April 2001

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JAFA president's column

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It’s early March. I see sharp contrasts.

Snow has been falling here for the past 27 hours. In Chapel Hill, there are more than simply hints of spring.

At Lavietes Pavilion, Harvard University’s 2,500-seat basketball arena (my high school gym could hold a bigger crowd!), I saw Ivy League powerhouse Princeton win on a desperation last-second shot. Not a TV camera was in sight. There wasn’t even a radio broadcast of the game.

The Dean Smith Center could fit nearly nine times the crowd. Reporters ring the basketball floor, and millions watch on TV. Better yet, they listen to Woody and Mick on the radio — or as I now do, via the Internet.

I’m just getting accustomed to my new home and job with the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. The foundation, best known for the 12 prestigious fellowships it offers each year to midcareer journalists, was set up with a plainly stated but lofty mission: "to promote and elevate the standards of journalism in the United States."

It is a mission not altogether different from that of the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication. But the UNC-CH mission is broader because of the School’s relationship to the people of North Carolina. Go to the School’s Web site. The mission statement says students will learn, and faculty will teach, "about the rights, responsibilities and roles of the media in society. To prepare students for mass communication careers."

There is plenty of evidence around here of the School’s success in meeting its mission.

I pick up the Boston Globe and there are Tar Heel prints on its pages. The feature section is graced with alumna Bella English’s fine reporting and writing. As I glance around my office, I see reminders of the impact of the School. Graduates such as Tom Wicker, Gene Roberts, Mac Secrest, Jonathan Yardley and William Woestendiek spent a year as Nieman fellows as their journalism careers were moving toward full blossom.

More recently, Nieman fellows have included dazzling reporters, writers and editors like Elizabeth Lelend, Sam Fulwood and Melanie Sill. These UNC-CH graduates are making major contributions to journalism for North Carolina and the nation.

Though this nor’easter is blowing hard, cold and dark outside, there is still a glow from North Carolina. It is a reflection of both the heritage and continued excellence of the work being done by students, faculty and staff at the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Best wishes,

Seth Effron, JAFA president