Diamond has spent about 30 years studying, teaching, or otherwise working for our university. His undergraduate studies were in journalism, and he got his graduate degree in speech and communication here at UMaine as well.

In the past, Diamond has worked for newspapers and for state legislature, and he had his own program on MPBN. He has continually been involved with teaching at UMaine and with UMS public affairs. Diamond has been in his current position for seven years. “I really like that you’re in a position to make a difference,” he said.

External Affairs does many different things for the system. The major roles involve handling payroll, IT, human resources, publications, and promotions. Diamond’s main responsibility is to ensure clear and benficial communication with opinion-leaders and policy-makers. He stressed the importance of asking tough questions and being accountable in public relations. Diamond said, “you should always tell the truth and hope you get caught on it.”

How much does the student body know about the University of Maine System? Take the poll here!

Tony Consiglio and Cindy Michaels on WVII (Courtesy of wikipedia.org)

 Our last guest speakers were Tony Consiglio and Cindy Michaels, co-anchors of the WVII Channel 7 news show. It was exciting to have local celebrities come to class, and I really enjoyed listening to how they got on air and what their daily tasks are like.

Consiglio is 24-years-old, and I was impressed by his success achieved only two years after graduating from Emerson College. Michaels’ story was a little different, but impressive all the same. Having worked her way up from the “bottom of the ladder,” she turned a passion (beginning with no training or experience) into a career.

Both anchors had many great things to say about the small market in Bangor and all the opportunities they have on a daily basis.  When talking about the benefits of the broadcast/journalism industry, Consiglio said, “Every day is different…You’ll do things here that you’ll remember for a lifetime.”

The news duo encourages aspiring journalists to make a catchy application tape, not let fear take over, and go after any opportunity you can…including their open internship position. If you’re interested, e-mail tconsiglio@wvii.com for more information.

[Photo Credit: www.leonjohnson.org, www.transartinstitute.org, www.cmcanow.org]

Chuck Merritt (center) with friends at Quinnipiac. Photo by Jacki Mann.

[LIVE][ANCHOR]
CHARLES MERRITT–AN EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD FROM CLIFTON–MAINE–WAS EXPELLED FROM QUINNIPIAC [KWIN-IH-PEE-ACK] UNIVERSITY AND ARRESTED FOR AN ALLEGED HATE CRIME. MERRITT WAS CHARGED WITH THREE COUNTS EACH OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT–HARASSMENT–AND INTIMIDATION BASED ON BIGOTRY AND BIAS ON WEDNESDAY–OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH. POLICE SAID MERRITT MADE THREATENING AND HARASSING PHONE CALLS TO THREE BLACK MALES ON THE QUINNIPIAC BASKETBALL TEAM. HE LIVED WITH TWO OF THE PLAYERS AND KNEW THE THIRD. MERRITT POSTED A ONE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND-DOLLAR BOND AND RETURNED TO MAINE. HIS CASE WILL BE HEARD AT MERIDEN [MARE-IH-DIN] SUPERIOR COURT TOMORROW.

(Broadcast Format)

Merritt (third from right) with friends from Bangor. Photo by Meri Isherwood.

Barack Obama, President Elect. (Courtesy of www.obamarama.org)

Barack Obama has just been elected President of the United States!

Nate Stormer (Courtesy of www.umaine.edu)

Nathan Stormer, a professor of communications and journalism at the University of Maine, was a guest speaker for a “Writing for the Mass Media” class on Monday, Nov. 3. Stormer studies rhetoric, and he had no problem talking about the impact of style and recent changes in journalistic writing.

He discussed how different media have changed and are changing journalism, especially as print gives way to the internet. According to Stormer, the audience can now skip around on news websites, because putting the news online creates a “much more interactive environment.”

Stormer said the internet leads to a “very different reader experience.” While printed newspapers limit story length, online newspapers allow for longer stories and more pictures. Many include links to similar stories from different points of view. 

In both media, journalists present the information in similar ways, but the internet allows hypertext and interactivity to enhance the stories. Also, an internet audience can easily read articles from as many journalists as they want. “You’re just part of an overall text that they’re constructing for themselves,” Stormer said.

Luckily for journalists, all media fulfill the reader’s “basic desire to know.”  Whether the story is online or on paper, people are reading it because they want to know more. They “don’t read it because it’s fun,” said Stormer.

The thing that separates the stories from paper to paper–or from medium to medium–is the journalist’s writing. While most stories should be pretty cut and dry, there are some ways that writing styles shine through the news. 

Stormer pointed out that word choice is one thing that makes writing unique. While two journalists can tell the same story, they can choose many different ways to say it. However, it is important to remember that certain words may confuse the reader or lose meaning in the story.

Along those lines, Stormer said, “You should be fairly comfortable with the terms that you’re writing about.” Journalists should be simple, clear, and precise. It’s necessary to write in a way that bridges the gap between an expert’s over-the-head jargon and the average reader’s knowledge of the subject.

“You need to protect against a misreading,” said Stormer. A journalist’s job is to present information in a way that’s easy to understand. According to him, the easiest way to do this is to write to the “universal audience.” He suggests creating scenes for the reader, using analogies and remembering the every word is a metaphor.

Alison Bromley as Spiderman!

My freewriting was all about Halloween and the costume I was making, but I figured I could just tell you all how the holiday went now that it’s already happened! I went as Spiderman, and I made my costume myself. My roommates and I all worked on our costumes together, decorated, carved pumpkins, and handed out candy for the first part of the night. I live right by downtown Bangor, so there aren’t that many children that came to our door. My favorite trick-or-treaters were a family of different sized pumpkins that refused to take more than one piece of candy each. They were really cute.

Kelsey, Mike, and I went trick-or-treating after that. We hit up all the good spots, including the legendary Maple Street and the place where my mother lives. We didn’t get very good candy, and people gave us odd looks because we’re so old…but we had fun!

Then we met up with a bunch of friends, went to a few parties, and celebrated Halloween as any college students would. I loved it.