More than 100 news organizations with a combined circulation greater than 200,000 throughout Nebraska are receiving regular news updates about state government and the legislature's actions from a new reporting service of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Nebraska News Service offers a unique opportunity to news organizations as well as the students in the bureau. Only blocks from the capitol, NNS provide our clients with powerful, relevant stories straight from the source. Our reporters gain real-life experience and exposure to the news world.
Students who have been selected to staff the spring 2015 news service are Annie Bohling, Lincoln, Nebraska; Reece Ristau, Omaha, Nebraska; Kelli Rollin, Luxemburg, Wisconsin; Erika Stewart-Finkenstaedt, Lincoln, Nebraska; and Sophie Tatum, LaGrange, Illinois.
Annie Bohling will graduate in May and intern this summer with The Grand Island Independent as a reporter. Bohling hopes to land a newspaper reporting job in a new place. Outside of journalism, she is interested in poetry, cooking and gardening.
Reece Ristau followed a family tradition of attending University of Nebraska–Lincoln. In addition to more than two years of reporting and editing for the Daily Nebraskan, he interned in summer 2014 at the San Antonio Current. Ristau also competes for the award-winning University of Nebraska–Lincoln speech and debate team and is a four-time Big Ten champion and two-time national finalist.
Kelli Rollin is majoring in journalism with an English minor. After graduating in May 2016, she hopes to get a reporting job with a magazine or online publication. Her ultimate career goal is to work as an international journalist and to write stories and work with multimedia for the Today Show’s website. In her free time, Rollin enjoys watching movies, traveling and cooking.
Erika Stewart-Finkenstaedt is double majoring in journalism and psychology. After graduating in December, she hopes to get a newspaper reporting job. Her ultimate career goal is to work at a news outlet in Germany. In her free time, Stewart-Finkenstaedt enjoys reading, watching documentaries and expanding her vinyl collection.
Sophie Tatum is majoring in broadcasting and journalism with minors in economics, political science and national security studies. She has worked for the Daily Nebraskan and the campus radio station and has held internships with radio stations in Chicago and Lincoln and with CNN in New York and Washington, D.C. When she graduates in December, she hopes to be gainfully employed in journalism. Sophie enjoys reading news, watching “60 Minutes” and volunteering in an elementary school reading class.
Professor Mary Kay Quinlan oversees the student reporters. She covered the U.S. Congress for 15 years and currently is an associate professor of journalism. Quinlan taught graduate and undergraduate classes at the University of Maryland College of Journalism where she was a Baltimore Sun Distinguished Lecturer and William Randolph Hearst Visiting Professional.
