Slowly but surely, streaming is becoming the preferred method of watching television and increasingly there is little content that is not available on streaming. Slowly but surely, the trend is that all content is migrating to become available on streaming, and on occasion exclusively so.
Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor of New and Emerging Media in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising
Harsh Taneja, associate professor of new and emerging media in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, was quoted in The News-Gazette’s “Kathy’s Mailbag” series on March 14.
Addressing how soon TV networks would move to a paid-streaming model, Taneja says there is no reason to believe that network shows belonging to the biggest broadcast networks will become streaming-only. At least not yet.
“Broadcast and cable TV is very much alive, (and) will be in fall 2025. However, it isn’t thriving,” he said.
From her standing desk at her home office in Northern California, Marilynn Preston (BS ’67, journalism)—journalist, healthy lifestyle expert, and Emmy-winning TV producer—spoke with zeal about the role health and wellness has played in her life and why she’s inspired to share her passion with students in the College of Media.
“Media is so changed now as a profession. It’s a high-risk, high-stress profession that you have to train for in a way that just didn’t exist before,” Preston said. “If journalism students can learn these valuable self-care skills in college, calming their minds and strengthening their ability to focus and perform under pressure, they can benefit and thrive for the rest of their life.”
Preston’s generous support of a multi-year series on wellness and self-care is aimed at helping nurture students while on campus and prepare them for a career in a demanding field that can take a physical and emotional toll on its professionals.
Deadlines, covering traumatic events, and avoiding burnout are just a few of the stressors a journalist may face throughout their career.
I”m just so grateful that the College of Media sees the value of self-care as a way to deal with anxiety in these destabilizing times. I hope to see the self-care program grow and pick up steam. It’s a great new initiative and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Marilynn Preston
(BS ’67, journalism)
So far, two wellness events have been organized through the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media—a well-being open house for students in Spring 2024 and a breath workshop and presentation with James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, in Fall 2024.
Another wellness event for Media students is planned for this spring, focusing on the power of nasal breathing and stress reduction. College of Media faculty and staff are also welcome at these events.
“I’m just so grateful that the College of Media sees the value of self-care as a way to deal with anxiety in these destabilizing times. I hope to see the self-care program grow and pick up steam. It’s a great new initiative and I’m excited to see where it goes,” she said.
Preston is a verifiable expert when it comes to the subject of health and personal well-being.
She’s the creator of Energy Express, America’s longest-running syndicated fitness column that ran for 43 years, reaching millions of newspaper readers across the country. She’s had three books published, with her most recent deemed an Amazon best-seller.
She also created, wrote, and produced the Energy Express TV series beginning in the 1990s that ran in 120 cities, won two Emmys, and a Women’s Sports Foundation award.
A trailblazer in her field, Preston started writing about personal wellness and the mind-body connection as a feature writer at the Chicago Tribune, back whenlife-changing practices like meditation and yoga were just beginning to capture people’s attention.
“In Chicago in 1976, yoga and yogurt were interchangeable terms,” she said.
Preston says her columns were about “having fun and staying healthy,” and they covered a myriad of topics, from injury prevention and weight-loss to integrative medicine and holistic healthcare.
She shares the same ideas in her books, Dear Dr. Jock: The People’s Guide to Sports and Fitness; Work Well, Be Well; and All Is Well: The Art {and Science} of Personal Well-being. Her publisher asked her to write a second edition of All Is Well during Covid and now Preston considers it her most valuable book. “Covid turned our lives upside down, and learning to prioritize self-care is something we’re all still struggling with.”
UIPD Therapy K9 Huff was a featured attraction at the College of Media Well-Being Open House for students in Spring 2024. (Photo by Nathan Gonzalez, photography intern.)
Preston recommends simple routines like walking outdoors in nature and even taking quick naps, habits that have been measured and proven to be beneficial to a person’s health.
In recent years, she’s discovered that breathwork and meaningful in-person connections can have a huge impact on overall health and wellness, much greater than scientists ever realized.
“Find a way to experience fun, joy, and pleasure because if you value your own well-being, that becomes your North Star for life” she said.
In addition to supporting College of Media students, Preston also serves on the board of a nonprofit organization in Chicago called Girls in the Game, which works with girls in under-resourced neighborhoods to provide them with exposure to sports, fitness, leadership, and team play. Recently, she’s helped GIG focus on teaching self-care skills to the girls—practices like breathing, journaling, and mindful movement—and the girls are very happy to have these new ways to handle stress and anxiety.
While Preston recognizes the current journalism landscape presents new and difficult challenges, she’s still thinks “it’s a wonderful time to be a journalist because the country has to heal, and journalists can help with that.”
Speaking from her own personal experience, Preston is grateful journalism provided her with the opportunity to educate so many people throughout her career and, hopefully, transform lives.
“Journalism can be a wonderful ticket to ride and see the world and write about things you care about and help people build better lives,” Preston said. “Helping others get through these confusing times is more important than ever.”
The Public Relations Student Society of America at Illinois is back after a four-year hiatus, thanks to a group of determined students who revitalized the local chapter.
Pictured at right, Jordan Butler, a senior in journalism and president of PRSSA at Illinois, with other members at Advertising + You in Fall 2024.
Jordan Butler, a senior in journalism and president of PRSSA at Illinois, said a call to action in a College of Media newsletter last spring led to a group chat amongst students which ultimately became the impetus for the official return of PRSSA at Illinois in Fall 2024. The local chapter had been inactive since 2019.
“Over [this past] summer, a couple of [us] took on [the executive board positions] and then this semester and last semester we started to really build out more. We’ve been working to gain more members and to let people know who we are, and [organizing] different activities and events across campus,” Butler said.
The Illinois chapter of PRSSA was originally formed in 2012 to offer students the chance to work with real clients, put together campaigns, and network with industry professionals.
The goal today remains similar, says Butler, who noted the group’s emphasis on helping students learn how to communicate effectively.
I think people have this very rigorous idea of what PRSSA is in the sense of [it being] very structured or business-like, but it’s so much more than that. And there’s so much that falls under the realm of PR that I think you don’t know it until you do it, until you try it, until you talk about it.
Jordan Butler
President of PRSSA
However, Butler also hopes its members “have found different things that [are] fun or interesting through public relations that perhaps they weren’t maybe as interested in when they walked through our doors or started with us.”
Butler can attest to how PRSSA at Illinois has helped her improve her communications skills. As an introverted person, Butler admits she doesn’t always feel comfortable reaching out to others first or speaking to a crowd, but her experience as president has allowed her to hone that skill.
“I’ve really learned how to kind of put myself out there in those positions and network with people and do a lot of public speaking, even if it makes me really nervous,” said Butler, who also works as a communications and social media intern at Research Park, a technology hub for corporate research, development operations, and startup companies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Currently, PRSSA at Illinois includes a small membership of less than 15 students, but Butler hopes to see that number go up in time.
“We’re just trying to get our names out there as much as possible but also focus on what our members are really interested in doing and what they’re really interested in learning about,” she said.
PRSSA at Illinois, which is open to all majors, holds meetings every Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in 31 Gregory Hall.
In response to student interest, a public speaking workshop will be held soon.
Butler encourages any students interested in PRSSA to join a workshop or a meeting to talk to current members and ask questions.
“I think people have this very rigorous idea of what PRSSA is in the sense of [it being] very structured or business-like, but it’s so much more than that. And there’s so much that falls under the realm of PR that I think you don’t know it until you do it, until you try it, until you talk about it,” she said.
For more information about PRSSA at Illinois, check out their Instagram page @illinoisprssa.
The 2025 Chaz and Roger Ebert Symposium, presented by the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, will address “Artificial Intelligence Imagined and Realized.” The Ebert Symposium’s mission this year is to bridge academic research with broader cultural conversations about the uses of artificial intelligence.
Join us for this free two-day event on April 22-23, featuring a film screening, a keynote speaker, and a roundtable discussion. The Ebert Symposium is co-sponsored by the Institute of Communications Research.
Tuesday, April 22
Film Screening
7 p.m., Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Watch a screening of Spike Jonze’s award-winning film Her (2013). Jonze’s film follows the solitary life of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) as he begins to use the AI chat technology Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) to come to terms with the break-up of his relationship. The film melds technology and the human condition through a quiet and moving journey of self-discovery.
“Artificial Annoyance and Augmented Hilarity: The Disordered Personalities of AI Comedy”
The Ebert Symposium keynote will be delivered by Dr. Scott Bukatman, Professor of Film and Media Studies at Stanford University, who will use science fiction literature, film, and comics to explore how AI helps reveal “the downsides of personality.”
A roundtable discussion at 11 a.m. on the intersection between science fiction and engineering. The conversation will cover the interplay within real-world AI technologies by concentrating on the portrayals of artificial intelligence in film and popular culture. This conversation will be moderated by Professor Mike Yao (Digital Media), director of the Institute of Communications Research, with panelists Professors Heng Ji (Computer Science), Alison Duncan Kerr (Philosophy), Ben Grosser (New Media), and Robert Markley (English).
Note: The second roundtable featuring Ebertfest filmmaker guests unfortunately had to be canceled.
The American Advertising Federation at Illinois is the largest student chapter in the nation, currently boasting more than 400 members. Caroline Burns, a senior in advertising and president of the AAF at Illinois, knows why.
Pictured at left, Caroline Burns, senior in advertising and president of AAF at Illinois, credits the student organization with helping her find success and community. (Photos courtesy of Caroline Burns.)
“I think it’s a combination of we’ve been around for so long at the University of Illinois so there’s the legacy there, but it’s also just the people are so great. I think once you join, you find your tight-knit community and you find your people,” Burns said.
AAF at Illinois, which is one of more than 1,000 registered student organizations on campus, helps to equip members with the tools, skillsets, and experience to make an impact in the advertising field. It’s open to any major but the majority are advertising focused.
There are 13 separate agencies that operate within AAF that specialize in different areas of advertising, including video ad production, consumer insights, and experiential marketing.
While each agency has a different purpose, they all provide members with the opportunity to work with real clients, tour ad agencies, and gain insider knowledge about the industry.
Many of the agencies include student teams partnering with clients, who are typically from the Champaign-Urbana area, and helping them execute an advertising campaign.
Last semester, an AAF agency worked with the Libman cleaning supply company and created a video ad for them. This semester, a team carried out a full-service ad campaign for Atomic Wings, which recently opened on Green Street in Champaign.
AAF has just set me up for so much success—jobs, everything, I owe it all to AAF.
Caroline Burns
Senior in Advertising, President of AAF at Illinois
Burns likes to think of AAF as a mini-internship that gives students “a little peek of what your life might be like in the advertising industry.”
Some of the agencies are considered “open,” which means they are designed for any experience level, while others require an application process.
In addition to agency experiences, AAF members participate in competitions, take trips, and plan social events throughout the year.
The annual National Student Advertising Competition will be held in South Bend, Indiana, on April 12, with an Illinois team presenting an ad campaign for AT&T. The Illinois team earned second place at the district level competition in 2023.
Carrie Wilson-Brown, lecturer of media and cinema studies and of advertising, and faculty advisor for the NSAC team, said the competition is an opportunity for students to apply their classroom knowledge and skills in the advertising industry.
In addition, Wilson-Brown said preparing for the competition allows students to gain confidence and find talents and leadership abilities they didn’t know they had.
AAF students at a meeting.
“There is an excitement and comradery that builds throughout the year as the team sees their ideas, plans, and goals take shape into a real-world marketing campaign,” Wilson-Brown said.
Burns thanks AAF for helping her find her first internship during her sophomore year at a networking event held in Chicago. She interned last summer at Pepsi, which led to a job offer after graduation in Boston as a customer account manager.
“AAF has just set me up for so much success— jobs, everything, I owe it all to AAF,” she said.
AAF’s spring registration opened on February 10 for new members. Burns recommends students review the agency descriptions on the website and then try different ones for a few weeks.
“[Students should] see what fits their schedule and their interest and then by the third week, they should have a pretty set idea about what they would want to stick with for the semester, whether that’s one agency, two, or even three,” Burns said.
She also advises prospective members to talk to students in the agencies and those running it.
“There are so many opportunities to grow and network, not only personally but professionally,” Burns said. “Community is what we’re all about.”
Students from University of Illinois and Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone won first place in the 2024 Illinois Broadcasters Association Student Silver Dome Award for Television Photojournalism.
Illinois journalism students Maggie Knutte, Faith Lee, Nour Longi, Piper Pascarella, and Stephanie Wayda, and agricultural communications student Elena Cleary, along with Fourah Bay College broadcast journalism students, were selected for their entry “The Women of Uman Tok Reframe Menstruation in Sierra Leone.”
Guy Maddin’s Rumours gets set for this year’s lineup
Producer Scott Budnick and Director Guy Maddin to attend this year’s festival
CHAMPAIGN, IL (January 15, 2025) — Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, also known as Ebertfest, announced today that Todd Phillips’ The Hangover starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, and Justin Bartha will close the 26th annual festival on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the historic Virginia Theatre in Champaign, IL. There will be a Q&A with producer Scott Budnick immediately following the screening.
In his 3.5/4 stars review, Roger Ebert called The Hangover “a funny movie, flat out, all the way through…a movie that deserves every letter of its R rating…. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, especially after you throw up.”
In The Hangover, Doug (Justin Bartha) and three friends (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis) drive to Las Vegas for a wild and memorable stag party. In fact, when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning, they can’t remember a thing; nor can they find Doug. With little time to spare, the three hazy pals try to retrace their steps and find Doug so they can get him back to Los Angeles in time to walk down the aisle.
“In 2009, a cult phenomenon was born when Scott Budnick, Todd Phillips and the entire team involved with The Hangover unveiled this offbeat comedy classic,” said Chaz Ebert, Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest. “This film made me realize the amazing flexibility of all the actors, but especially Bradley Cooper. Shortly after the film debuted in America, I ran into Bradley in Cannes and was surprised to see him speaking perfect French while being interviewed on French television, a far cry from his ‘Hangover’ character. Both Roger and I enjoyed the outrageousness of the movie, and I look forward to hearing the laughter and excitement from the packed house in the Virginia Theatre!”
The festival is pleased to share that Guy Maddin’s Rumours, released in 2024 and starring Cate Blanchett, will officially screen as part of this year’s lineup. Director Guy Maddin will be returning to the festival following a well-received screening of My Winnipeg at the 2009 event.
In his review of Rumours, RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico says, “[Maddin is] A filmmaker that Roger admired so much has once again burst his imagination onto the big screen in what will surely be one of the highest-profile projects of his career (Cate Blanchett can do that)…. After all, Roger’s statement is still true: Few filmmakers obviously love movies as much as Guy Maddin.”
Rumours follows leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies who gather for the annual G7 Summit to draft a provisional statement regarding an unnamed global crisis. They soon become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles as night falls in the misty woods and they realize they are suddenly alone.
“The ‘Rumours’ are true…Guy Maddin’s work of art is officially slated for our incredible Ebertfest audience!” said Festival Director Nate Kohn. “As a festival that not only celebrates the very best in film, but also the creative geniuses that masterfully tell these stories, it is only fitting that Guy Maddin be honored at this year’s event.”
As previously announced, the 2025 Roger Ebert’s Film Festival will open with a new 70mm print of the Western classic The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood on Wednesday, April 23.
Additional updates to the festival program will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ebertfest passes are currently available to purchase online or by calling the Virginia Theatre box office at 217-356-9063. Individual festival passes to see all films cost $200, which includes reserved seating.
Roger Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, University of Illinois journalism alumnus, and Urbana native.
Ebertfest is hosted by Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn, the festival director since the very beginning, in collaboration with the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
For additional information, please visit https://ebertfest.com/ and follow us on social media:
Why did I choose the most explanatory chapter from Oyallon-Koloski’s videographic book Storytelling in Motion? Because I think that her visualizations of Laban Movement Analysis using the stylized acting of Hollywood musicals should be mandatory viewing for character animators.’
Oyallon-Koloski’s video essay, Seeing Movement in Cinema: An Introduction to Laban Movement Analysis, comes from chapter two of her book, which provides a videographic introduction to Laban Movement Analysis and the taxonomic principles that guide Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies.
Using examples from Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris, Top Hat, Stormy Weather, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Meet Me in St. Louis, Oyallon-Koloski breaks down the core categories of this movement system: Body, Effort, Space, and Shape. She also explains the intersections between elements through specific examples that illustrate how the performers in these films deliberately combine and isolate aspects of figure movement to convey their characters’ intentions.
The annual poll, which gives contributors the chance to share their personal highlights of videographic criticism, included 47 voters from 17 countries, drawn from the varied fields of videographic criticism, including academia, online publication and film festivals.
Film scholar Oswald Iten, who voted to include Oyalllon’s Koloski’s video essay on the list, said it should be considered “mandatory viewing for character animators.”
College of Media faculty, staff, and students can see notable changes at Gregory Hall after several major remodeling projects that began in May 2024 have been completed or are scheduled to wrap up this fall semester.
Thanks to a sizeable investment from campus, the college has been able to focus on facility as well as technology improvements, including a new administrative suite for the academic departments and a unit-reservable event space.
“We are grateful to the Office of the Provost for support in pursuing these projects, which are reflecting of the confidence campus has in our departments and units. These updates will enable us to accelerate our momentum even further,” said Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media.
Facilities & Services staff have completely overhauled the space for the academic department suite (pictured at right), combining a classroom and adjoining office to create three new offices and a large lobby area, adding new walls, floors, lighting, doors, and transom windows that will allow natural light into the lobby.
The new suite will be the administrative home for the college’s three academic departments, with offices for the heads of the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, the Department of Journalism, and the Department of Media & Cinema Studies, and their administrative support.
The College of Media main office in 119 Greg Hall will house the Office of the Dean, the college’s business office, and a small reservable meeting space adjacent to the administrative suite.
Room 225 on the second floor that formerly housed Media Tech—which has been relocated to a set of offices on the east wing of the first floor, convenient to the Media Technology Center on the lower level—has been remodeled to serve as a unit event space for departments and units for talks, faculty meetings, workshops for students, orientation and prospective student events, and more.
This new event space (pictured at top) is designed to accommodate about 25 people. Additions to the room include fresh paint, new flexible meeting furniture, a large-screen display, Owl webcam, and Apple TV.
Conference Rooms 231 (Peterson Room) and 336 (Sandage Room) have also been outfitted with new displays, Owl webcams, and Apple TVs.
Upgrades to the foyer in the suite of faculty offices on the second floor include removal of cubicles, additional furniture for informal gatherings, new paint, and the creation of a copy room with network and electrical upgrades.
Gregory Hall will see more changes in the summer of 2025 when the lower level will undergo renovations and create a new hybrid, flexible classroom, thanks to a generous gift from Richard and Leslie Frank. Read more about those plans.
Chaz Ebert and the University of Illinois College of Media announce that the opening night film of the 2025 Roger Ebert’s Film Festival will be a new 70mm print of the Western classic The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood. The four-day festival, named for famed film critic Roger Ebert, will be held Wednesday, April 23, through Saturday, April 26, 2025. Festival passes will go on sale on Monday, Nov. 18.
“We are pleased to bring the first Western to our Ebertfest audience, and it just so happens that a film from the Golden Age of Hollywood directed by John Ford was recently restored by Warner Bros. in collaboration with the Film Foundation,” said Chaz Ebert, CEO of the preeminent movie review site Rogerebert.com and cofounder of Ebertfest. “Roger gave the film four stars, but also acknowledged the racial attitudes of the time, asking whether the film sought to endorse them, or dramatize and regret them. We look forward to a vigorous post-screening discussion with film scholars and audiences about representation in film.”
Passes to see all the films screened at Ebertfest can be purchased through the Virginia Theatre website, or at their box office by calling 217-356-9063 or visiting 203 W. Park Ave. in downtown Champaign. All films will be shown at the historic Virginia Theatre.
Individual festival passes cost $200. VIP Sponsorship packages start at $1,800 and include VIP seating for two, lunch and dinner with the filmmakers, invitations to all festival special parties and events, and much more.
Roger Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, University of Illinois journalism alumnus, and Urbana native.
Chaz Ebert is also the author of the indie best seller It’s Time to Give A FECK: Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness.
Ebertfest is hosted by Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn, the festival director since the very beginning, in collaboration with the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Watch for announcements of films and filmmaker guests over the next few months. The full festival program will be announced in March.
For the latest updates, please visit ebertfest.com and follow Ebertfest on social media:
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival relies on generous gifts from donors and sponsors. Gifts of all sizes are vital to the festival and can be made online through the College of Media by selecting “Roger Ebert’s Film Festival Fund – 11331422.” For additional sponsorship options, visit the Ebertfest website: ebertfest.com/become-sponsor.
