive Director, said the research center was thrilled to partner with McClatchy and Mather.

“McClatchy is a leading publisher of local news in this country,” Copulsky said. “Mather is well regarded in the industry. They’ve got relationships with a number of publishers. They’ve got a commercial engine for data gathering and data ingestion, organization and reporting.”

Shannan Bowen, Director of Product Engagement at McClatchy.

McClatchy’s Bowen is especially upbeat about the ability to do benchmarking with other media companies and share best practices.

“We’re drawn to this tool because it’s going to help us learn from other news companies participating in the index,” Bowen said. “… And we’re also excited about trying a tool that anyone in our company can use, from journalists or marketing teams or product teams. All of our different groups are aligned with our mission to grow digital subscriptions and reduce churn.”

“Our editors [are] asking about when they might be able to get their hands on it,” she said. “They’re really excited. I’m excited about what I’ve seen about the user interface. It seems really easy to use.”

Mather’s Lindsay said his firm’s clients include Gannett and MediaNews Group, two of the nation’s largest local news publishers. While talks with clients about data sharing are ongoing, Mather is bringing more than just data, Lindsay said. Mather also is offering analytical expertise that could make Medill’s What-If tool even more effective.

Matt Lindsay, President of Mather Economics.

“We provide a lot of predictive analytics and A-B testing of recommended tactics, so we can say here’s what we believe will happen if you market this type of subscription offer or you have this type of retention campaign,” Lindsay said. “And then we validate our forecasts with A-B testing. With Medill and its really smart people, we can form hypotheses about reader reactions to content and test those hypotheses with A-B testing. We can help our clients implement those tests and then observe the results. It would be great if we could facilitate sharing in terms of, ‘Here’s some great innovation that we’ve discovered in this part of the industry.’ And we could anonymize those test results and insights and share them with the rest of the industry.”

Copulsky said Spiegel is open to collaborating with other partners as well. His email address is jonathan.copulsky@northwestern.edu.

Article image: Data Mining Vectors by Vecteezy

Home My Medill Story

Washington Post reporter Fenit Nirappil (BSJ12) talks undergrad, branching out

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date December 16, 2020
No Comments on Washington Post reporter Fenit Nirappil (BSJ12) talks undergrad, branching out

The Medill graduate is now a D.C. city hall reporter for The Washington Post, where he has reported on Black Lives Matter protests and local politics.

By Alex Perry (BSJ24)

Washington Post city hall reporter Fenit Nirappil entered Northwestern with an affinity for writing and left with an interdisciplinary experience that set him up for success.

After graduating, Nirappil interned at the Associated Press’ San Francisco Bureau. After a short stint at The Oregonian, he returned to the Associated Press. He then completed the American University and The Washington Post’s master’s program, where he interned at the Post while getting his master’s in journalism and public affairs.

Now a D.C. city hall reporter for the Post, Nirappil has reported on Black Lives Matter protests and local politics.

While at Medill, Nirappil balanced law and journalism, competing on the mock trial team and writing for “The Protest,” an independent run student publication. During his senior year, he planned on taking the LSAT during Spring Quarter and found an internship for post-graduation.

“I was very deliberate in not doing The Daily while I was at Northwestern,” Nirappil said. “I’m a big believer that your extracurriculars should be outside of your main curriculum.”

Nirappil recalled enterprise reporting in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago during his sophomore year and his ability to report on environments like lesbian bars and wild animal expositions through the projects offered. During his junior year, he participated in the South Africa Journalism Residency program and the Medill Innocence Project.

Medill Prof. Douglas Foster, a faculty advisor for the South Africa program, remembered Nirappil as a humble student who was always open to learning from his peers and the communities he reported on.

“There’s a kind of quality of soft-spoken earnestness,” Foster said. “From the beginning, he was serious about the limitations of journalism and the possibilities in journalism.”

Foster also recalled Nirappil’s tendency to support his classmates instead of competing with them. To Foster, Nirappil was a team builder. When a classmate scooped Nirappil, he would “learn something from it” and apply it to his next piece.

Former classmate Sarah Eberspacher (Medill ‘12) said Nirappil was authentically friendly and open to reaching out to classmates outside of Medill. Eberspacher has known Nirappil since they lived on the same floor of 1835 Hinman and remembers thinking of him as a sociable and confident person.

“I think he takes a lot of pleasure in surrounding himself with a variety of people and learning different perspectives,” Eberspacher said.

This article was originally published in the Daily Northwestern on Nov. 19.

Email: alexperry20@u.northwestern.edu
Twitter: @WhoIsAlexPerry

Graphic by Angeli Mittal

Books

In Power to Empower

Afroze Ali (IMC15)

What makes a great leader?

Three out of four employees report that poor leadership is the most stressful part of their job. Poor leadership can lead to high turnover, low productivity, and a stressful work environment. In Power to Empower provides future leaders the tools they need to realize their full potential. In this book, you’ll discover:

* Your self — who you are now, as a result of your experiences
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* Your people — prioritizing the humans in your life
* Your strategic game plan — being intentional with the big picture in mind
* Your fearlessness — not letting fear stop you from being or bringing change

In Power to Empower aims to inspire the next generation of leaders to be their best. Everyone is a leader, some just don’t know it yet!

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The Caesars Palace Coup

Max Frumes (MSJ10)

The Caesars Palace Coup recounts the brawl for the storied casino giant, Caesars Entertainment, over the course of its 2015 bankruptcy. This narrative non-fiction thriller on the most brutal corporate restructuring in Wall Street history pits brilliant and ruthless private equity legends against the most relentless hedge fund wizards in the world. Medill alum Max Frumes (MSJ ’10), a pioneering B2B financial journalist, brings to light the tactics of distressed debt investors who wrestle over the debt issued struggling corporate giants with billions of dollars hanging in the balance.

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The U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Post author By Belinda Clarke
Post date January 7, 2021
No Comments on The U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Cover of "Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail" by Deborah D. Douglas.

Deborah Douglas (BSJ89)

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail offers a vivid glimpse into the story of Black America’s fight for freedom. From witnessing eye-opening landmarks to celebrating triumph over adversity, experience a tangible piece of history with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

Flexible Itineraries: Travel the entire trail through the South, or take shorter trips with chapters on Charleston, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Washington DC, and more places that were significant to the Civil Rights Movement

Historic Civil Rights Sites: Learn about Dr. King’s legacy at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, be transformed at the small but mighty Emmett Till Intrepid Center, and stand tall with Little Rock Nine at their memorial in Arkansas

The Culture of the Movement: Get to know the voices, stories, music, and flavors that shape and celebrate Black America both then and now

Voices of the Movement: Features activists who were there, such as Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, James Meredith, JoAnne Bland, Rev. Calvin Woods, several Freedom Riders and Children’s Crusade participants.

Expert Insight: Award-winning journalist Deborah D. Douglas offers her valuable perspective and knowledge, as well as suggestions for engaging with local communities by patronizing Black-owned businesses and seeking out activist groups

Travel Tools: Find tips on where to stay, where to eat, the best local nightlife, and more, plus driving directions for exploring the sites on a road trip, with full-color photos and maps throughout

Detailed coverage of: Charleston, Atlanta, Selma to Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Durham, Virginia, and Washington DC
Foreword by Bree Newsome Bass: activist, filmmaker, and artist

Journey through history, understand struggles past and present, and get inspired to create a better future with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

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Deadline

Branden Hampton (MSJ16)

Deadline is a story about a relentless black journalist that struggles through the world’s top journalism school in the midst of racism, politics and corruption in Chicago.

Rudee Brown is a film school reject from Atlanta and graduate journalism student at the fictitious Murphy College Cronkite School of Journalism in Chicago. More than anything in the world, Rudee wants to make his deceased father proud by becoming a journalist.

However, he struggles to balance his father’s wants with his own goals of becoming a successful filmmaker and musician all while struggling through the first quarter of graduate school in Chicago.

2010s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Jenna Bourne (BSJ11)

Jenna Bourne won two 2020 Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards, in the categories of “Talent – News – Specialty Assignment” and “Politics/Government – News.” This marks the second year in a row she’s won an Emmy in the “Politics/Government – News” category. Jenna is an investigative reporter at 10 Tampa Bay. She hosts, produces, shoots and edits investigative series “What’s Brewing?” on YouTube channel The Deeper Dive.

1990s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Clara Morris (MSJ94)

The coronavirus crisis gets personal with the recently completed COVID-19 Writers Project (C19WP), a multimedia archive by Medill graduate Clara Zawadi Morris.

The COVID-19 Writers Project is a nod to the Federal Writers Project (FWP) conceived by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that produced the Slave Narrative Collection. These first-person narratives are archived in the U.S. Library of Congress and are considered some of the most important historical records to date.

Similarly, C19WP is a hyperlocal examination of the pandemic through first-person narratives (10 videos, and 10 written and photos essays) from inside one of the virus’s early hotspots – Brooklyn, NYC. The COVID-19 Writers project was supported by The National Geographic Society’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists, ThePulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and The American Medical Association. From the formerly incarcerated, to the struggling college student to the emergency room doctor, these first-person narratives offer an inside view of the pandemic’s diverse impact on America’s everyday citizens, ultimately helping to answer: What is the crisis telling us about who we are as a society today?

1990s Class Notes Featured Class Notes

Gina Mehmert (BSJ93)

A career marketing leader, Gina Mehmert recently joined the team at Kheiron Medical – a tech startup committed to transforming cancer diagnostics through the power of deep learning – as Vice President of Global Commercial Marketing.

Gina will lead the global launch of the company’s first commercially available product, Mia – a breakthrough AI-enabled solution for breast screening that gives every woman, everywhere a better fighting chance against breast cancer.

“The Kheiron team is filled with incredibly smart, talented, driven people,” Gina said. “The culture here is one of passion and collaboration – and I’m thrilled to bring my marketing superpowers to the team.”

Prior to joining Kheiron, Gina held a variety of senior marketing positions with brand leaders such as GE Healthcare, HP, and Poly. After Medill she received her MBA from the University of Bristol in the U.K.

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