Christopher Baxter | Journalist

The weekly news magazine show “ICB Sunday,” which airs on 92 WICB, took top honors this week in two regional competitions:

Radio News Reporting, first place, “SPCA Under Fire,” (a segment I did this past Sept.) - Society of Professional Journalists, Region 1. The piece will now compete against 10 other entries in the national SPJ Mark of Excellence competition.

Best Radio Interview, first place, “Coddington Road Widening,” (conducted by host Callum Borchers) - New York Associated Press Broadcasters Association. The piece was selected among submissions from professional radio stations across the Empire State.

I was the creator and director of “ICB Sunday” during the fall semester of 2007, when both pieces aired.

• Read More »

Check out this brief in E Magazine about how the digital transition presents serious challenges to consumers, recyclers and waste collectors across the country. This is my first freelance magazine piece I’ve sold.

• Read More »

The culmination of my senior-year class, Issues and the News: A group project on Tabloidization and The New York Times.

• Read More »

The Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual report last week, detailing the state of the media across all platforms. We discussed some of the findings in class, but we didn’t touch on one of the clear, recurring challenges for journalism: an economic model that turns online news consumption into profit.

• Read More »

We covered several stories that cropped up during the week of March 9, 2008, but we missed a small, yet telling one from The New York Times. According to a Pentagon report released Wednesday, there was no tie between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Perhaps something we all already knew (or thought we knew), but a good reminder of some of the smokescreens that went up five years ago at the start of the Iraq War.

• Read More »

At our present time, I don’t think there’s any question that the media in the United States bought the official, Washington line on the war when it started in 2003. In fear of alienating themselves from the main source of information and intelligence on the ground, newspapers and television stations across the country largely took whatever the White House or the military said without question. But I also don’t think there’s any question that as the war progressed, so did the coverage.

• Read More »

According to the given study in our recent Issues and the News class, about 31 percent of local newspaper coverage deals with either crime or “conflict” news. The same study indicated about 28 percent of national newspaper coverage is comprised of such news. But how accurate are those statistics in what we read day to day?

• Read More »

The simplest definition of objectivity would probably go something like this: Telling both sides of the story without preference or bias. But as we’ve discussed in class, objectivity isn’t as simple as it may seem.

• Read More »

Under Rupert Murdoch’s leadership, it just might. Check out this latest article: http://wwd.com/memopad/article/122566.

• Read More »

Why not? You may not look like one, but you sure sound like one. You can’t deny devoting space to show biz and celebrity ups and downs, or the speed at which you pounced on the story about Heath Ledger’s death. (And you can’t deny that Ledger is the third most searched term on your Web site.) And you can’t deny that sexy news sells, and you can’t deny people seem to crave entertainment. So tell me again: why aren’t you a tabloid?

• Read More »

Gigantic underwater cables. And for an unconfirmed reason, a few of them broke recently, causing Internet outages and related problems across the Middle East, India and Bangladesh.

• Read More »

Ever since I did a project on the current mediascape in Egypt, I’ve become more and more interested in that area of the world. I’ll admit that - though I’ve learned it several times - I still get confused by the seemingly endless conflict between Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. But a recent major news event has helped me learn quite a bit.

• Read More »

I doubt the average news consumer ever stops for a moment and seriously considers agenda-setting theory. That’s not to say they don’t have an idea of what’s going on; I’ve often heard people ask why the media says one thing, when the truth appears to suggest another. But even if everyone spent their days talking about the media’s agenda, for many reasons, it probably wouldn’t change.

• Read More »

A little less ignorant for reading this article about Indonesia’s late former dictator, Suharto.

An addendum to my class presentation on OhMyNews International - an interview with the founder, Oh Yeon-Ho.

• Read More »

A professor recently asked my to defend my choice to read The New York Times daily. I typically start my day by clicking over to the Web site or - when my subscription restarts - sitting down to the paper and a bowl of cereal. I’ll admit to spending the most time with the front section, rarely reading through the metro, sports or entertainment sections. Lately, I’ll look for the latest news on the campaign first. I’ll then move to anything else featured on the front, jumping my way inside. It’s there where I find The Times to be most informative.

• Read More »

I’m taking a senior capstone course for journalism majors at Ithaca College titled, “Issues and the News”. I’ll be using my blog to write a couple times each week about national and international news stories. This could range from an interesting story or link, to my thoughts on relevant issues relating to various news stories.

To view the entire class conversation, visit http://issuesandnews.blogspot.com.

• Read More »

It’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel when I’m poring through bunches internship applications and clips. But even though the process is difficult, the reward is always so sweet. This week I formally accepted an internship for the coming summer at The Boston Globe. I’ll be a metro reporter working out of the main office in South Boston, and I’ll be working a lot.

• Read More »

I had originally been posting weekly audio of “ICB Sunday” to this site because the 92 WICB Web site was getting a makeover. Well, that makeover is complete, and now includes podcasts of our weekly shows. All of the previous shows should be uploaded within a week.

Here’s the direct link: http://www.wicb.org/podcast/icbpodcast.rss

• Read More »

Some technical difficulties have prevented me from posting the last few shows of “ICB Sunday.” You can hear the shows live every Sunday at 7 p.m. by visiting www.wicb.org.

• Read More »

“ICB Sunday,” a weekly news magazine show on 92 WICB, ranked the fourth-best college radio station by the Princeton Review.

Oct. 14, 2007

• Read More »

“ICB Sunday,” a weekly news magazine show on 92 WICB, ranked the fourth-best college radio station by the Princeton Review.

Oct. 7, 2007

• Read More »

“ICB Sunday,” a weekly news magazine show on 92 WICB, ranked the fourth-best college radio station by the Princeton Review.

Sept. 30, 2007

• Read More »

Local news returned to 92 WICB in Ithaca this week with the first broadcast of ICB Sunday, a weekly news magazine show covering important issues and people in the community. The premier aired Sept. 23, 2007.

ICB Sunday
Director: Chris Baxter
Producer: Robert Schroeder

Sept. 23, 2007

• Read More »

Tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduates at Virginia’s public colleges and universities increased an average of 6.8 percent for 2007- 08, less than in past years because of the state’s new tuition incentive program.

According to a report by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, students will pay an average of $452 more at four-year institutions this year.

Last year, the increase was 9.3 percent, an average of $567. Students at community colleges will pay an average of $130 more.

The report comes as institutions in South Hampton Roads begin the new school year.

Read the full story

• Read More »

Phil Holwager walked slowly along the orderly rows of headstones at the state veterans cemetery in Suffolk, satisfied with his decision to someday lie here.

The former Navy chaplain saw many military burial grounds during his 36 years of service, but found the freshly cut grass and young cherry trees of Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery to be the best match.

“I was here for Memorial Day, and I was very impressed with the dignity and honor expressed here,” said Holwager, 74, who lives in Suffolk with his wife. “I could have picked Arlington, but probably my family would never make it back up there after I was buried.”

Holwager is among an estimated 737,000 veterans in Virginia - about a quarter of whom live in Hampton Roads - entitled to interment at a state or national cemetery.

But of the 16 national sites in Virginia, including Arlington National Cemetery, only three are accepting new burials, said Dan Kemano, director of cemeteries for the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.

State officials have addressed that shortage by opening two state veterans cemeteries - the Suffolk site and another in Amelia - each with enough room for the next 80 years. But many don’t know those sites exist.

Read the full story

• Read More »

NORFOLK - More high school graduates are enrolling at Tidewater Community College before going to four-year institutions, the college’s president said Monday.

In the past five years, students using TCC as an entry point into higher education increased 14 percent, Deborah DiCroce said in her annual address at the college’s Roper Performing Arts Center.

The college reached record enrollment for the 10th consecutive year with nearly 38,000 students in 2006- 07. About 29,000 students took courses online, an increase of 4,000 from the previous year. Overall enrollment is expected to grow another 4 percent for the coming year, DiCroce said.

The college is an “on-ramp for higher education and, in particular, the bachelor’s degree,” she said, with guaranteed admissions agreements with every public four-year college and university in Virginia . That’s been the focus of the college’s marketing campaign, “From here, go anywhere, ” launched in 2003 .

Program areas with the most growth were the core general education requirements that typically compose the first two years of baccalaureate study , DiCroce said. The college also added 10 programs last year, including homeland security and emergency management, electronics technology and behavioral health care.

Read the full story

• Read More »

RICHMOND - Thomas Jefferson had an eye for imperfections, and today the 220-year-old Capitol he designed is full of them.

Door handles are missing, lights aren’t working and a skylight is leaking.

The post-renovation problems are part of an inch-thick “punch list” - a thorough account of 2,443 blemishes throughout the building.

Since the Capitol reopened to the public May 1, workers have labored after hours to cut the tally to about 200 items, according to the latest version of the list. The fixes are expected to continue until the end of September.

“I think if Jefferson were alive today, he would have his nose against every leak and piece of chipped granite,” said James Wootton, executive director of the Capitol Square Preservation Council. “And he’d be saying, ‘This needs to be fixed, and it needs to be done now.’”

Read the full story

• Read More »

Wonder how hot it really is? So did David Wright, professor of physics at Tidewater Community College. And he had the perfect tool: an infrared thermometer, which measures the energy emitted by anything from a speed bump to a sea turtle. On Thursday, he sprinted across parks, parking lots and the Oceanfront, looking for Virginia Beach’s hot spots.

Read the full story

• Read More »

Government forecasters on Thursday raised the likelihood that the U.S. will see an abnormally heavy hurricane season this year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now says there’s an 85 percent chance the season will surpass norms for intensity or number of storms. That’s up from the 75 percent prediction made in May.

“The only time we’ve had a higher percentage was in 2005, which we were predicting to be a near-record season,” said Gerry Bell, the lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA. “From a forecast point of view, every indication is, this season will be above-normal.”

Read the full story

• Read More »

Eric Robineault and his family forgot to bring one thing on their vacation to Virginia Beach: cool air.

The Quebec natives left behind 60-degree temperatures earlier this week for a first-ever camping trip to First Landing State Park. They were met with a sultry blast of summer in South Hampton Roads.

Thermometers reached into the triple digits Wednesday throughout southeastern Virginia. Norfolk tied its daily record high. Richmond set a new one at 103, according to the National Weather Service.

And the hottest place in the country was Culpeper, which marked 106 degrees for the record books.

It’s not over yet. Forecasters expect excessive-heat advisories and air quality alerts to continue through Friday, though relief is expected by the weekend.

Read the full story

Mike Cherney co-wrote this story.

• Read More »

NORFOLK - Tickets to the Attucks Theatre were as golden as Nat King Cole’s voice when he and other famous black performers sang the stage into history.

Decades later – after closing, renovating and reopening – the small theater is struggling to strike a chord in a market full of giants. Ticket sales are down and attendance is slumping, costing taxpayers nearly a half-million dollars last year.

It’s a common challenge for similar venues across Hampton Roads – book attractive acts, set affordable ticket prices and keep losses at a minimum.

Few would dispute the value of the Church Street landmark, its old brick wall echoing the voices of a new generation. But the right formula – one that will better connect the theater to the community – remains elusive.

Read the full story

• Read More »

RICHMOND - It could have been a grill fire on a dorm balcony or overcooked ramen noodles, smoking on the stove.

But this time it was a controlled flame. In the steamy parking lot of Virginia’s Emergency Operations Center, teams of campus and university officials, as well as local responders, pulled down their goggles, adjusted their green hard hats and moved in with fire extinguishers.

“Pull the pin, test the water, give your command, squeeze the handle and spray,” said Mark Vroman, a firefighter and paramedic, and the group’s instructor.

The simulation was part of the Campus Community Emergency Response Team Train-the-Trainer course, meant to help campuses sustain themselves during an emergency.

Read the full story

• Read More »

The Virginia Veterinary Medical Association is advising its members to refuse to vaccinate dogs whose owners are upset by a new law that requires rabies certificates to be sent to local tax collectors.

The measure is intended to improve compliance with the current dog-licensing law - which could mean a bill in the mail for a dog owner who previously avoided buying a license.

But the association’s advice could lead to fewer dogs being vaccinated, wrote Bob Kane, president of the Virginia Hunting Dog Owners’ Association, in an e-mail to the group’s approximately 2,700 members, state legislators and reporters.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

It can be off-putting at first.

A well-dressed man pulls up in a City of Norfolk van, rolls down the window and asks if anyone would like a cold bottle of water.

Many of the people - dressed in T-shirts and long pants, lying in shaded parks and usually homeless - seem surprised by the handouts from the city. But as temperatures rose into the mid-90s, a cool drink was hard to turn down.

“I don’t really get enough water during the day,” said Steve Mason, sitting beneath a shady tree in Town Point Park on Wednesday. “This tastes real good.”

For the second time this week, teams of volunteers from the Departments of Human Services and Public Health, along with Norfolk’s Downtown Ambassadors, loaded up cases of water and patrolled the city streets to help people in need.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

It’s supposed to be 94 degrees today. It will feel more like 101.

People will sweat; fans will whir; electricity meters will spin.

You know that. But did you know cows produce less milk when it’s hot? Or that crime increases with the temperature up to a point, and then people run rather than fight? Here are seven ways life is different in the heat.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

Sandi Graham rented a house on Sandbridge Beach for the Fourth of July holidays so her asthmatic father could walk a few steps out the door and onto the sand.

But when the family pulled up last weekend, their ocean view was a panorama of bulldozers, portable toilets and a single sign: “Keep Out. Construction Area.”

“It’s noisy. The diesel fumes are bad. And my father hasn’t been outside once,” Graham said. “We researched this house specifically to make sure he could get to the beach.”

Graham and other vacationers are upset about the timing of the latest sand replenishment program, expected to pipe in 2 million cubic yards of sand during the next two months. The project began Sunday.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

M. Boyd Jones clenched his cane as he tried to remember why he’s become one of the most famous black teachers in Virginia.

Dark eyes gazing steadily from behind his glasses, the 97-year-old spoke as though he were addressing his class.

“I was black. I am black. I knew what it meant to be in that category,” said Jones, sitting in his living room Friday in Virginia Beach. “I fought long and hard, in varying circumstances, to make it better than it was.”

Jones was principal of the high school where, in 1951, students triggered the downfall of racial segregation. On Monday evening, he was honored with an endowed scholarship in his name.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

A Norfolk police officer charged with driving under the influence while off duty was cited twice with reckless driving and once with speeding before he was hired, according to court documents.

In two of the cases, James Johnson Hassell III, 25, was found guilty in a lower court but the charges were dropped on appeal.

Read the full story. Read the previous story.

• Read More »

They can sniff bombs, trace drugs and run down the enemy. But when their time in the service is up or if they are injured, many military working dogs are killed.

Navy reservist Ron Bishop says there’s another way: adoption.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

As Hampton Roads shed layers of clothing in the 93-degree heat earlier this week, workers suspended below the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel wrapped fiberglass jackets around the road’s supports.

The outfit is one of several techniques meant to repair 623 cracked and corroded piles, made of concrete and steel reinforcement, damaged by ships and salty water.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

The Norfolk Animal Management Center has implemented new procedures to keep cages clean and prevent the spread of disease, but the facility remains overcrowded, city officials said Wednesday.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

NORFOLK–Two off-duty Norfolk police officers were arrested early Saturday and charged with driving under the influence while crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

Mitch Perry prefers floating operating rooms.

For the next four months, the petty officer third class and Navy corpsman will serve as a surgical technician aboard the hospital ship Comfort.

He is one of about 800 crew members who will deploy Friday on the ship’s first-ever foreign humanitarian mission. The Baltimore-based Comfort, docked in Norfolk since May 31 for final preparations, is expected to provide medical care to an estimated 85,000 patients in 12 nations throughout Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

The celebration filled Norfolk’s waters with tall ships from around the world. Take a look at some photos in my latest slideshow.

• Read More »

If only Norfolk had the Pagoda during the Civil War.

Years later, the Taiwanese tower has united the downtown neighborhood of Freemason, defined by historic homes to the north and modern condominiums and townhouses to the south.

“People here for the first time start at the Pagoda,” said Madeline Sly, a resident of Freemason. “It’s an unusual but beautiful entrance into our community.”

Read the full story.

• Read More »

He’s a big man on campus

She’s a student with special needs.

When their paths crossed, it led to an unusual friendship - and a moment that stunned their classmates.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

Robert Anderson put his cancer treatment on hold to go on vacation with his wife and daughter to the Bahamas. But a national backlog in passports may prevent him from leaving the country.

Anderson, of Norfolk, had followed all the instructions: Apply 12 weeks in advance, sign the form, include the check and send it away. But just days before his cruise, he had no passport, no birth certificate and no confidence in the government.

Read the full story.

• Read More »

I’ve been slow to update the blog.

The last month in South Africa was the craziest of all. Between my independent study project, buying gifts and taking in every last possible minute on Durban’s beaches, sitting on my computer was the last thing on my mind.

• Read More »

As part of the School for International Training Independent Study Project, I was required to present my findings. As part of that presentation, I compiled audio from many of the interviews. It speaks to the findings of the published report.

• Read More »

The following is the culmination of a month’s work of research, interviews, data analysis and writing.

A strong body of research exists on the plight of residents in the South Durban Basin who co-exist with numerous polluting industries. Despite this work and constitutional guarantees to a clean and healthy environment, the country’s criminal justice system fails to address environmental victimization.

Read the full report

• Read More »

We found ourselves in the heart of South Africa’s tourism industry over the past week in Cape Town. The views were stunning, but the legacy of apartheid was the most powerful of all.

I’ve created a separate photo album just for this trip. It’s full of natural wonder and tear-jerking memorials to the injustices of the past. Take a look.

• Read More »

I’m finally back and can write again.

Life in the rural area was absolutely breathtaking. We stayed in Dokodweni, about 2 hours north of Durban.

• Read More »

These were the words of the president of a multi-community housing development organization made up of shack/shanty towns in the greater Durban area.

• Read More »

I just arrived back from the Wild Coast, and what an adventure we had in just two days.

• Read More »

I thought I’d pass along some local dialect I have been trying (and mostly failing) to adopt. This isn’t