Congratulations to MSU School of Journalism students!

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All of the editors and writers who are part of our publishing house have a special commitment to help students learn the best practices in journalism—writing with accuracy, fairness and balance about our ever-changing world. So, we are thrilled that the team at the Michigan State University School of Journalism has just won a 2016 Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications in the Student category.

The MSU journalism team won for 100 Questions and Answers about Veterans. If you want a copy right now, click over to Amazon to order this very helpful book. The book currently has 8 Amazon reviews, averaging 4.8 out of 5 stars.

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WHY THE CLARION MATTERS

Why is this honor so important? The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) has deep roots in supporting the interests of students, diversity in media and U.S. veterans as well.

The organization traces its roots to a 1909 student group within the University of Washington’s pioneering journalism program that highlighted the work of women as reporters and editors. For more than a century, members of the organization have understood that improving the quality of journalism begins by working closely with students—and promoting the empowerment of minorities.

Back then, of course, women were a tiny minority in America’s newsrooms. The AWC credits First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for helping its members to break barriers among senior correspondents. According to the George Washington University biographical project on Eleanor Roosevelt:

She decided to hold press conferences—covered by women reporters only—to keep information before women voters and to urge that women speak their minds on politics, policy, and their individual hopes and dreams. ER believed this so strongly that she titled the first book she published while First Lady “It’s Up To The Women.”

As a result of her women-only policy at press conferences, more news organizations were forced to give women White House assignments.

What about veterans? The AWC proudly lists involvement in a number of efforts that focused on men and women in military service during World War I, World War II and later in the Korean War. During the first war, several women served as foreign correspondents.

During the WWII era, the AWC reports that women in journalism …

joined in the war effort by becoming WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Service. Several other members served as overseas correspondents. Margaret Bourke-White, Life magazine photo-journalist, became the first female correspondent accredited to the Army Air Force. Chapters in the US kept busy aiding the war effort by organizing themselves into emergency units under the Director of Civilian Defense. Others established news bureaus at USO clubs to send stories on servicemen to hometown papers.

After the war, they also helped hospitalized veterans who hoped to write their stories and needed professional assistance. That effort extended into the era of the Korean conflict. The AWC reports that, during that era:

Marguerite Higgins of the New York Herald Tribune was the Tokyo bureau chief and was the only female reporter to witness the North Korean invasion. May Craig, who had witnessed the Normandy landings and flown in the Berlin airlift, was also in Korea, traveling by jets launched from carriers. Also at this time, Margaret Bourke-White’s photos of Korean guerrilla fighters appeared in Life magazine.

Congratulations MSU School of Journalism students!

Care to get a copy of their book? Jump to Amazon now.

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