UMass Journalism Launchpad

And.....we're off!

2012-01-26T09:42:00.000-05:00

The Launchpad class met for its first session this week, and we're off on another five-week session to get 25 students up and running for jobs and internships. If you didn't have time to take this class, here's a post I wrote for boston.com for moms and dads of college seniors. (Although plenty of juniors are taking this class as well!) It offers some of the tips and material we'll be covering in this class.

What time do you get up?

2012-01-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

Last semester, Prof. Fox and I were trying to figure out what was going on with enrollments in morning classes when we realized: few students want to take a class that starts before 10 a.m. on Monday.

Or Tuesday, or...well, you know.

It used to be that 8 a.m. classes were no-students-land. But 9 a.m. is the new 8 a.m.

I was stunned to hear people tell me they couldn't make my resume/LinkedIn workshop on a Friday morning at 10 a.m., but they would consider attending if I moved it to 1 p.m.

Oh, wait. Why don't I just come to your apartment and write your resume for you? I'll bring some pizza from Antonio's. What kind do you want? Oh, you don't like Antonio's? Sibie's it is, then!

This semester, I'm overloading my Monday morning class with students, with the knowledge that half of them will drop after the first class.

This doesn't look so good. What happens when you graduate? Most successful people in the real world are up waaaaaaay before 9 a.m.

Looking forward, looking back, at the year in journalism

2011-12-22T09:25:00.002-05:00

The Nieman Journalism Lab asks: what's going to happen in journalism in 2012. Many people answer.

Via Dave Beard, here's a link to the Washington Post's collection of the most innovative journalism projects of the year.

I'm putting together the resources for the upcoming fantabulous Journalism Launchpad class--the course that builds internships, jobs and careers. Came across this list of the 2011 Forbes Top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 in the media category. It includes Conor White-Sullivan, who started his own site as a UMass undergrad, and now works for Huffingtonpost.com. Sometimes the best way to a job is creating your own.

See you next semester. Be ready to rock.

2011-12-20T14:19:00.003-05:00

Winter Break Program: Road Trips to the Real World

2011-12-01T09:51:00.003-05:00

CT Thirty organizations are opening their doors to college students in January through a new program offered by Career Services. Go on employer site visits, where you can LEARN ABOUT CAREERS, make contacts for INTERNSHIPS and JOBS, improve your NETWORKING skills, and meet other college students from across the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic! Sponsored by EACE, of which UMass Amherst is a member.

Student Registration begins Monday, Nov. 21^st at 9am. FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVE! Limited spots are available, so we recommend students register as soon as possible to the Nov. 21^st date at:http://www.eace.org/committees/roadtrips.html.

ALL MAJORS & CLASS YEARS WELCOME to explore careers in:
Publishing, Non-Profits, Broadcast Media, Retail, Pharmacy and Healthcare, Insurance, Finance, Accounting, and much more! Site visits last from 2 to 4 hours depending upon the organization.

THIS YEAR'S SITES INCLUDE: Association of American Publishers
Kohl's
Amica Mutual Insurance, Lincoln, RI
Meditech, Canton, MA
Aramark, Philadelphia, PA
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYC
AXA Advisors, LLC in Columbia, MD
MOD Worldwide, Philadelphia, PA
CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, Owings Mills, MD
National Security Agency, Washington, DC
Children's Hospital of Boston, MA
NBC Universal, New York, NY
City Year Headquarters, Boston, MA
Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA
City Year Rhode Island, Providence, RI
PNC Financial Services, Pittsburgh, PA
City Year New York, NY
Elko & Associates (Accounting), Media, PA
City Year New Hampshire
Prime Rehabilitation Services, Toms River, NJ
City Year Philadelphia, PA
Prudential Financial, Dewitt, NY
City Year Washington, DC
Smith Micro Software, Pittsburgh, PA
CVS Caremark, Woonsocket, RI
State Street Corporation, Boston, MA
Deloitte, Parsippany, NJ Target, Springfield, PA
Elko & Associates (Accounting), Media, PA
Federal Reserve Bank, Baltimore, MD

COST: 10.00 per site - Students are responsible for their own transportation and for any incidental expenses that are incurred. Site visit times/dates are decided by the organizations.

Contact the UMass Amherst Career Services if you have any questions at 413-545-2224 or www.umass.edu/careers.www.eace.org/committees/roadtrips.html

Adventures in media entrepreneurship

2011-10-30T18:57:00.002-04:00

Yikes.

Data journalism: what is is and how you get started

2011-10-17T14:10:00.001-04:00

Chris Corso and Nick Canelas have recently taken on the jobs of cqing stats for the Collegian sports section. We've been talking a little bit about how journalists are mapping data and statistics and how the
sports section might be a fun place to try some new things using statistics. For example, could you figure out how much each pitch costs in a baseball game in which the pitcher makes $6 million a year? And if so, what would make an interesting graphic to show that data?

Jeremy Caplan tweeted a link recently that lays out the whole field of data journalism. This Knight Center blog post has lots of resources and ideas. Take a look.

Poynter resources you should check out

2011-10-16T15:49:00.000-04:00

I'm just about to start another section of the First Year Student Seminar, and this year I'm using several online workshops from the Poynter Institute's News University.

If you're a journalism student who wants to learn more about the nuts and bolts of the field, these self-directed workshops, most of which are free and can be completed online in an hour or two, can be very useful.

Here are a few: Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling, Build and Engage Local Audiences Online, Telling Stories with Sound.

Or you can browse the entire list here.

Fashion writers, please read: The tale of the million-dollar blogger

2011-10-10T10:24:00.007-04:00

A lot of people want to write about fashion, but I try to steer them away from that, first because: a LOT of people want to write about fashion. Not that it's impossible, but it's a very rough road to travel.

If I can't steer them away, I try to direct them to some of the successful writers out there, like Cathy Horyn of the New York Times. (I'm hoping that while they're reading about Paris Fashion Week, they'll also read the front page and Nick Kristof) and, of course, Bill Cunningham, the subject of one of the most-fun-to-watch documentaries I've seen in awhile, which you can check out below. Though Cunningham covers all the top shows and parties in New York, he never takes so much as a cup of coffee from the glitterati he covers. Best quote: "If you don't take their money, they can't tell you want to do."

Bill gets a well-earned paycheck from the New York Times. But Scott Schuman may become the first million-dollar blogger, with his fashion blog, The Sartorialist. In this very interesting piece, we learn about the economics of blogging, and what it takes to build a successful career in this competitive field.

What's in your wallet: Why you need a high-tech business card

2011-10-05T12:40:00.004-04:00

If you are now or soon will be job hunting, and you don't have a good business card in your wallet right now (five or six are better), you need to go to Vistaprint and get one.

Pay extra, get a strong design and go for the style that doesn't have Vistaprint.com printed on the back. It will still only cost you 20 bucks or so, and will pay off immeasurably. This is just one piece of advice offered by Max Hartshorne, owner of gonomad.com, who spoke to the Entrepreneurial Journalism class this morning. I'll be sharing more of his lessons in upcoming posts.

But first, business cards.

Kait Bigica, who is interning with Garvey Communications this semester (she helped me out at the Online News Association conference, attended for free, and brought back everything she learned to the Garvey folks, talk about synergy), showed me her rocking business card, which features a photo, her LinkedIn address, and, on the back, a QR Code that, when scanned on a smart phone, takes the user over to her website and a portfolio of her work.

So. To recap. Get a good business card. Carry them everywhere. Have a good LinkedIn profile, and put it on the card. Get your online portfolio in super shape. (Need help? COME SEE ME IN MY OFFICE.) Generate a QR Code for your online portfolio here.

Then you're carrying around your resume, website and brand in your wallet.

You've got that card. Everything in the above paragraph is in good shape and you find yourself in an elevator with Marty Baron.

What's your next move?

Rockin' and rollin' and entrepreneurial

2011-10-04T09:48:00.000-04:00

Comes the news to me (via my LinkedIn account) that the three Localocracy boys have sold their site to Huffington Post. No sale price was noted in the Daily Hampshire Gazette story, except that it was less than $1 million.

The site started right here at UMass, and when co-founder Conor White-Sullivan spoke to my Entrepreneurial Journalism class last year, he talked about the challenges of deciding whether to take the offers they've had for the company. Looks like Arianna was able to persuade them; the three co-founders will now go to work for Huffington Post in New York.

Hopefully we can get Conor back up here soon to talk about the entrepreneurial journey so far.

Meanwhile, students in the the EJ class are starting to build out their projects-- some are planning to compete in the UMass MinutePitch. If you've got an idea and want to roll with it, this is an excellent way to get started and maybe walk away with $1,000 for your time.

The Localocracy story began with these kinds of campus pitch competitions. What's your story going to be?

Takeaways for journalism students from the Online News Association Conference

2011-09-25T13:11:00.001-04:00

I'm just back from three days at the Online News Association Conference. Rather than try to write some kind of polished post blah blah blah, I'm just going to push out everything I learned this weekend.

Dip into this stuff or ignore it, but I encourage you to dip!

MY TAKEAWAYS:

1. There's a LOT young journos need to know about using social media to report your stories. To quote a social media manager at the Washington Post, it's no longer a question of whether reporters use Twitter, but how. Lots of ethical issues ensue, like how do you ensure authenticity of sources, how do you correct an inaccurate tweet? (Someone tweeted that Gabby Giffords had died, probably assuming that no one who gets shot in the head survives. Rule number one of journalism: NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. That has since been corrected.)

NPR's Andy Carvin highlighted a terrific panel called A Conversation on the Front Lines of the Arab Revolution, in which panelists discussed the role of social media in the reporting of the Arab Spring, and explored lots of issues. EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO and follow these participants on Twitter.  Read about it here.

2. Tech is creating new storytelling forms and distribution channels.
Sites like Storify and Storyful use tweets around particular topics to create stories.

Google is pushing hard to be helpful to journalists. Hmm. They held a couple of great panels, including the introduction of Google Standout, and a terrific workshop on Fusion Tables, which lets you merge data with maps. These are all free, just click around on your Gmail account and start playing with My Maps. Students in my 301 will have to learn this. Most of these tools are free, but Google will be rolling out some premium products as well. Check out the TexasTribune's Perrytracker. Here's the presentation.

Good news for you longer-form writers:   The Atavist and Longreads are reaching audiences interested in longform narrative (and, more importantly for you folks, providing platforms to sell your work directly to audiences, and, potentially make more money on a story than you would selling it to a cheapskate magazine publisher, of which there are many.) Of course, it's up to you to develop your own audience, which leads to....

3. Using social media to build your audience and "brand," a word people hate but use anyway. This may mean having your own FB page as a journalist.

It doesn't mean just tweeting and FBing for your employer; it means being able to strategize, measure engagement and push content. (Trust me, this is a big thing on resumes and Linkedin profiles, but you have to be able to deliver!) Lots of tools for this now: Chartbeat, Twylah lets you "brand" your tweets. Caveat: Keep your skeptical journalism hat on as you explore this area. Old people like me in the audience got slightly cranky at this presentation. Another old-schooler sent me this link from the New Yorker site this morning that sums it up a bit.

I loved how Aviation Week writer Benet Wilson manages her dual online identities as The Aviation Queen and a magazine writer. Check her out.

4. Tech is changing all the time, and you have to keep up. You may think you're so smart, but your ten year old kid sister is getting ready to eat your lunch. Read sites like mashable and Poynter at a minimum!  Here's the presentation on Top Ten Tech Trends. Some scary, some cool.

5. Tech + entrepreneurship + good journalism can help you jump the line. AND: don't think magazine, think mobile app. Matt and Julie from Amherstwire introduced me to three Colorado College grads who had launched an Ipad magazine, er, app called Once. They were masters of self promotion, not only on social, but in the real world. They volunteered to work at the conference so they'd get free access to 1,200 journalists who were attending. I bought them beers and I'll bet they didn't pay for a thing the whole weekend, because people loved their energy, passion and the quality of their product. So people wanted to help them.

They carried their Ipads everywhere, with their logo on the outside, and showed that demo to anyone who would stand still.

We were standing in one circle at the opening night reception. I noticed that a guy in another circle was pointing to the Ipad under the guy's arm. Look, I said, they're noticing your product. So off he went to show them his magazine. Just using this technique and social, they managed to get 8,000 fans in two weeks.

6. Watch and learn. See how the winners of this year's ONA Awards tell their stories.

What's next? This.  Aurasma: Bringing Virtual Worlds and Physical Worlds together.

Oy.

I can't keep up. I went home and decided we needed a Sunday double feature of Brazil and Minority Report.

None of this stuff seems so crazy now.

You folks will have to go on without me. Report back and tell me what you've learned. So I can tell the next group of students. I think this is how it works.

Online News Association Journalism Award Winners

2011-09-25T10:54:00.000-04:00

To see how the pros are innovating at the intersection of journalism and technology, take a look at the winners of this year's Online New Association Awards.

Internship info: deadlines and updates

2011-09-25T10:03:00.000-04:00

I will be hosting a CareerConnect and Linkedin workshop with Brian Frenette from Career Services sometime in the next two weeks. This will be limited to the number of laptops in the seminar room--15 people. Please sign up on my office door.

Before you come to this workshop, please get a Linkedin profile set up and create a resume according to the guidelines in the Career Tips Handouts in the right hand column of this blog. IT'S DIFFERENT FROM WHAT CAREER SERVICES WILL TELL YOU TO DO. That's okay. We're journalists. We're different. This is called a functional resume.

Matt and Julie from AmherstWire attended the Online News Association Conference Career Summit and came away with some great tips for job and internship hunting. Watch this space for their post.

Opportunities and deadlines for spring

If you're planning to apply for a Globe coop position, the deadline is October 15. You should COME SEE ME in my office if you are applying. I can tell you how our other successful applicants have made it into the program and work with you on the app. This is an extremely competitive process, so it helps to strategize.

Here's another great internship, at NPR. Deadline for spring is November 15.

He can haz cheeseburgers. As many as he wants....

2011-09-24T09:13:00.000-04:00

...because he's made a bundle on websites like Icanhascheezeburgers.com

Here's a report on Ben Hu, the former journalist and funny guy who launched the fantastically successful site featuring LOLcats.

Hu was the keynoter Friday night.

Increase traffic to your story with these tips from a Facebook Team member

2011-09-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

Katelyn Bigica reporting from the Online News Association Conference in Boston

Vadim Lavrusik filled the room at his ONA 2011 seminar on Facebook and News Reporting. He addressed the changes that will be rolling out as the new Facebook Timeline is introduced and how you can use that and traditional Facebook apps to create a connection with your audience.

One main point Vadim made was interaction-- If you have a great story you want to post, don't limit it to your page. Send it to your friends as well to increase traffic and generate a conversation.

Vadim also pointed out that spacing posts might seem less spammy for your audience, however that is not the case. When an event occurs post it immediately-even if you have recently posted something else related to the topic. When a number of posts are about the same topic or share keywords, Facebook recognizes this and bunches them into "clusters," which gives a higher edge rank to your friends/fans news feeds.

With the new Timeline introduction a series of changes will come to Facebook. One important change you should utilize is the "subscribe" option. Instead of having people "like" you have them "subscribe" to you. Vadim said people feel more comfortable subscribing to someone instead of liking them and this will generate more traffic to your page.

Vadim also noted it is important to download the mobile Facebook app to your phone so you can instantly update real time stories or photos.

Vadim also shared a study Facebook conducted on the relationship between post length and engagement. According to the study, posts that were five lines long received 70% more views and posts that were four lines long only received 40% more views. He also advised that adding an analysis to your post/link increases the posts click rate by 70%.

Why you should know about the 10,000 Hour Rule

2011-09-20T22:55:00.000-04:00

In my Entrepreneurial Journalism class, we're starting our case studies of media entrepreneurs and reading a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, about The 10,000 Hour Rule. I like to assign this reading because Gladwell is an interesting writer, he's had the kind of career most journalism students dream of, and you always take away something you can use in your own work.

The gist of Gladwell's observation is that, to get really, really, really good at something you need to spend about 10,000 hours practicing the craft. Just doing it. Over and over and over. It's an interesting chapter, and I'm not going to give away the details, just go find the book.

Here are a few student comments about the reading from the course discussion blog:

I thought this chapter was useful because it made a clear case for the idiom, practice makes perfect. The author gives concrete examples of how some of the most successful and influential people have had to work to get where they are today. He shows us that innate talent can only take you so far. The author demonstrates that the only way to achieve great success is through a combination of situational luck and extremely hard work. No one is born a master.
1. First and foremost, this reading applies to entrepreneurship because it proves beyond a doubt that hard work is the key to success. If you want to be the next big thing, or start a viable new company, work is the only way to achieve this. You might have the best idea in the world, but if you are complacent, and don't work to better yourself, it will never take you anywhere.
2. Another important idea to take away from this reading is that every one has to start somewhere. The Beatles, arguably the most famous group of its generation, began their career playing at strip clubs in Germany. What a far call from glory that is. However, the author shows that this experience is what ultimately transformed them into the band we all know and love. To entrepreneurs, this means that we may have to start working below our expectations in order to develop the skills needed to make it in the big time. We can't get discouraged that things aren't going our way because if handled correctly, every opportunity will prepare us for the future.
3. The last important idea to take away from the reading is that situational luck is almost as important as hard work in achieving success. Bill Joy and Bill Gates are both examples of this. If they had not been given the opportunity to work with the most advanced computers at the time they did, than someone else would have founded Microsoft, and someone else would have developed the code for the internet. This is important for us to keep in mind because we are at a similar turning point. Old fashioned Journalism is on the way out, and a viable replacement has not yet been adopted. We have grown up in the age of information, computers are out second nature. What is stopping us from developing the future of Journalism? After all, we are young, determined students at our state's flagship university. We should be taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the university while we can.

YES!

I thought this was a fantastic reading. Both really interesting and informative in that super smart but accessible way Malcolm Gladwell writes. The point of this reading was to get across the idea that while talent is innate, it's mastered at the precise amount of 10,000 hours of practice and no less. He gives several examples, including a few famous computer technicians, The Beatles, and more to show how, with practice, talent became expertise.This definitely applies to entrepreneurship in the following ways:1. An entrepreneur has to be incredibly well-versed in their own ideas. They have to live and breathe them in order for them to be sold. While an entrepreneur might not spend 10,000 hours on one idea, the more time spent on one can probably lead to the creation of countless others. The more ideas you have, the more refined each following one is bound to be.2. Public speaking is a really good area to get 10,000 hours of practice. An entrepreneur constantly has audiences to confront, and he or she has to be confident enough with a large group of people to sell a product or idea. Imagine what kind of experience 10,000 hours of public speaking could lead to. I'm sure Tony Robbins knows.3. 10,000 hours could be incredibly useful in the form of leadership. If a person has a super storied history of leading clubs, starting organizations, whatever gives them a prominent position at the forefront of a group, they're sure to be a better businessperson because of it. After ten years of being the head of various failures and successes, running a business would probably just become secondhand knowledge.

"See you on Facebook!"

2011-09-20T18:27:00.000-04:00

This was the last thing I said to a group of about 15 Pakistani communications specialists today, after I spoke with them about journalism in the United States, rules and traditions around public access, and how journalists like Nick Kristof are using social media, both to crowdsource stories, and to build audience.

It was a pleasure to meet these folks and talk about the huge hurdles both our countries are facing these days. Five women were in the group, and we posed for pictures together, which they promised to send me on Facebook.

Ten years ago it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to keep in touch after a meeting like this.

Not anymore.

Wonder what this guy majored in....

2011-07-11T15:28:00.001-04:00

Now here's a new journalism job we've never heard of before.

Gene Weingarten and the personal brand

2011-06-27T11:45:00.001-04:00

I'm always a little struck when I ask students what they want to do after college and they tell me, "I'd like to work in branding."

Though I understand this means they want to work in marketing or public relations, I laugh a little because the word, to anyone over age 40 or so, reeks of the kind of marketing speak that journalists scorn.

Still, when I'm doing internship and career counseling the term "personal brand" comes in handy. Sure, it's trendy, but it's also shorthand for: what do you do best? What would an employer get by hiring you? What matters to you? It forces students to take stock of their skills and develop talking points for themselves and their work. Or, it helps people define the skills and qualities they'd like to develop. Anyway, it can be a useful tool.

Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten seems to feel otherwise. (If you saw Weingarten at the Cape Cod Lounge last spring, this will not surprise you in any way!) It all started when a college student working on a journalism project wrote to ask him how he developed his "personal brand." Weingarten's responding column set off a fury on twitter and a lot of interesting discussion, all chronicled by
Steve Buttry, director of Community Engagement and Social Media for the Journal Register Company, who put it together on his blog.

Tips for broadcast careers

2011-06-20T11:23:00.000-04:00

Blogger Molly Canfield sent along this link to her site, which features lots of good information for those interested in broadcast media.

Getting entrepreneurial with it

2011-05-31T11:56:00.001-04:00

This summer I am prepping to teach Entrepreneurial Journalism for the third time. In this course, student journalists develop their entrepreneurial side, and think about the different ways they can leverage their ideas and expertise to create a web-based publication. We do several projects, culminating with a competition at the end of the semester, in which students present their web projects in five-minute pitches to a panel of judges for virtual funding. This class is so much fun.

With many courses, a prof can tweak the syllabus a little bit each semester and she's good to go.

Not this one.

Each time I've taught it, I've had to rejigger the syllabus to accommodate emerging technologies and to examine the challenges and opportunities they present to us as journalists. Last September, it was social media and the way it helped us connect with sources and build an audience for our work.

This fall, we'll also be looking at e-books, self-publishing and tablets.

It's not turning out the way people thought it would. Not long ago, many were predicting the death of narrative non-fiction as a result of the web. People said: Who's going to read beyond a single screen?

Then came the e-reader, like Amazon's Kindle and the tablet, like the iPad. They've sparked new publishing channels created new opportunities for the journalist who wants to do his or her own thing. Jon Krakauer chose to publish his 20,000-word expose of Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson on a site called Byliner.com. He's now selling it as a Kindle Single, and, in the audio version, on I-Tunes.

Kindle Singles allow you to self-publish and sell short pieces--as you'll see here, even New Yorker writer Susan Orlean is getting into the game.

I'm looking at Smashwords as well. And here's a great post on mediashift by author Carla King on The Easiest, Cheapest, Fastest Way to Self-Publish Your Book.

Back to work!

Last minute resume advice

2011-03-06T14:54:00.001-05:00

Lifehacker offers tips to rock your resume.

The New York Times Magazine essay that began on Reddit

2011-03-06T09:58:00.001-05:00

We're working on personal essays in my magazine writing class this week, so today I went hunting for some good examples to show students.

I've been struck by the level of intimidation students feel about writing the personal essay, considering how much they routinely share on social networks and blogs. But these revelations are often fairly scattershot and in real time. We're really good at staying in constant connection and telling the world what we're up to.

But a good personal essay requires self- reflection, thought, and the stillness of time, three rare commodities these days.

Blogs and online postings can actually help you develop a first draft for your ideas. D'oh.

Case in point: today's New York Times Magazine LIVES column, by a writer named Justin Horner, called The Tire Iron and the Tamale is a terrific read. In the comments section, someone posted a link to the evolution of this column, which began as a comment on Reddit, responding to a question.

From Reddit to The New York Times? Yes indeed.
Here's Horner's account, from his Reddit page:

Remember the "Today you, tomorrow me" story about the good Samaritan Mexicans? It just got picked up by the NYTimes Magazine, with credit to Reddit!

rhoner 181 points182 points183 points 1 day ago[-]

Many roads to Rome.

Computational journalism: What's that?

2011-02-02T13:08:00.000-05:00

If you're not following NYU journo prof Jay Rosen on Twitter, go do it. Right now.

Here's a link he tweeted today, journalist Jonathan Stray, writing about the growing field of computational journalism.

I had been hoping that, with this proposed merger of schools at UMass, someone would enable us to do more with the comp sci and business students. Alas, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

The Patch effect on hyperlocal news sites

2011-02-01T16:16:00.000-05:00

Tram Whitehurst at the Reynolds Journalism Institute has conducted an analysis of the impact of Patch.

Take a look.

How to make a hundred thousand dollars a year with your journalism degree

2011-01-24T17:11:00.000-05:00

Over at Poynter today, Joe Grimm has a piece on the 2006 grad who just got a $100,000 a year job as the blogger for Sunglass Hut. Yes. Sunglass Hut.

And that reminded me of the story of Gabi Gregg, the Mount Holyoke grad who scored a great job blogging at MTV. She's also making $100K, and one of her official titles is TJ, which stands for Twitter Jockey.

So it can be done.

Step away from the cellphone. Blackberry. Whatever.

2011-01-23T17:22:00.002-05:00

You have got to be kidding me. Do people REALLY answer a cellphone or text during a job interview?

Apparently so.

This from a piece by money columnist Michelle Singletary on Surefire ways to ruin your chances during a job interview.

In the same survey, hiring managers were asked what they consider to be the most common interview mistakes:

■ 71 percent said answering a cellphone or texting during the interview.

How to learn things you don't know: Start by asking your network.

2011-01-23T11:52:00.017-05:00

In my Journalism Launchpad class, students are developing their resumes, starting the job/internship search and otherwise gearing up for the next stage of their careers.

In our online discussion, one student noted that, while searching through job listings, she realized there were many required skills that she still needs to be able to get her first public relations job.

One major element of public relations these days is understanding the use of social media, or social media marketing.

So I did an experiment. I used social media myself to find some experts that this student could follow. Around 11:30 a.m. today (Sunday), I posted on my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages:

Who are the experts on social media marketing that a young public relations student should be reading online? Any suggestions?

12 noon: On Facebook: From Janice Brown, an old high school friend who now runs her own marketing company in New Hampshire:

David Meerman Scott, noted author and blogger at http://www.webinknow.com/. Also Seth Godin, author and blogger at http://sethgodin.typepad.c om/. Both are veteran marketers and visionaries who were talking about social media concepts before the flood of "social media experts" hit the market. My colleagues Greg Jarboe and Michael Kolowich (they are both here on Facebook) are great sources of ideas and knowledge about using video in social media marketing. (Greg is also an expert on SEO.) My personal belief is that understanding the concepts behind social media marketing is most important -- the tactics are common sense and easy to learn and apply.

And this, also from Janice:

My colleague, Greg Jarboe, wrote "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day."

http://www.amazon.com/YouTube-Video-Marketing-Hour-Day/dp/0470459697

1 p.m. I check my email to find this from Terri Ryan, who I've never met, but really like. We connected through Bill Densmore, who introduced us a few years ago:

Terri Ryan has sent you a message.

Date: 1/23/2011

Subject: Social Media marketing for students

BJ- I am a contributor to a great social media mareting how-to site owned by the Chicago Tribune, www.435digital.com. I'd recommend it to your students! Freezing here in Chicago for the Bears game! Terri

And this, from a Kerry O'Grady, a former student, who I never had in class, but who comes back to speak to classes, and who I also like a lot.

Kerry O'Grady has sent you a message.

Date: 1/23/2011

Subject: RE: Where should I send young public...

Hi Professor!

I work with PR social media strategies/tactics daily, and read a ton of stuff, but here are some of my favorites: scottmonty.com, socialmediaexaminer.com, & socialmediaalacarte.com. I also follow every social media heavyweight on Twitter--I recommend all future social media stars to do the same! :) Let me know what you think!

Kerry O'Grady
B.A. Journalism & English 2006

UMass-Amherst

At Terri's suggestion, I checked out www.435digital.com, and found this this piece about how NYU Journo prof Jay Rosen uses Twitter. Which I will now post on the Journalism Program Facebook page.

1:45 , this FB post came in from Fara Warner, who I met at the Poynter Institute last summer.

Fara Warner from a friend: here's one space to keep an eye on: http://pepperdigitalblog.com/ (esp. Sam Ford's work)

And this, from Raz, Serena Carpenter's site about Online Journalism. A goldmine.

2:15 comes this FB post from Sabine Cray, a pr practitioner at UMass:

Sabine Haberland Cray Ragan's PR Daily News Feed: Public Relations and Marketing in the Age of Social Media. Go tohttp://www.ragan.com/Main/

Home.aspx. Sign up for the daily news feed at top of page (PR Daily).

10 minutes ago ·

2:30 p.m. This person shows up in my Gmail, he's now following me on Twitter. I'll probably follow him as well.

Zinsser's five tips for becoming a better writer

2011-01-04T15:34:00.000-05:00

Over at Poynter, Mallary Jean Tenore has an interview with Bill Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, which should be on your bookshelf.

Good reading from 2010

2010-12-29T09:42:00.000-05:00

Each year, New York Times columnist David Brooks rounds up the year's best magazine reporting and essays. You couldn't do better than to read a few of his selections, particularly Charlie LeDuff's piece on the killing of a young girl in Detroit.

I also read the terrific profile of James Franco when it first appeared in New York Magazine, which is one of my current favorites; these days I'm subscribing to New York, The New Yorker, Fortune, The Writer, and Wired.

I'm getting ready to teach the Journalism Launchpad class once again, and though I'm seeing a few more jobs this year than last, there's no question that it's a discouraging time to be trying to find a job.

But make no mistake. The world needs journalists, now more than ever.

Read the good ones here and here.

What magazines do you subscribe to and why? Share your picks for must reads here.

Google Books and the art of magazine article research

2010-12-07T13:18:00.002-05:00

Several years ago I had a fun assignments for the Boston Globe Magazine: an essay about Mount Greylock, Massachusetts' highest mountain. The newspeg: it was the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of a reservation, and I had carte blanche on the approach.

While Mount Greylock is important in the state geographically, it also serves as a character in New England's literary and spiritual fabric. I had worked for a small weekly in nearby Williamstown, so I knew much of the local lore. But I didn't know much about that literary history, beyond the old tale that Herman Melville took inspiration for Moby Dick from the Leviathan-shaped Greylock, which sat to the north of his Pittsfield Farm, Arrowhead.

So I ended up on one of the umpteenth floors of the DuBois Library, and spent a very happy afternoon wandering the American Literature stacks, reading through Hawthorne's American Notebooks, a biography of Melville, Thoreau's account of a hike up (and a night spent on) Mount Greylock, which, a few days later, I tried to recreate with my husband and daughter.

I remembered thinking how lucky I was to be a writer, getting paid to spend an afternoon in the library reading books. And I realized how much deep research--and time--can go into a 3,000-word piece.

Fast forward to today: I'm writing a piece about artists' chapels in southern France, and, after striking out at the library, I tried researching my topic using Google books. I was stunned. What a difference a decade makes. In two seconds, up pop books, articles, even full-text coverage of the opening of one chapel in 1957 in a Life magazine story, complete with photographs. It would have taken me days, weeks, if ever, to find some of these sources. And here they are, delivered to my desktop while I'm sipping a cup of tea.

Then just for further kicks, I recreated my Greylock research on Google Books and found some unbelievable source material, including the digital version of Hawthorne's notebooks and material from the early 1900's, much of it by local historians and regional travel writers of the day, which I never would have found in a hard-copy library.

This is background that can add a real richness and detail to a story. If you're writing any kind of long form journalism, I strongly encourage you to start your research on Google Books and play around.

You'll find material you didn't even know you were looking for.

Jim Fallows on Coal: The View from 2,000 Feet

2010-11-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

In addition to reporting and writing his story on the future of coal for this month's Atlantic, writer James Fallows took a videographer flying over coal country. Take a look.

Your brilliant future: "Stop whining and just do it."

2010-11-13T08:45:00.004-05:00

If you're a journalism student hoping to build a career today, it's really important that you keep up with the industry. This means checking to see if a magazine is still in business before you write a query letter, and regularly reading websites like Romenesko on Poynter.org, the media section of the New York Times, David Carr's NY Times column, and other sites like mediabistro and the Wall Street Journal, wsj.com, and this one.

You should probably also be thinking about ways to do your own thing, partly because the technology lets you do it, and partly because "old media" is still in the process of blowing up. Even if you don't end up running your own site, the lessons you'll learn in the process will make you a valued employee.

In the Entrepreneurial Journalism Class, the excitement is building. Students are now developing their sites and getting ready for the competition in early December. They'll present their projects to our panel of judges, who will advise them on the content and execution, and they'll choose two that they think are the most marketable.

We've been looking at other successful sites, non-profit news operations like the New Haven Independent, Minnpost, and Voices of San Diego, as well as niche sites like Gonomad, Budget Fashionista and GigaOm.

Five years ago, there wasn't much information out there for people who wanted to create their own thing. Now there's a huge body of knowledge on this topic. (Although there's still not a lot out there on how to financially keep an operation going. It would be nice to have some more user-friendly ad placement networks.) Anyway, here's a good starting point.

Over at the Online Journalism Review, The top 10 key lessons for hyperlocal journalism startups from the Online News Association Conference.

The title of this post is one of the tips.

Don't call it user-generated-content.

2010-11-12T10:39:00.000-05:00

Mallory Jean Tenore has a useful post over at Poynter today on How to Get People to Contribute Good Content to Your Site.

Clay Shirky on technology, journalism and how one impacts the other

2010-11-10T11:20:00.001-05:00

Clay Shirky serves as Edward R. Murrow Lecturer at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media and Public Policy among other things; here's his very interesting summary on how emergent technologies are changing the way we report the news these days.

More evidence that the student journalist's job is a big one: learn the core values of the discipline, learn how to report and write and develop an awareness of both the limits and the opportunities presented by new technologies.

A taste:

We are living through a shock of inclusion, where the former audience is becoming increasingly intertwined with all aspects of news, as sources who can go public on their own, as groups that can both create and comb through data in ways the professionals can't, as disseminators and syndicators and users of the news.

This shock of inclusion is coming from the outside in, driven not by the professionals formerly in charge, but by the former audience. It is also being driven by new news entrepreneurs, the men and women who want to build new kinds of sites and services that assume, rather than ignore, the free time and talents of the public.

Where do you fit?

The Washington Post's new new thing

2010-11-09T08:40:00.002-05:00

Wow, take a look at this. Hat tip to Steve Fox.

Content farms: a sustainable way to build a journalism career?

2010-11-08T12:48:00.002-05:00

Lots of students have asked me whether they should try freelancing for companies who are advertising on the web looking for journalists.

So-called "content farms" like Demand Media, Associated Content, and to some degree, Helium, pay obscenely little money for stories that they, in turn, provide to websites looking for content. They have thousands of freelancers writing website content for as little as $2 or $3 a story.

Here's a Columbia Journalism Review article by former Miami Herald reporter Nicholas Spangler about working for Demand Media.

My advice? Don't do it. You're better off trying other areas where you can use your journalism skills, like public relations, or putting your time into writing for markets that pay real money. They're not easy to get into, but, they're much more worth it in the end.

Don't just take my word. Read the comments at the bottom of the piece. Many Demand media writers weigh in with the pros and cons.

What bloggers can learn from the great newspaper columnists

2010-11-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

I get an e-mail each week from a blogger over at the Harvard Business Review whose posts usually offer some good ideas and information. I generally click over to see what he has to say; today I found myself thinking he had gone on just a bit too long. I think that a lot lately when I'm reading blogs, that the writers really needed an editor to help them hone the piece, cut out the clutter, find the focus.

It turned out the word count on this post was 869 words. "Aha!" I thought. He went beyond 750 words!
I realized I was channelling the wonderful William Safire column called "In 750 Words." He's writing about a newspaper column, but it's just as pertinent in a blog post.

I used to give this out in my classes. If you want a PDF of this column, you can download it here.

Here's the column, reprinted from the New York Times, January 16, 1986.

In 750 Words

By William Safire

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

On undertaking this column 13 years ago, I mentioned to Joseph Kraft, a former Kennedy speechwriter who had turned columnist 10 years before, that I felt comfortable with economics and foreign affairs, but wondered about pontificating on those matters about which I did not know beans.

''Anybody with a good mind,'' he assured me, head cocked, ''should be able to write 750 words about anything.''

Soon afterward, I learned what he meant: From a standing start and on a few hours' notice, a political columnist is expected to put together his morgue, his mindset and his range of reachable experts to make a pithy assault on any given

issue. If this gains high ground or original insight, the writer's previous ignorance produces a fresh perspective or at least a provocative argument.

The other day, what Arthur Schlesinger Jr. once called ''the panjandrums of the opinion mafia'' gathered in the Navy Chapel in Washington at a memorial service to Joe Kraft, who died last week at 61. Among the eloquent eulogists from journalism, politics and the Kraft family was Anthony Lewis of The New York Times, closer to Joe than most. He reminded us how this unpretentiously serious and wide-ranging man, more persevering than optimistic, ''supplied the 'voice of the intellect' against the mechanisms of unreason.''

As the mindbenders and thumbsuckers filed out, many surely pondered the future of the corner of the profession that Joe graced. The question: In today's multi-media universe of groupie journalism and passionate panels, with televised chewing-over limited to 40-second bites of fast food for thought, is there a place of usefulness, even of influence, for a 750-word uni-media opinionator? (That's a phrase to modernize and hype the outdated job title ''newspaper columnist.'')

You bet there is. Readers are smarter than viewers; readers can go back over the thought process of pundits, while viewers and listeners are stuck with having to ask, ''What'd he say?''

The best political column-readers read newspaper columns the way columnists read each other. They ask: 1. Does this satisfy the hunger of current interest? A pundit, to be helpful, must address Topic A before it becomes Topic Done to Death. An occasional change of pace is nice, but keeping ahead of the pace is what transforms ''night reading'' to first-thing-in-the-morning reading.

2. Does this divide the house? A column should take the fuzziness out of debate and show where a principle is at stake or a policy is wrongheaded or an outrage is being perpetuated or a promise broken.

Let politicians temporize and voters agonize; the columnist should crystallize or polarize.

3. Does this put something new on the news agenda? Reporters are usually better reporters than thumbsuckers like to admit, but too often they are dispatched in packs. The column reader looks for the diamond in the trash can, the overlooked story, as well as the story to be alert for in weeks ahead - which pushes reporters to uncover it first, lest the Op-Ed page beat the front page, an embarrassment to all.

4. Where did he get this stuff? Most columnists have been around forever; the good ones use their time-tested sources, the bad ones let their sources use them. By reading a column over time, the shrewd reader spots who gets sent off and who gets sent up, and how often the pundit is mouthpiece or originator.

5. Does this guy have a point of view I can identify with, or at least reject with consistency? If a reader finds a pundit or two whose logic marches, whose premises do not waver, and who is unafraid to make judgments that cost him friends, then the reader can make use of the column in striking a judgment while the issue is hot.

6. Will I ever be surprised? Sometimes consistency is for hobgoblins; the same knee never jerks in exactly the same way. No political column should collapse into dreary expectability, because moods and mindsets change, and the reader is entitled to a little suspense in discovering where the pundit comes out.

7. Is this the product of a committee or a robot - or a flesh-and-blood individual with idiosyncracies and crotchets? In punditry, personality counts. The reader has to trust somebody in the opinion mafia, and an individual with a byline and a style is easier to love or hate than an institution.

Using those criteria, I read the Kraft column with profit and will miss it. This is by way of a farewell to a man I did not know well, but I have sources in the field and anybody ought to be able to write 750 words on anything.

I learned it on the web. Or from another person.

2010-11-02T11:11:00.001-04:00

I spoke about blogging at a writers' conference at Bay Path College last weekend, and, over the past few years, I've learned never to end a presentation without asking the audience:

"Does anyone of you have a tip to share or a website that might be helpful to us all in our work?"

Yes indeed, someone did. Entrepreneur Mary Gillen, who runs a site called LearnOneThing, explained that her users were willing to buy e-books that included content that they could already access for free from her site.

She is doing just that with her e-book, How-To: Social Media for Sales Teams. It's basically a compendium of her blog posts. She's selling it (like hotcakes) for $27.

"How did you come up with that price?" I asked her.

"I started at $49 and didn't sell any so I changed it to $27," she said. Everyone laughed.

She then offered some great advice on producing e-books. Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to produce it because it will compress the file and make it easier to send; also, your e-book can't be highlighted and copied.

Here's a site she recommended for order fulfillment so you don't have to manage all those sales yourself.

So if you're looking for information, don't just sit there. Ask people. Or ask the web. I have been trying to figure out how to get advertising on my site, and here's a webinar I'm going to be watching next week over at Poynter:

Bridging the Gap Between Content & Commerce: Digital Ad Sales Series

Managing the love project while you're working for money

2010-11-02T10:15:00.000-04:00

From Good magazine, advice on how to manage a "passion project" while you have a job.

Nieman Storyboard: great reading about great writing

2010-11-02T09:43:00.001-04:00

I always save the e-mails from the Nieman Storyboard site for a time in my day when I'm ready for some good reading, and I'm never disappointed. It's a calorie-free candybox for anyone interested in good non-fiction of any stripe.

Here's a taste:

Tracy Kidder in conversation with Darcy Frey: "Anyone who writes for a living and doesn't admit to being very lucky is almost certainly insane."

Anna Badkhen on her two books about war and a decade as a "professional intruder."

And. While we're here. Can I just add this link to Anna Badkhen's recent Boston Globe Travel piece on a visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park? It's not your typical travel story. See if you like it.

How one site uses social media to create compelling news narratives. (Specifically, it's about storify, a new platform that ... okay, well I don't really know what it does, but I am going to read this to find out.)

And, moving forward in the debate about whether digital journalism will become the death of narrative here's Nieman's Notable Narrative: California is a Place.

They report, you decide.

(Update: I checked out the stories on California is a Place and note that this can be duplicated here by an enterprising student. Massachusetts is a place, too.)

Entrepreneurship in action

2010-09-21T21:30:00.002-04:00

We're rolling now in the Entrepreneurial Journalism class.

Students are starting to develop their projects, first with a quiet room, no cel phones or computers, brainstorming and their Wal-Mart notebooks. Then we talk about it in the group, and focus it more or broaden it out. Chances are good that these ideas will look very different by they time students have to present them for "funding" before our panel of venture capitalists in December.

In the coming weeks, students will be surveying their friends, families, and researching the size and potential of their audiences, delivery platforms and possible revenue generators. We'll also be looking at other online journalism models, like baristanet.com, the New Haven Independent, Voice of San Diego, Minnpost.com to see how they're faring in this new journalism landscape.

These publications have been up and running for a few years now; some of them got help early on from foundation money. So it's a good time to be looking at these new models to see whether and how they're doing it. Northeastern University prof Dan Kennedy is writing a book for the UMass Press about the New Haven Independent, which operates as a non-profit, and he's been blogging quite a bit about its founder Paul Bass, and the challenges such a news operation faces.

I was thinking about how different this class is in September 2010 compared to the first class, just a year ago.(And before the journalism police get all huffy about whether this type of course is valuable--there's a lot of that these days--and start talking about the importance of good story ideas, solid reporting and well-written stories, let's stipulate that we agree about the importance of creating good journalism. BUT we are also exploring how we might create sustainable enterprises.)

Anyway, here are a few things that have changed since last year.

1. Increased importance of mobile: students will have to understand how mobile technology works, because that's where an increasing amount of content is being delivered. This means having some kind of smartphone app or at minimum, something that will be viewable on a smartphone instead of just a computer screen.

2. More use of social media to create content and broadcast it. It's one thing to create a great news site. If no one knows about it or comes to the site, well.....so much of what we used to think of as "direct marketing" can now be done in such a targeted way with Facebook, which now has about 500 million members. As a former student (and current advisor) told me: everyone you want to reach is on Facebook.

This time around, we're integrating Facebook and Twitter strategies right into the projects from their inception. Also, I've learned from experience with my own site that the people you think of as your competition can actually help drive traffic to your site, so we'll be paying more attention to those strategies as well.

We've also got new mixes of GPS and social media, like Gowalla and FourSquare to integrate if we want. By next year, I'm assuming there will be tiny chips embedded into our arms with tattoos that will connect into some platform and tell people what I'm thinking. Oh wait, that was a Tom Cruise movie.

3. An ever-growing amount of free and low-cost information and services. Paypal can handle billing and payments. SurveyMonkey can help you survey readers about content. MailChimp can help you send out customized e-mail to your readers. Students will be using their LinkedIn accounts to find help and advice for what they're doing, by joining groups related to entrepreneurship, journalism and technology and posting questions. Need to figure out Google Analytics? There are videos and tutorials on the Google page and across the web to teach you.

And you say you want to start a non-profit new site? The Knight Foundation Citizen News Network has just launched a Learning Module that walks you through the process, called Launching a Nonprofit News Site.

Here's a roundup of entrepreneurial online resources.

Tips for tuning up your blog

2010-09-19T21:11:00.003-04:00

I've been out running around on the web this afternoon looking for other things, and came across a few posts that might be helpful if you're looking to tune up your blog.

I met the founder of BlogWorld at the BlogHer conference in New York last summer; each year they host a gathering in Las Vegas that draws bloggers of all types. It looks like a killer conference.

If you can't get there in October, BlogWorld's web page has lots of useful information.

Mashable has picked out 21 creative blogger bio pages

And here's a good one: Is Your Blog a Drunken Sorority Sister?

If you'd like to branch out into broadcasting, you might want to try BlogTalkRadio, which allows you to host your own show.

Got any good links on blogging? Send them along.

Journo alum Carol Rosenberg on tweeting from the Gitmo trials

2010-09-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

UMass Journalism alum Carol Rosenberg has been covering Guantanamo for the Miami Herald for several years now, and if you follow her on Twitter like I do, you'll see she's tweeting ~~from the courtroom~~ (correction: she's actually tweeting outside the courtroom; no electronic devices are allowed inside) while the trial is in process.

What a great opportunity to see how a pro uses social media to inform her readers.

Here's what Carol wrote me about the process:

When two hearings are being held simultaneously I monitor both (running between two rooms, ridiculous) via CCTV in a media filing center below the hillside tribunal chamber. In there we are allowed to use our computers but no recording devices, no telephones.
My theory of twitter from Guantanamo is this: Since they set the place up to be "off the grid" -- legally, PR-wise, etc. -- and communications are really lousy, I have found that tweeting is a way to get a level of detail out from the war court (following journalistic disciplines) for people in the Pentagon, NGO and legal communities, plus others, who really want to follow developments as they happen. And lawyers in particular tell me they do follow them, like little one-line old wire service vintage bulletins, update, advisories.
Here's something that might interest, if you're doing ethics:
I knew for a fact that in the Khadr case the Army defense lawyer's wife was following my tweets to know what was going on in her husband's case.
So before I "tweeted" that he had collapsed in court and was taken away in an ambulance I rang his boss in DC, a Marine colonel, and asked him to call her.

Coming to my class? Bring your walking shoes.

2010-09-11T12:26:00.000-04:00

This semester I want to get students to unplug and connect physically with the outdoors and the fabulosity of western Massachusetts.

I'm thinking about requiring my students to get outside for an hour each week with no electronics. Go to Skinner Park, hike up the mountain and look for this view of the Connecticut River, The Oxbow, painted by Thomas Cole, and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Wander the grounds of the Peace Pagoda in Leverett. Yes, this place, below, is less than 15 miles from campus.

Ride a bike to Flayvors for a scoop of artisinal ice cream.

Commune with a Holstein at the dairy farm on the other side of 116 from Southwest.

Why? Because cool places are all around you in western Mass.

And there's growing research that suggests a healthy brain needs to be unplugged, in motion, and outdoors. And writers need healthy brains.

And, if you need to generate new ideas and keep those creative juices flowing, you need activity and new things to chew on. Everyone feels better after a walk, right? But now researchers are proving it. Here's a Times story on the topic.

John Ratey is an expert on this topic; he advocates the integration of physical activity into the classroom to help kids learn and focus better. Here's an NPR piece on his ideas.

In this US News and World Report article, writer Katherine Hobson explains the brain-body link.

Of course, it's one thing to get your exercise working on the eliptical in the rec center, with five television screens in front of you, an I-Pod plugged into your head.

But it's another to walk a trail in deep woods, a gentle breeze on your face, with the tweets coming from robins rather than your smartphone.

That's priceless. Try it. Here's the view on my walk. Talk about restorative. (And no, I didn't bring a camera! My husband Dan took it on his way to work one morning.)

Weird job interview questions

2010-09-03T16:52:00.000-04:00

A student told me recently about a job interview, in which a UMass alum was asking the questions.

One of his questions: "Which slice of pizza do you always choose when you go to Antonio's?"

Now this might have been a nice UMass-connecting ice-breaker.

Or it could reveal something deep and dark about the job applicant. Say she answered: "pesto with artichoke hearts." Did that reveal her to be a weak-kneed liberal? And would that destroy her job chances? And what if she had just said "plain cheese." Would he think she was uncreative?

Who knows? All this is just a prelude to this link to Joe Grimm's latest Poynter column on What Do Potential Employers Really Want to Know When They Ask You...

I heard it on the radio

2010-09-03T13:51:00.000-04:00

People have been predicting the death of radio for awhile now, but I'll just not hear of it!

Over the past week, National Public Radio has broadcast some stories that highlight the power of great reporting, sound and storytelling. First is a three-part series on the USS Kirk, a ship which, 35 years ago, transported thousands of Vietnamese refugees out of the country after the fall of Saigon in 1975.

This is an absolutely riveting tale, which, astonishingly, got very little coverage 35 years ago, and parts of it will bring you to tears. Here's the description of how the reporters did it.

The USS Kirk carried out one of the most significant humanitarian missions in U.S. military history. Yet the story went untold for 35 years. Correspondent Joseph Shapiro and producer Sandra Bartlett of NPR's Investigative Unit interviewed more than 20 American and Vietnamese eyewitnesses and participants in the events of late April and early May 1975. They studied hundreds of documents, photographs and other records, many never made public before — including cassette tapes recorded at the time by the ship's chief engineer.
Shapiro first learned of the Kirk from Jan Herman, historian of the U.S. Navy Medical Department, who says the Kirk's heroics got lost because, as the Vietnam War ended, Americans were bitterly divided over the war's course and cost. There was little interest in celebrating a mission that saved the lives of 20,000 to 30,000 refugees. Herman is working on a book documenting the story and a film documentary, which was shown when the Kirk crew met for a reunion in Springfield, Va., in July.

Then there is the series I've been listening to with a cup of coffee in the morning, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton's series of reports traveling on a barge down the Congo River.

Amazing reporting. Sounds, textures, feelings. Culture, history, politics, travel. She takes you totally there. Can you do what she does?

Free (and not) books to help you with your career and job search

2010-08-09T12:43:00.002-04:00

Tweet your way to a job? So they say. What the heck, it's a free E-book.

Let me know if it works for you.

And here's another: What I Know About Getting a Job, offered by Brazen Careerist, a social networking site that was launched by Penelope Trunk, the author of Brazen Careerist, which you'd have to actually pay for, but is definitely worth the money. If you want a sample, check out her blog.

What's the deal with working for Patch?

2010-08-08T14:38:00.002-04:00

I was encouraged last spring when I started seeing want ads for Patch, AOL's chain of new hyperlocal news sites, because I thought these sites might offerjob opportunities for journalism students. When something like this starts up, it's good for everyone because it injects competition into the local news scene, and that means everyone's looking for talent.

In the old days when you worked for a local weekly, it was a 40-60 hour a week job. (I shudder to recall what I got paid!) You covered everything, from selectmen to school committee to taking the picture of the cat who used the toilet. Don't laugh, that picture would generally make it to the front page. These jobs didn't pay much, but they were generally a lot of fun. They provided young reporters with invaluable experience in covering their communities. And if you ever suffered from writer's block, you find yourself cured when you're working at a job that required ten stories a week.

Here's a Globe story about Patch, and its move into Massachusetts.

A snip:

The company, which has 13 sites and plans dozens more in Massachusetts by year’s end, is playing catch-up in a hyperlocal news market where several other media companies are also vying for more readers and advertising dollars. This year, AOL is spending $50 million to expand Patch nationally to hundreds of sites by the end of the year.

Covering local news has never been a lucrative or particularly cushy gig, but there's a buzz right now about the working conditions at Patch that started recently over at media critic Dan Kennedy's site.

There is one solution: if you can't pay reporters and editors well, give them a piece of the action. AOL--and anyone going into hyperlocal news-- could set up a profit-sharing program for the contractors who are helping build a successful enterprise. This would certainly ease the turnover rate, build employee loyalty, and, not incidentally, would also be the right thing to do.

At conferences and workshop on social media, I keep hearing the phrase, "Content is king!" Everyone acknowledges the importance of what we used to call "good writing," and now call "sticky content." (Although they are often not one in the same.) Nevertheless, no one wants to pay the writers who produce that good content.

It always frosted me when I worked my butt off for a small paper or radio station, that when the owners sold these businesses, that they didn't kick a little bonus to the people who helped them build it.

Is your best route to a book through a blog? Sometimes.

2010-07-20T08:26:00.006-04:00

Say you want to write a book.

What's the best way to get to be a published author? Start blogging. Get a million readers. (This reminds me of the old Steve Martin joke: How do you become a millionaire? You take a million dollars, put it in the bank...)

This blog-to-book thing began a few years ago, and took over in part because publishers are looking for writers who already have what they call "a platform." (This translates into risk-free, sales without spending money on publicity.) And blogs and Twitter feeds are a big-time platform. There are lots of examples, the most famous of which is probably Julie and Julia, which went from blog-to-book-to-movie.

Justin Halpern's hilarious Twitter feed, Shit My Dad Says, went from Tweet-to-book-to-sitcom, featuring William Shatner. (Of course, Halpern was a comedy writer to begin with. And he has 1.5 million followers on Twitter.)

In some cases, the authors didn't even have to work for months on a book proposal!
This drives old people crazy and makes them dismissive of this trend. Where are the long years of suffering?

Case in point: Mad Man blogger Natasha Vargas-Cooper. The publisher called her. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned is a collection of essays spun off from her blog, Footnotes of Mad Men.

Here's what she told writer Kevin Nguyen about the blog-to-book process in The Bygone Bureau, an online magazine:

For the blog, and probably for the book too, where do you do most of your research?

Oh my god. So the book was much different beast than the blog. I actually thought, how hard can it be to write a book? Please. But that shit is hard!

For the blog, I try to do it instantly. If it airs on Sunday, that shit should be up Sunday night, at the latest Monday. That’s just the cycle of the internet, which is fine. With the book I wanted something lasting, and something that works beyond the ephemeral. So I did a lot of research at the UCLA library and their archives and at the Cal Arts library. They have a really great art and animation school. So you have a lot of 1960s early design that was coming out of California.

Her book, which features 86 essays, is probably more substantive than most of the blog-to-books out there, which include tomes as deep as Texts from Last Night, and lots of others. Is this trend a publishing bubble? It depends on whether the publishers make money on these books.

Here's a Gawker post from 2008 that asks whether these blog-to-books will actually sell.

It would be interesting to find out the answer to this in 2010. What strikes me in this post is the dollar amount of the contracts: $350,000 for a book based on this blog??

A former student of mine did write a proposal and eventually found a publisher willing to give her a fraction of that amount for her blog-to-book. She's working on it now. The thing is a great, snarky, funny idea that took off like a TGV earlier this year, thanks to a Twitter feed that went nuts on the first day.

Even though the amount was less than half of her annual salary, she quit her job and is throwing all her energy into the book. She's investing her time on the gamble that she'll now be a blogger/book author. I hope she succeeds.

How Leezel got to the Big Apple

2010-07-16T17:27:00.007-04:00

Wow wow wow.

That's all I've got right now about my week at Poynter.

On our last day, we did three minute "pitches" of our web-based journalism projects to a panel, explaining the audience, the problem our site would solve, what our competition is, and how we'd generate revenues. (If this sounds like fun, take Entrepreneurial Journalism this fall! Seats still available!)

Poynter videotaped our presentation, and the panelists gave us great feedback on our presentations, where they needed tweaking, and what we did well. I won't talk about the other projects because the Las Vegas rule was in effect. (What happens there stays there.) Although you may see some of them soon on a website near you.

Our "graduation" ceremony was surprisingly emotional. Journalists are pretty fun people and we had all become friends pretty quickly! Several people who had been laid off or who had faced other life challenges spoke from the heart about the sense of renewal and the hope they had built during the week, as they found some clarity about their projects and where they fit in the new journalism landscape.

For anyone over 40, it's landscape that has changed around us, a lot like that John Cusack movie where he's barely escaping in the plane as the entire state of California falls out from under him.

They had all discovered, over the course of five days, that they may actually have a future in journalism--even though it's not quite clear what that future is. And they now understand--just like you UMass Journalism Program students need to understand--that you're going to have to shape your own journalistic future way more than previous generations.

Are you ready? That's what Entrepreneurial Journalism is about. And we'll be talking about that more and more this year.

I got a lot of resources that can help you think about that future and I'll be posting over the next few days once I get home, and sharing in my courses next year.

First. Gotta tell you about Leezel. Here she is. Not much older than you. She's from SoCal (but not too much longer. More about that in a sec.)

She is 27, went to UCLA. Did internships, in both print and broadcast. Went into the graduate program in Asian studies, and, "instead of doing a masters thesis no one would read," developed a website to serve the huge community of young (twenty-something) Filipinos in SoCal.

These are the next generation of Filipino immigrants, who may not have even been back to the Phillipines. The site provides both services and information.

Leezel did her graduate work while working fulltime on the overnight at KCAL 9, an LA TV station, in the news dept. Worked from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Went home at 7 for a little sleep, then to classes, then home for a little more sleep. Then back to work. Over and over again.

She developed her web chops, her writing chops, and her networking chops. Went to any journalism conference she could, even if she had to volunteer to work at it, or it cost her a lot of money, because she knew it was an investment that she had to make.

And it paid off. She'll be back to doing the overnight next month. Only this time, she's doing it in the Big Apple. At abcnews.com. She learned the big news while she was here.

Her advice: dive in to it all. Don't define yourself as a print journalist or a broadcast journalist. Develop yourself as an online, multimedia journalist, because no matter where you thought you wanted to work when you started college, online is where the opportunities are now. And being an online person means knowing how to do it all.

So, say you're a photographer. You want to go work for a print outlet, right? Tell that to David Gilkey, who's a photographer for NPR. Er, a radio network.

Live from the Poynter Institute: OMG my head is exploding.

2010-07-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

I've spent this week at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, which, if you're a journalism student, you should totally get into. Check out poynter.org and look at their online courses and resources. You'll want to visit often, and you should consider applying for their student seminars, which offer great training and networking opportunities.

It's been four days of non-stop learning. We've had three workshops each day with some great entrepreneurial journalists, including Mark Bri ggs and Jeremy Caplan.

This has been a transformational week for me. I've been floundering with my website, fiftyshift.com, but I am going home knowing what I need to know to revamp my site and develop the team I need to take it to the next level. (Wow, and I even sound like I know what I'm talking about!)

We've learned about using social media in journalism, time management, web publication development, niche audiences, business planning and much more. I can't wait to share it all in my Entrepreneurial Journalism class this fall.

Tomorrow, each of the 20 attendees have to give "elevator pitches" for our sites. The winner gets to have his or her site "incubated" with help from Poynter.

Today, Mark showed us this video as an example of an entrepreneur who has totally, er, crushed it. There was a little debate between the old people (including moi) and the young ones about whether this guy was a genius who was being totally authentic and transparent, or what we (old people) used to call "a major-league bull#%*%##er."

Take a look. What do you think? (Caution: some foul language in this video. I believe this is part of the personal brand.)

It's a UMass, UMass, UMass, UMass world

2010-07-13T20:41:00.005-04:00

Have I told you lately that I love UMass? I do.

Here's why. It's where I got my degree. Made friends I still have, 30 years later.

AND, everywhere I go, I run into fantastic UMass alums. In the most unexpected places. More about that in a minute.

Also. Now that I teach here, I get to see students come through the university, do their thing at the Collegian, UVC, MUA; go to classes (or not), do their internships, then hatch out into the world and make things happen. Then I can take partial credit for their work. Win win!

Like Erika Lovley, who just did this great story for Politico.com.

And Bill Gallagher, who sent us a note about a documentary he worked on that just debuted in New York called Racing Dreams. Take a look:

Right now I am at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, at a seminar called Bottom Line News, Creating Sustainable Journalism Startups, getting some good stuff for my Entrepreneurial Journalism class this fall, and trying to figure out how to get my website, fiftyshift.com generating some revenue. There are only about 20 of us, but one of them is another UMass alum: Hernan Rozemberg is a STEPC grad, a Collegian alum and a fine writer on immigration issues, most recently for the San Antonio Express-News.

He cites as a great supporter and mentor: Professor Nick McBride.

Who is also, ahem, a UMass alum.

What's your social media policy?

2010-07-07T09:20:00.008-04:00

As we prepare for the next school year, teachers have to add another element to their syllabi, and that's their social media policy. Students should have one too. It might include a rule like: I never pose nude with a drink in my hand on Facebook. That kind of thing.

For teachers, the social media policy establishes what kind of relationship they want with students in the online world. I put mine out there for students in the first class:

1. Don't Friend me on Facebook, please. (I love you, but not in that way.)

2. I only LinkIn with students who have completed a class with me and earned an A or a B. (My professional network is valuable. Why should I open it up to slackers or students I don't know?)

Another practice I'm subscribing to these days: I use my name when commenting. If everyone did this, the quality and civility level of comments would go way, way up.

So what's your social media policy? And if you were running a company, how much freedom would you give employees about what they post online? (And how the hell would you enforce it?)

In the beginning, companies feared social media because they saw it as a loss of control over their brand and message. What's the role of a public relations office in a company when anyone can write anything for a global audience?

But most have realized by now that it's unstoppable. And smart companies, including tee shirt company Johnny Cupcakes, are integrating social media into their marketing plans in a big way.

Take a look at founder Johnny Earle's recent Suitcase Tour, on this site. It's brilliant.

The Cupcakers developed the route by putting out a Tweet asking for suggestions of where they should go. Then they matched the locations to the places where they sold the most shirts. Then they documented every stop with some rocking, well-produced, video. I've never heard of people waiting for two nights on a sidewalk to meet a guy who makes tee shirts, but there you go.

Here's a piece I wrote on the company.

Still, it's not easy managing the online etiquette of thousands of employees. So, increasingly, companies have developed social media policies that establish parameters for employees, and advise them on how to use social media to move the company forward.

Here's a good example, from Intel.

A snippet:

Are you adding value? There are millions of words out there. The best way to get yours read is to write things that people will value. Social communication from Intel should help our customers, partners, and co-workers. It should be thought-provoking and build a sense of community. If it helps people improve knowledge or skills, build their businesses, do their jobs, solve problems, or understand Intel better—then it's adding value.

Want to see how other organizations do it? Here's an online database that shows how other companies manage social media. One of our alums, Alexa Marcigliano, is on a national team that's trying to help the federal government figure out the rules of the road for social media. So there's a lot going on in this field.

FYI I got this link from a LinkedIn group called the Online Community Manager Group. Yes, there's a whole job category in managing social media for companies. What? You're not on LinkedIn? Put it on your social media list. Facebook for fun, Linkedin for work.

Now it's your turn. What's your social media policy? What steps do you take to you manage your online presence?

My other favorite place

2010-05-30T02:26:00.002-04:00

If you live in Massachusetts, you probably have a love for Cape Cod entangled somewhere in your DNA. And if you don't, you should give up and move to New Jersey, because there is no hope for you.

The cape is pure open light and water, unlike any other landscape in New England. That's what has attracted so many artists and photographers, including photographer Joel Meyerowitz, who has captured those elements in his work.

You could spend your life trying to capture the feeling yourself, in words or photos or videos, and it would not be a bad way to go. Henry Beston came back from the war and decided he wanted to live for a bit on the beach in Eastham; his book "The Outermost House" is a wonderful read.

We all search for our own "outermost house" on the cape. Back in the early 1980's, my husband and I started renting a cheap little sweep out of a cottage in Wellfleet. Over the past two summers, we've moved down Cape (or is it up?) to North Truro, and a little motel with kitchenette right on the Cape Cod bay with a view to Provincetown. Heaven.

For us the dream is not a four-star resort, but one of those little dune shacks you see when you're walking in the Cape Cod National Seashore, whose jewel in the crown, Coast Guard Beach, was recently named one of the Top Ten Beaches in the US.

If you have ever seen these old shacks and wondered who lives in them, Dave Ryan at the Globe has put together a fab video of one dune shack owner and her dilemma. Take a look.

The lesson in the Cathedral

2010-05-25T11:05:00.002-04:00

This is my first time traveling with a videocamera, and we're learning as we go. What I love about this process is that it enables you to get into some wonderfully quiet and intimate moments (okay, and totally invade people's privacy, but that's what reporters do).

I shot this with a Sony Cybershot digital camera, one recent afternoon in an ancient cathedral in Aix-en-Provence. The visuals are not great (I have no idea what I'm doing), but the sound really takes you there. A young boy was having an organ lesson, maybe in preparation for Sunday mass. He stumbles a bit, as you'll hear, but finally gets it right.

A magical moment from the road in France.

Travel writing rules for the road

2010-05-20T12:15:00.019-04:00

A few years ago, Professor Newton, who teaches the Sicily Photojournalism class, offered some advice. He was just back from a trip to Greece, where he saw older people sitting on the tour busses looking out the window, unable to make their way to the Acropolis.They were so near, yet so far.

“You’ve got to travel and see these places while you can still walk!” he said.

My husband Dan and I are heeding his call, and we are traveling in France right now. While we can still walk. And, as we usually do, we’re putting together stories to sell to newspapers travel sections and magazines when we get home. Here's my travelwriting lecture, updated from the road.

Before I go on a trip, I usually have three or four ideas in mind, and I do a lot of research about my destinations, so I know a lot before I go. I read everything I can find. I talk to people. This is a must if you want to be a travel writer, because stories don’t just pop up. I look for trends: two or three of something; or I look for aberrations: one and onlys. Oldest. Newest. Unusual, unique. Mom and Pop.

The screwdriver museum? Mais oui! An exhibit on absynthe? I am so there. I try to talk to people a lot, so there are voices in my stories. And since most places have been written about a lot, you need to find different themes.

I look for interesting little places that don’t get written up much, or for offbeat activities in familiar places, like beachcombing on the Thames in the center of London, which ran on the front page of the Boston Globe travel section. Or the oldest perfume maker in Florence, which I sold to Gourmet. Or a weird museum in Worcester that focuses on armor, which was published in Yankee.

Sunday travel sections are good places to get started as a travel writer, because they come out 52 times a year, and most take (and, unlike most websites, pay for) freelance work. I look for stories that are the right length for those sections, about 800-1,000 words. Dan takes the pictures. Sometimes I query editors, other times I write the pieces “on spec,” that is, I write the stories and then try to sell them. When you’re writing for a travel section or website, this is probably the best policy.

Mondo Multimedia

This trip we’re traveling as full-on multimedia travel writers. We’ve got a MacBook Pro laptop, a Canon G-11 digital camera and a Sony Cybershot, both of which also shoot video, along with a couple of IPods. This makes a huge difference in what we see and how we report our stories.

For example, yesterday, we stopped in Aix-en-Provence and wandered the streets to find the Cathedral St.-Sauveur, a hundreds-year-old church. It was late afternoon, and a young boy, maybe 14 or so, was having a music lesson on the cathedral's bellowing organ. I could describe what it was like to sit in an ancient sacred edifice, dark and cool, as the boy played, hitting the occasional wrong note, his teacher stopping him now and then. And it was a totally unplanned moment. (I've posted the video above.)

And here's the link on youtube

The downside is that I’m not very good at shooting and editing video, so I need to develop this skill. And it’s not clear whether an editor will pay for these little moments, even though she may want to post them on the website. In fact, s/he probably won’t. That’s a problem.

I try to write for an hour every day when I’m traveling. This is not easy, but it’s a good idea to capture the day while it’s still fresh, and you remember the details. And I take notes wherever I go. Along with my equipment, I bring several manila envelopes for brochures and receipts and a couple of small reporter’s notebooks. I also bring my old fashioned composition notebook, a writers notebook that I buy for a buck at Wal-Mart, and this serves as a journal. I have dozens of these books, which I started filling when I was in my early twenties and traveling in South America. These journals are great to work on in a cafe over a glass of wine or cup of coffee.

So many students try to write travel stories just from researching the web. This is not travel writing. It may get the job done at the last minute, but nobody’s going to pay for-- or publish--that work. To be a published travel writer, you have to get out there and travel, and then tell the story in your own way. Go to places. Soak up the scene. Be open and curious. Take a lot of notes. Ask questions. Dive in. Work hard. Travel writing is way harder work than most people realize.

Learn about art! If you haven’t taken Art History 101, you should do so before you leave UMass. The cathedral I was in yesterday? I learned about the architecture of cathedrals in that class. In fact, if you don't know anything about art, you have no business traveling in Europe. Here's a lovely little Chagall mosaic found in a small church near Nice.

It's actually a wonderful thing to learn about and love art, especially if you're going to be a travel writer. It's a great gateway into other cultures and it's what makes an educated person.

Learn a language. I’m shocked at the number of Americans I've seen in restaurants who make absolutely no effort to speak the language, and actually expect the young waitresses to know English. Imagine someone from France doing that in Amherst?

I'm speaking a bit in the restaurants and bakeries and museums, thanks to the nuns I had in Catholic elementary school, from Mademoiselle Fontanilla in high school, and from my UMass French teacher, Donald Dugas.

In fact, on this trip, I am realizing, even after 30 years, how much I owe my UMass profs for what they taught me about the world. Even if I wasn't always the greatest student! They made me read The Village in the Vaucluse! Jean-Jacques Rousseau! Learn the imperfect-conditionelle!

Take advantage of all the great teachers you have at UMass!

One more rule.

If the sign says it's closed, push on the door.

We grabbed a bus down the coast from Nice to see a small chapel on the waterfront in Villfranche. Its interior was designed and painted jazz-style by French filmmaker and artist Cocteau, and dedicated to the fishermen of the town. It's unlike any other chapel you'll ever see, a work of modern art, crazy and lovely. Movie scenes on the wall, the ceiling a pattern of black and white.

But when we got there, the sign on the door read: Ferme (closed) for renovations.

I was bummed! My story was shot!

But you can't give up. I pushed just a leeetle on the door and this is what we found: a couple of young art restoration workers, who were refinishing the walls. They were working in the quiet evening, with jazz guitar on their boombox, and said we could look as long as we didn't touch anything. Glad I pushed.

Another incredible moment.

I found it at the library

2010-04-16T14:44:00.007-04:00

Last semester a student asked me whether the Du Bois Library had new books that you could actually take out.

My response (after I put my teeth back in): YES! YES! Twenty floors of them!

I love the library, and you should too. As a journalist, I've spent some of my happiest reporting times talking with a librarian in a little town I was writing about, watching and waiting as she pulled out some arcane documents, town history or annual town report that nobody had asked for in years.

Or in the stacks at DuBois, trying to find out about Herman Melville's relationship with Mount Greylock.

Or the history of grass.

Or what self-help books looked like in the early 1900's.

Or what they were advertising in Vogue magazine in 1954. All kinds of stuff.

This week I was trying to develop some story ideas for an upcoming trip to France, and that brought me to the big art book floor, the France floor and another couple of floors, and an armful of books. One book led me to this crazy artist named Ben Vautier, who was a big fan of Marcel Duchamp, and whose studio garden in Nice would make a great story.

Hoping I can hunt him down. And have a cookie with him.

Then this morning, I was trying to figure out how to fine tune my Google analytics account fothis is the tool that tells me how many people are coming to my site and what they're reading. Just for the hell of it, I went to the Library website and typed "Google Analytics" into the keyword search. Up popped three E-books, which I can read online.

So if you've got a question, take it to the library. You'll probably find the answer and a lot more.

How Bravo uses emergent media to reel you all in...

2010-04-15T10:02:00.003-04:00

A whole new television world of crap has opened up for me since the digital switchover, which brought the magic of Direct TV into our home.

I was excited when we first got it because I wanted to see all the shows that my students talk about. Plus, we had gone without ever watching The Simpsons.

What I found, of course, is that much of the programming is spirit-killing garbage being pumped out in the form of reality television. Heinous people doing heinous things. Families-full of vulgar young women conspicuously consuming, just a click away from sad people living in houses full of empty pizza boxes and dead cats. Reality? One would hope not.

Still, I watch. I lament. Then I say: what a brilliant business model. They pay no writers to actually produce any kind of story arc or programming. And I'm actually paying them $50 a month to have this stuff piped into my living room.

One of the first shows I watched was the sitcom-esque Flipping Out, whose central character is a jerk who buys and renovates houses in LA, and who manages his business with the help of a brassy assistant and a long-suffering Latina maid. What interested me was the interactivity of the show--that viewers could log online and comment on this guy's rotten behavior while the show was airing.

It turns out that Bravo (the network that produces all this crap), uses social media and all kinds of mobile tools to build its audience. Here's an interview with Aimee Viles, the woman who directs these efforts.

Everyone's a photojournalist now

2010-03-30T10:14:00.001-04:00

If you're planning a career in photojournalism, it might be a good idea to have a Plan B--as this story in the New York Times today points out. You have lots of competition.

Google rolls out its new public data mapper

2010-03-30T10:11:00.001-04:00

Over at Governing magazine today is the introduction of Google's new Public Data Explorer, which promises to be a boon for journalists. Check it out.

B-schools getting into the social media act

2010-03-30T10:10:00.002-04:00

The NY Times reports that business schools are developing courses to help their grads manage social media marketing at companies. Hmmm... an opportunity for journo students?

You're invited to a Poynter Webinar

2010-03-28T14:39:00.002-04:00

I'm hosting a showing during my magazine writing class of the Poynter Webinar on Wednesday, April 7 at 2 p.m. in the seventh floor Mac Lab of the Du Bois Library. The title: Managing your Journalism Career and Skills.

If you would like to attend, please post a response here with your first name. Everyone is invited--I think we'll have enough room!

Venting: Why don't you folks keep appointments?

2010-03-26T09:44:00.002-04:00

Another day of driving in early to meet a student for an appointment.

Another day the student doesn't show up.

This is a trend these days, and I'm trying to figure it out. In the real world, when you make an appointment to meet and you can't make it, you contact the person, preferably ahead of time, to cancel. Here, you just don't show up. What's up with this?

I mentioned to a student who had just stopped coming to class for a few weeks that the student should have sent me an email to let me know what was going on. The student noted that s/he didn't use email much anymore, and instead was only texting. Again: what's up with this?

The view from Google

2010-03-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

Over at romenesko today is a link to The Google Public Policy blog.

The subhead for the site is Google's views on government, policy and politics.

Interesting. This post offers some comments on the news business.

Do nasty commenters spell the end of the anecdote in journalism?

2010-03-07T14:32:00.003-05:00

We're always telling you to gather anecdotes from people to use in your stories, but there's a great post over at the washingtonpost.com's Story Lab suggesting that sources are becoming more reluctant to talk to reporters in part because they don't want to face nasty comments posted anonymously on newspaper sites.

I think everyone should have to attach their names to comments. This is a holdover from newspaper days, but it makes a lot of sense, and would clean things up considerably.

Your thoughts?

Dave Eggers still reads the newspaper. Hallelujah.

2010-02-26T13:35:00.002-05:00

Author Dave Eggers is now in the newspaper business. Sorta.

What's on your business card?

2010-02-26T12:52:00.002-05:00

If you don't have a business card yet, why not? They're cheap and oh-so-easy to get.

But then the question begins, what do you put on it?

For the answer to this, I open my desk drawer and take out the card I still have, that was given to me by a 2009 Journalism Launchpad student (and UMass football player), Athony Rouzier.
It's a thing of beauty, with a pic of Anthony, his name, his cel number and email address on the front.

But then you flip it over.

He's got a mini-resume on the thing. Here's what it reads:

University of Massachusetts
B.A. Journalism
Concentration in Sports and Business
Football Letterman 2 years
All Academic Team 2 years
National Strength and Conditioning Association
Bartending Certificate and Experience
Career Aspirations: Law, Business, Coaching, Teaching, Media

I would just add my LinkedIn account name.

In one card, he got his elevator pitch down. I'm showing it to my class next week. (Anthony is now in Miami, getting ready to apply to law school. He emailed me recently that he used his elevator pitch in an elevator, and as a result, made an important contact with a UMass alum who works as a sports agent.)

Poynter Ask the Recruiter columist Joe Grimm suggests you consider adding a bar code.

How to be a more confident job-seeker

2010-02-18T17:12:00.002-05:00

Over at the Thin Pink Line blog, advice for jobhunters.

BTW, you should send this link to your mom. Thin Pink Line is a great blog for older women who are in, or want to get back into, the job market. She will thank you for it.

Sports writing scholarships available

2010-02-14T16:00:00.001-05:00

The Associated Press Sports Editors are sponsoring four $1,500 scholarship
for collegiate sports journalists.

APSE, a national organization of sports editors, is awarding four
scholarships to help motivate talented students to pursue a career in
sports journalism. Collegiate sports journalists entering their sophomore,
junior or senior years are eligible for the scholarship, which will be awarded
based on the students' journalistic work, their academic record, financial
need, and geography.

The scholarships will be awarded to students from four
different regions of the United States. The winners will be chosen by the
APSE scholarship committee, which is chaired by Joe Sullivan, sports editor
of the Boston Globe and includes editors from all sections of the United
States. Deadline is June 1.

Please have them include the following information in their letter of
application:

- Personal: Name, address, age, phone number.

- Academic: A copy of the student's collegiate grades.

- Financial: A brief rundown of the student's financial situation, with
regards to how he/she plans to pay for tuition.
- Five examples of sports journalism (usually stories but could also be
sections the student has edited).

Mail information to:

APSE Scholarship
c/o Joe Sullivan, Sports Editor
Boston Globe
135 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02205-2845

Globe coop deadline March 1, Propublica seeks interns

2010-02-11T08:51:00.003-05:00

If you're interested in the Globe coop positions that run from June to December, the deadline is March 1. This is a pretty extensive application, so you'd better get on it. You will need to have at least one substantive internship previously to have a competitive application for this.

Distributed Reporting / Social Media Intern

ProPublica offers one distributed reporting/ social media internship each spring, summer and fall. The spring and fall internships last 16 weeks. The summer internship lasts 12 weeks. The internship is full-time, based in New York, and pays $700 per week.

We are hiring immediately for the spring internship. Applications for the summer should be sent by the end of March.

The distributed reporting/social media intern will work closely with Amanda Michel, editor of distributed reporting. Applicants should have experience reporting and/or managing volunteers (or online organizing) and a track-record of innovation. The intern will assist Amanda on collaborative reporting projects (such as ProPublica’s Super Bowl Blitz and Stimulus Spot Check, and help manage ProPublica’s social media presence.

If you would like to apply, then please send a cover letter, your resume and a portfolio to amanda.michel@propublica.org.

Why you should unplug your IPod and turn on your radio

2010-02-10T09:14:00.006-05:00

When I arrived at UMass in 19seventywhatever, the sum total of my electronics was an electric typewriter my dad got me for Christmas and an alarm clock radio that cost me twenty bucks. (It looked a little like the one on the left.) Most kids had stereos, but I couldn't afford one. One guy on the hall had a television.

Now nobody has a radio. If you're a journalism student, this is a big mistake. Radio news shows now feature some of the best storytelling out there. Professor Nancy Cohen is one of those storytellers, by the way. (And there are some good public radio internships if this strikes your fancy.) Go to the Salvation Army and buy a radio for a couple of bucks. Put it on your nightstand. Tune the radio to 88.5, the UMass public radio station WFCR. Set the alarm for, say 6:30 a.m. (I know, I know. Just do it.)

As you are trying to wake up and get ready for class, the news stories of National Public Radio's Morning Edition begin to seep into your brain. You'll arrive at your 9:05 , already knowing that the entire economy of Greece is about to go down the toilet, while your fellow students are still trying to get caught up on yesterday's news. Color your professor impressed!

Here are some other ways radio can make you smarter.

Listen to Marketplace. This business show helps you understand the economy, and does so with some interesting stories, like this piece on how small business entrepreneurs are thriving in the ruins of Haiti.

Listen to Fresh Air with Terry Gross. In Amherst, it's on WFCR at 7 p.m. Terry interviews actors, musicians, journalists, authors, comedians, politicians--everyone! It's always interesting to hear how a pro does an interview. Recent guests include former WaPo journalist Tom Ricks, and Jane Mayer, who writes for the New Yorker. Good stuff.

Check out On Point with Tom Ashbrook. This talk show features newsmaker panels on topics ranging from climate change to politics to movies to music to whatever.

I could go on and on: This American Life, Only A Game, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Metropolitan Opera on Saturday afternoons.

But give this a try. Listen on the radio, or listen on the web and let me know how it works for you.

Meet your competition, case #2: Can you find a job using targeted Facebook ads?

2010-02-09T11:03:00.003-05:00

Okay, this is brilliant. Why didn't you think of this?

Notice the number of internships this kid has done. It's a cold, cruel world that he doesn't already have a job.

But there you go.

There is no fair. But someone is going to hire this person because he's entrepreneurial.

Which brings me to the Entrepreneurial Journalism class. Sign up for it this fall!

Learn the social media skills that can help you get a job

2010-02-09T09:53:00.004-05:00

If you're heading into public relations, journalism or any kind of strategic communication, it's vital that you understand how to leverage social media, both as an information-gathering tool, and as a broadcast platform to build audience and extend your brand.

Go into a job interview with a real understanding of this stuff, you will have an advantage over the old people you may be competing with.

But this goes way beyond posting to Facebook.

Want to get started?

Readers of this blog are invited my Magazine Writing class, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2-3 on the seventh floor of DuBois Library to the Poynter NewsU Webinar, featuring author Mark Briggs. The title: Innovation on the Front Lines of Journalism

Here's the blurb from Poynter:

Harness the latest digital technology - including blogs, social media and databases - to take control of your future in journalism....

Join "Journalism 2.0" author Mark Briggs in this Webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 10. He will highlight key points from his latest book, "Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing." You'll learn how to incorporate journalism's best practices with digital media to cover news, build communities and much more.

This webinar costs more than $20 to watch online. But you can come to my class and watch it for free. Plus you'll be mixing it up with some of the smartest students out there. Introduce yourself when you arrive.
--Prof. BJ Roche

Buy your domain name

2010-02-08T12:09:00.003-05:00

This is the second year I'm teaching the Journalism Launchpad class, and each year, the technology for job hunting gets more useful and interesting. The first thing I'm telling everyone is to buy your domain name. Go to godaddy.com and do it. Today.

The story behind the Dave-Oprah-Jay ad on the Superbowl

2010-02-08T12:06:00.004-05:00

The New York Times Media Decoder blog has a great post on how the best Super Bowl ad came together.

Squishy ethics on the web and what it means for your career

2010-02-06T17:25:00.009-05:00

A 17-year-old intern for TechCrunch was fired recently for shaking down startups for equipment in exchange for a positive blog post. The kid's only 17, and is probably headed to Stanford, where he will not have the GO UMASS advantage of taking an ethics class with Professor Karen List or Professor Nick McBride. So for that, we might forgive him. Even if he did use that heinous passive-voice, Reaganesque apology technique, noting in his mea culpa that a "line was crossed."

The incident highlights a growing problem for you folks as you head out into the workworld, and that's the squishy ethics of blogs and websites.

We're strictly "old school" when it comes to journalistic ethics. At most newspapers, the ethos was simple: Don't take anything from anyone. Ever. That's what we pass on to students.

I still think this is the best policy for lots of reasons, and I hope you'll carry that with you into web publishing, because I think it's one way we, as journalists, can bring some level of integrity and credibility to our web-based publications. Plus, it serves readers well.

If that's not the hard and fast rule where you work, then transparency is the next best thing: let the reader know who's paid for what.

But this stance seems almost quaint in online publishing, where websites and blogs routinely publish "sponsored content," which a newspaper editor would call -and label-- exactly what it is: "advertisement."

In these cases, the sponsor pays for the story. Many websites, including some good ones, use this as a revenue generator. You may write for a travel site writing "sponsored stories." But will this affect your chances of writing for, say, the New York Times travel section, which prohibits their freelancers from taking freebies? You got me. I just don't know.

The action of paying for access to a medium's audience used to be called "payola." It's a word that evolved in the late 1950's and early 1960's, when record companies were found to be paying DJ's to play their records on the air.

Today the term is "blogola," and it's a hot topic. Some bloggers accept cash for posts. How do you know which ones? Here's a post from the Technology Liberation Front blog about the issue, and the Federal Trade Commission's proposed guidelines (read all the way--the comments really add to the post.)

Michael Gray explores the issue in a post about the ethics of another TechCrunch writer, Sara Lacy.

Here's one of his major points:

Two things need to change:

Bloggers you need to decide to you want to be journalists or bloggers? Journalists are held to a higher standard of ethics, which they are required to follow all the time. They don’t make an exception if it helps bolster their career, if someone is giving them something really cool, or even if it’s a gift they really want. They also don’t have a selective memory when it comes to disclosure.

So what do you think? Have you faced an ethical dilemma on the job? What did you do?

Twitter feed you just have to check out

2010-02-04T12:37:00.001-05:00

Samantha Denette just forwarded this twitter feed to me, which anyone who has ever worked in a newsroom is going to love: Overheard in the Newsroom.

Cider maker dead at 70

2010-02-04T12:26:00.002-05:00

I saw the above headline on the Greenfield Recorder front page the other day and stopped in my tracks. It was a story about Terry Maloney, who, with his wife Judith, started West County Cider in the little town of Colrain many years ago. And it made me think about what a remarkable experience it is to work as a small town reporter. And how it connects you to such interesting people you would never otherwise get to know. And then you miss them when they go.

One of my first feature assignments for the Recorder (or was it the Globe? I can't remember), was to write about the couple, and what a fun story to report. I spent an afternoon with them at their house in Colrain--they brewed a high quality sparkling cider from local apples. And over the years, they created a terrific product and helped promote local agriculture with Cider Day, an event that brought lots of visitors to the breathtaking apple orchards of western Franklin County.

I served their cider at my wedding 24 years ago, and got to know their son Field when I taught a journalism workshop at The Academy at Charlemont. Field Maloney went on to become a wonderful writer (no thanks to me), and I love to come across his work.

Anyway, Terry died when a compressor machine exploded in the cellar. It's a big loss for Franklin County.

Say hello to your competition

2010-02-02T14:30:00.001-05:00

Can you go mano a mano with these students?

Apply for a Poynter College Fellowship!

2010-02-02T14:27:00.002-05:00

Poynter offering College Fellowships. App deadline: March 1.

These things can change your life. Just ask S.P. Sullivan.

Places you may be working if you're smart enough and they're good enough

2010-01-28T12:13:00.002-05:00

The Knight Media Center has an interesting list of promising online news operations. Get in and take a look at some of these sites.

Alumni Assn. scholarship deadlines approaching!

2010-01-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

Feb. 4 is the deadline to apply for The UMass Alumni Association scholarships. Please take a look and apply. (And don't forget our Feb. 16th workshop to help you apply for SBS scholarships with April deadlines.) Check the website for applications and details. They include:

Leaders in the Making Scholarship
Four $2,000 scholarships given to promising sophomores and juniors with diverse records of achievement in academics and volunteerism.

Life Member Scholarship for Interns
One $2,000 scholarship given to a sophomore or junior to help defray the cost of a summer, unpaid, away-from-home internship.

Michael W. Morris Scholarship
One $2,000 scholarship given to an undergrad from Lawrence or Lowell. This scholarship is offered in honor of Lawrence native and longtime UMass Amherst champion Michael W. Morris '63.

Senior Leadership Award
Twenty-five $500 savings bonds will be given to graduating seniors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and service to the campus community. Students must be nominated by faculty and staff.

They all looked shocked...

2010-01-26T21:05:00.005-05:00

...in my Intermediate Reporting class when I said, "Okay, let's get onto Facebook."

We're putting together news packages for a series on how the economy is affecting college students, and we needed to find anecdotes for each of the pieces. So we set up five surveys on Survey Monkey (you can see them here), and then, each of the 11 students in the class posted a request and the link on their Facebook pages. The surveys, which are not really usable in our stories, since they're not really scientific, will, hopefully give us contacts to students with real stories to tell about how the economy has impacted them.

At least that's what we hope. I'll post with the results later.

Journalists are using social media all the time these days, and though it's raised some interesting issues about the ethics of, say, belonging to a Facebook group that includes people you're covering, this is a trend that is definitely here to stay. Over at Poynter, Tish Grier has an interesting wrap up on current research about how journalists are using these tools.

Can you help us out by taking a survey?

2010-01-25T15:42:00.003-05:00

Journalism 301 is producing news packages for the Collegian on the economy and UMass college students and we're looking for sources. If you have a minute, could you go over to our survey page and take one of the surveys these students have developed? Thanks!

Inquiring minds want to know

2010-01-24T13:28:00.005-05:00

Okay, okay, you kids were born digital, blah blah blah. But don't you ever miss just being unplugged?

Many of you (okay, not all, so hold your flames!), but a good number of you walk around campus, plugs in your ears, eyes down at these little boxes, your fingers furiously tapping. The minute you exit a classroom, you urgently pull out your cel phones, I guess to be sure that World War III has not been declared or that your granny is still alive.

Can I just say that this urgent need to always either be sending or receiving really seems like some kind of fight or flight syndrome, and that we grownups think this is weird?

In fact, to us, it's frightening how much time you spend with gadgets. This, from the New York Times:

The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

I would argue the part about "except for the time in school." Can I tell you how many times faculty have complained about people texting during their classes? And you can't stop. No matter what kind of penalty we impose. Can you say, compulsive, addictive behavior?

So the question is, why aren't you smarter? With access to the world's knowledge on your laptop or mobile phone, and, the ability to read just about any magazine or newspaper--and now, book, while sitting in bed at 3 in the morning, why do you only read Cosmo, ESPN.com and TMZ?

How come nobody knows who Harry Reid is or the dimensions and causes of the Afghan war?

This is a question a lot of people ask me. Any answers?

Teach a woman to set up a website and she'll always be able to publish something

2010-01-19T17:14:00.004-05:00

Okay, here's a roundup of fun and useful journalism links you just HAVE TO READ.

Media critic and Northeastern journo prof Dan Kennedy has a nice post on a talk by Sree Sreenivisan at Northeastern recently.

Sree spoke here at UMass few years back, and this guy is one of the smartest people out there on digital media. His website could save your reporting life , and his blogtalkradio show offers interviews with top journalists and some invaluable tips.

Here's Mashable's recent post on 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow's Journalists. READ IT. I am not kidding.

And I saved Lisa Williams link for the Studio20 program at Columbia about What J-school students need to know about setting up and running a web site. Lisa needs summer interns, by the way. Have you got the stuff?

I'm circulating Mindy McAdams terrific (and free) e-book, Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency in both my Intermediate Journalism and Magazine Writing classes this semester. It offers fantastic and simple step-by-step instruction in building your new media chops.

Hey, if I can do it, you can.

Two great spring courses you should know about

2010-01-18T09:07:00.000-05:00

There's still time to sign up for the First Year Student Seminar, (Journ 197) which is open to, and useful for, first year, sophomore and transfer students, or anyone who is new to the journalism major. The course is a one-credit, five session workshop that meets one and a half hours a week and introduces you to all sorts of resources that will be helpful to you as a journalism major. Sign up!

Sophomores, juniors and seniors can all benefit from the Journalism Launchpad seminar, (Journ 497G), which prepares you to apply for jobs and internships, helps you think about career choices, and get ready to launch yourself into the real world. Several students who took this course last year said that it "changed their lives." Sign up on SPIRE.

Questions? Email me: bjroche@journ.umass.edu. GO UMASS!

More on magazines...

2010-01-13T16:27:00.003-05:00

Everyone wants to be a magazine writer, so it's important that you keep up with the industry. One good way to do that is to read the Business section of the New York Times, which features lots of useful and interesting information about the media industry, advertising and technology--all areas that most journalism students should be learning about.

Here's a bad news story about advertising in magazines.

Here's another rundown, from National Public Radio, about the decline and changes in the magazine industry. Among publishing executives, the word denial is mentioned. Not a good thing.

Now, from a website called Publishing Executive, here's some good--from a chat with Mr. Magazine.

Summer Internship in DC with DCI Group

2010-01-13T15:10:00.001-05:00

DCI Group is recruiting for Summer 2010 intern positions available in public relations, account services, and government affairs. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: tracking issues for clients, building reports, attending local meetings and events, and general research. Interns also assist with general office and administrative support.

Partnering with clients, DCI Group provides strategic counsel and designs winning public affairs and communications campaigns around the world. Their team includes public affairs strategists who have held positions at the most senior levels within government, politics, and corporate communications. Each has extensive experience in managing complex issue campaigns.

The internship pays $10 per hour. Applicants must have completed at least four semesters of undergraduate coursework.

Apply at: www.dcigroup.com.

Will your next magazine be pure digital

2010-01-12T15:26:00.002-05:00

Getting ready to teach magazine writing this semester and just came across this story about digital magazine publishing. Take a look.

Student Journalism Awards With Winter Deadlines

2009-12-03T14:26:00.004-05:00

Beyoncé's ten Grammy Award nominations are fine and well, but why not win your own awards? Below is a list of four journalism contests open to full-time student journalists like yourself. Whether you're interested in money, a trip to Japan, or just good resumé fodder, consider entering your best work. Email Prof. McDermott at mcdermott@journ.umass.edu for help editing your best work and filling out the forms.

• The 2009 David S. Barr Award for Student Journalists
Entries due by January 29, 2010. Submit print or broadcast work that "helped to right a wrong; corrected an injustice; or promoted justice and fairness" published in 2009. See the website for an official application form. The winner will receive $1,500.

• The Roy Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition
Entries due by February 27, 2010. The nine students who win this competition will travel to Japan for nine days next June. Send in a complete entry form, a portfolio of print, photo or broadcast work, a letter of recommendation, a 400 word essay, and a resumé. Complete information and the entry form are on the website.

• Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards
Entries due by January 27, 2010. The SPJ chooses regional winners in print, radio, TV, and online journalism, and those winning entries are forwarded to the national contest. All entries (which can be submitted online) must have been published in 2009, and no students who have
professional non-internship experience may apply. There is a $18 entry fee. See the website above for more specific entry categories and requirements.

• National Press Photographers Association Student Clip Contest
NPPA members ($65 yearly for students) can submit quarterly to this contest. For images taken between September and November, the deadline is Dec. 15, 2009. What's nice about this competition is that the images needn't have been published. The categories are News, Sports, Feature Single, and Feature Multiple (Photo Story).

The changing face of sports and sports media

2009-11-20T15:18:00.003-05:00

Sports coverage is undergoing some huge changes: ESPN now has a "hyperlocal" Boston site, and Comcast Cable is developing its own broadcast sports content.

At the same time, leagues like the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball are developing their own direct channels to fans via the web. But what are the ethical considerations when the league owns the channel that's covering a sport?

That's one of the topics in a series over at the Nieman Journalism Lab: the Shifting Media Power in Sports.

A blog is not enough

2009-11-17T16:18:00.003-05:00

Here's a great post from copyblogger with some harsh realities about blogging.

Harsh Reality #1: No one is reading your blog

As far as anyone can figure, there are about 200 million blogs around the world. Technorati tells us there are about 900,000 blog posts made every 24 hours.

Lots of other good info on this site about social media.

And here's a great piece on how to write a great travel blog.

Don't just aggregate, curate!

2009-11-04T16:38:00.003-05:00

We're heading into the home stretch in the Entrepreneurial Journalism class, and students are preparing their project prospectus and developing the look and feel of their "for-profit" web journalism projects. The goal is to develop a project that an "investor" will provide startup funding for. (It's just pretend, but still.)

Some great projects have emerged from this class, and I think everyone's learning a lot about entrepreneurship and what it takes to shepherd an idea to fruition. On December 7, they'll face our very own Dragon's Den, two judges who will decide which projects should get the venture capital money.

Journalistic entrepreneurship was the big buzz at the Online News Association Conference held in San Francisco last month, and I'm using tons of what I learned there in my classes. The main takeaway from this poynter.org coverage? Don't just aggregate, curate! Check it out.

Dan Baum's latest: what to do when an assignment heads south

2009-11-04T16:33:00.004-05:00

Former New Yorker writer and current freelancer Dan Baum is back up and blogging, here's his latest, a worthwhile read on what to do when a freelance writing assignment doesn't pan out.

By the way, I got this link via Dan's twitterfeed. Put him in your "follow" list--he's always got something worth reading, and his followers hear about it first.

Facebook use: Networking or notworking?

2009-10-29T11:54:00.001-04:00

The New York Times reports. You decide.

Study abroad next semester?

2009-10-29T10:17:00.001-04:00

There's a new scholarship being offered through SBS. Find out about it here.

Twitterholic or just doing her job?

2009-10-28T11:47:00.003-04:00

Here's a post from Boston media critic and Northeastern U. Journalism Prof Dan Kennedy about a Boston Herald story called Hacks hooked on Facebook, and the weird new territory in the workworld as businesses and politicians start using social media.

UPDATING: and here's a Herald follow up story on the fallout.