This is the time that most student papers are starting publication for the year. You may be doing desperate last minute searches for writer, photographers or even editors. You may be trying to learn about the production side of your paper on the side, or figure out just how distribution is going to happen.
Every issue of a newspaper is a small miracle -- but it is a repeatable miracle. You can get this done, I promise. Good luck, kids, but I don't think you'll need it.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The Fine Points of Ethics
On Aug. 19, the New York Times ran a question an ethics question from an intern at a national magazine:
The internet and its associated blogs and forums have forced good journalists to voluntarily disclose their associations. But what constitutes disclosure?
This intern did not mention the name of the magazine he interned at, but he signed his name to his question. Google tells us immediately that he worked for Tennis Magazine. Does the fact that it’s so easy to find out his associations count as disclosure?
What about student newspapers? With the absolutely incestuous nature of student organizations – especially at small schools, it isn’t unheard of for a writer to also be part of student government, Greek life and various other organizations.
It simply isn’t practical, at least in a print publication, to add a writer’s associations to every story, but the magic of the internet is that it’s amazingly easy disclose things online. If your newspaper maintains a website, why not post profiles of individual writers and editors? If that’s too much effort, why not make sure that your writers have up to date Facebook profiles?
My editor asked me to post comments on one of the magazine’s online blogs, being sure not to mention my working for the magazine but to write in a style that suggests I’m a reader.
The internet and its associated blogs and forums have forced good journalists to voluntarily disclose their associations. But what constitutes disclosure?
This intern did not mention the name of the magazine he interned at, but he signed his name to his question. Google tells us immediately that he worked for Tennis Magazine. Does the fact that it’s so easy to find out his associations count as disclosure?
What about student newspapers? With the absolutely incestuous nature of student organizations – especially at small schools, it isn’t unheard of for a writer to also be part of student government, Greek life and various other organizations.
It simply isn’t practical, at least in a print publication, to add a writer’s associations to every story, but the magic of the internet is that it’s amazingly easy disclose things online. If your newspaper maintains a website, why not post profiles of individual writers and editors? If that’s too much effort, why not make sure that your writers have up to date Facebook profiles?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Learning from the Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is the highest award in American journalism, as well as a literary and musical accomplishment. An independent board selects winners in 21 categories every year, and has done so since 1917.
That's 90 years of exceptional journalism right there. Reading some of those prize winning articles might be useful, right? While the Pulitzer Prize people haven't seen fit to offer up online access to all winners, award winning pieces from 1995 and forward are on the Pulitzer Prize website.
I suggest reading one every once in awhile, when you need a little inspiration. You might find a new technique or a new subject. At the very least, you might learn a little about your competition when you're ready to go for your prize.
That's 90 years of exceptional journalism right there. Reading some of those prize winning articles might be useful, right? While the Pulitzer Prize people haven't seen fit to offer up online access to all winners, award winning pieces from 1995 and forward are on the Pulitzer Prize website.
I suggest reading one every once in awhile, when you need a little inspiration. You might find a new technique or a new subject. At the very least, you might learn a little about your competition when you're ready to go for your prize.
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:
- 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.
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.
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