Multicultural Journalism Workshop
A quarter-century of producing young journalists
When Joseph D. Bryant was a student at Daleville High School in 1995, there was no school newspaper, but his teachers and counselors knew he loved to write. The eager, bespectacled teen got his hands on an application for the Minority Journalism Workshop at the University of Alabama and quickly completed it. Weeks later, he was off to Tuscaloosa for two weeks of learning.
“Before MJW, I didn’t even know where the University of Alabama was located. I just knew about the elephant and Bear Bryant,” he said jokingly. Today, Bryant, an award-winning government reporter at The Birmingham News, credits MJW with launching his career.
“I didn’t know that it was possible for me to have a career that includes all of my interests — writing, social studies and talking to people.”
Hundreds of students have participated in the two-week summer program, launched in 1984 by UA graduate student Marie Parsons, journalism professor Dr. Marian Huttenstine and journalism department dean Dr. Ed Mullins.
Many who have attended the workshop or served as professional instructors returned to the Capstone on July 11-19 to share their memories and their professional skills with a new generation of students.
“Until MJW, I didn’t see people in the print or broadcast media who looked like me,” says Staci Brooks, a 1994 MJW alum. Brooks, now assistant metro editor at The Birmingham News, also credits MJW with stirring her interest and launching her career.
For Brooks, MJW opened a window to her career. Both Brooks and Bryant attended the University of Alabama and majored in journalism. They also picked up some scholarship support along the way, thanks to their MJW connections.
Brooks was news editor for the Crimson White. Bryant went on to become the first black selected as editor of the award-winning campus newspaper.
Mullins, MJW director, often points to Brooks and Bryant as examples of what MJW can do to fill the void in newsrooms across the nation where the diversity in the offices still does not resemble the makeup of the communities served.
“Not many outreach/engagement programs have gained the necessary traction to last for 25 years,” Mullins said. “So just being here for 25 years attests to its success.”
But the road to success has been a long one to travel. Back in 1982, then graduate student Parsons and Professor Huttenstine came together with the idea to recruit and develop minority students towards careers in the field of journalism.
A year later, Parsons became the director of the Minority Journalism Program, which decided that a workshop would be a valuable tool in attracting future journalists to UA and developing them. In 1984, the first Minority Journalism Workshop (later changed to Multicultural Journalism Workshop to reflect the idea that the workshop was open to all races and ethnicities) began with the inaugural class of eight students, six of whom lived in Tuscaloosa.
“I stumbled through the first MJW with just a few months to plan, trying to figure out how to pull off this new project,” Parsons said. “The second year, I knew exactly what year one could have been, and we spent 12 months in preparation. It was a resounding success. A highlight was an hourlong meeting with then-Governor George Wallace, in his office in the Capitol.”
Within the first 10 years of the Minority Journalism Program, minority enrollment rose 12 percent within the college and department, a percentage owing some of its success to MJW. Donations also helped, including a $100,000 contribution by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 1994, as well as MJW’s self-fulfilling dynamic that brought in funds from Alabama’s two major professional media associations, the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Broadcasters Association, as well as donations from individual newspapers and broadcast operations.
“MJW got its kick-start with $4,000 from Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, The Birmingham News and The Tuscaloosa News and through the dedication of a few faculty members and a corps of undergraduate and graduate assistants,” Parsons said. “The power that has sustained the program comes from the reporters and editors who are MJW’s visiting professionals.”
While students are the heart of the program, Mullins said the visiting professionals — many of them who travel distances to volunteer — are what helps keep the program going.
“If there is one factor most critical in MJW’s success, it’s professionals returning to the Capstone year after year to help the new class acquire their skills, graduate, take their place in the profession, then come back and help the next class,” Mullins said. “They have become leaders in student media on this campus and others, and then they have gone on to become professional leaders. It’s the quality of leadership that stands out. The thousands of students — 500 of them through the workshop but hundreds more through other programs in the college related to MJW — have benefited from MJW since it began in 1984,” Mullins said.
“They acquired skills and attitudes. They got education and training. They networked with distinguished professionals. They attended job fairs and other career-boosting activities. They got jobs. They succeeded. And then they gave back by returning year after year to help the next MJW class.”
Sherrel Wheeler Stewart is a University of Alabama graduate and a former journalism instructor and is an assistant metro editor at The Birmingham News. Alan Minor is a communications student at UA and a BABJ scholarship winner.
