Course Description

JMC 324 Convergence Reporting II (3-1-3), spring. A study of online, print and broadcast news media with an emphasis on public affairs reporting, computer assisted reports, in-depth reporting, ethics, and laboratory work in the JMC Network student media lab. Prerequisites: JMC 102, 223.
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Archive for ‘Public Affairs’

Dan Miller
Member of Congress
Florida
1993-2003

Elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1992, Dan Miller represented the Thirteenth Congressional District of Florida. This Gulf Coast district included all of Sarasota and Manatee Counties. A former college professor and businessman, Dan never held public office before his election to Congress. In keeping with his promise of a self-imposed ten-year term limit, Dan retired from Congress in 2003.

Born in Michigan, Dan moved to Bradenton with his parents in 1958. After graduating from Manatee High School, he received his B.S. degree from the University of Florida, and subsequently earned an M.B.A. at Emory University and a Ph.D. in Marketing & Statistics from Louisiana State University. He taught statistics and marketing at the university level and following his teaching career, Dan became a successful entrepreneur in Southwest Florida. He is a partner in the family-owned Miller Enterprises, which operates Pier 22, Twin Dolphin Marina and Gulf Coast Corporate Park. Dan was very active in community affairs, serving on numerous boards, and is past chairman of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce and Manatee Memorial Hospital.

During his ten years in the House, Dan served on the House Appropriations Committee and the Budget Committee. He served as Chairman of the Census subcommittee with oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau during the controversial and successful 2000 census. As a staunch fiscal conservative, Dan was committed to both reducing the size and scope of the federal government and fighting corporate welfare. During his time in Congress the Federal budget had a surplus for three years and we paid down the country’s debt. On 9/11 Dan was with President Bush at Booker Elementary School in Sarasota and flew with him on Air Force One.

After leaving Congress Dan has returned to academia. In 2003 Dan was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He teaches in the Lifelong Learning program at the University of South Florida and also teaches at university campuses in the Congress to Campus program working to bridge the gap between academia and the real world of politics and public service. He has taught at over twenty universities including the Naval Academy, University of Toronto, University of Massachusetts, University of Guadalajara, University of Kansas and Oxford University in England.

Dan is married to Glenda Darsey Miller and they have two children and three grandchildren. They live in Bradenton, FL and summer in Highlands, NC.

Congressman Nick Lampson

After serving 42 years as a candidate or holding public office, ten of which were in the U. S. House of Representatives, Nick Lampson has re-established himself in civic and professional life in Southeast Texas. He currently acts as Government Affairs Executive for the Gertz Adair Law Firm in Beaumont, Texas, and serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of Outreach Strategists (a full service Public Relations and Communications Firm), sits on the Board of Advisors of Biofuels Power Corporation in Houston, Texas, Board of Advisors of the Coalition for Space Exploration, Board of Advisors to Sentinel Satellite in Houston, Texas, provides government relations services to small renewable energy companies and advises a Transitional Healthcare program for Texas Medical Ent.

Congressman Lampson in 2012 completed his appointment by the National Academies of Science to serve on an elite panel to study the National Weather Service Modernization of 1988 through 2000 and to consider the technological improvements necessary to make the NWS “second to none”. In the US House of Representatives he served on the Committee on Science and Technology which has jurisdiction over much of the non-defense Federal research and development (R&D) portfolio. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment he handled issues related to environmental science and U.S. energy policy. His committee directly oversaw civilian R&D programs within DOE, including basic energy research, energy R&D, demonstration and commercialization programs for fossil, renewable, and nuclear energy, and conservation. His work on the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee allowed him to rise to the position of Ranking Member. He was an outspoken supporter of civil science in space and notably authored the Space Exploration Act of 2003 which called for the US to return to the Moon and go to Mars.

For ten years Lampson worked on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He worked on two major highway authorization bills and won support for numerous projects benefitting southeast Texas including the Neches River Salt Water Barrier, funding for improving areas of the Intracoastal Waterway, and coastal and beach improvement projects. He also served on subcommittees dealing with rail transportation projects and aviation/airport projects.

As a member of the House Committee on Agriculture he helped established farm policy for agriculture and rural America and was directly involved in the development of policy on renewable energy, international trade, futures market regulation, and agricultural research and development relating to biomass for renewable energy. For work he did on legislation promoting increasing growth of healthy consumable oils, Lampson received an award from the American Heart Association.

Before going to Congress, Lampson held local office as the Jefferson County Assessor Collector of Taxes for almost twenty years, received Governor’s appointments to three different State agencies, taught real estate and business related courses at Lamar University, science classes in Beaumont and San Antonio public schools, and was deeply involved in civic and church life. He has been married to Susan Floyd Lampson for 41 years and their two daughters have given them six grandchildren.

Judge rejects city request to block NOLA.com | The Times Picayune from reporting on rape investigation | NOLA.com

by Kenneth Pybus | 12.08.14 | Public Affairs, Public Information

A state judge on Monday rejected the city of New Orleans’ request to block NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune from continuing to report about an NOPD document on the investigation of a Texas woman’s alleged rape in a French Quarter hotel after Mardi Gras this year.

via Judge rejects city request to block NOLA.com | The Times Picayune from reporting on rape investigation | NOLA.com.

Jury Charge for Murder

by Kenneth Pybus | 03.07.14 | Public Affairs

Judge Lee Hamilton talked about the murder charge to the jury during our visit Wednesday to his courtroom. Here is an example of one in a case of murder.