The Global Editors Network (GEN) commissioned Western iMedia, the entrepreneurial editorial startup operated out of Western Kentucky University‘s School of Journalism & Broadcasting, to produce a continuous wave of editorial reports during the three-day international meeting of news executives.
Twelve Western iMedia cross-format producers and two faculty coordinators covered the event through a combination of streaming video, mobile interactivity, rich-media micro-journalism and social networking. An additional member of the iTeam — coordinating through Skype, mobile, SMS and email — oversaw the social media storm, and provided statistical analysis from the university’s campus in Bowling Green, Ky. The 14-hour time zone difference combined with the Chinese special administrative region to made this a truly globe-spanning 24-hour-a-day editorial operation.
By the numbers
Over a period of 70 nearly non-stop hours, the team generated 336 full articles and posts, 1,267 photos and slideshows, 21 feature video interviews, 337 tweets, 37 Facebook posts and 2 interactive mobile polls. At its height, the coverage engaged 204,000 people in 73 countries, with an average reach of 85,000 people per day. The sophisticated tablet-responsive media hub at news2011.org was evolved from audience generation mode to interactive coverage and eventually to its current resource status. It involved more than 4,000 unique visitors and more than 17,000 page views at its height. Western iMedia’s editorial coverage raised GEN’s Klout score for online influence more than 22 percent.
“The GEN wants to promote collaboration across all news platforms,” said Bertrand Pecquerie, GEN’s chief executive officer. “This is why we are very interested in the innovative newshandling techniques used by Western Kentucky University’s journalists-in-training, which will ensure the summit’s coverage to integrate all the media platforms.”
WKU’s fusion journalists combine the ethics, mission and production values of traditional editorial work with a decidedly non-traditional approach in delivering stories and interacting with audiences across a wide range of media, explained iMedia coordinator and journalist professional-in-residence Kerry J. Northrup.
“Journalists used to specialize by format. Fusion journalists have areas of expertise but their specialty is collaboration and innovation,” according to Northrup.
The GEN iTeam consists of Amira Ahmetovic, a Bowling Green senior; Austin Anderson, a Benton senior; Alex Duke, an Louisville senior; Cameron Epperson, a Louisville junior; Alexis Gonzalez-Lopez, an Elizabethtown senior; Laura Haggard, a Georgetown junior; M. Blake Harrison, a Paducah graduating junior; Jacob Kasinger, a Utica senior; Sara Kuhl, an Alexandria senior; Laurel Mallory, a Cynthiana senior; Andrew Ridge, a Louisville senior; Tabitha Waggoner, a Bowling Green senior; and Rialda Zukic, a Bowling Green senior.
Leading the group with Northrup was Dr. Marjorie Yambor, an instructor in the School of Journalism & Broadcasting.
For more information about Western iMedia, contact Northrup at +1 (803) 474-3385.
Western iMedia staff
Amira Ahmetovic
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Austin Anderson
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Alex Duke
Alex Duke is a recent graduate of Western Kentucky University. He is continuing his education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., pursuing a Masters of Divinity in Biblical & Theological Studies. If that doesn’t work out, he will probably transfer to Hogwarts and try his hand at a different brand of “divinity.” |
Cameron Epperson
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Alexis Gonzalez-Lopez
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Laura Haggard
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M. Blake Harrison
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Jacob Kasinger
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Sara Kuhl
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Laurel Mallory
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Kerry J. Northrup
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Andrew Ridge
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Tabitha N. Waggoner
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Marjorie Yambor
Dr. Yambor’s research revolves around Foucault’s power/knowledge and Debord’s spectacle as they relate to contemporary film and television. She also explores Bakhtin’s carnival, feminist frameworks, and symbolic interactionism in subculture and pop culture. Moreover, she admires aesthetic excellence and inspiring intellects. In addition to her classroom commitments, Dr. Yambor serves as the general manager of Revolution 91.7, Western’s college progressive radio station. Revolution operates 24/7 with the old-school style of devoted deejays and modern melodies in an effort to cauterize commercial complacency and revolutionize mainstream music. Dr. Yambor consistently contributes to college radio panels for the Broadcast Education Association, College Music Journal, and Intercollegiate Broadcasting System. Dr. Yambor earned her PhD from Michigan State University in mass media, her MA from University of Alabama in telecommunication and film, and her BA from Western Kentucky University in broadcasting and literature. Her professional experience includes work in advertising and radio, and she has taught at Alabama, Michigan State, and South Florida. |
Rialda Zukic
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With a double major in news editorial journalism and political science, Amira is part of the storybuilding team for the Global Editors Network summit. Amira’s prior experiences include reporting and feature writing for the College Heights Herald and interning at the Bowling Green Daily News and MTV Networks in Nashville, TN. She is fluent in English and Bosnian. Graduating this December Amira plans to pursue a career in politics and media.
A major in Broadcasting and focused on Television Production, Austin Anderson is a senior at Western Kentucky University. He has experience in videography, live broadcast sports production, studio production, and post production for national broadcast television. Austin is currently the crew manager at WKYU-PBS in Bowling Green, Ky. He has been a part of the Western iMedia team since August of 2011.
Cameron Epperson is currently a junior at Western Kentucky University studying Television Production. Videography has always sparked his interest since he was a child. For Cameron, knowing what he is shooting could be seen by millions of people really gets his adrenaline flowing. After graduation in May of 2013 he plans to work in sports production, with the goal of being a professional videographer.
Alexis Gonzalez-Lopez is a senior at Western Kentucky University with a major in News-Editorial Journalism. He is currently managing editor at the College Heights Herald, the award-winning student newspaper of WKU in addition to being a member of the iMedia team. Before becoming managing editor, Alexis was a copy editor for a year at the Herald. Last summer he interned at a small community newspaper in Kentucky. While there he wrote a number of feature stories and helped to copy edit the newspaper. Alexis will graduate this coming December.
Laura Haggard is 23 and hails from Georgetown, Ky. She is currently a senior at Western Kentucky University studying Communication Studies with a minor in Broadcasting. Laura is a former music director and Internet director for WWHR-FM of Bowling Green, Ky. and spent time interning in the music industry in Boston, MA in 2009. When she isn’t working for Western iMedia, she is a featured columnist at 
M. Blake Harrison is a graduating junior at Western Kentucky University. His primary focus is print journalism with a minor in political science. He has a passion for all things news, sports and social media. He is the J1 (audience) desk lead. His focus for #NEWS2011 is audience generation/interaction. Feel free to contact him at
Jacob Kasinger is a senior at Western Kentucky University with a major in Film and Television Production. He writes, directs, shoots, and edits all types of video, creating art one frame at a time. His favorite film is Fight Club and seeks a future career directing and shooting feature films and documentaries.
Sara Kuhl was born in the city of Cincinnati Ohio, but grew up in Portland, Maine and Madison, Wis. She loves writing more than anything else, and loves writing news and fiction stories. Her other hobbies include reading, juggling, taking pictures, gaming (board games, card games, and video games) and sleeping. Her major is news/editorial journalism and a minor in creative writing. One day, she wants to be able to say that she has visited every country in the world. So far, she has only visited Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Her grandfather inspires everything she does.
Laurel Mallory is the Media Supervisor for Western iMedia. Laurel will attain a Bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University in Broadcast TV Production in December 2011, with minor studies in criminology and dance. As an undergrad, she has been the In-House Production Specialist for the WKU Dance Department and has also been involved with video projects at WKU and abroad in which she has enhanced her skills in videography, editing, graphic design and web design. A true holistic journalist, Laurel looks to get her start in the newsroom as a video editor, internet producer or news content specialist. Her ultimate goal is an international journalism career focused on US diplomatic relations with the Middle East.
Creator of the US$2.5 million Newsplex prototype convergent newsroom-studio for demonstration and training in cross-format editorial techniques, now working with media organizations worldwide designing tech-savvy multiplatform newshandling operations from the journalism up. Holds the Turner Multimedia Professorship at Western Kentucky University. He is also a board member of the Global Editors Network. Until 2009, he was a director at the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) based in Europe. Prior, his career encompassed two decades as an award-winning journalist, editor and executive for a variety of newspapers, magazines and broadcasters, including a corporate position at Gannett. He has consulted for 34 newsrooms in 22 countries as a recognized expert in media innovation, editorial technologies and newsroom management.
Andrew Ridge is a member of the senior class at Western Kentucky University that is graduating at the end of this year. Ridge’s major is News and Editorial Journalism, with a “side portion” of History as his minor. Ridge not only enhanced his writing and editing skills during the time he spent at WKU, he also learned a great deal about building websites and other technological skills that went well beyond his major’s expectations. If there was one headline that can best describe Ridge’s plans for post graduation, that it would have to be “The Future of Journalism Begins January 2012″
Tabitha N. Waggoner is the on-site GEN audience lead for Western iMedia. She has four years of experience reporting for news, entertainment, features and sports, plus copy editing for Western Kentucky University’s student newspaper, the College Heights Herald. She also currently works as a writer for the WKU Talisman, the yearbook. Her off-campus experiences include being a science book editor for Beginnings Publishing, a company that creates home-school science curriculum. Tabitha also enjoyed her internship editing, writing and researching for the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions. She is currently especially interested in the advantages social media and photojournalism can bring to newspapers. In part because Tabitha is a multi-racial minority in Kentucky, she is interested in bringing diversity, equality and cross-cultural understanding to the newsroom. Traveling and learning to understand different cultures and traditions is important to her. She has visited 24 states plus the District of Columbia in her 22 years and hopes to visit the remaining 26 as soon as possible. During Tabitha’s recent trip to China, she visited Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Sichuan and Guangxi provinces where she enjoyed trying delicacies such as huǒ guō (hot pot) and dimsum. She will receive her bachelor’s degree in news-editorial journalism with a minor in biology in December 2011. You can find out more about Tabitha at 
Marjorie Yambor teaches in the School of Journalism & Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. Motivated by Western’s motto-”Life, more life. The spirit makes the master.”-her pedagogical play ponders popular culture and media effects as well as radio and television broadcasting.
Rialda Zukic is a senior graduating from Western Kentucky University in December with double majors in news editorial journalism and German. She currently writes international culture stories for the College Heights Herald, WKU’s student publication. She has about four years experience reporting, including a six-month internship with the Bowling Green Daily News where she covered a wide range of stories. Last summer, with the help of two photojournalists, Rialda put together a documentary depicting the after-effects of the ’95 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rialda is originally from Bosnia and has been researching war crimes in the Balkans for the past two years. She spent the majority of her childhood in Mülheim an der Ruhr, located in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Rialda plans on returning to Europe after she graduates and pursuing journalism and her research in Eastern Europe. In her free time she enjoys writing creative plays, interacting with people from different cultures and traveling internationally.