Welcome to this edition of the junk drawer. As we have outlined in previous junk drawer posts, this is a random collection of stuff that is important but didn’t fit anywhere else, much like that drawer in the kitchen of most of our homes.

It seems like a good time to do one of these, as we need to catch up on a few things, starting with the situation at Indiana University…

 

FROM THE “YOU CAN’T SPELL ‘YOU IDIOT’ WITHOUT ‘IU'” DEPARTMENT

As we noted in a previous post, the incoming lieutenant governor of Indiana, Micah Beckwith, threatened the Indiana Daily Student for its coverage of the election.

Beckwith, who looks like if Seth MacFarlane and Josh Duggar ever entered into a “Twins Experiment” together, didn’t like the Donald Trump cover, in which the paper listed all the things people who worked with Trump had said about him and then noted how we just elected this guy anyway.

The IDS caught up with Beckwith for a protracted interview about his “we will be happy to stop them” comment about the paper as well as what he actually knows about how free speech works. You can find the transcript here. I’ve read it three times and it’s basically like someone bought a box of “Ranting Uncle At Thanksgiving Magnetic Poetry” and threw it into a blender.

Making things even better for the man who will soon be one heartbeat away from running Indiana, the Society for Professional Journalists has decided to up the ante.

Michael Koretzky posted on the SPJ blog about the situation and has worked with the IDS staff to create T-shirts that have the front page of the paper on them, as well as a “Come Get Some” call out to Beckwith on the back.

It obviously goes without saying that I’ve ordered one… You can too at this link.

 

JOIN THE BLUESKY REVOLUTION

As we mentioned at the start of the week, the social media platform for the blog shifted from X to Bluesky. As promised, I’ve started a “starter pack” of journalists, journalism educators, media nerds and friends of the blog. If you are interested in seeing who’s in the mix, feel free to click the link here

Also, you can feel free to hit me up and ask to be added to our motley crew.

 

GOODNIGHT, GRANDPA JOE

One of the things I tell my students a lot when they take my reporting class is that the skill I can almost guarantee they’ll use is obituary writing. Not only did I write a ton of these as a cub reporter, I’ve had the unfortunate honor of helping former students write them to honor family members who have died.

This week, I found myself at a keyboard, practicing what I preach.

My last grandparent died on Friday at the age of 101. Grandpa Joe was a lot of things, including a veteran of World War II, a police chief and a loyal rotary member. He was also a former pinball machine repairman, an avid sheepshead player and a great joke teller.

(This is one of my favorite pictures of him, as he taught my daughter, Zoe, how to play backgammon during one Thanksgiving visit. The photo basically says, “What a sweet moment between a great-grandfather and his great-granddaughter.” If you look closer at Zoe’s face, it is a mask of determination that basically says, “I’m gonna beat you this time, old man!”)

Aside from the astronomical costs some papers charge for placing basic memorials (the average cost for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel was about $5 per word), I was also stunned at the level of verification the company required of me.

The obituary form required me to have digital verification of who I was, my relationship to the deceased and contact information so they could verify who I was. In addition, they required the name of the funeral home/crematorium that was handling the remains, as well as contact information for someone who could verify the death had occurred.

A few hours after I submitted the form, I received an email explaining that they had confirmed the information with the organization I listed and that the obituary would be allowed to run.

Two things dawned on me, having gone through this process. First, this kind of thing is apparently necessary because some chuckleheads file false death reports on other people, either as a joke or as a threat. Second, this might be the most fact-checking of something that goes into a publication these days.

 

AS YOGI BERRA WOULD SAY, “THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING THIS NECESSARY.”

Finally, I wanted to end on a positive note and thank everyone who has been reviewing and using my introductory/media-literacy text, “Exploring Mass Communication.” Whenever I try something new, I always do my best to make sure it’s useful and helpful to the people I’m trying to reach.

Apparently, it works well, as I found out it’s up for a major award:

To be fair, when I first saw the email, I thought it was one of those fake society things, where they tell you that you’re a “Teacher of the Year,” with the goal of getting you to buy overpriced coffee mugs with your name and award status on them. After I did some digging and bothered some people at Sage, it turned out to be a real thing.

I can’t thank you all enough for being part of this process with me, whether you were reviewing early chapters, helping me rework some features or using the book in your classes. A book without readers is like a tree that falls in the forest with nobody around and I know this book wouldn’t be anything without you.

Honestly, I’ve seen the things that have won in the past and I do not expect to win at all. The announcement for this will be in March 2025, so it’s far enough away for me to dream about it, but not close enough where I’m checking my email every 5.2 seconds.

When I know something, you’ll know something.

Best,

Vince (a.k.a. The Doctor of Paper)