IDS Thursday, May 22, 2025
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Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith speaks at Ellettsville town hall
COLUMN: Reflecting on my paradoxical journalism education MIA HILKOWITZ | IDS
A statue of Ernie Pyle is pictured in front of Franklin Hall in Bloomington. The Media School should listen to students when revising their journalism curriculum. By Marissa Meador marnmead@iu.edu
When IU announced plans to merge the IU School of Journalism into what would eventually become The Media School, then-president Michael McRobbie compared the journalism school to horses in an age of automobiles. “There’s no point in saving a school that trains people to manage fleets of horses if the motor car has taken over horse-drawn transportation,” he told the Herald-Times in 2012. McRobbie is no longer president, but his philosophy continues to echo in the school’s messaging and curriculum. For years I thought about writing this column. It stunned me that a school with such excellent faculty and student media opportunities could be teaching and promoting concepts that I saw as antithetical to the profession. I wasn’t alone in noticing this trend
— faculty, staff and other students have each voiced similar concerns. I am grateful for The Media School in a lot of ways — the fact it gave me the ability to learn from and teach my peers at the IDS, the generous scholarships from donors that allowed me to graduate debt-free and the faculty and staff that taught me how to get to the heart of a story. But the leadership of the school has its eyes on a different vision entirely, one that I fear could harm IU’s decades-long legacy as a top school for journalism. … When the merger occurred, it was promised that journalism would get its own department. That promise was never kept; instead, the school became a unit of The Media School and no longer enjoys the budgetary or curricular control it had previously. Perhaps that’s why I’ve
How much will IU’s new chancellor make? By Natalia Nelson
nelsonnb@iu.edu | @natalianelsonn
IU’s incoming chancellor, David Reingold, will make $655,000 a year, according to an offer letter obtained by the IDS. He will also receive retirement benefits and an extra $1,000 a month in executive allowance as a member of IU President Pamela Whitten’s executive management team. His salary is $5,000 more annually than Whitten’s initial offer when she began her presidency in 2021. The offer includes his administrative salary and academic salary as a tenured faculty member in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, though his teaching position is contingent on a decision IU’s Board of Trustees will make in their June meeting. Reingold previously worked at IU from 1997 to 2015 as a professor of public policy and executive associate dean of O’Neill. In the 2014-15 fiscal year, his salary was listed as $191,612. Since leaving IU, he has worked as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of sociology at Purdue University. He attended a chancellor candidate town hall at IU in February and was announced as the new chancellor in March. He will assume the role June 2. He will be IU’s first chancellor since the position was eliminated in 2006 after IU struggled to fill the position. Whitten announced the reinstatement of the
COURTESY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY
David Reingold will return to the Indiana University Bloomington campus in June as executive vice president and chancellor. Reingold was first introduced as a chancellor candidate during a Feb. 27 town hall.
chancellor position in June 2024 in an email to the Bloomington campus. She cited “challenges of higher education paired with the size and complexity of the Bloomington campus” as motivations for the decision. The university created a search committee of IU students, faculty, staff and members of the Bloomington Faculty Council to determine candidates alongside search firm Isaacson, Miller. Every other IU campus currently has a chancellor, and most have had the position filled consistently over the past few decades. According to a press release announcing Reingold’s hiring, he will oversee the Office of the Provost as well as the university’s finances, community engagement, student life, campus research, enrollment management and creative activities.
found many of my classes here so disappointing. The program’s core curriculum focuses on giving students video and audio skills as well as writing, but the result — at least from what I’ve experienced — is never creating anything substantive or building any longlasting skills. For example, I’ve only been required to write one story on my own in the fourcourse sequence that made up the core of my journalism degree requirements (I’ve written over 200 for the IDS in comparison). All other major assignments were either done in a group or allowed students to choose a medium — either a photo, graphic, video, podcast or written story. While it’s good to be well-rounded across storytelling platforms, repetition and practice is critical for every type of media career. If it wasn’t for student media, internships or the advanced reporting electives I took, I would be hopelessly
unprepared. In response to a request for comment, Media School Dean David Tolchinsky wrote in an email that the school hired two journalism faculty this year; one is not yet listed in IU’s system and another who specializes in sports broadcasting. He also wrote that the school had recently added a data journalism course (which I actually took this semester — it’s now one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at IU). “Journalism is sewn into the fiber of who we are as a school,” he wrote. “Keeping pace with journalism education and creating a worthwhile learning environment for students is central to what we do as a school, and I think our track record in this area indicates that journalism is emphasized just as strongly as any other aspect of the school.” I think the disconnect may come from what the word “journalism” really means. To me, this profession is about knowing how
to find information, ask the right questions and discover untold stories. We can tell those stories in a variety of ways, but it must be told clearly and concisely. Choosing which stories to tell depends on whether it serves the public interest and helps keep the powerful in check. Sometimes that can mean a feature story about a dog learning to heal from abuse. Other times, it can be a piece investigating how government decisions impact vulnerable communities. What The Media School’s core curriculum struggles to do is teach us how to go through this process, with too heavy a focus on the technical skills involved in creating content. This may help graduates feel prepared to produce media, but it is not sufficient when it comes to producing quality journalism. … There’s
no
question
journalism must become more digital than it has in the past. I’m not advocating that IU teach us as if we will all be seeing our work in print, and I don’t disagree that journalists should be more aware of how to use video and audio to tell stories. The school is in the process of revising its journalism curriculum. I hope these changes allow students to experience a more focused education, where all students can learn the fundamentals of interviewing, generating story ideas and filing public records in their core courses. I hope they’ll incorporate more opportunities to produce depth audio and video courses to bolster quality multimedia journalism education. And ultimately, I hope their process involves discussion with the countless students who no longer feel like their classes will adequately teach them how to be good journalists.
COLUMN: Keep cool and caught up this summer with these shows and movies By Ursula Stickelmaier ustickel@iu.edu
Summer break means more time to do what you want: more time to hang out with friends, more time to go on fun adventures and most importantly, more time to watch all the shows and movies you've been waiting to see. While your watchlist may be full of shows and movies that have already come out, you shouldn’t ignore everything set to release in the coming months. So, here’s some of the must see shows and movies that you’ll be able to watch when they are released on streaming platforms this summer. “Fear Street: Prom Queen” (Netflix) In July 2021, Netflix released their hit horror trilogy, “Fear Street.” Based on the books of the same name by R.L. Stine, the film series told the story of the dark forces in play in the town of Shadyside. Set to release May 23, “Fear Street: Prom Queen” functions as a standalone sequel to this trilogy. While it won’t feature the same cast of characters, the upcoming movie, set in 1988 between the events of the first and second movies, will follow the same theme of a serial killer attacking the residents of Shadyside. The movie is centered on a group of “it girls” fighting to be prom queen when they start vanishing without a trace. If you’re looking for a good scare this summer, “Fear Street: Prom Queen” should be an instant hit. “Ginny & Georgia” Season Three (Netflix) Murder, blackmail and money laundering are all part of the American dream in “Ginny & Georgia,” Net-
flix’s romantic drama. The show has been a consistent hit since its series premiere in February 2021, and it’s back for its third season set to release June 5. The show itself follows Georgia (Brianne Howey), a mom with a dark past, and Ginny (Antonia Gentry), her angsty teenage daughter after they put down roots in the fictional town of Wellsbury, Massachusetts. Season Two ended with a cliffhanger when Georgia is arrested for murder during the first dance of her wedding with Paul (Scott Porter), the mayor of Wellsbury. In this latest season, viewers will explore what happens after Georgia is arrested, leaving Ginny and her younger brother Austin (Diesel La Torraca) to handle the fallout of her actions. While this show is almost always too dramatic and there are enough uncomfortable moments to last you a lifetime, what this show never has been is boring. So, if you’re looking for something fun and interesting this summer, keep your eye on Netflix for the third season of this series. “The Buccaneers” Season Two (Apple TV) “Bridgerton” may not be making a return this summer, but if you’re looking for a fun, historical romance, look no further than “The Buccaneers” on Apple TV. Set in London during the Gilded Age, “The Buccaneers” follows five American girls who travel across the ocean together in search of wealthy English husbands. After receiving tons of praise for the first season of the show, Apple TV will release season two beginning June 18, with one episode coming out each Wednesday until the series concludes in
August. While not a lot has been released on the exact premise of season two, the show is expected to pick up right where Season One left off. “Iron Heart” Season One (Disney+) Marvel’s newest show “Ironheart” will focus on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a genius inventor first seen in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” who adopts the super-alias Ironheart. “Ironheart” will follow Riri as she gets mixed up with a mysterious man named Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), also known as The Hood, and is introduced to a new world where technology meets magic. While I personally feel like Marvel shows and movies have been missing something in recent years, I am hopeful that “Ironheart” will bring in a new group of characters that can help revive the genre. Scheduled to drop on Disney+ June 24, “Ironheart” is worth checking out for any superhero fan. “F1” (Apple TV) If you’ve been an F1 fan for the past few seasons you’ve probably heard about “F1,” a movie starring Brad Pitt that has been filming select scenes of the movie during actual race weekends. With F1 growing in popularity, Apple TV is shifting into high gear with their own spin on the world of racing. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, an F1 driver who had a promising career in the 90s until an accident took him out of the game. Thirty years later he is brought out of retirement to redeem himself by racing for Apex Grand Prix, a struggling F1 team. Having been off the track for so long, Sonny quickly realizes
that becoming the driver he once was will be more of a challenge than he expected. The North American theatrical release is set for June 27, but Apple TV users can currently get a sneak peek at the film with the two trailers and teaser available via Apple TV. Whether you’re a fan of F1 looking to see their favorite drivers make a cameo in the film, or you just want to see some cool cars go really fast, “F1” is the movie for you. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season Three (Amazon Prime) Since its first season in June 2022, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” has been a staple in the summer romance genre. Based on the book series of the same name by Jenny Han, Amazon’s adaptation starring Lola Tung as Belly Conklin has been a consistent hit for the platform. Now for their third —and allegedly final — season, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” will be taking over social media, and our screens, as fans wait to see who Belly ends up with on July 16. The series itself has always been about the competing affections the Fisher brothers, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Christopher Briney), have for Belly. While those who have read the books know how this story ends, Amazon has been known to change plot points in the story to create a more compelling narrative. The finale could still be anyone’s guess. This last season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” is probably one of my most anticipated watches of the summer, and I am sure I’m not alone when I say I can’t wait for Season Three to arrive.