Strategic Communication

Some Mizzou journalism students recently started a website called J-School Buzz, a forum to report commentary and provide updates about the Missouri School of Journalism. I first heard about it when they followed me on Twitter, and a Facebook page was also created to advertise the site.

The J-School seniors that run it are intelligent and witty people, with tags for the various emphasis areas and other topics about news on campus and how it was reported, J-School relationships and plugs, as well as "Starving Journalist," information about where you can get free food on campus. The current series being produced is on stereotypes of the different sequences of the Journalism School- broadcast, print/digital, photojournalism, convergence, magazine and strategic communication. It explores what the general population thinks of each emphasis area and considers its accuracy.

Yesterday, this article was posted titled "StratCommers are not all cop-outs." As a strategic communication student who contemplated a lot about which emphasis area to choose, this post hit home. Forty percent of the J-School is made up of strategic communication students, and some people hold this viewpoint because they will switch to Strat Comm after not enjoying the nature of reporting that the other sequences emphasize. While I love interviewing and reporting and miss doing so much of it after being a Strat Comm major, I also love public relations. The author of the post stresses how "it's not all analyzing ads," it's more than that. Working with clients and applying planning skills and more of a marketing side is integrated into Strategic Communication, which is what I enjoy learning about. Thus, I was thankful to relate to this post.

What I love about this website is that while utilizing sarcasm and, it refutes gossip, stereotypes and accurately reports on the news. Instead of just making a claim, the writers still back it up with journalistic evidence because that's what the school teaches us to apply. In the following story, a student who had embarrassing posters posted about her around campus mentions that the campus police were launching an investigation. The blogger writing the story called MUPD to confirm that this was true. Regardless of the purpose, J-School students are still producing solid journalism. And that's why I love being a student here.