Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

Newhouse Journalists Work the Beat to Tell Personal Stories of Minority Police Officers

Thursday, January 11, 2018, By Wendy S. Loughlin
Share
CommunityNewhouse School of Public Communications
Looking out windshield into neighborhood, oncoming car, everything tinted blue

Students from the Newhouse School spent months examining police-community relations in Syracuse. (Photo by Michael Santiago)

A group of eight journalism students from the Newhouse School spent the 2016-17 academic year examining a national issue with local implications: police-community relations.

The result of their work is “They Wear Blue,” a multimedia project that provides an inside look at members of the Syracuse Police Department (SPD). Because the population of the City of Syracuse is nearly 50 percent minority but only 1 in 10 SPD officers is non-white, the project pays special attention to minority officers.

Among the stories are an intimate look at SPD Chief Frank Fowler, who grew up in Kinloch, Missouri, near Ferguson, site of the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown—an incident that generated a national discussion about police relations with black citizens.

Justin Mattingly, who wrote the article, and Michael Santiago, who handled visuals, accompanied Fowler on a trip back to his hometown.

“I’d written profiles before, of course, but nothing really to this extent,” says Mattingly. “Michael and I had said we were going to capture why Chief Fowler views the community the way he does—and that all goes back to his upbringing outside St. Louis. The chief and I share a favorite baseball team, the Cardinals, and small conversations about the Cardinals of his childhood opened up deeper conversations about his upbringing and experiences.”

Other features include interviews with Officers Ahmad Mims, Lashonda Russell and Emily Quinones, Detective Mark Rusin and new recruit Brandon Hanks. Students also produced stories on the policing program at Public Safety Leadership Academy High School, part of the Syracuse City School District.

Mattingly says one of the most challenging parts of the project was getting people to open up to him. “I’m from a small town with one police officer, making me a white outsider. It would have been easy for subjects to [discard] my intent because of that, but it was rewarding to have these intimate conversations with them after developing a sense of trust.”

The team that produced "They Wear Blue," including student reporters and photographers, along with professors

The team that produced “They Wear Blue,” including student reporters and photographers, along with professors (Photo by Michael Santiago)

“They Wear Blue” is a product of Newhouse’s Team Journalism course, a capstone-level, invite-only class co-taught by Steve Davis, associate professor of newspaper and online journalism, and Bruce Strong, chair of multimedia photography and design (MPD). The unique course was spread out over two semesters, beginning in Fall 2016. Students, who were chosen for the course based on their talent and demonstrated skills, began by researching and developing story ideas in the fall. They implemented the project in the Spring 2017 semester.

“I hope visitors [to the site] will understand that the issue of policing is very complex,” says Mattingly. “Neither side is perfect. But it takes the courage to hear the other side out and to know that there are people—actual people—on the other side of your statements and opinions. Hopefully we were able to capture the scope of the topic and open our readers’ minds to new perspectives.”

Mattingly, who graduated last spring, is now the education reporter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, covering K-12 schools, higher education and state education policy.

Other students who contributed to the project were Max Jakubowski, Jasmine Gomez and Samantha Mendoza (reporting); and Bryan Cereijo, Kathleen Flynn and Frankie Prijatel (visuals). Along with Davis and Strong, MPD assistant professor Renée Stevens and staff member Ashley Kang, director of The Stand, Syracuse’s South Side Newspaper Project, served as advisers.

To learn more, visit http://theywearblue.com.

About Syracuse University

Founded in 1870, Syracuse University is a private international research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11 academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence in the liberal arts, sciences and professional disciplines that prepares students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main campus and extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three continents. Syracuse’s student body is among the most diverse for an institution of its kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Syracuse also has a long legacy of supporting veterans and is home to the nationally recognized Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their families.

  • Author

Wendy S. Loughlin

  • Recent
  • Eight New Recruits Begin Campus Peace Officer Academy
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Christine Weber
  • Media Tip Sheet: Consequences of China Lockdown
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By News Staff
  • 2022 Graduates Reflect on Service as Academic Coaches
    Thursday, May 19, 2022, By Ellen de Graffenreid
  • Funding Expands for Newhouse Professors’ Work on Technology to Combat Fake News
    Wednesday, May 18, 2022, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In Media, Law & Policy

Funding Expands for Newhouse Professors’ Work on Technology to Combat Fake News

Two professors from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who are working on the development of technology to detect manipulated media and combat the spread of fake news are supported by a subcontract that now tops $1.1 million, thanks…

As the School of Education’s Italy Program Returns, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 Reflects on Its Influence

Now a doctoral student researching inclusive education, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 was a sophomore when she took Literacy, Inclusion and Diversity in Italy, a study abroad short course offered by the School of Education and Syracuse Abroad. Soldovieri matriculated…

New Law Scholarship Honors the Ongoing Legacy of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75

Syracuse University College of Law is pleased to announce the establishment of the Hon. Theodore A. McKee L’75 Endowed Law Scholarship with a generous gift from Syracuse University Trustee and College of Law Board of Advisors Member Richard M. Alexander…

College of Law Holds Commencement for Class of 2022

On Friday, May 6, the College of Law held Commencement for its 199 J.D. and 33 LL.M. graduates. The event, the first in-person Commencement since 2019, featured the first cohort of graduating online J.D. students. Luke Cooper L’01, CEO of…

College of Law Graduates Inaugural Class of Its Groundbreaking Online JDinteractive Program

On May 6, students in the inaugural class of Syracuse University College of Law’s first-of-its-kind JDinteractive (JDi) program graduated alongside their peers in the college’s residential J.D. program. JDi, a fully ABA-accredited program, was the first to combine live online…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.