Photo: https://www.facebook.com/tucker.mitchell.3
As a student at Ithaca College, there are many opportunities to participate in clubs and activities on campus to field your passion and get your voice heard. One particular medium through which students feel like they can contribute to the larger conversations occurring on campus is through The Ithacan, the student-run school news publication. Last month, Kira Maddox was appointed as the new editor-in-chief of The Ithacan for the upcoming school year. As a rising senior, Maddox has been involved with the newspaper for the majority of her time here at the college. She has many ideas for where the newspaper can go, but most of all she hopes to get more students involved and feeling like they can contribute their voice to any conversation that they feel passionate about.
Hometown: Whitesboro, New York.
Major: Journalism
Minor: Sociology
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you ended up at Ithaca College:
“I’m from Whitesboro, New York, a small suburb outside of the larger and slightly better-known Utica, New York, which is about two hours north of Ithaca. I knew I wanted to go away to college, but at the same time I wasn’t ready to go too far away just yet, so two hours has been a good balance in my mind.”
How did you become interested in journalism and what have been the most important experiences in shaping your views on the subject?:
“I became interested in journalism as a concept when I was still in elementary school. After 9/11 happened, the media was exploding with phrases like “war on terror” and “weapons of mass destruction.” Obviously, being about six years old when that happened, I wasn’t about to question what I saw adults saying on television. But my father did, and he was really the only one around me with this attitude. I’d see him get into heated arguments with people as he insisted that there were no WMDs and that the war was only to preserve our nation’s own interests. Again, I was six, so I didn’t really pay much attention. But later on, when I was getting into middle school and high school, it was established that there were no WMDs and that my father was largely correct in his earlier conclusions. He’s passed away since then — he died of cancer when I was 12 — but his mentality always stuck with me: the things you hear on the news could be slanted, tilted or not 100 percent correct, and I know how important it was that my father fought so passionately for something he knew to be true, even when people called him unpatriotic and crazy, and said he was just trying to start trouble. I didn’t like that that could happen, so I went into journalism so I would always know the full story and so I could potentially do a better job at reporting the truth.”
What have been your most important experiences in shaping your views on journalism?:
“As for experiences that have shaped my views on journalism, I think in general it’s been the continuing evolution of the Internet. It’s been a great way to get stories out there that the media may have not known about or covered otherwise, and it’s really holding the media accountable for their actions. If the media messes up, there’s an almost instantaneous public outcry through the Internet and social media with things like #iftheygunnedmedown, and things like the #myNYPD hijack that have given the public a collective voice that can then — hopefully — be picked up by the news and reported, bringing the real issues to the forefront.”
What have you studied at Ithaca outside of journalism?:
“Outside of journalism, I have a minor in sociology. What I’m really interested in, when it comes to media, is reporting internal problems with our nation on a more localized level. For that I kenw I needed to have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of how people interact with each other and the different power dynamics we’ve had to acclimate to. It’s been great so far, and I definitely recommend tking some sociology classes if you’re looking for enlightenment.”
What makes The Ithacan different from other college newspapers?:
“The Ithacan is the student-run news outlet of the Ithaca College community, and I think that in itself makes it different. Largely, we focus on community journalism in relation to the college, covering things that affect the students, faculty and staff who reside here. We strive to put care into what we do and to follow the issues that people on this campus are passionate about.”
What is the culture like at the office?:
“As for our culture, we try to make the office as comfortable and inclusive a space as possible. We accept students from all class years, majors and demographics. Really anyone who wants to learn how to do something, whether it be write an article, take professional-grade photos, one-man-band a video, etc., is completely welcome to stop by our office at any point and sign up. And while we do try to uphold a serious and professional level of quality when it comes to the work we publish, by no means do we want that to intimidate people who want to work with us. I know my freshman year I was extremely worried about writing for The Ithacan because I didn’t have much — or really any — journalistic experience before coming to college. I joined as a copy editor, checking grammar and facts and sat in the corner on the floor (I would like to note that people regularly offered me a chair at the main table, but I declined). And now I’m going to be the editor-in-chief next year. I have the confidence that I can do that job well, and I have the editors I worked for to thank for a large part of that. They were all very patient, giving me tips on different things to learn and giving me credit when I did well. That just made me want to push myself to be better, and I think that culture of helpfulness is something you can still see in our office today, even though the editors I once worked for have since graduated.”
How do you feel that the new world of media ought to be reflected in the development of the Ithacan and other news media? What should we be doing differently now and in the near future?:
“As most people know, digital media has begun to dominate the news world. One aspect I want to strengthen is our online and social media presence. I think we could improve our audience engagement by pushing out more content. More event coverage, more heads-up notices on social media. For example, this year as managing editor I took it upon myself to take part in the vigil that took place on The Commons in remembrance of Eric Garner, live-tweeting and reporting the event from the scene to the wider Ithaca community. This sort of reporting from the field is something I want to push our writers to do more often to keep our readers constantly up to date and engaged with the different stories we’re covering. Using social media in this fashion can also help improve our breaking news coverage as a fast way to get basic information to the public before we develop a full follow-up story. I want to make The Ithacan somewhere readers go not only for hard news, but updates on the goings-on of the campus overall. I want to ensure that this news outlet is a place the campus community continues to trust, look to for guidance and view as an ally.”
Have you had a chance to formulate any specific plans for changes in the format or style of The Ithacan?:
“As far as the style goes, we’re planning an overall redesign of the newspaper next year, but the exact details of what that will look like are still in the works. As for the content, I want to incorporate a means for more students outside of our regular staff members to contribute work – something that would mirror a freelance system. Because many students are not able to commit to being staff members and writing for us on a regular basis, I want there to be a means for them to still create and publish professional work that they’re passionate about. However, the most important thing for me to do in the coming year is to continue to foster a space devoted to covering what’s good for the campus and what the people here care about. I want to build a dialogue with the campus that I feel like needs to be strengthened. So if anyone out there has anything you really want to see covered next year, let me know! I can’t guarantee that everything will turn into a story, but I really want to hear what people care about outside The Ithacan office.”