FREDERICKTOWN — “Challenges and Opportunities of Student Journalism” will be the topic of the annual Labor Day week program co-sponsored by Fredericktown’s Main Street Free Press Museum and the Columbus-based Central Ohio Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
The program, from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Fredericktown First Baptist Church, 22 E. Sandusky St., will feature a panel of five journalism educators who have spent many years on the front lines of student journalism issues:
* Karen Allen, journalism and English teacher at Centerburg High School, adviser of the school’s award-winning student newspaper, The Trojan Crier, and co-adviser of the Student Board of the Ohio Scholastic Press Association, of which she is a board member.
* Spencer Hunt, faculty editorial adviser of The Lantern, the student newspaper of Ohio State University.
* Dr. Paul E. Kostyu, chair of the Department of Journalism at Ohio Wesleyan University and adviser of The Ohio Wesleyan Transcript, the nation’s oldest independent student newspaper.
* Dr. Bruce C. Swaffield, former journalism professor at Malone University in Canton, retired professor of online studies at Regent University School of Communication and the Arts in Virginia, and longtime columnist for The Quill, SPJ’s national magazine.
* John C. Long (moderator), who teaches journalism at St. John’s and Hofstra universities in New York after more than 40 years on daily newspapers (The Columbus Dispatch, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, and The Wall Street Journal) and who directs the Museum.
“Student journalism isn’t mere academic exercise,” Long says. “It’s as real as the journalism on the front page of The New York Times or The Dispatch or on the evening network TV news. And sometimes it’s even more challenging. What special challenges do high school journalists face? How does the journalistic playing field at private universities differ from that at public universities?
“Get the answers to those and other questions — and bring some of your own — from our panelists.”
The program and Museum tours and demonstrations are free and open to the public.
The Museum, one block north of Fredericktown’s village Square at Main and Second streets, is celebrating its 16th anniversary as it will be open for tours and letterpress printing demonstrations during the annual Fredericktown Tomato Show.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Sept. 7, 8 and 9, the Museum will open at 6 p.m. and close at 10 p.m. On Saturday, Sept. 10, it will be open after the Tomato Show parade, from 2 to 10 p.m. On Thursday, it will be closed from 7 to 8:30 p.m. during its program, around the block at First Baptist Church.
For driving and parking directions and more information about the Museum, visit the Museum’s website at www.FreePressMuseum.org For still more information, call or text John Long at 917-693-7664 or email him at John.Long.FHS@gmailcom
