UGA Students Report the News While Saving It

Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication students use experiential learning projects to keep a 150-year-old Georgia newspaper in business.

Student journalists at the University of Georgia have teamed up with one of their alumni to rescue a 150-year-old weekly newspaper in nearby Oglethorpe County with the help of an innovative experiential learning project.

Within hours of hearing that the county newspaper, Oglethorpe Echo, was announcing its final publication, Dink NeSmith (ABJ ’70) created a plan to save the newspaper. The plan centered around developing a capstone course for senior journalism students at UGA’s Grady College, who would learn in a working community newsroom, which would act as a springboard into their careers.

“We’re honored and excited to work with a great team to save The Oglethorpe Echo,” said Charles N. Davis, dean of Grady College. “This is an incredible hands-on learning opportunity for our students, and it means a great deal to us to keep a 150-year tradition moving forward.”

"We're honored and excited to work with a great team to save The Oglethorpe Echo."
Charles N. Davis, Dean of Grady College

STUDENTS PROVIDE REPORTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY TO OGLETHORPE ECHOIN OGLETHORPE COUNTY, GA.

The plan was created when Echo publisher Ralph Maxwell announced that he was ceasing publication due to health issues. NeSmith quickly put a plan in place to save the paper and transition The Echo into a non-profit organization, The Oglethorpe Echo Legacy Inc. The Maxwell family donated the paper to the non-profit. Integral to the plan was the opportunity for Grady College journalism students to design, report, write and take photographs for the newspaper.

“The Oglethorpe Echo has been the conscience and soul of the county for 150 years, and we cannot let that legacy go away,” said NeSmith, an Oglethorpe County resident and co-owner of Community Newspapers, Inc. which publishes 25 community newspapers in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina.

UGA HELPING TO KEEP LOCAL, COMMUNITY FOCUSED NEWS ALIVE

Working with the students at Grady College was a natural choice, NeSmith said.

“When you look for writing talent, you just look 15 miles up the road to Grady College,” said NeSmith, a 1970 graduate of the UGA journalism program. “Students will get real-life experience and a chance to hone wordsmithing skills to better prepare them for wherever they land after graduation.”

The first issue of The Oglethorpe Echo with UGA students involved was published in 2022. Since then The Echo expanded into the digital space with development of a full website, an e-newsletter and several social media channels including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

The paper has even received some press coverage of its own with a spread by The New York Times’ Upfront Magazine, a write up in Poynter and inclusion in the Rural News Network.

Davis agrees: “Lexington is close enough that they can get out in the community and get their hands dirty–it’s so important that they learn journalism by doing journalism.”

Janice Hume, the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, appreciates the unique collaboration.

“When you agree to an interview, or provide information to a student reporter, you become an educator as well as a source,” Hume said. “When you offer feedback, you push these UGA journalists to get better and better.”

And get better they have, with their work resulting in nine section and individual awards in the 2024 Georgia Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest, which gives The Echo a total of 18 GPA awards in two full years of its partnership with the Grady College.

GRADY WORKS WITH UGS ALUM TO KEEP PAPER PRINTING

Andy Johnston (ABJ ’88, MA ’21) serves as the managing editor, mentoring the students in planning, writing and editing, and he is currently a part-time journalism instructor at Grady College.

“This is a great opportunity for the students where they will get practical, hands-on experience, but it also helps the community,” Johnston said. “We don’t want this paper to die and become a news desert where people don’t have a way to know what’s going on in their own community.”

Johnston looks forward to helping students build on their journalism skills while also continuing to build on the tradition of community journalism in Oglethorpe County.

“We aren’t here to do a makeover of the paper,” Johnston said. “We are here to provide journalism to this county in the same way that the paper has provided for generations and that readers are used to seeing about people and events in their community.”

NeSmith agrees.

“This is more about community spirit, and we will be 100% local to residents of Oglethorpe County.”