Journalism professor reports from the road

   NASHVILLE—Campbell’s journalism professor took to the road recently to do some freelance writing.
     Michael Ray Smith, chair of the Department of Mass Communication, spent a week writing freelance articles for a wire service and covered a motorcycle ministry.
     Smith used the occasion to talk to nearly 50 news reporters from newspapers across the nation and others about ideas from his fourth book, “FeatureWriting.Net,” and had an opportunity to apply some of the techniques as he covered the news for SBC.net.
     While in Nashville in late June, Smith was interviewed by FamilyNet TV, a faith-based cable network from Fort Worth, Texas, about his passion to help writers tell their stories. He mentioned that Campbell’s program has helped new writers land bylines in mainstream newspapers including periodicals in Raleigh and across North Carolina.
     “Field reporting may be the writer’s best approach to getting the color that helps readers feel as if they were there,” said Smith, who rode with members of FAITH Riders motorcycle ministry as part of a feature article on bikers who share their faith by donating toys to hospitals and serving their communities. Smith spent 10 years as a reporter and editor and began teaching in 1988. He continues to write freelance pieces for “Christianity Today” and newspapers such as “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”
     His work from June is on the SBC.net news site.


Photo Copy: Michael Ray Smith, Campbell’s journalism professor, left, did some gonzo reporting as a freelance writer in late June. Scott Rohrbaugh, Lakeland, Fla., right, took Smith on his Harley-Davidson with FAITH Riders motorcycle ministry to deliver toys to Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Gonzo reporting is a technique used by writers to personally experience the activity of the sources involved in the story. SBC.net published Smith’s work.

Bulletin 0018-6/24/05