Students and faculty in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media (JEM) are working on a collaborative journalism project documenting the stories of those who have been awarded the military’s highest decoration—the Medal of Honor.
Nearly 200 students from eight classes in JEM and Public Relations are participating in the project, which was started by journalism professor Nick Geidner. Students have access to many of the seventy-nine living Medal of Honor recipients.
Faculty, staff, and students working on the project, which will be completed in conjunction with the 2014 Medal of Honor Convention in Knoxville (September 10–13), will create print, audio, and video content that will be distributed locally and nationally.
Students will create three documentaries, including a documentary chronicling the convention; a documentary on the history of the Medal of Honor in Tennessee; and a documentary about the wives and widows of recipients.
The goal of the Medal of Honor Project is to instill an appreciation and understanding of both community-based journalism and military reporting in students. In order to accomplish this goal, Medal of Honor and military-related reporting assignments have been integrated into numerous classes within the curriculum.
On September 12, the project will sponsor a town hall meeting at UT with three Medal of Honor recipients. The event will be moderated by students and is open to the public.
The project also recently launched a $25,000 crowdfunding campaign to support the documentation of the 2014 convention. The campaign will fund the purchase of six professional video cameras and offset additional costs. To support this student effort, visit tiny.utk.edu/mohdonate.
Learn more about the project, see photos, and watch video interviews with some of the Medal of Honor recipients at medalofhonorproject.org.