Techniques include:
- first-person point of view
- using scenes to tell a story
- conversational speech
- inclusion of everyday details
New journalism styles can be most effective in feature writing, or in book-length projects.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Definition: New Journalism
New Journalism is a term used to describe the style of journalism practiced by Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, among many others. They introduced literary techniques to news writing, which was quite new and unconventional at the time (hence the name).
Techniques include:
Techniques include:
Friday, August 17, 2007
Just what the heck is Title IX, anyway?
The phrase "Title IX" commonly refers to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.
Basically, Title IX is the rallying cry whenever a college is offering more money to men's sports than women's, or otherwise promoting men's athletics over women's. There's a whole lot of legalese behind it, but let me break it down to how it specifically affects students news media.
Odds are you cover your school's athletics, right? But maybe you don't have enough room to cover all the sports. Maybe this week, you're covering men's basketball, women's softball and men's golf.
Well, if you're supported financially by your school, that's not okay. If you're taking money for printing, administration, anything, you need to be giving equal coverage to both men's and women's athletics. (If you aren't funded in any way by the school, you can cover whatever you want, but someone will complain at some point if you give unequal coverage.)
Equal coverage is a pretty nebulous concept, too. Some people might count column inches, some might consider how many photos you run. The general rule I would recommend is running an equal number of articles over the course of the semester -- this will let you run a full section of football stories if you win the big bowl game and still be compliant.
Basically, Title IX is the rallying cry whenever a college is offering more money to men's sports than women's, or otherwise promoting men's athletics over women's. There's a whole lot of legalese behind it, but let me break it down to how it specifically affects students news media.
Odds are you cover your school's athletics, right? But maybe you don't have enough room to cover all the sports. Maybe this week, you're covering men's basketball, women's softball and men's golf.
Well, if you're supported financially by your school, that's not okay. If you're taking money for printing, administration, anything, you need to be giving equal coverage to both men's and women's athletics. (If you aren't funded in any way by the school, you can cover whatever you want, but someone will complain at some point if you give unequal coverage.)
Equal coverage is a pretty nebulous concept, too. Some people might count column inches, some might consider how many photos you run. The general rule I would recommend is running an equal number of articles over the course of the semester -- this will let you run a full section of football stories if you win the big bowl game and still be compliant.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The New Sports Coverage
ESPN used to be the new sports coverage -- round the clock information on the most popular sports and teams. The new new sports coverage, though, is ESPN.com. Multimedia presentations, up to the minute scores, complex analysis. And it's not just ESPN. If the local news media (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.) covers anything about your school, they cover football season.
Heck, your school probably has people covering sporting events -- the Athletic Department may have its own photographers and writers, as well as Alumni Relations. How can an itty bitty campus paper compete?
You can't cop out and you can't limit coverage to just one or two sports -- Title IX issues can crop up pretty fast that way. You're going to have to use your imagination.
Start with the fact that, as a fellow student, you may have easier access to an athlete. You can handle any kind of 'off the field' story in a way that other media has no hope of doing. As students, they're even eligible to write for your student paper. You'll never see the star volleyball player reading off the morning news on the local affiliate, but why can't she write a column about the team's current rankings?
Heck, your school probably has people covering sporting events -- the Athletic Department may have its own photographers and writers, as well as Alumni Relations. How can an itty bitty campus paper compete?
You can't cop out and you can't limit coverage to just one or two sports -- Title IX issues can crop up pretty fast that way. You're going to have to use your imagination.
Start with the fact that, as a fellow student, you may have easier access to an athlete. You can handle any kind of 'off the field' story in a way that other media has no hope of doing. As students, they're even eligible to write for your student paper. You'll never see the star volleyball player reading off the morning news on the local affiliate, but why can't she write a column about the team's current rankings?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Link: Who's running your education?
Of all you nice journalism and mass communications students through out the U.S., two-thirds of you are female. With the exception of a bare handful, you're under the age of 25.
But your departments are headed up by white (90%) males (64%) over the age of 55? This information comes from a survey conducted by Thomas Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, reported on here.
Do you think this is a bad thing?
In its context, I don't necessarily think we should be throwing up our hands and prophesying doom -- yet. The good news is that over 60% of these guys have at least 5 years of practical experience, an unheard of number in other liberal arts majors.
But your departments are headed up by white (90%) males (64%) over the age of 55? This information comes from a survey conducted by Thomas Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, reported on here.
Do you think this is a bad thing?
In its context, I don't necessarily think we should be throwing up our hands and prophesying doom -- yet. The good news is that over 60% of these guys have at least 5 years of practical experience, an unheard of number in other liberal arts majors.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Link: New Media Meets Campus Media
Inside Higher Ed asked a good question yesterday: what skills should college journalists develop to have a successful career later on?
A knowledge of AP style won't get you by anymore. Any good journalist needs to be able to set up a basic website, shoot stills and video or craft multimedia presentations. Maybe all of the above. Are you getting that kind of training at your school?
"...even the smallest commercial newspapers, with 10,000 readers or fewer, are looking for reporting candidates with experience writing for the Web and uploading stories to the Internet, according to a survey of newspaper managing editors conducted by Wendelken and Toni B. Mehling of James Madison University."
A knowledge of AP style won't get you by anymore. Any good journalist needs to be able to set up a basic website, shoot stills and video or craft multimedia presentations. Maybe all of the above. Are you getting that kind of training at your school?
Monday, August 13, 2007
Why don't you have a career section?
Name me one newspaper with job listings that has never included an article about career advice. That's right. You can't. I understand that most small papers don't have room for a full career section, but why not a column or occasional feature?
It doesn't make sense, then, that college, or even high school, newspapers offer absolutely no job advice. After all, aren't you in school to be better equipped to make money?
We're talking about a super easy subject, too. Colleges have career centers, full of very helpful people. Ask for interviews. Ask for press releases. Ask for help. You'll get more material than you can use in a year.*
Trying to develop a little more interaction with your readers? Let people send in job questions. I'll bet you that you can get someone in your local career counseling office to write the column -- odds are good that you can get it for free, too.
Trying to up your ad sales? Offer to sell job listings near your career column for a premium rate.
Trying to find content that you can delay in case of big stories? Develop a couple of employment features that can be left on the back burner until you need them. The great thing about career stories is that they're a constant. Someone's always looking for a job.
Sample story ideas:
It doesn't make sense, then, that college, or even high school, newspapers offer absolutely no job advice. After all, aren't you in school to be better equipped to make money?
We're talking about a super easy subject, too. Colleges have career centers, full of very helpful people. Ask for interviews. Ask for press releases. Ask for help. You'll get more material than you can use in a year.*
Trying to develop a little more interaction with your readers? Let people send in job questions. I'll bet you that you can get someone in your local career counseling office to write the column -- odds are good that you can get it for free, too.
Trying to up your ad sales? Offer to sell job listings near your career column for a premium rate.
Trying to find content that you can delay in case of big stories? Develop a couple of employment features that can be left on the back burner until you need them. The great thing about career stories is that they're a constant. Someone's always looking for a job.
Sample story ideas:
- 10 tips for a tip-top resume
- Finding a summer internship -- that pays!
- The extracurriculars recruiters look for
- On-campus resources for your next job hunt
Definition: Convergence journalism
Convergence journalism:
A form of journalism in which various forms of media (writing, video, photos, and more) are combined to create a larger journalistic project. The web is an ideal platform for convergence journalism, as evidenced by the move towards multimedia presentations at papers like The Washington Post.
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