Journalism

Beyond the game

Joe Arney — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:03:06 +0000

Beyond the game Joe Arney Tue, 04/07/2026 - 10:03

Iris Serrano

Lincoln Roch reviews his notes by the Ralphie statue outside Folsom Field. Despite being a rookie on the sports beat, he captured a prestigious Hearst award for a feature story on fan behavior after the Buffs hosted Brigham Young University in the fall. Photo by Hannah Howell.

A year and a half ago, Lincoln Roch walked into a Sko Buffs Sports meeting not knowing what a third down was. The story of how he got from there to winning one of the most prestigious awards for collegiate sports writing is a bigger story than any game he has covered.

In the fall, the University of Colorado Boulder was fined $50,000 by the Big 12 Conference after hateful and discriminatory language targeting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was chanted from the stands during a football game against Brigham Young University.

Lincoln Roch, a senior studying journalism at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, was sitting in the student section at Folsom Field during the game, and could hear fans shouting derogatory chants. When the fine was announced, he wrote about it before moving on to other news.

It wasn’t until later that week that Jake Shapiro (Jour’18), his sports practicum professor and advisor of Sko Buffs Sports, encouraged the class to dig deeper and find a new angle about the human impact. Roch searched BuffConnect and found Institute, a campus organization affiliated with the church.

The group was meeting that night, so he rushed to his apartment to change out of a football jersey and shorts and headed to Wolf Law, hoping someone would talk. When one of the organization’s leaders asked who had been to the game, Lucy Reese raised her hand, and agreed to speak with Roch afterward.

“That’s where I realized this was way worse than I had thought,” Roch said.

This was the first of many conversations that reframed the story: Less than a week after the fine was announced, Roch published “Slurs and Harassment at BYU Game Alienate Mormon CU Students,” featuring firsthand accounts from sources who felt alienated or threatened by the behavior during the game. The article won first place in the sports writing competition of the 2025-26 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

He credited Shapiro and Harrison Simeon, president and editor-in-chief of Sko Buffs Sports, for pushing him to find a story with deeper meaning and helping him perfect the piece.

A willingness to learn

“Lincoln joined the club with no sports background whatsoever—he didn’t know what a third down was a year and a half ago,” said Simeon, also a senior in journalism. “But what he did was learn. He's our best journalist, in terms of willingness to learn.”

The article is the most-viewed story on Sko Buffs Sports, with more than 8,000 views. The story was also shared on X by the assistant athletic director at BYU and the governor of Utah.

“I’m incredibly proud of the impact it had. It kind of restored my faith to see a lot of dialog between BYU and CU fans in the comments on social media,” Roch said.

Roch received a $3,000 scholarship for the article and qualifies for the National Writing Championship, in San Francisco, in June, when he has the chance to be one of the top three intercollegiate winners.

For Vicky Sama, associate teaching professor and director of student media at CMDI, this recognition comes as no surprise.

“The Hearst awards are prestigious acknowledgements of student journalism nationwide, so it’s very competitive,” said Sama, whose journalism career included a producer role at CNN and extensive freelance work. “Lincoln shows a lot of promise. He’s going to make the university proud when he graduates.”

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

Lincoln Roch took home a first-place award in the Hearst Sports Writing Competition with a powerful story that highlighted the impacts of discriminatory chants at a CU football game.

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‘Good evening, I’m an A.I., and this is your nightly news’

Joe Arney — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:40:58 +0000

‘Good evening, I’m an A.I., and this is your nightly news’ Joe Arney Tue, 03/31/2026 - 07:40

Joe Arney

Most Americans haven’t yet encountered A.I.-generated news anchors, but the popularity of the technology abroad—and the potential cost savings—mean that’s likely to change, says PhD student Muhammad Ali. Here, he showcases his work at the university’s Three-Minute Thesis competition. Photo by Glenn Asakawa.

The rigors of pursuing a doctoral degree leave even the most dedicated students occasionally questioning what brought them on this difficult path.

For Muhammad Ali, a PhD student in journalism, motivation is never far from the surface. His father, Malik Sajid Diyal, was killed in 1990 after being the driving force for establishing the first girls’ schools in his conservative Pakistani hometown.

“My father was a government contractor, he was a social worker—but more than that, he was a person who believed education can transform society,” Ali said. It’s a reason he left a career in public relations behind, seeing education as “not just a way to give information, but a powerful tool for resistance, hope and transformation.”

“This degree is not just a piece of paper for me. It is a legacy I have to carry forward, and a change I can make to society.”

As he prepares to graduate this May, Ali’s research work, which explores how news stations are using generative artificial intelligence—especially in on-air broadcasting—is shedding light on an area with enormous implications for how the news is delivered in the future.

‘A completely A.I. newsroom’

His interest was piqued when he was watching Channel 1, out of Los Angeles, and realized something was a little off about the telecast.

“It’s a completely A.I. newsroom, where they are producing, disseminating and gathering news content through A.I.,” Ali said. “You could see it if you looked closely at the anchors’ mouths, and some of their gestures.”

‘A.I. videos are generating views on social media, they’re making money on social media—and the business managers will be paying close attention to that,’ Muhammad Ali says. Photo by Glenn Asakawa.

Muhammad Ali, right, accepts a best paper award at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s annual conference. Photo courtesy Muhammad Ali.

It’s the sort of thing Ali had never seen in American journalism before, but A.I. anchors have been in use throughout Asia and the Middle East, including his native Pakistan, for years, and they’re quickly getting better at mimicking human speaking behaviors.

“What’s really unknown, especially in the US, is how audiences will react to these changes, and whether they will accept A.I. news presenters,” he said. “It’s one thing for a movie or cartoon, another when it’s the nightly news.”

Even if you have been following the rise of A.I. journalists and anchors, you may not be aware that stations have required anchors to sign deals giving the company the rights to their faces, to build digital versions that are available day and night, don’t require holidays, health insurance or sick time, and don’t have long commutes.

You probably have an idea of where this is going, but Ali said A.I. will create new kinds of jobs in journalism without replacing editorial judgment or human curiosity. Stations in Pakistan, for instance, have started employing “prompt managers” who use A.I. to create and refine content for the digital anchors to read.

“The influence of technology companies on the news is much more than what we ever expected.”

Muhammad Ali, journalism

Even if job displacement is minimal, there are many ethical considerations to moves like this—and given the speed at which A.I. is rolling out in news and elsewhere, research like Ali’s is critical to slowing down and challenging us to ask the right questions about how this technology could change our relationship with the news.

“If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?” he said. “The organization is requiring the journalist to give his face, but that face doesn’t come with his integrity and objectivity and beliefs. There is real potential for misuse.”

In fact, he’s finding examples of that already, including authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups that are using A.I. anchors to disseminate misinformation and propaganda in ways that look convincing.

A matter of perspective

Ali’s advisor, Patrick Ferrucci, said the work is important because there is little scholarship on this topic in western Europe or the United States, where free presses have historically helped journalists push back against these kinds of innovations. And his background—not only growing up in a place where A.I. anchors are more common, but bringing years of leadership and industry experience in public relations—make his perspectives especially valuable, in class and as a researcher.

Patrick Ferrucci

“Journalism here historically fights new technology well past losing that fight,” said Ferrucci, a professor and chair of the journalism department. “Because of the economics of the news, you can absolutely see A.I. anchors coming to journalism.

“But I see some of the things A.I. can do and I think, ‘That would have helped me when I was a journalist,’” he added. “Understanding how to use these technologies without making yourself irrelevant is something we talk to our students about, and Ali’s research is really important, especially as the topic is so understudied outside of Asia.”

The interdisciplinary nature of a CMDI education—where students are encouraged to explore the intersections of different industries and schools of thought, to better uncover innovation—helped Ali bring a tech-oriented perspective to the craft, and business, of journalism.

“The influence of technology companies on the news is much more than what we ever expected, and means we have to answer for new kinds of biases or hallucinations in the data that aren’t being fact checked,” he said. “And like we’ve heard about in other industries, editorial decisions are being impacted by these technologies, as well.”

He’s already started to make his mark in academic circles, including earning a best student paper award at the conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Kappa Tau Alpha Award for top student paper.

Motivated by his father’s memory, Ali is committed to using his PhD—which he expects to complete in May—to teach future generations of students to work with these technologies and become smart consumers of news who are aware of A.I.’s inroads into the nightly news.

Especially because, as he’s found, younger viewers are more accepting of their headlines coming from a machine.

“The younger generation wants to experience new things, see new things, and they’re used to using their technology and social media to do it,” he said. “These A.I. videos are generating views on social media, they’re making money on social media—and the business managers will be paying close attention to that.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

More stations are experimenting with A.I. anchors, and a PhD student says the trend has finally reached the United States.

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Documenting deportation as it comes to hospitals

Ellie Chase — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:15:49 +0000

Documenting deportation as it comes to hospitals Ellie Chase Thu, 03/26/2026 - 10:15

Hannah Stewart

Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StComm’18) and Jessi Sachs

Months before Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were going through Minnesota neighborhoods, Jessi Sachs was going through Reddit threads searching for a niche angle to investigate immigration under Donald Trump.

That was when she first learned about medical deportations.

Sometimes called medical repatriation, medical deportation is when hospitals and medical transport companies attempt to—or successfully—return an uninsured, noncitizen patient to their country of origin.

“Not only did we tell a story that was really impactful for Junior, but we spoke truth to power in the niche intersection of healthcare and immigration.”

Ann Marie Vanderveen (Jour'25)

“I found the post and thought how crazy it was,” Sachs, a senior majoring in journalism, said. “I didn't even know that people could be deported out of the hospital without the involvement of ICE in any way.”

Last year, Sachs and Ann Marie Vanderveen (Jour’25) participated in the prestigious Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellowship hosted by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Their story about medical deportations was picked up by multiple outlets, including The Associated Press.

“It felt really impactful that it was picked up by so many media organizations once it went out on the AP wire,” Sachs said. “I wanted to write about something people weren’t super knowledgeable about and bring awareness to a unique facet of the immigration conversation.”

First launched in 2005, News21 is a two-semester intensive experience where student journalists investigate a topic such as hate groups, juvenile justice, gun rights and, last year, immigration under the Trump administration. In the spring, students attend weekly workshops and classes to develop knowledge around the theme before embarking on a 10-week reporting fellowship based in Phoenix that culminates in a published story.

Jessi Sachs, left, and Ann Marie Vanderveen, right. Photo taken by Kimberly Coffin and provided by Ann Marie.

Vanderveen wanted to be a journalist since she dressed up as a reporter for an elementary school career day, and she quickly found her people by joining the CU Independent in her first year, which is where she met Sachs.

The News21 piece wasn’t the first time the reporting duo worked together—at the CUI, they collaborated with another writer on a story about a sexual assault investigation involving a Ralphie handler. But covering medical deportations was definitely the most challenging piece either had written while still in college.

“It took a long time to find people to talk to us,” Vanderveen said, as they looked for sources on social media and GoFundMe. “Our breakthrough came when we found an activist coalition in Philadelphia, but it took time to build trust with them. Eventually, they connected us with other people.”

Legally, only the federal government can remove an individual from the United States, and Medicare-participating hospitals are required to treat people—including uninsured noncitizens—with emergency conditions. But federal cuts mean there’s less money to reimburse hospitals for costs associated with those treatments—and through their reporting, the pair learned some hospitals have been attempting to repatriate patients without searching for other pathways for medical coverage.

Vanderveen and Sachs spent one week in Philadelphia, eventually building their story around Junior Clase and his wife, who was being threatened with medical deportation. While in the field, they also spoke with attorneys and activists. By the time they returned to Phoenix they had copious notes and interviews, but between the training from News21 mentors and their own experiences reporting in Boulder, they felt prepared to take on such a delicate story.

“To be able to tell someone's story who doesn't normally get to speak in the media is exactly what I want to do with my life,” Vanderveen said.

According to student journalist Ann Marie Vanderveen, it took time to develop trust with sources, but their hard work paid off. She and her peer Jessi Sachs traveled to Philadelphia, where the duo spent time with Junior Clase and his wife, who was being threatened with a medical deportation. Photo by Jessie Sachs.

Within two weeks of publication by News21, it was picked up by The Philadelphia Inquirer, AP and others.

“When we saw our names published in the AP, Jessi and I dropped everything and went to get Champagne, because we were so overjoyed,” Vanderveen said. “It was definitely the hardest summer of my life, but it was also the best. Not only did we tell a story that was really impactful for Junior, but we spoke truth to power in the niche intersection of healthcare and immigration. It also gave me a lot of confidence for the future.”

Jessi Sachs in the field. Photo provided by Sachs.

Professor Patrick Ferrucci, chair of the journalism department, said he was impressed when he read the piece.

“Our students in News21 always do really good work, but this particular year—with the timeliness of the story and the story itself—they did an amazing job,” he said. “When you have students like Jessi and Ann Marie who are super involved in student media—really caring about journalism beyond what they're doing in a classroom—it sets a culture for the department.”

Vanderveen, now a reporter for The Journal, in Cortez, said News21 developed her technical skills, but her experiences with the CUI and networking opportunities with CMDI deepened her love for the craft.

Sachs, who will graduate in May, agreed.

“I felt very prepared going into News21 because of my classes, and especially the CUI,” Sachs said. “I walked away from the experience not only with an impactful story I was proud of, but also as a more mature writer."

“Wherever I end up, I have what it takes to find sources, be creative and get the story done.”

Hannah Stewart graduated from CMDI in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news for the college.

Photographer Kimberly Coffin graduated from CMDI in 2018 with degrees in media production and strategic communication.

Two students collaborated on an investigative journalism project that was ultimately picked up by The Associated Press.

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Junior Clase spends all his free time caring for his wife, who is being threatened with medical deportation. Student journalists Jessi Sachs and Ann Marie Vanderveen traveled to Philadelphia to hear their story. Photo by Jessi Sachs

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An education in empathy

Joe Arney — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +0000

An education in empathy Joe Arney Tue, 03/24/2026 - 01:00

Joe Arney

Ross Taylor, left, runs an on-camera interview as part of his latest documentary project, A Refuge of Scouting. The film, which has been screened around the country and will be on PBS in the fall, draws on the strong sense of empathy Taylor, an associate professor of journalism, brings to his work and his classes. Photo by Pat Clark.

By his own admission, Ross Taylor was not a very successful Boy Scout, having never advanced beyond second class.

“I went on one camping trip, and it rained a lot and I didn’t like that the weather was bad,” said Taylor, now an associate professor of journalism at ̽��Ƶ’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information. “So, I went home and complained to my parents and asked if I could stop.”

His own time with the Scouts may have been short lived, but he’s returned to the organization—not to tie knots or pitch a tent, but to tell the story of an all-refugee troop in Aurora.

“This film is about reframing how we see American identity through a traditional lens,” Taylor said. “Scouting brings with it a lot of traditional norms and preconceived ideas of identity in America. And this troop works within a lot of that framework, but helps expand our understanding of what it means to be an American.”

A Refuge of Scouting was accepted to, among others, the Maryland International Film Festival, which takes place this month, and, like Taylor’s other documentary work, will be shared via Public Broadcasting Service beginning in the fall.

The film, which Taylor co-directed with fellow CMDI professor Pat Clark, is a continuation of work he did with P.J. Parmar, a medical doctor who owns and operates Mango House, a shared space for refugees in the western United States. The property is run for, and by, refugees, and was the subject of Taylor’s 2021 documentary, Mango House.

“Parmar was a Boy Scout himself, and he often said scouting was a safe space from facing racism, and he wanted that experience for refugees,” Taylor said.

Building trust within refugee communities

“To engage in these spaces requires me to be a better person, a more empathetic person.”

Ross Taylor, assistant professor, journalism

Doing this kind of work, and immersing yourself in a community of refugees—especially children who have fled significant trauma—requires a special kind of personality. It’s an approach to work—and life—that Taylor brings to his projects and his classes from his nearly 20-year career as a photojournalist.

“Building trust within the populations I work with requires a high level of empathy—I’m working in spheres that involve traumatic events, or the aftereffects of trauma,” Taylor said. “To engage in these spaces requires me to be a better person, a more empathetic person.”

It’s a lesson he learned the hard way. As a photographer, Taylor was once scolded by a mother for taking a photo of a crying boy after striking out during a youth baseball game. He credits that experience with teaching him to bring a more empathetic perspective to what he’s capturing.

And in class, that means showing students they can be empathetic, but also confident in using their voices to tell important stories. It shows up even in the simplest acts, like opening classes by asking students to share something good in their lives.

“It really warms up a classroom environment, and it sets an example of how I conduct myself in the work that I do,” Taylor said. “I want them to see empathy in action and think about what it means for them when they become professionals and leaders.”

̽��Ƶ Chancellor Justin Schwartz, right, recognized Ross Taylor with an End Zone Innovators Award at a Buffs home game in the fall. Photo by Vivenne Malone.

Ross Taylor credits his sense of empathy with helping him build trust among the people whose stories he tells in his work, including his most recent documentary about a Boy Scout troop made up of refugees.

In A Refuge of Scouting, Taylor shows how the values of scouting look through the eyes of young refugees from around the world. Early work on the film began before Donald Trump returned to the White House, but it’s hard not to see this project as a rebuke of the othering that the federal government has engaged in, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, to sealed borders, to deportations and mass incarceration.

“We are all much more alike than we are different,” Taylor said. “When you spend time with a young kid who’s a refugee from another country, you begin to quickly realize, they’re a kid just like any other kid you would know.

“Working within the refugee community has given me a lot more respect, care and admiration for the people I’ve met and the contributions they make to our culture. My hope for this film is to help more people have the same experience I’ve had, so that we have more compassion for each other.”

Clark, an award-winning filmmaker and assistant professor of critical media practices, joined the college at the same time as Taylor, and they’ve taught and collaborated before—but said seeing up close the sense of empathy and connection his colleague brings to his projects was inspiring.

A model for authenticity

“Ross, the journalist, is able to unpack all these threads and find the people who help tell the story,” Clark said. “But it’s his personality that makes him so good at what he does. I talk about it in my classes a lot—the more you spend time with the folks you’re working with on the film, the more authentic they will be on camera. And that’s who Ross is. He gets people comfortable, he brings them in close and he makes everybody feel good about him being there. That’s how you really tell the story.”

For his part, Taylor said he appreciated Clark’s immense technical knowledge. It’s part of what makes CMDI special—the encouragement of authentic collaboration between separate, but related, disciplines to create meaningful impact.

“We are stronger as a unit than as individuals, because some projects require a substantial amount of expertise that crosses departments,” Taylor said. “This is definitely an example of that.”

Taylor is already thinking about his next documentary project, though his immediate plans are more centered on photography projects. He remains in awe of the medium’s power to make the world a better place; A Refuge of Scouting is his third documentary.

“Documentary—and, by extension, journalism—is a wonderful way to see a shared experience,” he said. “And it can help break down the preconceived notions we have about each other, and help us care for one another as we navigate the very real and challenging daily life we all experience.”

Ross Taylor and Pat Clark are no stranger to classroom collaboration, but A Refuge of Scouting is their first documentary together. Here, Taylor, left, and Clark are kneeling in the front row, off to the right, with the scouts in a theater.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A hard lesson from his days as a journalist has helped a CMDI professor tell moving stories through documentary.

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Seeking a sports media career? Don’t sit on the sidelines

Joe Arney — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Seeking a sports media career? Don’t sit on the sidelines Joe Arney Mon, 03/23/2026 - 05:00

Iris Serrano

Alumni Michael Davies, a Fox Sports senior vice president, left, and X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom during a fireside chat at the CMDI Sports Media Summit. More than 200 students attended this year’s event. Photo by Hannah Howell.

Success, in sports, comes down to the athlete willing to go the extra mile and push the limits of endurance to accomplish what seems impossible.

Success in sports media often amounts to the same thing.

That was the lesson Izabelle Stewart-Adams took away from this month’s Sports Media Summit, hosted by the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at ̽��Ƶ.

“A dream job for me would be working anywhere in the sports events world—whether that's X Games, Olympics, World Cups,” Stewart-Adams said. “The biggest piece of advice that I've been given today is to show how hungry you are to stand out.”

“Find your tenacity, and show whoever you’re interviewing with, ‘I am here to work. I’m here to prove myself.’”

Jeremy Bloom (A&S ex’06), CEO, X Games

The senior journalism major was one of more than 200 students to attend the two-day event, which was supported by alumni Neal Scarbrough (Jour’84) and Michael Davies (Jour’94). As co-chairs, both brought alumni and industry professionals with distinguished careers in journalism, marketing, production, technology and more to the event.

The highlight of the summit was a fireside chat between Davies, a senior vice president with Fox Sports, and X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom (A&S ex’06), who played football for the Buffs and in the NFL, and was a three-time world champion skier.

Bloom talked about the drive and dedication it takes to make it in such a competitive field—but also the rewards and enjoyment he draws from his work.

“I want to find people who have passion and love for the product that is at our company, and somebody who's got that look in their eye that they're on a mission and they're going to do whatever it takes to help us become more successful,” he said. “Find your tenacity, and show whoever you’re interviewing with, ‘I am here to work. I’m here to prove myself.’”

‘When you are sitting down and that camera’s in front of your face, then you know it’s all worth it,’ Justin Adams (Jour’09), a reporter and sports anchor for CBS Denver, said at the event. Fellow panelist Cassidy Davis (StComm’23) listens in. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

A full Touchdown Club at Folsom Field listens to a panel discussion on how media rights and streaming technologies are forcing journalists and others to reimagine fan engagement and attention. Photo by Hannah Howell.

Panel and networking sessions featured a mix of professionals in terms of their industries and experience levels—from reporters who cover games from the broadcast booth to Scarbrough, a vice president and general manager at Marketplace who’s worked in sports for ESPN and The Denver Post. During the main program day, discussions explored sports consumption, audience engagement and the growing impact of generative artificial intelligence and how it is changing the field, especially within marketing and fan engagement.

Students also took advantage of a new addition to this year’s program—an hourlong networking lunch where they were encouraged to ask questions and build meaningful connections to the invited panelists.

Passion, but pressure

Cassidy Davis (StComm’23) remembers attending the summit right after she graduated to get some motivation and perspective from speakers. Now, as a corporate partnerships coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, she paid it forward by attending as a panelist and sharing her own experiences with students: An hour after the event ended, she was still fielding questions from attendees.

“These students are so interested in the sports industry, and they know that's where they want to be,” she said. “As alumni, we were in their exact shoes, so we can provide inspiration and hopefully answer some of those questions that they're hungry to learn more about.”

Davis said while students are passionate about the industry as a career, they’re also feeling pressure.

“Students are more concerned with how they stand out against all of these competitors they're going up against,” Davis said. “I've been telling them to find places where you can prove that you can provide value to a team, where you can add a new perspective.”

Joining Davis on a panel about early-career professionals was Carey Kronhart, a junior majoring in media production with a minor in sports media. The aspiring operations manager’s biggest piece of advice to fellow students was to “network, network, network.”

Event co-chair Neal Scarbrough (Jour’84), left, talks with a student during a break in the action at the Sports Media Summit. Prior to his work with Marketplace, Scarbrough had a distinguished sports career, including work at The Denver Post and ESPN. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Last year at the summit, he bonded with Michael Davies over a shared love of motorsports—a connection that led to freelance work as a production assistant for Fox Sports.

“He offered to let me go to a few races with a NASCAR crew,” Kronhart said. “I started on as a production assistant and runner, learning the ins and outs—it was really like drinking from the fire hose. But my boss took a shine to me, asked me what I was doing for the next three races. One thing just led to another, and it’s all from having that first conversation with Mike.”

Justin Adams (Jour’09), a reporter and sports anchor for CBS Denver, also shared how network connections gave him a head start in his journalism career. Early in his career, he sent a cold message to Rick George, now emeritus director for CU Athletics, asking for help in making connections that could help him call Pac-12 games.

George introduced him to the conference president, which led him to the broadcast booth almost immediately.

“Take that initiative, shake that hand, have that conversation, get that contact and make sure that your face is shown. That’s doing the hard work,” Adams said. “And when you are sitting down and that camera's in front of your face, then you know it's all worth it.”

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

More than 200 students attended this year’s CMDI Sports Media Summit, learning from industry professionals how to break into journalism, media production, technology and more.

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Get politics out of sports? It’s in the game

Joe Arney — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:12:32 +0000

Get politics out of sports? It’s in the game Joe Arney Tue, 03/03/2026 - 09:12

Joe Arney

Professional sports have always attracted a certain kind of fan for whom the game is an escape from politics and the news of the day.

That fan probably did not have a great Olympics.

If you go

What: CMDI Sports Media Summit

When: Thursday, March 5, through Friday, March 6, Touchdown Club, Folsom Field.

Who: Alumni and industry professionals in sports media share perspectives on the changing industry landscape. Scheduled speakers include the X Games CEO, an executive vice president of Bleacher Report and an executive vice president at Fox Sports. Full lineup →

Why: An under-the-hood look at topics such as NIL, A.I., streaming and career success. Plus, unbeatable networking opportunities.

Whether it was Kash Patel and Donald Trump inserting themselves into the aftermath of Jack Hughes’ golden goal for the U.S. men’s hockey team, or Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych being disqualified for a helmet paying tribute to fellow athletes killed during his country’s invasion by Russia, politics was like an icy layer just beneath the snow at the Milan Cortina Games.

“I think people are paying attention to it more because of the contemporary American political moment, but politics has always been an element of sport,” said Ever Figueroa, an assistant professor of journalism at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information. “And the Olympics, in particular, have always been a platform for that.”

Figueroa studies how race and gender matter within social and cultural systems, especially the political undertone running through sports. He mentioned 1968, which featured the Black Power salute from Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and the 1980 Miracle on Ice as Olympic moments with strong political subtext that made the events memorable and interesting.

“All forms of art are more interesting when they have something to say,” Figueroa said. “Sports are able to communicate cultural values and reflect back on people. And a lot of people care more about the storylines within sports than maybe the actual competition.

‘Kind of boring’

“It’s kind of boring to want to separate sports and politics. It’s far more interesting when they’re together, and we can unpack all the nuances we see.”

That’s a perspective that comes up with some frequency in the courses he teaches, especially Sports, Media and Society, where students will ask about the cultural issues that play out in sport, especially when it comes to how they’re covered by the media. Figueroa asks students to study, for example, the rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics that dominated the NBA in the 1980s, as well as how the Kansas City Chiefs have gone from hero to villain amid the team’s success.

“In Lakers-Celtics, you had a team from LA and a team from Boston, playing two styles that were different from each other. So, it was not just two teams competing against each other, it was two ideas of America competing against each other,” he said. “I think that greater cultural reflection was what brought so many people to the television set to watch them.”

The Chiefs, meanwhile, are a villain story like any other—they’re so good that the league and officials must be rigging the game to help them win. And despite this one being debunked, “I told my class that sports cultivate myths,” Figueroa said. “Myths are more powerful if they feel real—they don’t need to have been drawn from reality or truth.”

Heroic values, but a villain

Ever Figueroa

What about when the game is scripted? One of Figueroa’s research interests is pro wrestling, which offers a nuanced, complex assessment of societal and political issues in its character development. A recent paper published in Communication & Sport examined World Wrestling Entertainment performer Daniel Bryan, who was the league’s champion from November 2018 through the following April.

Bryan’s character, Figueroa said, was that of an eco-friendly environmentalist who railed against greed, consumerism, capitalism, climate change and animal cruelty—which would seem to make him a champion of a lot of values gaining traction in the United States. But, in fact, he plays a heel—wrestling parlance for an antagonist.

“The reason he worked as a villain is because he violates neoliberal meritocracy. He cheats to win the title and to retain the belt,” Figueroa said. “His character espouses these progressive values, but he’s violating the rules of competition. So it becomes bad to be anti-capitalist, or an environmentalist, because it’s attached to his actions as a wrestler who cheats.”

The paper also looked at the case of Kofi Kingston, a Black wrestler who succeeded Bryan as champion. Both Bryan and then-chairman and CEO Vince McMahon said Kingston was a B-level wrestler “who failed to take the opportunities given to him by WWE’s free market—a common tactic used to discriminate against people of color,” Figueroa said.

“One of the big concepts in our paper was this idea of using neoliberalism and colorblind ideology in tandem to gaslight a Black man who had legitimate grievances that he was being discriminated against because of his race, in order to not make that political subtext visible to the audience.”

Pro wrestling, Figueroa said, is understudied by researchers, which may help explain why certain tropes around the sport—like having a rabidly right-leaning fanbase or repeating the same formulaic story arcs—have persisted. In fact, fans of a competing wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling, started the anti-ICE chants that have become viral moments at its recent matches. AEW storylines also touch on progressive themes that eschew toxic masculinity.

“For decades, WWE has been really effectively appropriating contemporary political moments,” Figueroa said. “I use wrestling as an example to show how political sports really are—the narratives, the construction of heroes and villains, and so on. Those are all things we respond to as a culture and society.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A CMDI expert says without cultural and societal context—which includes politics—sports would be “kind of boring.”

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Nextdoor labor

Joe Arney — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:55:45 +0000

Nextdoor labor Joe Arney Mon, 02/23/2026 - 09:55

Joe Arney

If your window to the outdoor world is Nextdoor, you might believe your neighborhood is awash in porch pirates, pooch poop, poor drivers and problematic people.

But as more municipalities find themselves without local journalism outlets, your neighbors might be the best source of community news that you have—which is dangerous, said researchers at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at ̽��Ƶ.

“You could say Nextdoor is increasingly serving a need that has been historically served by local news outlets that don’t exist anymore,” said Toby Hopp, an associate professor in the advertising, public relations and design department. “But Nextdoor’s business model is built around retaining audience attention and serving advertisements—it isn’t linked to journalistic norms like balance, fairness and verified reporting.”

In a new paper in New Media & Society, Hopp and Patrick Ferrucci, professor of journalism, found Nextdoor users are more concerned about crime—and more likely to support aggressive policing tactics, even as Americans demonstrate against the methods employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The authors—which include Hunter (Reeves) Krajewski, a PhD student in APRD—expected Nextdoor users who were less trustful of their neighbors would be more concerned about crime, but in fact, it was the users with high levels of social trust who had that worry.

“Because those folks trust their neighbors, they’re more likely to take reports of crime seriously, which is associated with enhanced concern and an openness to more aggressive policing,” Hopp said.

Notably, the researchers’ survey did not establish a causal link between people concerned about crime and Nextdoor use, meaning they couldn’t determine whether users signed up for the service because they were fearful of crime. But their work is still illuminating as the national conversation remains fixated on immigration, incarceration and technology.

Losing the context

Major crime in metropolitan areas has been in decline since rising in the early part of the decade. But with neighbors venting every grievance on Nextdoor, “it maybe gives people the idea that stolen packages, or loitering, are far more prevalent, and they’re not put in the context of policing,” Ferrucci said.

A missing Amazon package is not the same as seeing ICE agents execute demonstrators or separate children from their parents. But when we lose the context of understanding crime beyond our block, it becomes easier to imagine that more aggressive law enforcement is an answer. Hopp said he was surprised by respondents’ willingness to consider ideas like stop and frisk, vehicle searches during routine traffic stops, and equipping police with military-grade weapons.

“Each of these questions presents real constitutional concerns,” he said. “And if you think about what you’re willing to accept in your community, are you more willing to support these kinds of things in other communities?”

It’s not just ICE tactics or Fourth Amendment questions that are in the news—it’s the data gathered by companies that sell digitized surveillance. That’s not Nextdoor’s model, but it’s not a leap to see how increased concerns about crime could lead to adoption of camera technologies like Ring or Flock.

A collaboration between the companies—announced in a Super Bowl ad—was called off amid backlash that the new feature would create a dragnet to allow police to search for suspects, immigrants and others, instead of just missing pets.

“I think we’re finding these kinds of services, generally speaking, can’t be trusted,” Ferrucci said. “And there’s no appetite from a regulatory body to intervene and protect consumers, who have been slowly giving away their privacy for decades.”

Hopp and Ferrucci bring different research specialties to the problem, which offers them broader insights on topics like these. That’s a core value of CMDI, which was created to equip students and faculty to seek opportunities in areas where different fields intersect—especially as traditional disciplinary boundaries fall in the workplace.

“I don’t know that it makes sense to silo people as journalism researchers, or advertising researchers, and so on, because all institutions are producing and distributing information in a variety of ways,” Hopp said. “To parcel that off as just journalism, or just advertising, or just public relations, becomes increasingly difficult.

“We need to understand that we are researchers of the media—whatever the media might be at any given moment.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Does using Nextdoor make you more likely to support aggressive policing tactics? A new paper from two CMDI experts sheds interesting light on the platform.

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Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back

Joe Arney — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:06:34 +0000

Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back Joe Arney Wed, 02/11/2026 - 12:06

Joe Arney

The Flatirons, in Boulder, during a more typical winter. CMDI’s Water Desk has been fielding calls throughout the winter drought from resource-starved reporters looking for help covering a warm, extremely dry season. Photo by Joe Arney.

Call it the winter of our discontent: With just 23 inches of snow accumulation since November, Boulder—and Colorado as a whole—is enduring one of the driest winters on record.

And as parts of Colorado and the American West start to look more like deserts, they’re becoming news deserts, as well. Cuts, closures and consolidations are shuttering newsrooms and robbing reporters of resources, making it harder to ensure the public is getting trustworthy, verified information about the scope of this crisis.

It’s a challenge Luke Runyon sees daily as co-director of The Water Desk.

Luke Runyon

“It’s been an extremely dry and extremely warm winter for the southern Rocky Mountains—really, for much of the West,” said Runyon, whose work with a local NPR station won a prestigious Murrow Award in 2024.

“What I’d love to see more of is reporters going into the field and talking to the people on the ground who have to make tough decisions because of a lack of water. But I understand why that doesn’t happen—it’s more expensive to do that kind of reporting, to find the characters who tell that story.”

It’s not that you can’t watch the local news to see reports of just how dry the weather has been. But resource-starved newsrooms have to make hard editorial decisions about which in-depth stories to pursue, and Runyon said environmental reporting struggles to compete with other beats—so it’s often scaled back.

We ignore water coverage at our own peril, Runyon said, especially as climate change stresses ecosystems, upends established norms and ushers in more brutal fire seasons.

“The reason snow gets so much coverage in the winter is because it has all these domino effects that are felt through the rest of the year.”

Luke Runyon, co-director, The Water Desk

“Access to water is the issue affecting the modern West, one that underlies almost every major question we’re talking about,” he said. “It pops up in housing, agriculture and our ability to feed ourselves, recreation and the broader environment. If we’re not talking about water, we’re missing a huge piece of what it means to live in the west.”

Beyond just financial support

At The Water Desk, Runyon works directly with the journalists trying to tell those stories. Its work has evolved as the needs of journalists have changed. The team used to exclusively provide financial support through small grants; today, it also offers assistance with data visualization and mapping on big stories, even direct editing support from Runyon, who’s covered Colorado River issues for nearly a decade. The Water Desk, which is housed out of the Center for Environmental Journalism at ̽��Ƶ’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, also contributes original reporting on timely issues.

That’s important because while there are good reporters covering water issues, it’s been a hard time to be a journalist—especially one covering a highly complex issue like water, “because it isn’t easy to understand the crazy infrastructure, the complicated legal mechanisms in place to manage water,” he said.

A major story right now that is getting national attention is the need for an updated management proposal for the Colorado River, which supplies water to seven Western U.S. states and Mexico. The states, which disagree on how to manage a shrinking supply of water, missed a fall deadline to submit a plan to the federal government; the new deadline is Saturday.

“The timing of this very dry year comes at a critical moment for the river itself,” Runyon said. “I think you’ll see more being written on this leading up to the 14th.”

Most of the stories Runyon is fielding calls about right now concern poor skiing conditions and the economic impact on resorts and mountain towns. He expects the cycle to turn to agriculture in the spring—especially how farmers will adjust plantings in the face of shortages—and to recreation and ecology in the summer.

“The reason snow gets so much coverage in the winter is because it has all these domino effects that are felt through the rest of the year,” Runyon said.

Finding ways to help a dwindling cast of media to tell deeper and more impactful stories remains his greatest challenge, but Runyon does see opportunities for people looking to break into journalism, especially as new platforms allow reporters to offer their audience deep dives on important topics like climate and water.

“There are a lot of cool, innovative startups out there,” he said. “And there is a much broader definition of who gets to call themselves a journalist. You can be an expert with a Substack newsletter, and you’re basically running your own small business. Hopefully, there’s more of that to come.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

CMDI’s Water Desk has expanded the services it offers to resource-starved reporters who need help covering complex stories around the Colorado River and climate change.

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2 minutes with: Michael Kerner and Cassidy Davis

Joe Arney — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 19:42:12 +0000

2 minutes with: Michael Kerner and Cassidy Davis Joe Arney Fri, 02/06/2026 - 12:42

Hannah Howell

Michael Kerner (Jour’12) and Cassidy Davis (StratComm’23)

Michael Kerner

For Cassidy Davis, breaking into the sports media world comes down to three words: “Go for no.”

Saying yes to every opportunity is how she’s found herself, just a few years out of college, working in the bright lights of the Super Bowl.

That attitude is how both Davis (StratComm’23) and Michael Kerner (Jour’12) are finding themselves at the big game. They have very different roles, but are both vital to one of the most anticipated media days of the year. Kerner is a manager for on-air graphics with NBC Sports, while Davis is a corporate partnerships coordinator for the Seahawks. They both credited extracurricular clubs at CMDI for playing vital roles in their college journeys.

Responses edited for length and clarity.

What responsibilities will you have for the Super Bowl?
Davis: Leading up to the big game, we've worked in partnership with brands to create memories for our fans and celebrate this season—including big events such as a drone show over the Space Needle, presented by Snoqualmie Casino & Hotel.

Kerner: I help manage and produce the graphics you see onscreen, from the early design stages through final delivery, when we send the graphics to the various trucks, studios and vendors that will air them. Our team started on this work almost a year ago.

Something you’re most looking forward to?
Davis: I am most looking forward to seeing the incredible hard work our team has put in throughout the season come to an incredible conclusion. Every moment has led to this one game, and I am so excited to experience the Super Bowl alongside my teammates.

Cassidy Davis

Thinking back—and Michael, this will be more of a stretch for you—can you share a CMDI class or professor that best prepared you for working on such a big stage?
Davis: Dawn Doty. She was so dedicated to forming personal relationships with each of her students. Dawn was instrumental in getting me to where I am today, both as a student and a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America,

Kerner: For me, it was CU Sports Mag—now Sko Buffs Sports. I knew I wanted to work in sports TV in college, and that club gave me invaluable experience. I got to try every position you’d find in a broadcast studio—running cameras, directing, editing, technical directing—and was on the field during CU football games, filming the action and Ralphie’s runs.

It’s great to hear you both talk about the value extracurricular clubs played in your careers. What about some advice for students dreaming of covering events like this?
Kerner: Be a sponge. Absorb everything and learn as many roles and skills as you can.

Davis: Lean on your passions to set yourself apart from other applicants. You can market yourself in so many different ways based on the experiences you've had throughout your life.

Hannah Howell is a sophomore majoring in media production, with a concentration in documentary film, and a sports media minor.

Two CMDI alumni are leaning on what they learned in college as they prepare for very different roles at the Super Bowl.

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Fall 2024: 2 minutes with Gregory Bull

Ellie Chase — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:43:47 +0000

Fall 2024: 2 minutes with Gregory Bull Ellie Chase Mon, 02/02/2026 - 11:43

Malinda Miller

Gregory Bull (Jour'91)
Associated Press photographer

Bull started covering the U.S.-Mexico border as a newspaper photographer in 1994. In May, he was part of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for how they covered migrants’ journeys into the United States.

Where is this photo set?
Hundreds of asylum seekers were caught between Tijuana and San Diego in 2023, when the pandemic-era health order that allowed the United States to turn away migrants at the border expired.

This picture was taken as migrants started to realize there were not enough donated supplies for everybody. People were frantically but politely pleading for blankets. My hope, as I shot this, was that it might convey that sense of disorder and urgency we were seeing all along the border.

How was the photo made?
A photo like this is more about connecting with people—achieving a level of trust to where you can kind of disappear and wait for those elements you need to convey that feeling of urgency. Technically, you need a wide enough angle of view to allow for a larger “stage.”

What makes it work?
The bars in the wall provide a dependable vertical pattern, so it was a matter of looking for diagonals to break that up. The woman’s hand at right brought this picture together. But design elements aside, I think this picture mostly works because of the look of despair on the face of the woman at center. For me, she embodied the overall emotion people were grappling with.

Malinda Miller graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in English in 1992 and Masters in Journalism in 1998.

Gregory Bull started covering the U.S.-Mexico border as a newspaper photographer in 1994. In May, he was part of an AP team that won a Pulitzer Prize for how they covered migrants’ journeys into the United States.

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Fall 2024

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Journalism

Beyond the game

A willingness to learn

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‘Good evening, I’m an A.I., and this is your nightly news’

‘A completely A.I. newsroom’

A matter of perspective

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Documenting deportation as it comes to hospitals

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An education in empathy

Building trust within refugee communities

A model for authenticity

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Seeking a sports media career? Don’t sit on the sidelines

Passion, but pressure

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Get politics out of sports? It’s in the game

‘Kind of boring’

Heroic values, but a villain

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Nextdoor labor

Losing the context

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Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back

Beyond just financial support

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2 minutes with: Michael Kerner and Cassidy Davis

Michael Kerner (Jour’12) and Cassidy Davis (StratComm’23)

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Fall 2024: 2 minutes with Gregory Bull

Gregory Bull (Jour'91)Associated Press photographer

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Gregory Bull (Jour'91)
Associated Press photographer