ChicagoNow’s Alicia Eler, Arts and Entertainment Community Manager, and ChicagoNow Editorial Director Tracy Samantha Schmidt participated in the keynote panel at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana’s (College of Media, Department of Journalism) Illinois State High School Press Association Fall Conference.
“New Voices in the Media”
The media world is now in a constant state of evolution. Journalists and would-be journalists are finding purpose and passion in new ways that reach beyond the legacy of a newspaper or television newsroom. While some media outlets struggle to stay afloat, rising from the ashes are new voices in the media and a wider platform for consumers of information. These new voices include bloggers, citizen journalists and innovative collaborations between the pubic and news entrepreneurs.
Tracy Schmidt, Editorial Director of ChicagoNow. Schmidt studied journalism at both Dominican University and the University of Illinois, earning her masters degree there in 2006. After graduate school, Tracy worked as a staff reporter and web producer at Time Magazine in Washington, D.C. She returned to Chicago in 2008 to work for the Chicago Tribune. She has taught online journalism at Dominican and DePaul Universities.
Alicia Eler, highly regarded art critic in Chicago who doubles as the Arts and Culture Community Manager for ChicagoNow. Eler is especially interested in talking about the changing face of criticism. You can find out more about her at aliciaeler.com.
Dan Schreiber, columnist and former editor at Smilepolitely, a local web magazine that highlights Champaign/Urbana culture and entertainment. Schreiber has also maintained a blog for the last 3 and a half years called Musings of a Minor Mennonite, which focuses on the intersection of culture, religion and politics.
Eric Meyer, moderator. University of Illinois Associate Professor of Journalism. He is the author of “Tomorrow’s News Today: A Guide to Strategic Planning for Online Publishing.” Meyer is a former news photo and graphics editor, assistant news editor and reporter for the Milwaukee journal and the Bloomington Pantagraph.
