Medill School of Journalism

The Medill School
Established	1921
Type	A school of Northwestern University
Dean	John Lavine
Undergraduates	663
Postgraduates	342
Location	Evanston, Illinois, USA
Campus	Evanston / Chicago (news service)
Website	http://www.medill.northwestern.edu

Northwestern University's Medill School (often just called Medill) is one of the premier journalism, integrated marketing, and media schools in the United States.

The Medill School was founded in 1921 and named after Joseph Medill, owner and editor of the Chicago Tribune beginning in the 1850s. For many years the school's main location was in Fisk Hall on the south end of Northwestern's campus. In fall 2002 the school opened the McCormick Tribune Center, which features a professional-grade TV studio and numerous multimedia classrooms in line with Medill's growing emphasis on new forms of media.

The journalism program offers Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. The Integrated Marketing Communications program offers a master's degree over five quarters with concentrations in advertising, public relations, and direct, database and e-commerce marketing. Medill's undergraduate journalism curriculum requires students to engage in a broad liberal arts education as well as the study and practice of journalism.

A "Medill F" of 0 is received^{[clarification needed]} when a student makes a factual error on a story, serving notice to students of the importance of correct information in the news media. The "Medill F" can be given for something as simple as misspelling a name or title, or disregard for AP style.

Medill undergraduates participate in a journalism residency for one quarter in their junior or senior year, during which they intern in a professional newsroom. Numerous media outlets across the United States—and in some cases, overseas—have participated in this program.

Medill graduate students work as beat reporters in Medill newsrooms in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Medill Innocence Project

The Medill Innocence Project began in 1999 as an effort by Medill faculty and students to reinvestigate murder convictions in Illinois and determine if people were wrongly convicted. This effort has helped to free 11 innocent men. The project is currently involved in a dispute with the Cook County state's attorney over the handling of the Anthony McKinney case.^[1][2] The project was also involved in the overturning of Anthony Porter's conviction.

Medill News Service - Chicago

Medill Chicago is a working news bureau in downtown Chicago that operates as part of Northwestern University's graduate journalism program at the Medill School.

Medill graduate students have been providing news coverage to client newspapers since 1995. Each quarter, approximately 40 graduate students are assigned to cover stories about city and county government, the events in state and federal courts, business and economic development, health and science issues and the arts and sports.

Medill News Service - Washington, D.C.

Every Medill News Service journalist has the opportunity to spend a quarter in a Washington covering breaking news as well as in-depth, enterprise stories on politics, civil rights, energy, technology or education. Medill journalists attend congressional proceedings, press conferences, conventions and congressional hearings and connect those stories to the communities they cover—not an insider audience.

The Medill News Service serves newspapers, Web sites, television stations and radio stations, which all pay a quarterly fee to help cover production and communications costs. Print correspondents transmit stories electronically every day. Television stories are sent by network feed or satellite, or shipped overnight, as each station requires.

Clients include:

The American Banker, Bend (Ore.) Bulletin, Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald, Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun, The (Hanover, Pa.) Evening Sun, Florence (Ala.) Times Daily, Gadsen (Ala.) Times, Greeley (Colo.) Tribune, Imperial Valley (Calif.) Press, Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.), Madison (Wis.) Capital Times, Newsday (NY)--Student Briefing page, Quincy (Mass.) Patriot Ledger, Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press, Seattle (Wash.) Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald Journal, St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press, The Times of Northwest Indiana, Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American, Waterloo (Iowa) Courier, York (Penn.) Daily Record

KFYR-TV, Bismarck, N.D.; KMID, Midland, Texas; KNOE, Monroe, La.; KTKA, Topeka, Kan.; In Montana: KAJ, KBZK, KHLH, KPAX-TV, KRTV, KTVQ and KXLF; KVLY-TV and KXJB, Fargo, N.D.; WCAX, Burlington, Vt.; WKYT-TV, Lexington, Ky.; 6 News Lawrence, Lawrence, Kan., The Illinois Channel, Springfield, Ill., TV2, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Brownfield Radio Network, based in Jefferson City, Missouri; KAJX-FM, Aspen, Colo.; WATD-FM, Marshfield, Mass.; WHO, Des Moines, Iowa, WLIU-FM, Southampton, Long Island, N.Y.; WTOP-AM, Washington, D.C.

"Quotegate" Controversy

In a Feb. 11, 2008 column^[3] written for the Daily Northwestern, Medill senior David Spett questioned the use of anonymous sources by Dean John Lavine in a letter Lavine wrote for Medill's alumni magazine. Lavine attributed a quote praising a Medill marketing class to "a Medill junior" in the class. Spett reportedly called all 29 students enrolled in the class, including all five Medill juniors, and according to Spett, all denied saying the quote. Lavine denied fabricating the quote in a Feb. 20 email to students, but expressed regret for what he called "poor judgment" in not keeping his notes.

The so-called "Quotegate" controversy was the focus of stories, columns and editorials in local and national media, including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Washington Post and Editor & Publisher.

Notable alumni

• J.A. Adande, Los Angeles Times columnist and ESPN personality
• Krishnan M. Anantharaman, managing editor, The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition
• Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, journalists and consultants specializing in government management^[1]
• David Barstow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times
• Sy Bartlett, author and Hollywood screenwriter
• Roger Bell, former Vice President of News at KCBS-TV and KABC-TV in Los Angeles and Executive Producer of News for WNBC-TV in New York
• Kevin B. Blackistone, The Dallas Morning News sports columnist
• Christine Brennan, sports columnist for USA Today
• Hal Buell, former head of Photography Service (photo director) at the Associated Press
• David Boardman, Executive Editor, The Seattle Times
• Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times reporter
• Cindy Chupack, Executive Producer and writer: Sex and the City
• Joie Chen, CBS News Correspondent
• Patrick Cooper, Network Editor for USA Today
• Paul Dana, late Indy Race Car driver
• Gregg Easterbrook, journalist and scholar
• John J. Edwards III, Wall Street Journal news editor
• Jonathan Eig, author of the New York Times Bestseller "Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig" and "Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season." Also worked as an Executive Editor for Chicago Magazine and reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Dallas Morning News, and Wall Street Journal.
• Rich Eisen, NFL Network anchor
• David T. Friendly, film producer (Little Miss Sunshine)
• Jack Fuller, Pulitzer Prize-winner and former editor and publisher of Chicago Tribune
• Mike Greenberg, sports broadcaster for ESPN
• Gail Griffin, general manager, The Wall Street Journal Online
• Jon Heyman, senior baseball writer for Sports Illustrated, and MLB Network insider
• Michael Isikoff, investigative reporter, Newsweek
• Clara Jeffery, editor of Mother Jones magazine
• Jeff Jarvis, former media executive, blogger, professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism and author (What Would Google Do)
• Bill Jones, former mananging editor of the Chicago Tribune
• Steve Kenny, editor of Quick, TDMN
• Michelle Kosinski, a correspondent for NBC News
• Nicole Lapin, an anchor for CNN
• Garry Marshall, writer/director/producer/actor (Happy Days, Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries)
• George R.R. Martin, science fiction and fantasy author (A Song of Ice and Fire)
• Steve McGonigle, The Dallas Morning News writer and investigative reporter
• Brent Musburger, sports broadcaster
• Noel "El Burro Mocho" Petro, Colombian singer and journalist
• Neal Pollack, satirist, journalist and author (Alternadad)
• Todd Pruzan, managing editor of Print magazine, author (The Clumsiest People in Europe)
• Carrie Rabin, CBS News Producer
• Tina Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist
• Daniel Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and blogger^[2]
• Roxana Saberi, Freelance journalist jailed in Iran on accusations of espionage
• Adam Schefter, ESPN Senior Football Reporter
• Evan Smith, editor in chief of Texas Monthly magazine
• Margaret Sullivan, editor, Buffalo News
• Lynn Sweet, Washington, D.C., bureau chief and columnist, Chicago Sun-Times
• Judy Baar Topinka, former Illinois State Treasurer and Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate
• Howard Tyner, former editor, Chicago Tribune
• Julia Wallace, editor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Laura S. Washington, Chicago journalist and editor
• Gary Weiss, author and investigative reporter.
• Michael Wilbon, ESPN analyst (Pardon the Interruption) and Washington Post sports columnist
• Lois Wille, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, former editorial page editor of Chicago Daily-News, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Tribune
• Dave Wolkowitz, business journalist
• Clinton Kelly, TLC's What Not to Wear
• Scott Bergen, CEO Pizza Hut
• Michele Weldon, author, journalist, and Northwestern University assistant professor

The Medill Hall of Achievement

Inductees

References

External links

• Medill
• Medill News Service Chicago
• Medill News Service DC
• Media Management Center: Northwestern University's Media Research and Education Center
• Media Info Center Presented by the Northwestern University Media Management Center
• Integrated Marketing Communications blog