MASTHEAD is a mission-driven alumni group focused on promoting a more inclusive environment for student journalists of color at the University of Alabama. Newsrooms across America continue to lag in diversity compared to the broader U.S. population, but at Alabama we can work creatively alongside students to close this gap and open up more opportunities for everyone to have a voice.
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Our Mission
Our Mission
MASTHEAD seeks to advocate for diverse, anti-racist and equitable student media at the University of Alabama. Historically, student media outlets have often relied on narrow, predominantly white social networks to recruit staff and done minimal outreach to underrepresented groups. The organization provides financial resources and professional mentorship to current student journalists in order to promote a more inclusive environment going forward, both for people working in student media and the broader UA community that they cover. In particular, the organization works to expand opportunities for Black students, as well as other students of color. Our aim is to empower historically underrepresented groups in student media toward greater autonomy to tell their own stories at UA and beyond.
The Pillars of MASTHEAD
Student Engagement
Student Engagement
MASTHEAD is dedicated to expanding opportunities for students of color, both at UA and professionally, and doing so in a way that respects student autonomy and leadership.
We do this by:
Including student media leaders on our board and offering them full transparency about our finances and operations
Funding initiatives based on the ideas that students lead
Offering mentorship opportunities for students of color and helping them connect with professionals in their field
Bringing media professionals to campus to offer learning opportunities for the student body at large
Examples: Crimson White Race and Identity Reporters, Nineteen Fifty-Six Mentorship Program
Alumni Engagement
Alumni Engagement
MASTHEAD seeks to engage alumni who can donate time or money to the effort of expanding opportunities for students of color in student media. We also help keep alumni more engaged with the achievements of student journalists.
We do this by:
Running annual fundraisers asking alumni to donate to help maintain and expand MASTHEAD
Highlighting quality work from student journalists to alums via social media and email newsletter
Mailing physical copies of select student work, such as the print edition of Nineteen Fifty-Six, to regular donors
Recruiting alums to engage in volunteer opportunities such as mentorship, fundraising operations, and digital outreach
Examples: MASTHEAD alumni newsletter, April 2021 Zoom Info Session, Instagram Campaign Highlighting Nineteen Fifty-Six Mentors
Institutional Engagement
Institutional Engagement
MASTHEAD seeks to help student leaders attain more resources from institutions at UA or elsewhere that will help to increase diversity in student media.
We do this by:
Offering earmarked donations to the Office of Student Media consistent with our goals of improving diversity and achieving equity, with hopes of developing long-term partnerships with UA officials
Advocating that more resources from the UA Division of Student Life or the Office of Student Media be allocated to initiatives that will increase diversity in student media
Helping student leaders apply for outside grants that will supplement UA funding and help them achieve their goals.
Examples: Advocating for re-opening of 1956 Budget to allow MASTHEAD to fund a Features and Experiences Editor, Applying for Whiting Foundation grant on behalf of 1956
So far MASTHEAD has:
Launched
Launched
a mentorship program pairing more than a dozen student journalists of color with media professionals of color working in newspapers, magazines, film, and public relations.
Funded
Funded
staff salaries for the race and identity desk at the University of Alabama’s student newspaper The Crimson White.
Hosted
Hosted
Q&A sessions with notable journalists.
Sent
Sent
students to professional development events such as the National Association of Black Journalists annual conference.
In a larger sense, we want to foster an environment where students feel empowered to transform the media organizations they operate on campus, as well as build new ones. A key function of the free press is challenging the status quo, and that challenge must be brought to the media institutions we work for as well as the broader world that we cover.
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