By ALEXANDER COMISAR
Summer Trojan
After more than a decade of cov-ering
the rapidly burgeoning profes-sion
of online journalism, the USC
Annenberg School for Communi-cation
has decided to suspend the
Online Journalism Review to focus
on the Knight Digital Media Center,
another resource for midcareer on-line
journalists.
The Online Journalism Review
was founded 10 years ago by Annen-berg
as a news source that focused
specifically on issues surrounding
the online journalism community.
Since its inception, the Review
has been lauded as one of the first
publications of its kind.
Robert Niles, editor of the Online
Journalism Review, posted a fare-well
blurb on the Review’s website
thanking his readers for their dedi-cation
to following the profession
and urging them to continue sup-porting
the profession.
“One of OJR’s goals over the
years has been to help midcareer
journalists make a successful tran-sition
from other media to online
reporting and production,” Niles
said in his post. “I’m pleased to say
that USC Annenberg will continue
to provide support in that area
through the Knight Digital Media
Center. I encourage OJR readers to
click over to the KDMC website and
its blogs.”
Though Niles indicated that the
Review’s retirement signaled his
own departure from USC, he al-luded
to the Online Journalism Re-view’s
possible future resurgence.
“I am hopeful that OJR will con-tinue
to live at the KDMC,” he said.
“And that the publication might be
revived under the KDMC’s blogs.”
Niles also urged his readers to
take what they learned from the Re-view
and use it in their own careers.
“Thank you for your readership,
tips, corrections, kind words and
support,” he said. “And I want to
wish you success as you work to
build engaging, informative and
sustainable websites to better serve
your audiences.”
Niles left his readers by invok-ing
the immortal sign-off line first
coined by journalism legend Ed-
Annenberg will use money
to help fund the Knight
Digital Media Center.
GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT Don’t forget there is only one more issue of the Summer Trojan.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 164, NO. 5 | www.dailytrojan.com	 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008
A haunting god time
Hollywood Forever Cemetery is revitalizing the ‘50s
feel drive-in with picnic-style screenings at
the cemetery every Saturday and Sunday. 5
NCAA record hamered
Junior Eva Orban breaks her own USC record
to become the first Trojan to win the
NCAA women’s hammer throw. 12
USC sizes up new
class by the numbers
By TAREN FUJIMOTO
Summer Trojan
Based on the type of incoming
students, USC’s scholarly com-munity
is the primary focus of
freshman orientation this year,
USC Orientation Programs Di-rector
Tom Studdert said.
“‘Welcome to the scholarly
community’ is a phrase that stu-dents
will hear very often during
orientation,” Studdert said. “Be-cause
the students we enroll are
at an elite level, it is important we
introduce them to a continuum
of the same scholarly level.”
Michael Kahn, an orientation
advisor and junior majoring in
English, said this year’s students
are “very well rounded.” Out of
15 in his OA group, at least two
or three students held leadership
positions in high school.
“USC is really working hard
on upping the standard of ad-missions,”
Kahn said. “Not only
are they strong academically, but
they are an experientially strong
group as well.”
Tracy Moyers, an orientation
advisor and junior majoring in
business administration, said she
is “pleased” by how incoming stu-dents
are “so much more mature”
than she expected.
“They’re great, awesome, fun
people — the same kind of people
USC has always admitted, it has
not shifted because of their test
scores,” Moyers said. “But they
come in prepared and able to an-swer
their own questions.”
But some students said the
emphasis on scholarly communi-ties
was too overwhelming.
Cassie Leisz, an incoming
freshman majoring in studio art,
said the worst part of orientation
was the academic workshops.
“They felt like time wasters
and were totally pointless,” Leisz
said. “I also thought their stress
on freshman seminars was tiring,
they pushed them onto us over
the two days countless times.”
Because incoming students
have a “greater base” of technol-ogy,
all transactional tasks such
as placement tests, orientation
surveys, student first log-in, and
student identification card pho-tos
are now done online as pre-orientation
homework, Studdert
said.
Kara Hansell, an incoming
freshman majoring in public re-
Orientation advisors say new
freshman are socially and
academically impressive.
| see orientation, page 3 |
| see OJR, page 3 |
USC discontinues Online Journalism Review
Leah Thompson | Summer Trojan
Checking in | Incoming freshmen enter Bovard Auditorium for a Visions and Voices presentation dur-ing
one orientation session, which includes a crash course in academic advisement.
Opinion | Young
Americans
ought to
use their
voices come
November in
honor of those
who spent their
lives helping
us figure out
how to use
them, writes
Alexander
Comisar.
PAGE 4
Current
Type of Content
OJR History
Future
u Established in 1998
u Funded by the Annenberg School
for Communication
u Former OJR editors include
Joshua Fouts, Larry Pryor and
Robert Scheer.
u Robert Niles, an Annenberg
School for Communication faculty
member, is OJR’s current editor.
u OJR staff produce thought-provoking
articles that chronicle
the challenges the newspaper
industry faces in transitioning
into an online world.
u Support from the Annenberg
School for Communication will
be directed from OJR to the
Knight Digital Media Center.
Online Journalism Review Snapshot