How to Apply to SMPA as a GW Student
August 31st, 2012

We're glad you're interested in becoming a major in the School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA)!

First of all, if you're new to researching majors within SMPA, read more about our programs. However, did you know there are two ways you can apply to become a major with the School of Media and Public Affairs?

The first occurs while you're in high school - you can apply directly as an incoming freshman and be admitted straight into the program as a major from your first day at GW. However, if you are not in SMPA, already at GW, and beginning your sophomore year in Fall 2012, you now have a new opportunity to apply for a major in SMPA.

GW Sophomores can apply to either our Journalism and Mass Communication major or our Political Communication major, but can only apply to one major per semester. If you don't get in on your first try, you can reapply a second and final time.  Applications for fall 2012 are due to MPA 400 by 5pm on September 27. To become a major within SMPA, you MUST apply first - our program is selective and we can only accept a certain number of new applicants this year.

If you're interested in communication, journalism, social media, framing, politics, and want to find out more about SMPA and our classes, we encourage you to RSVP to attend our upcoming Sophomore Information Session on Thursday, September 13 at 5pm in Marvin Center room 302.  At the event, Assistant Director and Professor Mike Shanahan will be there to tell you how to apply and what qualities the admissions committee looks for in an application. RSVP today.

If you cannot make the session and have questions, please contact our front desk at 202-994-6227 or by email at smpa@gwu.edu. We look forward to seeing your application!

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Full-Time Faculty Position Opening
August 30th, 2012

Position Announcement - Please note this position has been FILLED and is no longer accepting applications. Thank you.

The School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University invites applications for a tenure-track, open rank position.  We seek scholars with a strong research profile or demonstrated scholarly potential and teaching interests in political communication with a focus on one or more of the following areas: collective action, election campaigns, networked advocacy, public diplomacy, and strategic communication.

Appointment begins August 1, 2013.  Responsibilities include teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate level, including teaching strategic political communication courses for M.A. program; conducting a successful program of research; advising students; and performing department and university service. Read the rest of this entry »

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Time to Face the Facts
August 24th, 2012

By Director Frank Sesno

Here’s what’s happened.  We’ve become digitally curious.  Our DNA is now wired to search -- constantly.  We search for jobs, food, money, travel, science, sex, clothes, weather, movies.  You name it.

Google reports that, in 2011, it propelled 4.7 billion searches each day.

We have entered a new, data-driven universe.  More people getting more information more quickly than any time in human history.

Politics, however, is the outlier.

Here we’re mired, not in data and real information, but in argument, assertion, allegation and noise.

No wonder the public is fed up with candidates, media, interest groups – just about anyone who has their hands on the levers of this runaway freight train.

It couldn’t happen at a worse time.  Our economy is laboring to get back on its feet.  Millions of homeowners are trapped in mortgages that are under water. Europe is struggling.  China is viewed with suspicion.  The world’s climate is changing.   And Washington is a place of bickering, not breakthrough.  Little wonder that sixty percent of Americans think we are headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll.

We can do better than this.  Rediscover reality.  Start with facts, put them in perspective, quit shouting, start solving the problems that confront this great country.

So a diverse, bipartisan group of people have started something new.  FACE THE FACTS USA.

Every day from now until the election, we’ll produce a fact a day. 100 facts in all.  In ten categories that convey something really interesting about our big challenges.

Fact. We’re an energy exporter again.

Fact. Almost one in six Americans gets a Social Security benefit.  One in seven is on food stamps.

Fact. Despite deductions and depletions, we really do have the highest corporate income tax in the world.

So we’ll start with the facts.  The data.  The stuff people look for every day when they google.  We’ll link to ideas, opinions, debate and research from lots of perspectives.  We call it “Details on Demand.”

We want to generate conversation around these facts.  So we’ll connect people and experts online, in Hangouts, through user tools and discussion to dive into the facts.  We call it, “Factor Me In.”

You’ll see our facts every day on the Google politics page.  In the Twitterverse.  On Facebook.  And, yes, in traditional media.  We’re giving the facts away.

Maybe we can start a movement.  Maybe we can use social media, hangouts, real engagement to show that we can change the equation, show that citizens can come together to get smart, get involved and demand solutions not soundbites.

Oh, the facts about us:  We are totally independent. We have no political agenda. We are a project of The George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.  We just want to put facts first.  It’s about time.

We think George would be proud.

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Intern Diary: Samantha Zeldin, VICE Media
August 22nd, 2012

Samantha Zeldin
JMC '14

“Definitely no dress code; and please for the love of God call me Jason,” said my supervisor Mr. Mojica in our last email exchange before my first day at VICE this summer. I knew I was in for something different as a Tentpole Documentaries Intern at VICE Media, Inc, a leading global youth media company based in New York City. Ten minutes into a tour of the office, I realized different was an understatement.

Samantha Zeldin

Junior Samantha Zeldin interned at Vice Media this summer.

Not only was I incredibly overdressed in my less-than-dressy internship outfit, but I also found myself surrounded by and office full of 20-something-year-olds knee-deep in tattoos, cigarette smoke, colored hair and skinny jeans sitting around a giant stuffed bear in the conference room.

My first day as an intern Jason handed me a 300-plus-page book called The World’s Most Dangerous Places, and told me to “read through it.” I was thrown right into the production world, preparing a production bible for Jason’s trip to West Africa, researching HIV statistics in the area and mapping out directions for the crew to get through checkpoints between Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and Benin as they rode shotgun with long haul African truckers. They were scheduled to leave the following night and I was to pick up their visas in the morning. The next day, with the car service waiting downstairs to take me to the UN, Barry, who arranges the group’s travel plans, stopped me in a flustered rush. Nigeria no longer wanted to grant us Visas because they found out we were journalists.  This was my first real-life experience with resistance against the media.

In my subsequent weeks at VICE I spent my time researching, transcribing interviews, attending production meetings, searching for archival footage and brainstorming my own pitch ideas on the side. In the meantime, I began to dress down and get used to what kind of content VICE produces—anywhere from following Snoop Dogg as he journeys to Jamaica to record an album with Diplo, to going on a police terrorist raid in Karachi (Pakistan’s most dangerous city) and exposing North Korean labor camps.

About half way through my internship I was ready to pitch my own story idea. I had come up with an outline for a 5-episode documentary series titled Toxic Solutions: America’s Water Crisis. It was focused on America’s freshwater crisis. As I envisioned the story, VICE would start by investigating a real-life version of the movie Chinatown in California, to diving in 100 ft deep cavernous sinkholes in Florida (the result of groundwater pumping), to taking a cliff jump into the toxic Hudson River. A few days later the executive producers had green-lighted my story idea. We quickly jumped into arranging pre-production plans, and I was granted the role as associate producer.Vice Logo

I was in charge of devising a production outline and scheduling interviews for each episode. After a few weeks of booking, meetings, changing and developing characters and story lines we were finally underway and scheduled to shoot.

Read the rest of this entry »

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SMPA Has Open Student Jobs- Apply today!
August 2nd, 2012

Communications and Marketing Assistant Job Description

Want some real-world experience while earning extra money? The SMPA Communications and Marketing Director is looking for a part-time Communications Assistant. Applicants must be proactive, extremely organized, creative, tech-savvy, and feel comfortable interacting with professionals on a regular basis. Demonstrated experience with Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, video production, HTML, social media sites (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) and solid journalistic writing are a must. Duties include conducting interviews and writing entries for the SMPA blog, writing and production of multiple digital e-newsletters, designing marketing materials, some event logistics, compiling and executing student outreach and marketing strategy, updating SMPA website listings, and various other administrative and marketing tasks. The assistant must able to contribute creatively to the development of the SMPA brand.

Both GW undergraduate and graduate students may apply. Please note whether you have work study money in your cover letter. Pay is consummate with experience and candidates must be available 12-15 hours per week (Monday morning availability is mandatory.) Candidates should be interested in work for both fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters and have already completed SMPA 2112 prior to applying. Send your resume, cover letter, and three journalism writing samples to Samara Sit by August 15  at samara@gwu.edu. Samples of digital portfolio pieces are welcome, but not required.

Duties include:

●       Brainstorm ideas, conduct interviews, write and edit features for SMPA blog

●       Edit video and create graphics for web promotion and event marketing

●       Collect and write content for email newsletters

●       Interact with users in social media environment

●       Design marketing materials including posters, webpages, and emails

●       Regularly update internship and job listings

●       Develop and execute outreach and marketing strategies

●      Occasionally complete administrative tasks including distributing marketing materials and compiling packets

SMPA Office Assistant 1 (2 positions)

Job Description: Answering and fielding phone and in person inquiries, sorting and processing mails, photocopying, scanning and  faxing, and filing;  assist with special projects, do errands for professors and senior staff,  receiving and stocking office supplies deliveries, perform duties as assigned.

Qualities required: dependable, trustworthy, good with people, working knowledge of computers, internet, and office automation equipment, such as fax machine, copier, and multi line phones. Must have federal work study money for academic year 2012-13. Cover letters and resumes can be sent to Maria George at georgem@gwu.edu.

SMPA Office Assistant 2 (1 position)

Job Description: Data entry, process invoice and payment request, process travel and other reimbursement requests, perform duties as assigned

Qualities required: Dependable, Good knowledge of Excel, good math skills, good working knowledge of computers and internet, and other office equipment. Must have federal work study money for academic year 2012-13. Cover letters and resumes can be sent to Maria George at georgem@gwu.edu.

Video Producer, Planet Forward
SMPA's Planet Forward seeks a creative and enthusiastic producer to help curate great ideas, and bring them to our audience online and on TV. Your job will be to take the user-contributed ideas, combine them with the expertise of our superior expert community and create compelling, journalistically sound content that will drive engagement and help find innovative solutions in the fields of climate, energy and sustainability. Applicant should be a proven team player who can work in an entrepreneurial environment.
Qualifications:
- Basic Production skills (Final Cut Pro, videography) required
- Topical knowledge of climate, energy or sustainability preferred
Description:
Assist in research, pitch, and production of weekly Bloomberg TV pieces, featuring the best ideas from PlanetForward.org, based on user-contributed content for PlanetForward.org. The videos should be based on user ideas but include any components (editorial or production) that vet the idea in terms of efficacy, scalability, etc.
Help produce short, engaging videos (weekly or bi-weekly) based on user-contributed content for PlanetForward.org.  These videos would be short, based largely on the user contribution, but aim is to make them compelling for a broader online audience.
Cover events in Washington, D.C., featuring newsmakers and policy leaders, to include their ideas on PlanetForward.org.
Hours are flexible, and can easily be structured around a full course schedule. Could be full or part time.
This person will report to the Executive Producer, Fuzz Hogan. To apply, send your resume, cover letter and links to video clips to jobs@planetforward.org

Web Editor, Planet Forward
Qualifications:
- Digital Engagement skills required
- Topical knowledge of climate, energy or sustainability preferred
- Web development skills a bonus

Description:
•    Work as Curator of PlanetForward.org, programming the website, approving UGC, engaging users, with the goal of increasing engagement and overall traffic.
•    Research, create or cross-post weekly blog posts video created by the Planet Forward team, and links to curated editorial content from other sources.
•    Monitor site for inappropriate content, answer communications/questions from members and track analytics tied to the site.
Hours are flexible, and can easily be structured around a full course schedule. Could be full or part time.
To apply, send a cover letter, resume and links to any of your web design/development projects to Fuzz Hogan at jobs@planetforward.org

Fifth Floor Front Desk Assistant - NOTE, 8/7 - THIS POSITION IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICANTS.

The Fifth Floor front desk is accepting applications to staff the desk from Aug 27 2012  to Aug 20 2013.  $9 per hour. 9 to 15 per week. Applicants MUST have federal work study money for academic year 2012-13.

Duties include:

  • Check equipment in/out to SMPA students, faculty and staff
  • Answer telephone and general questions
  • Monitor lab use
  • Other duties as assigned

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Alum Profile: Tara Rosenblum, Winner of 60+ Industry Awards
August 1st, 2012

Tara Rosenblum (BA ’00) began her career in journalism as a young child in South Florida.  “As a little girl, I ran around my neighborhood delivering a newsletter I wrote with crayons,” says Rosenblum.  “For as long as I can remember, I wanted to pursue a career in journalism.”  Since then, this SMPA alumna has been busy making a name for herself in broadcast news.

Rosenblum works as a reporter and anchor for News 12 Westchester and Hudson Valley Weekend Edition, both in New York.  Since she arrived at News 12 in 2004, Rosenblum has earned more than 60 major industry awards, including 3 Emmy wins and another 17 Emmy nominations.

“My fiancé jokes that I am the Meryl Streep of local news Emmys because my number of wins and nominations is the same as her Academy Award wins and nominations,” laughs Rosenblum.

Her most recent Emmy win occurred at this year’s annual New York Emmy Awards ceremony, where she was named Best Writer for a news piece titled “When Cultures Clash.”  The story was a culmination of a year and a half of investigative journalism into the conflict between New Square, New York, a community of devout Hasidic Jews, and its secular neighbors.  Although Jewish herself, Rosenblum found it difficult to locate anyone in New Square willing to speak with her, either on or off camera.  In fact, once she started asking the community questions about reports of zoning law violations, a man from the religious sect tried to run down Rosenblum and her camera crew with his car in an effort to deter further reporting.  Nevertheless, Rosenblum persevered, pounding the pavement to cover on the story.  The National Society of Professional Journalists, which just honored Rosenblum for her work on “When Cultures Clash” with an award at the National Press Club last week, praised it as “good old-fashioned shoe leather journalism.”

Rosenblum credits her time at the School of Media and Public Affairs for her solid journalistic foundation.  Taking advantage of SMPA’s access to great internships in the city, Rosenblum interned at the White House, Capitol Hill, and CNN’s White House news unit while a student.  She also formed close bonds with a number of her professors.

“The education I received at SMPA has been so relevant to my career,” says Rosenblum.  “In Professor Steve Roberts’ class, for example, we were taught everything from in-depth questioning techniques to how to craft the perfect headline.  I use these lessons every day as a reporter.”

She also credits Professor Roxanne Russell, who helped Rosenblum land her first job—covering the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles at CBS News—with launching her professional career.  “I was so fortunate to have such great professors like Professor Russell who really believed in me,” says Rosenblum.

Since her time as a student, Rosenblum has embraced the visual power of the television medium, which she believes can illustrate a compelling story.  Her philosophy?  “If a picture is worth a thousand words,” explains Rosenblum, “then a video must be worth a million words!”

When asked what the most rewarding part of her job is, Rosenblum tells the story of Jason Price, a young resident in the Hudson Valley.  According to Rosenblum, Price was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer, but his insurance company refused to pay for the experimental treatment that could save his life.  After she reported on his plight, local residents joined together to raise the over $50,000 needed to cover his treatment.

"It's all about impacting people on a local level with our reporting,” says Rosenblum.  “I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than that.”

Watch Tara Rosenblum's Emmy-winning story "When Cultures Clash" below:

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