There were at least 50 communication majors from across the state at the Society of Professional Journalists event last night looking for information about internships.
The print and TV hopefuls looked to the panel (where I was a participant) for tips that would help them access one of these highly competitive prizes ... of course all eyes were on the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, WCCO and KSTP intern coordinators. But it was quickly apparent to me and the students that even if a student was to get an internship in the "big" market, they most likely would be doing "small" tasks.
We all know that internships and clips are key to landing a job. Brovald Sims Practicum students are very, very lucky, and I would encourage them to write Prof. Tims (dean of the J school) timsx001@umn.edu to express their gratitude for a class that actually provides an intern experience ... that provides a meaningful opportunity to get a byline, not just a chance to shadow a working reporter or be somebody's go-pher.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
A legacy byline
Bernie Casserly died this past week.
He gave me my first job - reporter for the Catholic Bulletin (now the Catholic Spirit) and allowed for my first "real" byline.
Bernie was also my mentor. I didn't realize that, however, until many, many years after I moved on to other communities and other jobs.
Bernie respected reporters, and had this belief that, no matter where they practiced their craft, writers should be paid a fair salary -union scale. You can image my surprise when I learned, as a rookie reporter, that my salary was to be the same as the reporters at the Pioneer Dispatch.
As a publisher, he was encouraging -always with a big smile- yet careful not to let you tread onto ground you weren't ready for. I started work at the Bulletin in June of 1969, and I didn't get my first byline until sometime in September. I hope it wasn't because I disappointed him with my writing. I like to think he wanted to make sure "I" felt comfortable with the responsibility that comes with having your name attached to your work.
Over the years, I ran into Bernie at conventions. I always made a point of greeting him (gently reminding him of who I am) and thanking him for giving me a break and a push on the path to a career in journalism. That alway put a smile on his face.
Bernie taught me to respect the craft of journalism and respect the people who choose it as a career.
I can hope to make as great a difference in a student's life as Bernie made in mine.
He gave me my first job - reporter for the Catholic Bulletin (now the Catholic Spirit) and allowed for my first "real" byline.
Bernie was also my mentor. I didn't realize that, however, until many, many years after I moved on to other communities and other jobs.
Bernie respected reporters, and had this belief that, no matter where they practiced their craft, writers should be paid a fair salary -union scale. You can image my surprise when I learned, as a rookie reporter, that my salary was to be the same as the reporters at the Pioneer Dispatch.
As a publisher, he was encouraging -always with a big smile- yet careful not to let you tread onto ground you weren't ready for. I started work at the Bulletin in June of 1969, and I didn't get my first byline until sometime in September. I hope it wasn't because I disappointed him with my writing. I like to think he wanted to make sure "I" felt comfortable with the responsibility that comes with having your name attached to your work.
Over the years, I ran into Bernie at conventions. I always made a point of greeting him (gently reminding him of who I am) and thanking him for giving me a break and a push on the path to a career in journalism. That alway put a smile on his face.
Bernie taught me to respect the craft of journalism and respect the people who choose it as a career.
I can hope to make as great a difference in a student's life as Bernie made in mine.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Homework - Make it worthwhile
Just a little about homework.
Now that I'm a student, I'm learning that homework can be irritating. I'm not referring to the actual task of doing the homework; it's when, as a student, I do the homework and nobody else in the class does, or if the teacher doesn't refer to it in class AT ALL, or gets behind and says "we'll go over today's homework the next time we meet." So what's the point of the homework! If it's just busy work, well sorry, I gotta lot of work to keep me busy.
So, let me put my teacher hat on and make a clarificiation ... when homework is assigned for the Brovald Sim class and the student is instructed to turn it in, that means turn it in! Only two students turned in the paper's contact information on Monday, as assigned. Let's see if we can get that number up to 100 percent this coming Monday.
Now that I'm a student, I'm learning that homework can be irritating. I'm not referring to the actual task of doing the homework; it's when, as a student, I do the homework and nobody else in the class does, or if the teacher doesn't refer to it in class AT ALL, or gets behind and says "we'll go over today's homework the next time we meet." So what's the point of the homework! If it's just busy work, well sorry, I gotta lot of work to keep me busy.
So, let me put my teacher hat on and make a clarificiation ... when homework is assigned for the Brovald Sim class and the student is instructed to turn it in, that means turn it in! Only two students turned in the paper's contact information on Monday, as assigned. Let's see if we can get that number up to 100 percent this coming Monday.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
It's a new semester
A new semester, a new group of interns, and I am excited to be part of their new experience as it unfolds over the course of the next few months.
There is so much information that Joni and I try to convey during the first class that the students seated around the table look like deer caught in the headlights by the end of our time together. I know they won't remember even half of the important points that we talked about ... but that's OK. I just need to remember to have patience, afterall this is all new to most of them.
I have added some new resource material on the class Web site under the category "story resources." Quite timely is a report about what new voters expect from election coverage.
Oh, if you're reading this, and are one of our students, I forgot one very important point:
Have fun with your internship!
I look forward to seeing you next week.
There is so much information that Joni and I try to convey during the first class that the students seated around the table look like deer caught in the headlights by the end of our time together. I know they won't remember even half of the important points that we talked about ... but that's OK. I just need to remember to have patience, afterall this is all new to most of them.
I have added some new resource material on the class Web site under the category "story resources." Quite timely is a report about what new voters expect from election coverage.
Oh, if you're reading this, and are one of our students, I forgot one very important point:
Have fun with your internship!
I look forward to seeing you next week.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tough as nails
Small paper not afraid of big issues
Next it was off to Isle.
Positioned on the southeastern shores of Mille Lacs Lake, it retains its small town environment while having a resort-community feel.
Driving up Main Street (yes, the second one of our tour, if you are counting) we stopped at a grocery store, and while there, picked up a copy of the Mille Lacs County Messenger – the next paper on our tour. We knew the office was located on Main Street, but had a hard time spotting it! We asked a woman who pointed out to us a building a half-block down, which was having an awning rebuilt. We took the occasion to ask her if she read the paper. "Oh yes," she said. "I have grandchildren in sports, so I'm always looking for their names and cutting out the articles."
Positioned on the southeastern shores of Mille Lacs Lake, it retains its small town environment while having a resort-community feel.
Driving up Main Street (yes, the second one of our tour, if you are counting) we stopped at a grocery store, and while there, picked up a copy of the Mille Lacs County Messenger – the next paper on our tour. We knew the office was located on Main Street, but had a hard time spotting it! We asked a woman who pointed out to us a building a half-block down, which was having an awning rebuilt. We took the occasion to ask her if she read the paper. "Oh yes," she said. "I have grandchildren in sports, so I'm always looking for their names and cutting out the articles."
Ahh, another satisfied consumer of refrigerator journalism!
We walked across the street to the office. And once again I was reminded of a lesson I learned early in my journalism career ... confirm your appointments!
It was by happenstance that editor Brett Larson was there! He'd forgotten about our meeting.
I tell interns that editors are very busy people. They don't intend to forget or put things onto the "I'll get to it" pile, but the mass of paper, e-mails and calls that come to the desk require tremendous management skills.
It was my bad.
Although I had e-mailed him a couple of days before, I should have called.
“What a great office,” I couldn't help but think has Brett gave us a tour of the recently renovated digs.
It wasn't lost in a no-name building like the Lakeshore Weekly in Minnetonka, and it wasn't showing its years like the Pine County Courier. It felt professional and very inviting, and on MAIN STREET.
The Mille Lac Messenger is locally owned "reporting the news of the Mille Lacs area since 1913," and has a sister publication, Aitkin Independent Age. Brett has had an on-again-off-again working relationship at the paper.
He is a college professor who pulls no punches with his coverage and columns. Take for example a recent one taking Nick Coleman (StarTribune columnist) to task over an interview he conducted with Larson about an alleged attack that shut down the paper's Web site.
I gotta think that besides good "refrigerator journalism," the Messenger readers look forward to the wealth of local columnists featured in the paper.
But what got my attention is the gutsy local no-holds coverage of local issues, mixed with features and interesting local news items. Larson described it this way: “We’re somewhere between the big city government watchdog and the community cheerleader.”
He said their readership is stable, and with some start-up community news Web sites, he is confident “We will remain the source of news.”
Larson's biggest challenge? Continuing to publish stories that you know are going to bring a strong reaction.”
We walked across the street to the office. And once again I was reminded of a lesson I learned early in my journalism career ... confirm your appointments!
It was by happenstance that editor Brett Larson was there! He'd forgotten about our meeting.
I tell interns that editors are very busy people. They don't intend to forget or put things onto the "I'll get to it" pile, but the mass of paper, e-mails and calls that come to the desk require tremendous management skills.
It was my bad.
Although I had e-mailed him a couple of days before, I should have called.
“What a great office,” I couldn't help but think has Brett gave us a tour of the recently renovated digs.
It wasn't lost in a no-name building like the Lakeshore Weekly in Minnetonka, and it wasn't showing its years like the Pine County Courier. It felt professional and very inviting, and on MAIN STREET.
The Mille Lac Messenger is locally owned "reporting the news of the Mille Lacs area since 1913," and has a sister publication, Aitkin Independent Age. Brett has had an on-again-off-again working relationship at the paper.
He is a college professor who pulls no punches with his coverage and columns. Take for example a recent one taking Nick Coleman (StarTribune columnist) to task over an interview he conducted with Larson about an alleged attack that shut down the paper's Web site.
I gotta think that besides good "refrigerator journalism," the Messenger readers look forward to the wealth of local columnists featured in the paper.
But what got my attention is the gutsy local no-holds coverage of local issues, mixed with features and interesting local news items. Larson described it this way: “We’re somewhere between the big city government watchdog and the community cheerleader.”
He said their readership is stable, and with some start-up community news Web sites, he is confident “We will remain the source of news.”
Larson's biggest challenge? Continuing to publish stories that you know are going to bring a strong reaction.”
Monday, August 25, 2008
Journalism's a family affair
If you had to move 13 times in 15 years, you might decide, too, "enough already. If I'm going to stay in journalism, I'm buying my 
own paper."Meet Tim Franklin, and his family –wife, Mary, and two daughters, Emilee, 14, and Savannah, 10.
They eat, sleep and breathe community journalism.
Tim's journalism career began as editor-in-chief of the University of Minnesota-Duluth Statesman in 1990. That was the start of his I-35 and I-90 tour (as he calls it) that included being downsized in a later journalism job in Duluth, followed by moves to Louisiana, Kansas, South Dakota because of promotions and finally back to Minnesota.
It was then that he faced up to the facts of life: if he was to stay with a big company, more than likely there’d be another downsize. “I came home one day and told Mary, ‘I think we should buy a newspaper.’ She thought I’d lost my mind,” he said
Now, after making the leap to owner six years ago, and with two papers – the Hinckley News and the Pine County Courier, journalism is a family affair.
The day Joni and I visited was one of the two days a week that Mary can be found at the computer near the front counter that looks out onto Sandstone’s Main Street. One daughter was seated at a desk playing computer games and the other was in the back taking a nap.
Mary said that the kids know the meaning of self-employment and that owning your own business instills a strong work ethic. “They (the kids) know how and when to take out the garbage,” maybe something that a young reporter at a big paper might balk at because “it isn’t part of my job description,” she said. “Here, everybody takes out the garbage.”
Sure Tim works hard – excuse me - they work hard. But he feels like he’s got some control over his family’s future – he’s the one who can tweak the budget to bring it in balance when need be. And as for the Internet, well he’s a self-described maverick – not in the way you might think! For now, at least, he’s bucking the current trend of moving publications online.
“Why let them have it for free,” Mary said.
Tim knows that each week’s “must reads” are the obituaries and the police and sheriff’s report.” But he said his readers are not necessarily Internet consumers. “I think people in small communities still want something they can hold.
With a paid circulation of about 2,000, Tim is optimistic about the future of his communities and the publications. Located along I-35W between the Twin Cities and Duluth, he says the area will continue to grow.
Now, after making the leap to owner six years ago, and with two papers – the Hinckley News and the Pine County Courier, journalism is a family affair.
The day Joni and I visited was one of the two days a week that Mary can be found at the computer near the front counter that looks out onto Sandstone’s Main Street. One daughter was seated at a desk playing computer games and the other was in the back taking a nap.
Mary said that the kids know the meaning of self-employment and that owning your own business instills a strong work ethic. “They (the kids) know how and when to take out the garbage,” maybe something that a young reporter at a big paper might balk at because “it isn’t part of my job description,” she said. “Here, everybody takes out the garbage.”
Sure Tim works hard – excuse me - they work hard. But he feels like he’s got some control over his family’s future – he’s the one who can tweak the budget to bring it in balance when need be. And as for the Internet, well he’s a self-described maverick – not in the way you might think! For now, at least, he’s bucking the current trend of moving publications online.
“Why let them have it for free,” Mary said.
Tim knows that each week’s “must reads” are the obituaries and the police and sheriff’s report.” But he said his readers are not necessarily Internet consumers. “I think people in small communities still want something they can hold.
With a paid circulation of about 2,000, Tim is optimistic about the future of his communities and the publications. Located along I-35W between the Twin Cities and Duluth, he says the area will continue to grow.
As far as advice to young journalists - start at a small newspaper and get experience - and after a few years, think about owning your own paper. Along the way he suggests students should find time for classes in human resources, finances and “learn how to read a balance sheet.”
He said that small communities are great places to live … to raise kids. “And there are the friendships you develop, the Thursday night golf league and being close to your readers. If there’s controversy , you hear about it.”
He said that small communities are great places to live … to raise kids. “And there are the friendships you develop, the Thursday night golf league and being close to your readers. If there’s controversy , you hear about it.”
He doesn't regret the path he has chosen and summed it up this way: "Downsizing was the best thing that could have happened to me."
Saturday, August 23, 2008
We’re on our way.
We began the day with a visit to the Lakeshore Weekly News. Brett Strusa, the editor, has been a consistent supporter of the U of M community journalism class by taking on interns each of the past three semesters.
The paper’s office is inside a nondescript building in a Minnetonka business park. There’s no sign on the outside to let you know that “your community paper is here.” Brett had to give me directions to the office, saying that many people find it hard to find….ummmmmm. She’s right, you walk down a long hall and finally come to suite 1017 … and still you aren’t sure that it is a newspaper office as the plaque on the door reads: “Arts and Custom Lakeshore Communications Lakeshore.”
What a contrast to the community newspapers we visited later in the day in Sandstone and Isle where the newspaper offices were centrally located on Main Street. It makes you really think: How can a paper be part of the community - or reflect the community - if it is housed like any other business, and not part of the Main Street and accessible to the people it serves? Just a bit more challenging, I suspect.
Anyway, Brett is a committed journalist … committed to telling the stories of the communities she serves. She likes community journalism and the relationships she can build with the readers.
She went to NYU and majored in journalism, and never imagined that her first job (for one year) would put her in the small western Minnesota community of Olivia. I didn’t ask her, but I think that possibly this is where she received her rootedness, her sense of community.
The Lakeshore Weekly News, which is locally owned by one individual, is struggling to maintain its readership, Strusa said. It is a free distribution paper, with about 18,000 copies available across 700 drop-off sites.
She fears some hard economic decisions will need to be made because the decline in the housing market, which translates to fewer real estate ads and lower revenues for the paper, is compounded with higher paper and ink costs.
Brett is cautiously hopeful that five years from now she will still be in journalism, but warns those in j school to be “wise to the reality of the job. … you are going to be tested.”
The paper’s office is inside a nondescript building in a Minnetonka business park. There’s no sign on the outside to let you know that “your community paper is here.” Brett had to give me directions to the office, saying that many people find it hard to find….ummmmmm. She’s right, you walk down a long hall and finally come to suite 1017 … and still you aren’t sure that it is a newspaper office as the plaque on the door reads: “Arts and Custom Lakeshore Communications Lakeshore.”
What a contrast to the community newspapers we visited later in the day in Sandstone and Isle where the newspaper offices were centrally located on Main Street. It makes you really think: How can a paper be part of the community - or reflect the community - if it is housed like any other business, and not part of the Main Street and accessible to the people it serves? Just a bit more challenging, I suspect.
Anyway, Brett is a committed journalist … committed to telling the stories of the communities she serves. She likes community journalism and the relationships she can build with the readers.
She went to NYU and majored in journalism, and never imagined that her first job (for one year) would put her in the small western Minnesota community of Olivia. I didn’t ask her, but I think that possibly this is where she received her rootedness, her sense of community.
The Lakeshore Weekly News, which is locally owned by one individual, is struggling to maintain its readership, Strusa said. It is a free distribution paper, with about 18,000 copies available across 700 drop-off sites.
She fears some hard economic decisions will need to be made because the decline in the housing market, which translates to fewer real estate ads and lower revenues for the paper, is compounded with higher paper and ink costs.
Brett is cautiously hopeful that five years from now she will still be in journalism, but warns those in j school to be “wise to the reality of the job. … you are going to be tested.”
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Rekindling my love affair with community journalism
Four years is a long time to be away from something you love.
My 25 years as editor and reporter at community papers, especially my stint in the small western Minnesota burg of Montevideo where I raised my kids and owned a business, left me with memories of feeling connected to the people I wrote about and a tremendous pride in recording a community's history.
Heading out last week on our road trip to visit seven community newspapers in three days - traveling over 900 miles - I wondered if I might find that my love affair with community journalism was just an illusion - that the years away from the trade had washed aside all negatives of 24-7 living, breathing the news and stories of the people who shared a geographical space with me.
As representatives of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, my co-teacher Joni Berg and I had our list of questions for the editors we were to visit, our digital gadgets to record our trip for a promised presentation on the state of community journalism, especially in rural Minnesota.
But for me, well, this trip was about something else - I hoped to find some shining star out there that I could hang on to regarding the future of journalism.
Living in the metro area, it's been hard watching the slow death of daily papers with their shrinking news holes, staff cuts and lost circulation. As paper and ink prices rise, the disease is hitting the suburban weeklies as well.
This has left me with questions about the future of the news business and the craft of newsgathering. Are "those" people right? Is the newspaper dead?
Maybe the situation is different at the smaller outlying community papers, especially the ones with local owners, I mused.
Lately I've been asking myself the question that students and their parents gotta be asking too - Why would any 18- to 21-year-old go to school for four years to be a journalist, amass debt only to look forward to a job that pays little and promises no stability?
With a new class year starting soon, new students eager to take up the quill, I need to match their enthusiasm.
This trip I hoped, would give it to me.
My 25 years as editor and reporter at community papers, especially my stint in the small western Minnesota burg of Montevideo where I raised my kids and owned a business, left me with memories of feeling connected to the people I wrote about and a tremendous pride in recording a community's history.
Heading out last week on our road trip to visit seven community newspapers in three days - traveling over 900 miles - I wondered if I might find that my love affair with community journalism was just an illusion - that the years away from the trade had washed aside all negatives of 24-7 living, breathing the news and stories of the people who shared a geographical space with me.
As representatives of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, my co-teacher Joni Berg and I had our list of questions for the editors we were to visit, our digital gadgets to record our trip for a promised presentation on the state of community journalism, especially in rural Minnesota.
But for me, well, this trip was about something else - I hoped to find some shining star out there that I could hang on to regarding the future of journalism.
Living in the metro area, it's been hard watching the slow death of daily papers with their shrinking news holes, staff cuts and lost circulation. As paper and ink prices rise, the disease is hitting the suburban weeklies as well.
This has left me with questions about the future of the news business and the craft of newsgathering. Are "those" people right? Is the newspaper dead?
Maybe the situation is different at the smaller outlying community papers, especially the ones with local owners, I mused.
Lately I've been asking myself the question that students and their parents gotta be asking too - Why would any 18- to 21-year-old go to school for four years to be a journalist, amass debt only to look forward to a job that pays little and promises no stability?
With a new class year starting soon, new students eager to take up the quill, I need to match their enthusiasm.
This trip I hoped, would give it to me.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Dumbing down of news- dumbing down of America
Another journalist friend of mine got the news her job is being downsized - from 40 hours a week to 20. Of course, if she wants, they say, she can take a minimal buyout.
I'm pissed.
One day before our country commemorates its Independence Day, I can't help but reflect on freedoms that those early patriots fought for, and the dream of the United States of America they brought to reality.
I reflect on all our students that we have taught over the years, the young people I have mentored, and worked so hard to nurture a desire for a journalism career.
What do I tell them? What do I tell my friend?
You are a dinosuar on the way to extinction?
Of course I blame corporate greed, Bush's raping of the first amendment, and the failing economy for the demise of quality journalism.
But mostly I blame us ... American citizens who prefer to be asleep and complacent. We demand little of our leaders and even less of ourselves. Complex issues are too taxing on us .... just give us news about entertainment and sports. THAT we can understand.
I do believe that newspapers will exist, right along with blogs and news sites. But what do you do when the average person could give a rip about being an informed citizen?
That's the real problem.
On this Independence Day, I fear we have decided, it's too much work to be free.
The demise of news reporting is just another sign of the dumbing down of America.
I'm pissed.
One day before our country commemorates its Independence Day, I can't help but reflect on freedoms that those early patriots fought for, and the dream of the United States of America they brought to reality.
I reflect on all our students that we have taught over the years, the young people I have mentored, and worked so hard to nurture a desire for a journalism career.
What do I tell them? What do I tell my friend?
You are a dinosuar on the way to extinction?
Of course I blame corporate greed, Bush's raping of the first amendment, and the failing economy for the demise of quality journalism.
But mostly I blame us ... American citizens who prefer to be asleep and complacent. We demand little of our leaders and even less of ourselves. Complex issues are too taxing on us .... just give us news about entertainment and sports. THAT we can understand.
I do believe that newspapers will exist, right along with blogs and news sites. But what do you do when the average person could give a rip about being an informed citizen?
That's the real problem.
On this Independence Day, I fear we have decided, it's too much work to be free.
The demise of news reporting is just another sign of the dumbing down of America.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Let journalism find you
I'm reading The Glass Castle by journalist Jeannette Walls. While it's a compelling memoir of her life's journey, what strikes me about her story is how journalism found her.
Her parents were dreamers who cherished personal freedom. They passed onto Walls a love of learning, a sense of self and a fearlessness of facing any situation.
Her family was quite impoverished, mostly because of the parent's nomadic lifestyle. As a 12-year-old, she joined a school newspaper staff because there were no fees to pay or uniforms to buy. Her job was to proof pages and bring them to the community newspaper office where the paper was printed. There she saw the reporters and editors at work. She liked the excitement of the office, being able to go to places where things were happening, and "really knowing what it is all about."
That's journalism!
It was 1967 when journalism found me. There were war protests, civil rights protests, womens rights protests. I was struggling to find a major and journalism was my friend's choice. And his enthusiasm for affecting change affected me!
I agree with Walls: There's nothing better than being in the midst of the stuff of life, and then being having the privilege of writing about it.
So, will you let journalism find you?
Her parents were dreamers who cherished personal freedom. They passed onto Walls a love of learning, a sense of self and a fearlessness of facing any situation.
Her family was quite impoverished, mostly because of the parent's nomadic lifestyle. As a 12-year-old, she joined a school newspaper staff because there were no fees to pay or uniforms to buy. Her job was to proof pages and bring them to the community newspaper office where the paper was printed. There she saw the reporters and editors at work. She liked the excitement of the office, being able to go to places where things were happening, and "really knowing what it is all about."
That's journalism!
It was 1967 when journalism found me. There were war protests, civil rights protests, womens rights protests. I was struggling to find a major and journalism was my friend's choice. And his enthusiasm for affecting change affected me!
I agree with Walls: There's nothing better than being in the midst of the stuff of life, and then being having the privilege of writing about it.
So, will you let journalism find you?
Monday, April 14, 2008
An a-ha moment
I had an a-ha moment today. I have heard Joni's presentation on the marriage of word and art - and the importance of presenting the news - several times over the past five years. But today, I heard something different.
She explained and detailed on the white board the conversation about a front page story between herself -a visuals editor- and the paper's editor. As she laid out the questions regarding information she needed to create a meaningful package, I couldn't help but think "these are the questions that every reporter and editor needs to ask before beginning to craft a story."
Why is this new park important? What will change? How much will it cost? What do people think about the project?
Sometimes I read stories that seem as if they were written on the fly, with little thought. Sometimes I read stories that are almost like reading minutes of a meeting. They lack focus; they lack concern for the audience - the consumer of the news. What a shame.
So my a-ha moment is this: Thinking visually empowers another part of our brain; if forces us as writers and editors to think through the issues in different ways -ask questions in a new way. Can this be better communicated through words? A photo? A graphic? A map?
Reporting is no longer just about the written word. We have so many tools at our disposal today to communicate to our audience. The challenge we have in this new world is deciding which tools will best convey the message of the story.
She explained and detailed on the white board the conversation about a front page story between herself -a visuals editor- and the paper's editor. As she laid out the questions regarding information she needed to create a meaningful package, I couldn't help but think "these are the questions that every reporter and editor needs to ask before beginning to craft a story."
Why is this new park important? What will change? How much will it cost? What do people think about the project?
Sometimes I read stories that seem as if they were written on the fly, with little thought. Sometimes I read stories that are almost like reading minutes of a meeting. They lack focus; they lack concern for the audience - the consumer of the news. What a shame.
So my a-ha moment is this: Thinking visually empowers another part of our brain; if forces us as writers and editors to think through the issues in different ways -ask questions in a new way. Can this be better communicated through words? A photo? A graphic? A map?
Reporting is no longer just about the written word. We have so many tools at our disposal today to communicate to our audience. The challenge we have in this new world is deciding which tools will best convey the message of the story.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Pressing forward
This morning I met up with Brady Silver, a 2007 Brovald-Sims student/intern, at a press conference being held in the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Anderson Kelliher. He has been hired by the Mesabi Daily paper as a capitol reporter for the session. Wow ... was I proud. There, in the room with seasoned capitol reporters - the likes of Eric Eskola and Mary Lahammer - was a former student of ours.
He didn't ask any questions, but what an experience for him. I'm anxious to read his account of the p.c., which was about the budget-balancing efforts going on at the capitol, and this week's line-item vetos by the governor of the capital investment bill.
He didn't ask any questions, but what an experience for him. I'm anxious to read his account of the p.c., which was about the budget-balancing efforts going on at the capitol, and this week's line-item vetos by the governor of the capital investment bill.
Good leads draw you in
I just finished reading a story on the Web by Lori Wolter.
So, Lori, you are my first blog post.
The story is definitely worth a look. Putting a Face on Food is well-written and very interesting. But it's the lead that I want to draw your attention to.
"The Fleishman family know where their food comes from."
It grabbed my attention, and it drew me right in. The second paragraph didn't waste any of my time, and it let me know quickly what this story was all about.
One more thing ... I loved the closeup of the tomato ....right under the headline.
Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
So, Lori, you are my first blog post.
The story is definitely worth a look. Putting a Face on Food is well-written and very interesting. But it's the lead that I want to draw your attention to.
"The Fleishman family know where their food comes from."
It grabbed my attention, and it drew me right in. The second paragraph didn't waste any of my time, and it let me know quickly what this story was all about.
One more thing ... I loved the closeup of the tomato ....right under the headline.
Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
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