Missouri School of Journalism

06/03/2026

How do you move from traditional, deadline-driven election coverage to one that allows readers to follow the issues that mattered to them?

The Columbia Missourian built a digital voters guide using off-the-shelf digital applications.

"Reporters still attended the majority of the candidate forums," writes Genevieve Smith, municipal elections manager at the Missourian before graduating in May, "but instead of trying to summarize multiple candidates and topics in a 700-word story, they added questions and candidate answers into a sortable chart for readers to review."

Here's how the guide was built, using Airtable and Softr: https://rjionline.org/news/how-the-columbia-missourian-took-an-issues-based-approach-to-election-coverage/.

06/01/2026

Congratulations to Jacob Siciliano, BJ ’26, who’s been named a 2026 STAA First Team All-American by the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America (STAA). The STAA All-America Program recognizes the country’s most outstanding collegiate radio and TV sports broadcasters. Siciliano, who graduated in May, is one of five students on the First Team.

Watch the STAA announcement (Siciliano is introduced at the 10-minute mark): https://staatalent.com/all-america-program-2/.

Pictured: KOMU-TV sports anchor/reporter Jacob Siciliano, left, and Meteorologist Kesley Kobielusz report live from Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri, on Oct. 17, 2025, during the station's high school football game of the week.

06/01/2026

Congratulations to the 1,182 J-School students who made the Dean’s List during the spring 2026 semester. They earned at least a 3.25 GPA during the semester and completed a minimum of 12 graded credit hours. Pass on good wishes in the comments below.

05/31/2026

(1) Raindrops cover the Vance Heflin bench Friday afternoon in the Journalism Courtyard. The bench is one of two facing benches in the Heflin Memorial Garden that honor J-School alums Lance and Vance Heflin. (2) The Lance Heflin bench with Francis Quadrangle in the background. 📷 Nate Brown Mizzou Botanic Garden

05/29/2026

Congratulations to the staff of KBIA 91.3 FM, which Thursday won nine Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

The J-School's NPR-member station is in Region 5, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. KBIA's regional wins now advance to the national competition, which will announce winners in August.

A total of 10 stories from five different reporters were honored across a wide range of categories, from News Documentary and Excellence in Sound to Investigative Reporting. Read on to see the complete list, which includes links to the winning stories: https://journalism.missouri.edu/2026/05/kbia-wins-9-regional-murrow-awards/.

05/27/2026

"Individuals and corporations looking to turn a quick profit using AI slop — low-quality, digitally created content — are increasingly scraping news websites, using hard-won journalism without paying for it," writes Associate Professor Jared Schroeder.

"How can news organizations protect the fruits of their investments in journalism from being used to create immediately competing AI products? A century-old Supreme Court tool — the 'hot news' doctrine — could provide a legal mechanism for doing so."

More than a century old, the Supreme Court’s ‘hot news’ doctrine could help blunt the growing influence of AI news scrapers

05/27/2026

Six new reporters, hired through a partnership with Report for America, will join the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk in July. Five outlets are new to the Desk; the Arkansas Times is an existing partner.

Meet the third RFA cohort to join the Desk:

— Claire Carlson, MinnPost.
— Elizabeth Cline, Arkansas Times.
— Cheree Franco, Verite News.
— Rose LaForest, Nine PBS.
— Stella Mayerhoff, KAXE / KBXE.
— Maria Peralta-Arellano, WXPR Public Radio.

“I’m especially excited by the breadth of the organizations included in this cohort: from small public radio stations in the Upper Basin, to nonprofit news organizations in the Lower Basin, to the nation’s most-watched public television station in between," said Editorial Director Chas Sisk. "The reporters joining us are going to thrive in these environments. They’re going to teach us a lot. They’re going to raise the game of the Desk. And together we’re going to do a lot of good work.”

The Ag & Water Desk, based at the J-School, is a collaborative reporting network aimed at enhancing coverage of environmental issues across the American heartland. Professor Sara Shipley Hiles is the executive director.

The Ag & Water Desk is thrilled to announce that six new reporters and local newsrooms will be joining our team. The Desk partners with newsrooms across the Mississippi River Basin to produce our coverage, and these outlets hire reporting fellows in partnership with Report for America. The newsrooms...

05/27/2026

Congratulations to Damilola Oduolowu, PhD '25, who's the recipient of the prestigious O.O. McIntyre Fellowship, the highest postgraduate award given by the J-School.

The fellowship, named after prominent New York City columnist O.O. McIntyre, awards a select graduate student a one-year, $12,000 stipend to delve deeper into a topic of their choice and create a reporting project of their design.

Oduolowu’s project is "One in 100: Inside Nigeria’s Maternal Death Crisis." Read on to learn more. Story by Sara Mearns. Mizzou Graduate School

By Sara Mearns COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 27, 2026) — Damilola Oduolowu, Ph.D. ‘25, is the recipient of the prestigious O.O. McIntyre Fellowship, the highest postgraduate award given by the Missouri School of…

05/27/2026

Remembering Pat Sternberg, who died May 18, 2026, in Springfield, Missouri. She was 71.

Sternberg was a J-School academic advisor for 13 years before retiring in 2017. She was recognized for 25 years of continuous service at Mizzou in 2014.

View Patricia Mae Sternberg's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

05/27/2026

Congratulations to graduate student Russ Bray, who's the recipient of the $2,500 Bob Baxter Scholarship from the National Press Photographers Foundation

Bray will use the award to help fund the logistical costs of his ongoing master's project the J-School.

Learn more about Bray's project: https://journalism.missouri.edu/2026/05/graduate-student-russ-bray-named-2026-bob-baxter-scholarship-recipient/.

By Sara Mearns COLUMBIA, Mo. (May 27, 2025) — Graduate student Russ Bray has received the $2,500 Bob Baxter Scholarship through the National Press Photographer Foundation, which will help fund the…