Media Nation: A New Nieman/Student Collaboration.

This article reports on Media Nation, a daily newspaper about the news media covering the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2004. The newspaper resulted from a partnership between the Nieman Foundation, the University of Massachusetts-Boston (UMass Boston) Center on Media and Society, and The Boston Globe. Media Nation, was published on four sequential days as a part of the Globe's special convention coverage. The paper broke news on the plight of many international reporters who found themselves without expected workspace when U.S. President George W. Bush's administration failed to fund an international press center for the first time in 20 years. It examined how Arab-language news organizations were covering the convention and the growing influence on political reporting of Hispanic and African-American media organizations. The Kovach Library and computer room at Lippmann House were transformed into a newsroom for those doing research, producing graphics, and editing the content. Seasoned news professionals directed and oversaw a staff of 20 college students from Harvard and UMass Boston. Other news professionals working on the project included broadcast veteran and founding editor of Stateline.org Ed Fouhy, Nieman Foundation senior web editor, Melinda Grenier, and former Wall Street Journal graphics editor, Karl Hartig. Nieman Fellow Doug Marlette provided a daily political cartoon.