by Tiffany Devereux 

Laura Ruel
Assistant Professor

“Mediated” by Thomas de Zengotita, described how the media can shape a viewer’s perception.

How did this book influence your professional life?

“The way stories are presented by the media gives us the feeling that we can be in the scene but not have the actual experiential horror that goes along with it,” Ruel said. “That makes us look at the world from a self-centered perspective because we feel like we have experienced all these things and it all revolves around us. “Our job is to make what’s in the news and affecting our world part of people’s lives,” Ruel said. “A multimedia environment can do that better than any other medium. The journalist isn’t limited by form in multimedia.”

How do you share this with your students?

“I try to make them understand the true multimedia storyteller is the person who knows the value of all the forms of media and is able to integrate [the story] into a seamless experience for the user by letting the story dictate the form.” ♦

Chris Roush
Associate Professor
Director, Carolina Business News Initiative

“All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren, depicted moral dilemmas of influential politicians.

How did this book influence your professional life?

“It forced me to realize that what I was interested in was not sports journalism—which is what I thought I wanted to do—but journalism about more serious issues: politics, government, business,” Roush said. “It was a book that really opened my eyes to how you could tell a story about something that may not seem interesting to a lot of people and make it interesting just by the detail you include in the story,” Roush said.

How do you share this with your students?

“[Book protagonist] Jack Burton was not a perfect person, and none of us are perfect people. We all make mistakes. Even though part of my job is to teach students how not to make mistakes in writing, we are all human beings. Everybody makes mistakes, but the way that you get to be a better person is to learn from those mistakes.” ♦

Tom Linden, M.D.
Director of the Medical Journalism Program and Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism

“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, a tragedy that explored moral integrity versus the need for vengeance.

How did this book influence your professional life?

“It gave me a deeper appreciation of the English language,” Linden said. “How can you be a storyteller and not appreciate the writing of William Shakespeare, and ‘Hamlet’ in particular?”

How do you share this with your students?

Linden uses the lessons of “Hamlet” in his “Writing for the Electronic Media” class to demonstrate how to write a radio script. “Every story needs a complication and a resolution,” Linden said. “I ask: ‘What is the complication?’ The students answer: ‘Hamlet’s need for revenge against his uncle.’ Then I ask: ‘What was the resolution?’ The students get it perfectly: ‘Everyone dies.’” ♦

John Sweeney
Distinguished Professor in Sports Communication

“The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman commented on the globalization between industrial and emerging market countries of the 21st century.

How did this book influence your professional life?

“This is the book that told me that I need to reexamine everything,” Sweeney said. “Business models are collapsing.” He added that students today will need better innovation skills and need to look for emerging fields in the economy.

How do you share this with your students?

“My students now have to be ‘media neutral,’” explained Sweeney. He said that as a result of reading Friedman’s book, he teaches his students to be sensitive to market changes and to look for emerging fields rather than traditional advertising media. ♦

Rhonda Gibson
Associate Professor

“Straight News” by Edward Alwood. In “Straight News,” Alwood, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, wrote about the historical representation of gays and lesbians in the U.S. news media.

How did this book influence your professional life?

“It opened my eyes to a major problem in a business I cared a lot for,” Gibson said. “I was just shocked that – even during my lifetime – news reporters have used the term ‘pervert’ as a synonym for gay.” After reading the book, Gibson says she switched her research focus to examine the representation of gays and lesbians in news media.

How do you share this with your students?

“I created a course called ‘Sexual Minorities in the Mass Media,’” Gibson said. The course helps students explore all aspects of the topic by thinking through the issues and discussing their thoughts in class, she explained. “It makes for interesting, occasionally controversial, discussion,” Gibson said. “But I’ve never had students be anything but respectful, even if they were strongly disagreeing with each other.” ♦

Tiffany Devereux is a master’s student in the school’s visual communication sequence.