For Bailey Braseth

Bailey,

Here are your two cats in case you have forgotten what they look and act like. They are the same obnoxious beasts as they were when you left. Hope you enjoy seeing them. I love you always,

Dad.

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Debate

Former Ole Miss journalism student and Murrow winner, Sandra Knispel, did another update on the debate. Here's her Mississippi Public Broadscasting story of July 15.

Glamour

Ah, the life of a PR hack in higher ed heaven. Actually, no complaints here, but I did think I would give my friends back in Seattle an idea of just how sexy this job really is and that being the presidential debate media wing-man is almost as great as being Tom Cruise for a day.

At desk at 8.
Coffee stolen from the chancellor's office.
30-minute conversation regarding the new research park.
Meet with Andy and Linda and debate related stuff.
Meet with Debbie Binkley to make three decisions no one else wants to.
Meet with student life folks about a student life matter. A fairly serious one.
Phone calls to four TV stations.
Look over two press releases.
Meet with student reporter to talk about writing.
Interview with Sandra Knispel of MPB regarding debate.
Shirley Mixon from MPB for site visit.
121 e-mail. 40 with required responses.
Long term marketing decision.
Quick chat with Jim Morrison about going green.
Jennifer Taylor re student events debate poster.
Phone complaint about campus map.
Hoda is picking out her wedding dress in Ark. and calls to update.
3:30 department heads meeting.
Scan the DM and other sources for debate material.
Making plan to set up regular time with Dr. Khayat.
Trip to SMC.
Trip to PR.
Trip to Union for lunch.
Make arrangements for ride home.
Watching the Obama McCain exchange over Iraq in the NYTimes.
Producing new media workshop for staff.
Other stuff too that I can't remember.
Didn't do the three things I had as priorities on my daily agenda.
Want to go home and cut the grass.
Will actually leave before 6:30 tonight.
Strange, but not an abnormal day.
Oh yeah, replace window decals at three different locations.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

PR

This is the big red and blue PR wrecking crew from Ole Miss. This is what our Monday meetings look like for about 75 minutes. No audio allowed, though.

 

 

Debate

People are starting to ask us about the rationale for having the debate at Ole Miss. Here's what I say. These words and thoughts are only mine, not the University's.

Why are we having this debate?

It’s about students if we do it right.
Provide exceptional opportunities.
To see first-hand, to experience.
To speak, to debate, to engage, to think, to act.
This is "our" world being handed off to them. Challenge all look at it, examine, explore, question, challenge and change it.


We do this by access. By classes. By informal discussions. By formal discussions. By thoughts. By different thoughts. By panels. By experts. By symposia. By a free flow of ideas. We do this by challenging our students to take part in this Republic, to engage in the democratic process. This is a chance to show our students this is a world they will ultimately inherit and they should do so only by developing new and better expectations.


Expose students to ideas. People. Philosophies. Crude political power. Money. Influence. Negotiation. Compromise. Uncomfortable situations.


This is the purpose of college. Why shouldn’t our students become leaders by seeing up close and first-hand the rotten, but necessary process of making the sausage aka the choosing of a presidential leader.


The purpose of a University is to pass along and create new knowledge. A great University does not pass up the opportunity to expose its students, staff and faculty to our political process. Universities and schools because of their dedication to truth and ideas is exactly where a debate should be held. It’s where Socrates would have it. A public forum with columns no less.


While other Universities did pass up the opportunity because of the many hassles, ours did not. We jumped on this opportunity. We worked for this opportunity. We planned for this opportunity. There was nothing accidental about this. Our University has grown having gone through this sometimes painful process. Because we have done this, we now know and expect we will do even more.


We are asking the world to look at our venue. Our university, our state, our region and our people; warts and all. We are to be respected for accepting the challenge.


Yes it costs money.

Yes we spent thousands of hours pursuing, planning and executing.

In doing so, U of Mississippi moves up in hierarchy of the college ranks.

When people ask me about Mississippi and its young people, I often tell them I’ll put my students toe to toe with theirs, anywhere, anytime and with anyone. It’s about building a new confidence. It’s about having the faith we will pull this off.


Is this also a self-serving event. Damn right it is. And it’s a gamble and we should be proud. We are the little town and the growing university that could. We are taking our place. We are becoming known. We are continually creating and recreating our image. Our new image is one of confidence, assuredness and the willingness to take a chance, to dare ourselves to do better. Who wins? We do. Our students do. Our university does. Our city does. Our state does. Our region does. The honest examination of race does.


Do we want to be known around the world? Yes we do. Don’t you dare deny that. We have world class success stories. We have incredible history we have learned from and been formed from.


It’s for our students.

It’s the duty of a university to step forward as the forum for such an important discussion.

It’s good for our institution and the students who will come here years from now.

It’s good for our alumni base who will bask in pride seeing their alma mater shine.


Of course it’s about presidential politics, debate, and the flawed process that is our democracy, but in the context of this big event, our students will be serve superbly and this University will benefit greatly. All naysayers are welcome to keep their asses at the house.


I call it courage.


I call it smart.


A day off school. If ever there was a reason to drop a day of school it’s to enlighten, embolden, empower and challenge our young people who are inheriting what we left them.


Let’s hope they do better. That’s what we are preparing them for.


Ralph Braseth

Saturday

Some very good news yesterday. Cirlot placed a story with NBC Nightly News. Not really a debate story, but it should reflect very well on the University. Spent much of yesterday and the past three days talking with sponsors of specific programs on campus for the debate and how to best generate publicity for them. Some of the events are of no interest to the news media, some should generate international news. I am particularly excited about the science panel that takes place on September 18. That will be very interesting and controversial.

It's at least three distinguished science writers and scientists and each has a different political leaning. What they share in common is an anger that science has been marginalized by politics. It used to be where when the science community developed a consensus on a major topic, the US Government took heed. Think Russia vs the US Space Program and President John F. Kennedy making a bold proclamation that the U.S. would put a man on the moon in 10 years.

Or when the US developed the Manhattan project. Certainly energy is that big of a priority and these writers are critical because the best our politicians can imagine is more drilling and perhaps dropping the tax on gas.

Spoke with Glenn Elvington of ABC News for about 30 minutes yesterday. Busy guy. He not only is doing our debate, but the conventions and some of the other debates as well. Problem is, the networks have a shadow of the resources they did just eight years ago.

No debate thinking for at least four hours. It's Saturday. Web site is in pretty good shape. Time to generate some good content for it. The debates are still not on the national media map, yet.

DebbieBinkley

Want to know who really makes us tick? Ms. Debbie Binkley, our Operations Director and University Relations "Admiral." Here she is after setting up the debate display in the Ole Miss Union. July 11, 2008.

DebateWebSiteCrew

Peter Cleary, M.K. Smith and Robby Sietz in the war room working on debate Web site. Nothing but fun. Nothing but net.

DebateLogo

July7

Another day, another dime.

Spent most of the day tweaking copy for the Ole Miss Debate Web site. Not the most fun job, but really important. The real brains behind the Web effort are M.K. Smith and Robby Seitz.

Started off with three meetings in the morning.
1. With Debbie (the workshorse)
2. The new media team
3. The PR folks

Also had a one-hour conference call with Professor Neil Manson from Ole Miss and several really fine science writers. They are putting on a panel discussion on September 18. Included in today's call:

Ronald Bailey, Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine
Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D., Editor, Science Progress, U of Penn. Professor
Christopher Mooney, Freelance Science Writer, steering commitee member of Science 2008
Neil Manson, Ph.D., Ole Miss
Noel Wilkin, Ph.D., Associate Provost, Ole Miss
Ralph Braseth (yeah, me)

Going to be a heckuva panel that I suspect will generate a good bit of national media. So far, there is no "science platform" from any prez candidate. That is the story according to these guys.

AHA

American Heart Association Meeting on Ole Miss Campus

The American Heart Association folks came to Ole Miss last week to finalize details for the health program to run a few days before the debate. Check out the photos from their visit.

The Ford Center

 

 

This is the venue for the Ole Miss presidential debate. The Gertrude Castellow Ford Center. Nice building. Great accoustics. Gonna be a great backdrop for the TV standups.

City of Oxford Banners

 

 

Very nice, City of Oxford, very nice indeed.

Ole Miss Banners

 

These are the pole banners on the Ole Miss campus. They were designed by Sabrina Brown and crew, or at least I think they were. They're all over campus.

WTVA

As I try to play catch-up with this project, here is one of the first debate interviews. Took place in late April at WTVA in Tupelo. Funny thing, almost half the TV anchors who interviewed me were former students at Ole Miss. My students. Made me feel good to see them working out there.

Here are a few photos from the studio. Always love the crew. They are the most fun folks in a TV station.

New Album 4/23/08 6:13 PM

July4

Day off, but not really. Spending time drilling down in the Ole Miss Debate Web site. Trying to clear the decks for most of next week so we can get the site fully functional, navigable and sensible. No more dead end links and goofy copy I hope. Then it's time to produce some good daily content to give folks reasons for coming back.

DebateTV

Since coming to work for the debate in April, I've appeared on numerous TV news programs around the state of Mississippi and in Memphis. My interviews have lasted from three to 10 minutes. I basically give their audiences the 411 on the debate and attempt to help explain why everyone should care. Thus far, those stations include, WHBQ-Memphis (former employer), WTVA-Tupelo, WCBI-Columbus, WTOK-Meridian, WABG-Greenwood, WAPT-Jackson, WJTV-Jackson (former employer) and WLOX-Biloxi. Photos when I get around to it.

MoreMedia

On June 4, 2008, about 100 local and national media members came to the Ole Miss campus to survey the debate site and learn the rules of the road from the debate commission. Here are some of the photos.

Media Site Visit with Debate Commission

MPA

Slide show of photos from the Mississippi Press Association meeting in Biloxi at the Beau Rivage, June 26 - June 29.

Less than 90 days to go until the UM presidential debate. I've promised myself I'm going to keep up with this. Here is yet another try. Spent all of last week in Philadelphia and Biloxi, Miss to attend the annual Mississippi Association of Broadcasters meeting and the Mississippi Press Association's annual convention. I set up a booth for debate info and publicity. Spoke with literally hundreds of people about the Ole Miss debate.

My title bar is not working. Here is a look at my new office in the Lyceum. I'm spending my mornings in PR and my afternoons here. I hope to begin seriously documenting my part in the Ole Miss Presidential Debate. Here's a few photos of my office on the third floor that overlooks the library and the James Meredith Memorial.

New Album 6/22/08 11:11 PM

Baileys Bike Rally Video

thanks to jason plunk for the job

Baileys Bike Rally Video

News Desk with Peter

Bailey's First TV Commercial

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WTVA Noon Show, Ole Miss Presidential Debate

New Album 4/23/08 6:13 PM

Had a wonderful time interviewing on WTVA's Noon Show to talk about the presidential debate at Ole Miss on September 26, 2008. Great people. There is so much that happens behind the camera. Here's a look at some of the people you never see on TV. And, very proud the anchor is one of our very own from the Ole Miss Journalism Department. Her favorite teacher: Professor Robin Street.

Photo Slide Show of Alan Gross's Jam Shack

New Album 4/19/08 8:07 PM

Alan, Ken, Wiley and myself spent the better part of Saturday sheetrocking the interior of Alan's new playhouse. Click on the photo and you can see all the photos. Still have sawdust in my eyes.

Alan, please give this link to Wiley. I don't have his e-mail. Ralph

Otis Sanford and The Commercial Appeal

Ole Miss is proud of so many of its alums. I am particularly proud of the many great journalists who have graduated from Ole Miss, but perhaps none more than Otis Sanford of The Commercial Appeal. A few years back Mr. Sanford was award the university's Silver Em award which is the highest recognition this institution affords our former journalism students.

Sanford is not only a great journalist, but has inspired hundreds of others to follow in his footsteps.

It was great seeing him today. Like many others, he's very excited about the upcoming presidential debate and knows that this event can push Ole Miss to a level unimaginable 10 years ago.

The Comfort Inn

Ahhhhh, the Comfort Inn in Memphis. Actually, this is the best value in town. The people are really nice and if you ask for a view of the Mississippi River, they always try to accommodate. Have to get up at 5:30 a.m. for an appearance on Good Morning Memphis. Of course, the topic is the Ole Miss presidential debate. Can you imagine? Up to 3,000 visiting journalists. We will be in the world spotlight for a a few shining days. It's up to Ole Miss to make the best of this opportunity. My job is to assist in making that happen.

TV in Memphis

Heading to Memphis tonight for my new job. Scheduled to be on Fox 13s morning show to talk about the presidential debate at Ole Miss.

Another Namorato Photo

My new job

Click here for the PR story. This explains most of it. Well, not really, but sort of.

Ms. Namorato's second grade class, Oxford, Miss.

Spent an hour on Monday with Bailey's former second grade teacher, Ms. Namorato. Talked to the wonderful kids about weather, news, broadcasting and showed them a video of me doing the weather from 1987. Wonderful experience, but a bit sad because I remember so well when Bailey was in this class. Now, he's almost as tall as me.

What does your newspaper say about you?

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country
— if they could find the time —— and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a
poor job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country.... as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for.... There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

* Not sure where this originated, but would like to find out. It was forwarded to me by Professor T.J. Ray from the U of Mississippi.

Best, ralph

Snow in Nashville, March 7, 2008

CICM New Media

Hoda,

Here's a quick tour of our Nashville thing. I think the snow has started. And, by the way, I have figured out of the color of the item.

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To HSB from me

A sunny Sunday in Oxpatch.

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Vegas Hospitality Show,

Ed,

Here is a low resolution example of one of the scores of show booths I shot. Some folks were interviewed. For others, it was just too loud in the exhibition hall. I have lots of general Vegas shots to build the open for each of these mini stories. Ralph

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Hoda's Virtual Tour of 3761

Here's the goofy video I took for you (minus the 14 minute cab ride into town from the airport)

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Vegas Hospitality Show,

Two minutes of four hours of video. The work has just begun. Ugh.

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See you at the Black Jack Table, Mark

Bring some money, bro. We'll need it.

Me with Fox's Shepard Smith at SEJC

Proud to call him one of "ours" from Ole Miss. What a nice guy. Showed up 45 minutes early and stayed 45 minutes later than he needed to take shots with every student who wanted one and to answer any question from any student. Most impressive.

Me shooting a photo of Traci Mitchell at SEJC

Happy VD

Happy happy Hoda. From Ralph and Bailey.

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Wild Life of Mississippi

Survival of the fittest. Our cats, DJ and C-2 have to compete with this beast for their daily grub. He will be coming in the house within two weeks. That coon is fearless. Or dumb.

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New Song

My baby lies over the ocean, my baby lies over the sea, my baby lies over the ocean, so bring back my baby to me. Her name is Hoda. Tell her if you see her.

Viva Las Vegas Baby, February 26-29

Going to the world's largest Nightclub and Beverage mega-conference in Las Vegas. I will be attending as an employee of the sponsors of this event; Oxford Publishing. My job is to capture the excitement and new products being introduced this year by thousands of vendors with my video camera. I will also be interviewing the top executives of the companies and then turning around and producing a MySpace marketing site for the company. Sounds like a lot of work. Too bad I hate Las Vegas.

Courtesty photo from Picassa "Palaavi" Thanks!

Welcome to Ole Miss SEJC Students and Advisers

Ole Miss is hosting this year's Southeast Journalism Conference from February 22-24. We expect upward of 300 students and advisers from some 40 colleges and universities across the South. Assistant Director of Student Media, Traci Mitchell, and me, the director of student media at Ole Miss are co-presidents. We have put together a world class group of instructors and speakers. This will give us a great opportunity to showcase the Ole Miss Student Media Center and the newly renovated Department of Journalism. The logistics have been a nightmare, but we hope the work will prove worthwhile.

Nashville here we come, March 6-8

The Center for Innovation in College Media is holding its second annual national new media conference in Nashville at Vanderbilt University from March 6-8. The plan is to bring 20 Ole Miss students, faculty and media advisers. The three co-founders of CICM are Chris Carroll, director of student media at Vandy, Brian Murley, journalism professor and tech-guru at Eastern Illinois University and yours truly, Sucko the clown from Ole Miss. Finally, CICM is starting to gain some momentum. We have secured funding from College Publisher, U-Wire, the National Press Photographers Assocation and the Ed and Becky Meek Trust for the Future of Journalism. We hope to have 150 participants and break even. Is that too much to ask?

Florida here I come, February 10-14

I was notified a few days ago about my acceptance into the Poynter Institute's multimedia program for educators. Feel lucky to have been selected. Looking forward to this hands-on program. I will bring back to Ole Miss what I learned and hope to continue to improve the Student Media Center and to best fulfill its mission by providing students with a professionally supported hands-on learning experiences that will prepare them for the best professional opportunities.

Check out the Poynter Progam here. It's pretty impressive.

The faculty is awesome. Mindy McAdams from the U of Florida is in my opinion the most impressive and influential online journalism educator in the country. She alone will be worth the price of admission.

Student Media Center Recognized for Innovation

Title: IHL Recognizes UM Innovation with Two Best Practices Awards

Author: Lee Eric Smith

Full Story:
OXFORD, Miss. - The Board of Trustees of State Institutions
of Higher Learning has recognized two programs at the
University of Mississippi with Best Practices Awards for
2007.

UM received a first-place award in technology for its
Online Policy Directory and Administration System and a
second-place award in the student affairs category for the
Student Media Center for media convergence.

The technology award recognizes a system that makes
university policies easy to find online. It also
streamlines the policy approval process using electronic
workflow and makes it easy to research the history of UM
policies.

"We're pleased about the award," said Chief Information
Officer Kathy Gates. "We think it's a good project that
brings a lot of value to the university. Doing this online
brings a lot of structure to a process that really needs
it."

About the student affairs category award, SMC Director
Ralph Braseth said, "It's great to have the IHL to
recognize our work as innovative. We're viewed nationally
as leaders and I'm proud of that for Ole Miss."

The SMC has literally erased the lines between print,
broadcast and Internet journalism by blending The Daily
Mississippian newspaper, Rebel Radio, NewsWatch TV and the
Ole Miss yearbook into one seamless student-run media
outlet. In doing so, the center has set new standards, not
just for academic media outlets, but for professional ones
as well, said Braseth, who is also an assistant professor
of journalism.

"The Gannett Co., which owns USA Today and dozens of other
newspapers, is now revamping their newsroom to an
all-platform media source," he said. "In other words, what
Gannett is now trying to do, we've already had in place two
years."

Gates said the idea to automate the policy manual
originated in the Dean of Students Office and the Office of
the University Attorney, two areas where easy access to UM
policy is critical. From there, lead developer Jie Tang
worked to bring the new system online.

"Before, it was difficult to look up certain policies, and
so it was harder to determine if people were complying with
them," Gates said. "But now, for instance, the Dean of
Students Office can view a policy online and go over it
together with a student or parent as necessary.

"Whenever we've automated something, the rules are more
clear and the application is more fair. By having all
policies available online, we can operate much more
efficiently, and we always know who 'owns' the policy, who
approved it, when it was approved and so on."

UM policies can be viewed at



http://www.olemiss.edu/policies.

Braseth said that dozens of professional and academic media
organizations have toured SMC looking for ideas, and
although there have been bumps along the way, he's proud of
his staff and the university.

"This isn't a flash in the pan," he said. "This is how
media will continue to move in the future. It's been a ride
filled with failure and learning, but if you can't
experiment with new ideas at a university, where can you?"

Visit the UM Student Media Center online at


http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/stu_media.

Western Kentucky University