Oral Interviews- Help a fellow student out.

Hi all!

A fellow UT student has asked SPJ to view and respond to her PowerPoint presentation about the death penalty and the media.

Thanks!  I know she appreciates it!

Jessi Propst -SPJ President

**This PowerPoint does not suggest  SPJ’s views of the issue.

The scary state of journalism

Journalism is scary. Everyone are loosing their jobs, students out of college can’t find jobs, people aren’t buying newspapers. It’s just real scary.

SPJ’s shining speaker Hagit Limor gave us hope first thing at the spj conference. She told us her story about starting her career in the worst year for journalism to date. She said she went from town to town to town begging for a job wherever she could find one. Eventually, she did. And she learned. And she got better.

That’s what Hagit says we as young journalists should do. She believes we have the advantage in this new medium, and I agree. Us young, tech-savvy college kids have no problem learning how to pick up our own video camera and learning to write our own interview questions, then shooting and editing and posting our package on a news site. No big.

Hagit said it’s harder for those who have been in the buisiness for years to learn how to do these things that come naturally to us. We can do it, and they can’t. So hooray for us. In a few years our know-how could dominate the media, coming up with new formulas for handing out news. We will have fresh ideas for the most effective way to keep the news industry alive.

She admits that newspapers are dying, but newspapers are dinosaurs. And sure, dinosaurs are fun to think about and remember how cool they were, but today we have new things, much cooler than dinosaurs. Like computers. Computers, and blogs, and twitter, and facebook, and youtube, and a million other online meduim that will work as tools for us to use to be the best journalists we can.

Don’t be scared, she told us, be excited and ready. And we should be. It’s cool to think about that we might be able to do in the near future.

Bye bye old dinosaurs, hello super-cool space age.

–Jordan Bodkin, SPJ UT Austin

Bright lights, big city (Hah!) – Give me community news instead.

In this session on March 21, Tommy Thason, Kay Pirtle and Susan Karnes discussed their work with community papers and magazines.

The main thing, I gathered from this session is not to write off small, community media outlets.  Small papers and magazines are a great place to learn.  If you have questions, an editor is easy to reach to ask for help.  And if you make a mistake, it’s still bad, but not catastrophic.

–Jessi Propst, SPJ UT Austin President

When flacks become friends: Transitioning from journalism to PR

On March 21, I went to the PR session at the SPJ Region 8 Conference because I’ve been considering trying to get a job in nonprofit PR.  With the state of the economy, many long-time journalists are making the same transition.

Kay Colley, Donna Darovich and Kristin Sullivan lead this session.  All three have journalists.  They feel they have an advantage in PR because they understand the journalists they deal with on a daily basis.  These women fight for journalistic right instinctively.  It is important to maintain good relationships with the journalists who will be covering your organization.  Sullivan recommends never burning bridges with anyone you meet because you never know when they may be writing a story about something you are working on.

PR is all about positioning.  You must look at all the angles of the story you want covered and find the one that is the best.  You want to look for ways to set your organization apart. For instance, if your organization wins an award, when you publicize it, you would say, “We are the only organization in Texas to win this award.”  You want to make your organization look great.

Good writing is very important in PR work.  In my opinion, good writing is important to anyone to function in society. Plus, you don’t want to look like an illiterate idiot, right?  When writing press releases, use AP Style or whatever style your organization uses.  Most prefer AP style. One thing Darovich recommends highly is to always take notes and carry a recorder when going in for an interview.  She says several students have come to interview her empty-handed  Crazy kids!

–Jessi Propst, SPJ President

Multimedia: A New Way to Tell the Story

In the Session Multimedia: A New Way to Tell the Story,  Jen Friedberg, a multi-media journalist for the Star Telegram, spoke about the changing world of journalism and its transition to the world wide web.  Her first thought to any working and aspiring journalists is that reporters, photographers, and multi-media personnel should all work together.  “If they work together, the end result will be better than if they had worked alone,” she said.

One of the projects Friedberg worked on was a profile on the Rogers Hotel.  This piece explored the so called  “haunted hotel,” and allowed the public to gain access into a building that has since been shut down. 

Friedberg also showed works she had created with a fellow reporter about the execution of a man who was convicted of killing a 20-year-old male and his girlfriend.  Friedberg showed us two videos of the three part series.  She said the web allowed for in depth and lengthier pieces such as these two because it is essentially free, whereas T.V. is more expensive because of the need to provide advertising and create revenue.  Friedberg said, on average a television report is 45 seconds, while an internet report typically lasts one minute 30 seconds. This is because T.V. requires brevity and advertising to make it successful.  The internet has no time limits and is not restricted by commercials to create revenue.

Friedberg said the stories she does are documentary style, meaning she lets the source speak more than the reporter. 

Another key component to online journalism is the need for networking amongst other sites.  Friedberg said you should send stories out to other outlets who have a vested interest in your subject.  For example, if you are blogging or writing about a local organization, you should send the local organization the link to your website so that they can post it on their website, thereby creating potential traffic to your blog or website.  Also, establish rapport with Public Relations people you work with.  Send out the links to them as well, because chances are they will link your story to their site and you will get visitors to your site. 

For videos in the Fort Worth area visit: startelegram.com/videos

 

 

Making Media in the Age of Obama

The last lecture I attended revolved around subjects that are very near and dear to me. Yes, there is the obvious, President Obama. But there is also his not-quite-so-obvious effect on the news, specifically speaking, how he’s allowing race and culture to find their ways back into mainstream media. And not in the bad, controversial, Times-Picayune way.

We were lucky enough to be graced by four prominent journalists, Gilbert Bailón, Scott Nishimura, Cheryl Smith and Bob Ray Sanders, all of whom were eager to put their two cents in on the importance of diversity.

“I love seeing diversity–diversity of your minds and hearts,” said Smith, commenting on how diversity may not always entail physical and racial qualifications.

Bailón then commandeered the mic and told us how in this industry “you need to be trilingual,” and not in the traditional sense. You need to be able to speak English beyond what is sufficient. You need to command the language, a skill that can only be gained through intensive reading and writing. Next, you need to be literate in yourself and be knowledgeable of your abilities and talents. And finally, you need to be literate in multimedia, a medium that is without a doubt the future of journalism. Using technology as a journalistic tool is definitely a highly sought after expertise in the business.

Then came the pivotal question of the afternoon, the real focus of the day.

“Is the Obama presidency going to make a difference in the industry?”

Sanders jumped at the answer.

“It already has.”

He gave credence to his response by explaining that people who weren’t commonly in mainstream media are suddenly getting coverage today.

Obama is an internationalist. He believes that this world extends beyond our borders. And it shows. His proactive outreaching to foreign countries through emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy are beginning to appear in the headlines. Essentially, with Obama, comes stories on international issues and international figures. And with that comes the broader understanding and acceptance of such issues in the American journalistic arena.

However, the remnants of previous media continue to keep contemporary journalism hanging by a thread. The true test will be revealed in the 2010 Census, which all four journalists agree will show that newspapers have not been doing their jobs in reaching out to various demographics.

Diversity matters.

“Diversity matters for business and for coverage,” said Bailón. With more exposure to international and racial issues, we need people who better comprehend them. Therefore sending a white American to cover stories on Chinese New Year or on the rise of crime rates in a primarily African American neighborhood, or on the impact of Islamic law on women’s rights, isn’t always the most practical idea. That’s not to say that people of color and of diverse backgrounds are completely necessary in coverage. Nevertheless, it helps.  Fundamentally, we need journalists of all colors and of all backgrounds. If we learn to embrace the broadening of the newsroom populace, we’ll get new perspectives, better understanding and generally more thorough and legitimate coverage.That’s why diversity in the newsroom is important.

In response to this, Smith proclaimed proudly, “I see the color and I celebrate the color.”

Let’s hope that Obama ushers in that era, that era in which journalism also sees the color and celebrates it too.

-Stephanie Kuo, SPJ UT Austin

“The Power of the Story” with Dave Lieber

Once upon a time, in a kingdom called Ft. Worth, I learned the power of telling a good story by a prince named Dave Lieber. He was an energetic and engaging speaker, but most importantly he had a refreshing point to make: that perhaps if we focused our attention on the simple act of storytelling the story will be more likely to reach the public.
According to Lieber, we as journalists have “cluttered up the story with all our crap”. That from the beginning of mankind, the most effective and lasting stories are those told with a hero, a villain, and a beginning, middle and end.  He suggested that  “there is no such thing as a boring story, only a boring writer” and insists that this can be applied to any aspect of life, not merely writing. For example, you should tell the story of why we deserve a raise to your boss instead of listing off your great qualities and how productive you’ve been at work lately. The perfect story translates into any situation, language, or time period.  We should always try to find the hidden gem in every story, the part that will hook the reader and invite them to continue reading, eventually absorbing all of the important facts of the story that would have otherwise flown over their heads.
Lieber explained his “perfect model” of a story, advocated that we as journalists remain the watchdogs of our society, and generally won over the crowd with his charm and knowledge of his field. And so we SPJ Austin members left his workshop knowing so much more about the story then when we had entered and lived happily ever after. The end.

–Bridget Green

The Future of Newspapers?

The future of newspapers, as of right now, looks bleak. Journalists John Lumpkin and Jerry Grotta addressed this sensitive subject today to many journalists and journalists-to-be at the SPJ conference. Grotta started the lecture with a quote expressing the nature of traditional media:

“The traditional mass media are actually shrinking in size relative to the economy…”

This actually seems to accurately depict the state of our media today, but don’t be fooled. It’s talking about 1972. So it seems as if the journalistic prospects 37 years ago were about as grim as they are now. This goes to show that the decline in newspaper readership and circulation are not necessarily new problems but in fact, have been stifling the industry since the 1960s. What’s even more staggering, according to Grotta, is that adult readership is declining. Since adults are the primary consumers of newspapers and are the primary intakers of news in general, what is the fate of the industry if its only audience no longer cares to pick up a daily on the way to work?

Experts predict that 2040 will be the year when the last newspaper will be printed. Grotta, on this subject, is a bit pessimistic. He predicts that formidable day may arrive even sooner.

Why exactly is this happening to something so crucial in our society? Why are our newspapers dropping like flies?

The people are beginning to realize that they can acquire all the same information from newer and more innovative sources that didn’t exist 20 years ago. For example, today, people can access online articles. People, who aren’t fond of reading, can simply watch the news on TV. Instead of grabbing the paper on the trek to work, most people tune in to the radio when stuck in commuter traffic. On top of that, our younger generation have access to thousands of blogs that target their unique interests.  The New York Times is pioneering technological transition as either a means of getting ahead in the game or purely demonstrating to the entire industry the need to adopt the inevitable changes that might in fact salvage the dying industry.

On the subject of change, it is important, if not foremost, to urge newspapers to adopt change. Grotta says that journalists are not operating in the “newspaper business”; they are operating in the information business. The competition does not reside in other newspapers; it dwells in information as an industry. Television, internet, radio, books, magazines, and films are our competition. We are in a continuous battle for the most precious human commodity: time. In an era where mutli-tasking, practicality and efficiency are valued, activities that reduce burden and time are top priorities. Unfortunately for newspapers, they consume time. Sitting down with a paper not only wastes the time that could be spent running errands or feeding the kids, but it also takes up space. Who has the physical capacity to sit wide-elbowed anymore?

Therefore, since newspapers are in constant competition with other media that offer more practical means of accessing the same information, newspapers need to embrace new technologies in order to survive. There is a newspaper motto out there that states “We do it this way because we’ve always done it that way.” Grotta says those are the newspapers that will surely disappear. Now is not the time to be resistant. “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” The blunt truth is that in order to hold any relevance, any substance, any value in this society, one has to keep with the temper of the times. And the NYT is putting up a good fight as one of the only newspapers making an effort to move into the electronic medium.

After Grotta’s PowerPoint, Lumpkin took his turn at the podium.

He advocates media convergence, stating that newspapers should not be shackled to a single means of distributing content. A little variety will keep things alive.We, as society, have approached a time where it is very easy for a small number of people can do more than one thing at once. The age of specialists is over, says Lumpkin. Everyone needs to be well-versed in just about everything: blogs, film, editing, writing, etc.

The highlight of his speech, though, was his proclamation that old journalism still has a chance in the midst of the new bustling mediums. The preservation and possible revitalization of traditional media depends on a three part process:

1. We must protect our intellectual property. Meaning we cannot allow others to scrape off news content and pass it off as news. He cites John Stewart and Rush Limbaugh as prevailing examples.

2. We must focus on what is critical to democracy, which is objective reporting. Our business is to communicate facts.

3. We must continue fulfilling our watchdog role.

There is no doubt that this was possibly one of the more depressing sessions at the SPJ Region 8 Conference. However, at the same time, it was one of the most motivating. The future of the newspaper lies in the hands of the very people who read this blog. The future of the newspaper lies in the hands of the journalism students, who bring with them new talents and new abilities into an old business. The future of the newspaper makes me want to try even harder.

-Stephanie Kuo, SPJ UT Austin

Portfolio Critique

During our portfolio critique session with Scott Cooper from the Oklahoma Gazette, Larry and I learned three main things: 1) References are VERY important, especially for copy editing. Include some on your resume; 2) TAKE INTERNSHIPS! Take an internship and try to get clips from it.  Tell them what YOU want; 3) Think about the beat you are applying for and relate your clips to THAT beat.  However, keep in mind that you want to be diverse and put in other kinds of clips.

–Jessi Propst, SPJ UT Austin President

Region 8 Conference in Fort Worth

This weekend five SPJ members are attending the Region 8 Conference hosted by the Fort Worth SPJ Chapter.  The theme for this year’s regional convention is, “Staying Big In A Shrinking Industry.”

Today students attending the conference have a great opportunity to meet with professionals for a portfolio critique.  Larry Dechant and I are excited to hear a critique from Scott Cooper from the Oklahoma Gazette.

Tonight four of us are heading to Medieval Times in Dallas for a fun evening out on the town.  Honestly, I am a little nervous because I hear they make you eat without silver ware.  It will be interesting, for sure.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early sessions start.  The opening session at 8:30 a.m. is called Journalism 2010 and Beyond: What You Need to Thrive.  During this session, we will have the opportunity to hear from Hagit Limor from WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.  Among her list of accomplishments, Limor has won NINE Emmys at WCPO-TV!

For the rest of tomorrow, the five of us will be able to go to any sessions we wish to attend.  I know my list is pretty full!

The Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon is tomorrow from noon to 1:30 p.m.  There we will have some delicious food and have the opportunity to meet people from other chapters as well as listen to Gilbert Bailon, a very distinguished Hispanic journalist with quite a resume, including being named by Hispanic Business magazine as “One of the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics.”

The confernce will end tomorrow at 4 p.m.  From there, the five of us will be able to wander around the Metroplex until we will check out of the hotel at noon on Sunday.

–Jessi Propst, SPJ UT Austin President

Project Watchdog Panel

 

 

 

Project Watchdog is SPJ’s initiative to engage the public in a dialogue about the role of a free and ethical news media in American society. The Panel will feature four Texas journalists who have demonstrated the Watchdog role and excel in serving the public interest.

Forrest Wilder, The Texas Observer
Jay Root, Associated Press
Bill Minutaglio, Clinical Professor, J-School
Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press

Project Watchdog will happen Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in Burdine 216. Join us!

Limiting the Diversity of News

Can you believe only six companies own everything we see, hear and read? I have more cereal choices than that, something just isn’t adding up!

As the number of media companies shrink, so do the number of voices, minority owners, and local stories. Media consolidation hurts our democracy in a myriad of ways, and SPJ at UT says “STOP BIG MEDIA!” In December the FCC decided to relax a 30-year old ban put into place to restrict companies from cross owning newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market. The lift would further limit the diversity of news, owners and opinions. Taking a stand, SPJ President Jessi Propst and I visited Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and with the help of media non-profit Free Press, hand delivered a petition with signatures of outraged citizens in District 21. The Senate passed a “Resolution of Disapproval” which would nullify the FCC’s disastrous rule change and these signatures represented our community’s plea to urge Rep. Smith to vote on this bill during the congressional session!

With the mission of SPJ in mind (Most notably: “To promote the free flow of information”, “To encourage diversity in journalism” and “To protect the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press”), Jessi and I, with hundreds of others around the country, let our local lawmakers know we are serious about media reform.

Media consolidation sounds like a boring, technical word you hear in Theories of Mass Comm. class, right? Well, learning about consolidation, media policy and the way the information system works will not only make you a more conscientious journalist but more critical citizen.

If you would like to learn more about consolidation and who own the media, here are a few links to check out:

Free Press

http://www.freepress.net/media_issues/consolidation

 

Stop Big Media.com

http://www.freepress.net/stopbigmedia

 

Who Owns What? CJR

http://www.cjr.org/resources/

 

Media Reform Info Center

http://www.corporations.org/media/

 

-by Mary Tuma, Former UT SPJ President 2007-2008

What Will I Do When It Happens to Me?

What will I do when it happens to me was a session that made me think about the stress journalists go through.
How many of us will cover a huge fire?  How about a murder?
How will you report that?
What if you get captured and held hostage?  What if you are threatened with a gun?
Just some things I never thought about before this session.

Chris Cramer, who has worked for CNN and BBC, was held hostage for a little over a day.  His first though was, “Gosh this is fantastic!  Can you believe it?! This is going make my career!”  That to, “Oh shit! What I am going to do? I’ve got to get out!”
He feels now that there are other ways to be an exceptional journalist “instead of running around like a crazy cowboy.”

Lois Norder, the managing editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gave us the perspective from her position.  She said she picks the reporters who go on these scary/scarring stories very carefully.  Then in the event a reporter goes out to cover a hurricane or a fire and comes back scarred, she recommends that you “make them feel like they are not a failure if they want help” from someone.  It is important to ask your reporters if they are OK after they come back from a rough story.

Journalists tend to think they are immune to danger or pain or even death sometimes, so many of us take these hard stories without thinking about what it will do to us.

Mike Walter, an anchor from WUSA-TV watched the plane hit the Pentagon on 9/11.  “I thought I was a jaded journalist,” he said. “But I found myself fighting back tears.”

Cramer says it is important to create a culture where it OK to say “NO.”

Cramer, Norder, Walter and Ron Martz, the president of Military Reporters and Editors agreed that it is important to be prepared for situations where you might be in danger.  Only in the last 10 or 15 years have newsrooms started offering classes for preparation. After these classes, many journalists feel confident that they could survive in hostile regions.  Their work was better.  Photos were amazing.  Stories were real.

It is important to know we as journalists have support in the newsroom.

A great support system is the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and the Dart Society.

Telling Historic Stories in a Multimedia World

This was one of my favorite sessions of the entire convention.

Bonnie Stewart, an assistant professor from West Virginia University gave us a few helpful tips on writing historic stories.
First of all, is it important enough to invest any time in? Why do we care about the issue 50 years later?  Did Congress change a law because of this event?
Putting the story in context will help the reader get a better grasp of the event or issue.  What was the political climate when this took place?
Actually go to the place and recreate it for the reader.
Stewart told us how to find some photographs, documents and record that may have been overlooked at the time the event was happening.
She said it is important to make friends with librarians because they KNOW where to get good information. Photos can hide in university and community libraries, in government agencies, at local churches, with families, in newspaper archives and with affiliated organizations.  For instance, if you were writing a story about a mine collapse in the 1960s, you may ask the United Mine Workers Association for some more information.

By using these photos, a historical story could be brought to life through multimedia.

Next up, we listened to Gary Schwab from The Charlotte Observer.  He told us how his colleague Tommy Tomlinson retold the story of Dorothy Counts, a 15-year-old African American girl who walked to Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina in a crowd of white kids who spat on her.  The photo is iconic.
Tomlinson took a different approach to this historic story. He found and interviewed the kids surrounding Dorothy Counts in the picture and got their side of the story.  For multimedia, Dorothy retraced her walk to the school.  The other people in the photograph were invited to come as well.
Schwab’s advice for writers was to show not tell the story.  He suggested we narrow the focus and keep the story tight.

To read Tomlinson’s story visit:

http://legacy.charlotteobserver.com/615/story/260059.html

Leap the Digital Divide

Kay Madati, vice president of Consumer Strategy and Audience Development for CNN Worldwide, said that CNN is focusing on bringing content into technology. Where content was once at the center of their consumer strategy, now the audience is at the center of their formula, with content, forms of interaction and sharing news as the peripheral facets of their tactic.

Carlos Caban, senior director of ESPN Deportes, showed how the company has redesigned its websites. They have broken down their Hispanic audience into smaller communities, geographical areas, dedicated to the different regions of South America and to Mexico. They will shortly add the possibility to upload fan profiles. Currently readers can follow the game online, with live blog commentaries and animation.

He showed the front page of the Mexican site, and the front page of the Panam region, and though both were covering the soccer games leading to the World Cup, each was featuring the countries related to its respective geographical niche.

Madati continued the conversation saying that the rules nowadays are “customization and personalization.” The way CNN will ensure that citizen journalists don’t steal all their viewership is by giving them exposure. For example, a few bloggers were invited to be on CNN to cover the Democratic National Convention, and though they weren’t paid, he said they were thrilled by the fact of publishing on CNN.

Dialogue from citizen journalists and content by professional media can exist side by side. Madati said there shouldn’t be a need for outsourcing, which will be part of the campaign to incorporate non-traditional sources into their media to maintain readership.