Journalism professor recipient of national SPJ teaching award

The Society of Professional Journalists named associate professor Jeff South the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award at the organization’s national convention in New Orleans earlier this month.

The award recognizes an outstanding educator who has made an exceptional contribution to the profession and/or journalism education. South won this year’s award based on his long record of teaching excellence and passionate letters of support from Robertson School faculty, according to the SPJ.

“I’m awed, humbled and looking at how many great teachers there are out there and previous recipients of this award,” South said. “I’m thrilled of being included in that echelon of teachers but at the same time I know I stand on the shoulder of lots of other people.”

Patrick Kane, former president of the Virginia SPJ professional chapter and VCU alum, said South helps students understand the value of journalism in a changing media landscape.

“His enthusiasm for storytelling is genuine and unending,” Kane said. “Jeff ensures that Robertson School graduates leave armed with the clips, skills and experience to step into professional reporting jobs.”

At VCU, South has taught every course in the Robertson School’s journalism/print-online curriculum including the Capital News Service capstone and master’s level courses in data journalism.

We know how to learn something … and to some extent we fake it till we make it.”

Jeff South

Kane said South’s Capital News Service course launched his professional career and the program is more relevant now than ever for Virginia’s small media outlets.

Students taking South’s CNS course receive press credentials for the Virginia capitol buildings and cover the entirety of the General Assembly session. South edits students’ clips and disperses new content on a daily basis through the CNS wire — a network of more than 75 small publications assembled by South.

“Understanding that their college experience made them a better person and gave them skills that they can leverage to be teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, that they can use in any number of different ways,” South said. “So I really enjoy working with the next generation of journalists and other professionals.”

South said working with young people and “watching that light bulb go off” when they understand an idea or find inspiration is what makes teaching worth it.

Former student Margaret Carmel said South’s guidance helped her and many other students find jobs after graduation and start the first steps toward strong reporting careers. Carmel graduated last May and is now a business reporter at the Lynchburg News & Advance.

“Jeff South is one of those unique professors who is able to walk the line between giving you constructive criticism, but also encouraging you to chase big dreams,” Carmel said.

From paperboy to reporter, South said he was always interested in the news and telling stories. As a professional journalist, South said he realized he could shape the public agenda and write stories that made a difference.

South graduated from the University of Texas and worked as a reporter for several papers in Texas, Arizona and Virginia over the span of a decade.

To broaden his personal horizons and help distance himself from the journalism world, South eventually joined the Peace Corps where he taught English in Morocco.

“When you’ve been a journalist for a while, there can be a tendency to see everything as a story. If it’s not a story you start tuning out, and I didn’t like being that way,” South said. “It was a good place to recharge my batteries as a person and as a journalist.”

South began his teaching career at the onset of the PC-revolution and said when he became the Politics Editor at the Austin American-Statesman, South used computers to analyze money in politics and researched how lobbyists spent money and who was receiving favors.

“Initially, reporters were using computers to do layout and design and to write their stories. We were the first really to use computers as a newspaper to document how much money was being spent by lobbyists,” South said. “I think we opened people’s eyes to the power of computers in doing research.”

From that experience, South said he started training reporters in the newsroom, through various journalism organizations and then universities. A job opened at VCU in 1997 and South started working full time.

South is also a Fulbright scholar and has taught journalism in China and Ukraine as a Knight International Journalism Fellow.

“I’m not intimidated about teaching something that I don’t know much about,” South said. “I think journalists by definition are quick studies. We know how to learn something … and to some extent we fake it till we make it.”

 SaraRose Martin, Contributing Writer