Film about civil rights activist honored at St. Tropez Film Festival

Michael Calia, producer of “Justice as a Black Woman: The Life and Work of Constance Baker Motley” and director of our Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center

Quinnipiac University was honored at the St. Tropez International Film Festival for its documentary, “Justice as a Black Woman: The Life and Work of Constance Baker Motley.” The film was named Best Documentary Feature at the festival held in May 2013 in France.

The biographical film tells the story of the New Haven native, who was a civil rights activist, state senator, lawyer and judge. Among her accomplishments was successfully arguing 10 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and earning an appointment to the federal bench by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

“Constance Baker Motley’s tireless work on behalf of justice and equality changed American society forever,” said Michael Calia, producer of the film and director of Quinnipiac’s Ed McMahon Mass Communications Center.

Please click here to read more.

Professor Edward Alwood discusses the U.S. Justice Department’s collection of news organizations’ telephone records

Edward Alwood, professor of journalism in the School of Communications, discussed on Wisconsin Public Radio the U.S. Justice Department secretly collecting telephone records of reporters and editors.

Alwood told the station that the leak reminded him of the government’s reaction to the release of the “Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force,” also known as the “Pentagon Papers.”

He also shared his own experiences of trying to get information from the government and facing resistance under the guise of national security concerns.

Listen to the interview here. Alwood begins speaking at 26:00.

Communications professor and Polling Institute staff member nominated for Emmy for their documentary ‘Aeromedical’

“Aeromedical,” a documentary by Quinnipiac University School of Communications Professor Rebecca Abbott and Tim Malloy, a former television journalist who is now an assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, has been nominated for an Emmy award by the Boston/New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Abbott, of Hamden, and Malloy, of Fairfield, co-produced and co-directed the 28-minute documentary about the life-and-death struggle that takes place every week in the skies above Europe on Aeromedical evacuation missions, and about the storied history of these life-saving flights. Bradley O’Connor, a veteran cameraman and Quinnipiac alumnus, served as associate producer and camera person for the film and is included on the Emmy nomination.

“It’s a medical story and it’s a story of courage. It’s not a political story,” said Malloy, who also served as writer for the project. “The military does an amazing job of taking care of you when you’re hurt.”

In the 30 years Malloy spent working as a journalist, he traveled to Afghanistan nine times. His work has earned five Emmy awards and more than 25 nominations, but Malloy says this one is different. “This is really important. It’s a nomination that means a lot.”

Abbott says she welcomed the opportunity to shed light on a little-known aspect of the war. “[The crews] were really glad that we were telling this story,” she said. “They thanked us for being so positive in our approach.”

The United States Air Force regularly runs aeromedical evacuation missions carrying wounded soldiers from battlegrounds in America’s current conflicts to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, often within hours of their injury on the battlefield. From there, the most seriously wounded–many are amputee victims of IED explosions–are transported to major military hospitals in the US, where they can arrive in as few as three days of their initial injury. The survival rate is an astounding 98 percent.

This was not always the case, however. It has taken nearly 100 years of effort, starting in 1918 with the first aeromedical rescue in a Curtis JN-4H Jenny bi-plane, to perfect this combination of medicine and aviation. Missions now take place on C-17, C130 and KC135 military transport aircraft that have been converted into flying trauma wards.

The documentary is a story both of the heroism of soldiers who have risked their lives on the battlefield, and of the doctors, nurses, technicians, and aviation crews, many of them women and 88 percent of them members of the National Guard and Reserves.

“For me, the greatest part is that these people are serving their country by saving lives,” Abbott said.

“Aeromedical” was filmed between June and December of 2011 and released in April 2012. Location shoots took place in June and November of 2011 at Bagram Air Force Base and Gazni in Afghanistan; at Ramstein AFB and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany; and Andrews AFB in Virginia. The crew spent 36 hours shooting footage aboard military transport aircraft. The documentary also includes archival film of the history of aeromedical evacuation, made available by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony on June 1 in Boston.

Professor Rich Hanley to discuss changing television industry on China Radio International

Rich Hanley, associate professor and director of the graduate journalism program in Quinnipiac University’s School of Communications, is scheduled to discuss changes in broadcast journalism on China Radio International’s “Today.”

Hanley will discuss the changing broadcasting model.

Listen to the conversation live at 10 p.m. EDT here.

Professor Alexander Laskin available to offer insight in the Boston Marathon bombings investigation

Alexander Laskin, associate professor and director of graduate public relations in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, is available to offer insight in the Boston Marathon bombings investigation.

Officials said that the two suspects are of Chechen origin. Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim territory in southern Russia, is a long-disputed territory.

Laskin, who is originally from Moscow, is available to offer perspective about the Russian Federation, its political, ethnic and religious make-up.

“Russia is one of the most diverse countries in the world with almost 200 different nationalities living within its borders and practicing many different religions,” Laskin said. “Although most of the nationalities live peacefully, Russia has been exposed to violent clashes in its Caucasus region, especially in Chechnya, for the last 200 years. Unfortunately, this conflict intensified after the break-up of USSR.”

To speak with Laskin, please call John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations, at 203-206-4449.