PBS’s MediaShift blog had some interesting insight to offer college newspapers in the wake of the New York Times’ predicted move to install a paywall on their site.

Specifically, the site urged student newspapers not to be lured into the promise of a paywall. While I’d say that’s sound advice, I’m not sure there is much legitimate discussion amongst college newspapers to install paywalls while they’re still offering their print product for free.

Nevertheless, the blog offered some tips about how college newspapers can keep afloat in uncertain times.

According to MediaShift:

1. Beef up off-campus reporting.

MediaShift says student journalists should make sure to step off campus, covering their communities.

But if the new journalism world is going to separate will-pay and won’t-pay readers, some extra reporting about local and even national news could be a huge draw.

2. Extend Peer Content Sharing:

Look to fellow college newspapers to get make your content more well rounded.

We are living in a post-UWIRE world in which content distribution among college media is tougher than ever. (Though I have high hopes College News Network or a similar future initiative will save the day).

3. A “three point strategy”

1. Stick with local news reporting depth.
2. Add national news breadth.
3. Be an open window, not a pay wall.

Print Friendly

Abilene Christian University’s, The Optimist, will be the first student newspaper to publish on Apple’s much-talked-about iPad.  

From the Optimist:

Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, says students and faculty already are working to achieve the goal. A team of faculty and student researchers and developers from multiple departments at the university plan to have the Optimist ready for the iPad by the end of March. Optimist editors plan to employ the new platform to deliver a more converged form of media to the ACU community in addition to the print, online and iPhone app versions of the Optimist.

Print Friendly

It’s an easy trap to fall into for even the most well-intentioned newspaper Web site  – shovelware.

That’s shoveling a newspaper’s content onto a Web site during night production, refreshing the page only once daily — and it also happens to be my new media pet peeve.

News online should be fluid. Ideally, a news site should be updated as frequently as possible, offering readers fresh content throughout the day.

Here’s some tips to avoid this all-too common problem.

1. Post news as it happens.

This is kind of a n0-brainer but it’s easy to overlook.  While many college news outlets thrive during big breaking news events, day-to-day news should also be posted as it occurs. Student government meetings, university or city events or minor police incidents shouldn’t wait till the next day’s paper, rather, they should be posted as soon as the story is complete.

2. Don’t rely on Twitter updates

It’s 2010 — most college outlets have stepped into the Twittersphere. But a Twitter update (or simply using Twitter to link out to your stories) isn’t enough. Follow up those 140-character posts with a few paragraphs on your site to give readers more complete updates. If reporters can’t write updates from an event, have them call the newsroom and update editors over the phone.

3. Stagger deadlines.

It’s easy to be lulled into a newspaper’s day-to-day grind.  But a newspaper’s deadline and production process shouldn’t encumber your site. Now’s the time to make online news a priority. Assign reporters deadlines throughout the day. As content comes in it should be immediately edited and posted to the Web site, even if it isn’t immediately timely.

It isn’t just for news items — this is great for multimedia as well as feature and lifestyle stories and even opinion pieces. In order to make your site a destination, it needs to have something different to offer your readers throughout the day.

4. Make sure everyone (or almost everyone) in your newsroom knows how to post to your site.

It’s a scary proposition for many editors. But realistically, if you rely on only a handful of people to keep your site updated, content won’t flow as it should. Make sure multiple people in your newsroom know how to post content to the site — maybe editors or principal reporters or the copy desk.  This way, as content comes in it can be posted.

Print Friendly

Popular news and blogging site The Huffington Post has announced it will launch a college news vertical on Feb. 15, tentatively. The vertical will feature aggregated news from college media as well as student blogs, according to Adam Clark Estes, citizen journalism editor for theHuffington Post.

Estes said  the news aggregator could help fill the void left by Uwire’s sudden shutdown last year.

“Considering Uwire went under there’s kind of a whole to fill there,” Estes said. ” In general, we’re as interested in curating news as  we are curating a conversation around the news.”

The HuffPost is currently reaching out to college newspapers around the country, to build a partnership with publications. In exchange for offering content, student media would place a widget on their Web site listing top stories from the section.

Leah Finnegan, former editor of the Daily Texan, is currently in the process of contacting newspapers about the HuffPost partnership and Estes described the response so far as “overwhelmingly positive.”

“I think it’s a really good opportunity for us to get a hold of the national student voice,” Estes said.

I interned at the Huffington Post’s Washington DC bureau during the fall 2009 semester, and, in my opinion, this is a fantastic opportunity for college media outlets. Most university newspapers see relatively low online readership numbers with only a few thousand unique readers monthly at best. The Huffington Post draws millions of unique readers each month, which could provide not only a national platform for many student reporters but also a modest boost in online readers for college news organizations.

In short, having your story linked to on the Huffington Post or any big news aggregator can translate into increased traffic for your site.

And though clearly I’m biased, I agree with Estes — The Huffington Post’s expertise is not only curating news but fostering thoughtful conversations around it. To me, that’s the point of new media.

Of course, not everyone shares my enthusiasm.

A very lively debate on the Huffington Post’s move into the college media world took place on a Jan. 10 #collegeJourn chat,  with several student journalists expressing concern about the site’s new vertical.

Cody Brown, an NYU journalism major and founder of the NYU Local blog and adviser for CoPress, said student media outlets should stay out of a partnership with the Huffington Post.

“It’s hard to understand but the Huffington Post has a kind of excitement around it outside of NYC,” Brown said in a G-Chat interview. “It’s a popular Web site. It generates insane traffic because of SEO and these college publishers probably think that being associated with it will put them in the same light. It won’t.

“Going into a partnership with the Huffington Post where they can absorb your best stories into their feed, will effectively put a giant-green checkpoint between potential readers and your story.”

Suzanne Yada, online editor of the Spartan Daily at San Jose State University, said she is still unsure if a partnership with the Huffington Post would be a boon for student newspapers, adding that the site is often perceived as being partisan.

“I’m still on the fence about it, ” Yada said. “I’m a little skeptical about putting that badge — the widget on the Web site. Other than hits and bragging rights, I feel like it could be a more beneficial relationship fo The Huffington Post than the college newspaper.”

Again, I would have to say I respectfully disagree. The Huffington Post’s status as a leading online news source could provide college reporters with the spotlight they deserve.

Print Friendly

It didn’t take Ryan Dunn, associate editor of Ohio University’s The Post, long to notice the absence of college media wire service U-Wire.

“We used to use (U-Wire) a lot for the opinion section, which I edit,” Dunn said. “We definitely noticed when we didn’t have that safety net for something to plunk into the section.”

U-Wire, which facilitated content sharing for more than 800 college publications, suddenly ceased operations without an official explanation.

U-Wire general manager Tom Orr told this to the Seattle Spectator on the service’s future:

“UWIRE has temporarily suspended its print wire operations. The company is in the process of trying to get the wire relaunched as quickly as possible and when more information is available it will be made public.”

In response to losing that safety net Dunn and The Post’s managing editor Dave Hendricks,  both journalism majors at OU’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, launched a simple WordPress site, CollegeNewsNetwork.org,  two months ago to fill the content-sharing void.

So far, 30 college newspapers are taking part in the free service.

“Editors post stories that would be relevant outside their own readership,” Dunn said. “We started out just sending dozens and dozens of e-mails saying ‘Do you want to be apart of this?’ And the response has been pretty strong.”

Dunn, who was formerly a U-Wire student editor, said it would be “tough for (College News Network) to compete with U-Wire” if the service relaunches.

“But I definitely hope this continues to grow.”

Print Friendly

Web hosting service College Publisher recently re-revamped its Web site CollegeMediaNetwork.com as a content aggregator for CP’s vast network of college newspapers.

Rusty Lewis, College Media Network director, said after the company launched a new business-to-business site a year ago, CollegePublisher.com, CMN’s Web site was free to showcase “what the network of newspaper Web sites produced.”

Lewis said the company noticed the lack of a major site aggregating content from college news organizations.

Lewis said the beta site has three primary functions:

1. Bridge sites on the CP network

Users can click on the network brand in the top from any CP site and very easily find related content from other school papers. From a search-bot or spider standpoint, this page is a shared resource for all network sites.

2.  Provide a doorway to the college student’s perspective

Since the site automatically creates groups of content by assigning tags to articles, users of the site can very easily gather information about movie reviews, H1N1, Obama or NCAA, etc.

3. A social network

Visitors to CollegeMediaNetwork.com can share content, comment or add stories to their Facebook accounts using Facebook content. This is all done on a network level. The site exposes the true value of being one of the many sites using College Publisher, benefiting both our readers and publisher.

Lewis said he doesn’t foresee the site, which refreshes hourly and is available on mobile devices including iPhone, iTouch and Blackberry, coming out of the beta phase during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Print Friendly

(Full disclosure, Jenna Staul attends Kent State University and has worked for the Daily Kent Stater and KentNewsNet.)

Student media leaders from the Iowa State University’s Iowa State Daily and Kent State University’s KentNewsNet gave insight into what makes their Pacemaker-award winning newspapers work, talking multimedia, collaboration and planning ahead.

KentNewsNet.com, Kent State University. Kristine Gill, Newsroom Coordinator.

Gill said she’s proudest of KentNewsNet’s use of Twitter and user submitted content to better engage its readership.

“It really works best with breaking news,” Gill said of the way her staff uses Twitter to reach out to readers. “If it’s just a story about scheduling classes, people will figure that out on their own time. But we’ve had a lot of breaking news here — with things like campus robberies people will log on, see what’s happening, and then they have their own questions.”

Gill said the organization’s features team, which is comprised of both print and broadcast majors, has most effectively incorporated multimedia into its coverage, but adds that collaboration between staffers of different media backgrounds is still a work in progress.

“During every conversation (the features team) had, they would discuss what multimedia they would do. They didn’t just include a print recipe in an article — they’d produce a recipe video showing how to put it together. You need to have someone who’s job is to think of multimedia.”

Gill advises other college media outlets to bring in staffers who are enthusiastic about new technology and multimedia.

“There are some newspapers who don’t specifically have a Web staff or not everyone on the staff considers it a priority,” Gill said. “It’s all about building your staff.”

IowaStateDaily.com. Iowa State University.  Zach Thompson, Editor.

Thompson said blogging has become an integral part of IowaStateDaily.com, though the process is more art than science.

“We had an issue with a blog post arise about a year and a half ago,” Thompson said of perils of reporting unedited news in real-time. “What we took from that was we needed to teach reporters what a blog looks like — that a blog is not just an online column and that they still need to be objective.”

Thompson said the organization is key to making sure that multimedia is properly included with traditional print content.

“It’s always a challenge,” Thompson said. “Everybody is aware of the fact the Web and multimedia are a priority and we just try to plan ahead as much as possible. It’s really important to have people on staff who will work with back end of the site and with programming. Not everyone who initially comes into the newsroom with that kind of mindset. I’m not sure if that’s sort of a misnomer about working for a newspaper.”

Thompson, who said IowaStateDaily.com includes reader polls to better gauge the site’s audience and includes PDF’s, such as documents from the university’s student government, advises student media outlets to make the Web its first priority.

“I would say you need to get on the Web,” Thompson said. “Get a WordPress blog. Just make it exist.”

Print Friendly

Photo by Flickr user cole24 used with Creative Commons permission.

I spent some time talking to winners of last month’s Pacemaker online awards to get their take on what makes a effective Web news outlet. If there was any consensus among these three student media leaders (the other two interviews from KentNewsNet and IowaStateDaily.com will be posted next week) it was that coordination is key to making it all work.

The Daily Kansan. Editor Brenna Hawley. Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.

Hawley said a multimedia course at the University of Kansas is helping prepare print students to engage in multimedia reporting and has led to the incorporation of Google maps and Flash graphics into Kansan.com.  She advises student media outlets looking to step up their online presence to institute staggering deadlines — the Kansan hired additional copy editors to keep up with the increased workload.

Hawley said the paper still grapples with getting newer staff members in tune with the ’round-the-clock pace of the Kansan. “A big struggle is getting newer reporters to meet a Web deadline as opposed to just their regular print deadline.”

The Oklahoma Daily. Senior Online Editor, LeighAnne Manwarren. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.

Manwarren said OU’s football culture pushed the OUDaily.com to step up its Web presence, including regular updates and expanded multimedia coverage to keep its audience engaged during gametime.

“We have a multimedia staff who’s fabulous,” Manwarren said. “I feel proud of the whole Web site. It’s total experiment.”

The paper has also created special pages, tailored for the big news coverage that matters most to OU students, including a page for a student who died 5 years ago from alcohol poisoning.

“Our papers were sold out, but we could say, well, go check out the Web site for coverage,” Manwarren said.

dennews.com. Editor In Chief, Tyler Angelo. Eastern Illinois Univ., Charleston, Ill.

“It should be about working together,” Angelo said. “Knowing what’s going on ahead of time so that everyone’s on the same page.”

Angelo said the day-to-day upkeep of DenNews.Com is what he’s most proud of: Regular Web updates and the incorporation of photo, video and podcasts — as well as weekly meetings between staffs — have made the site stand out.

Angelo said the paper includes a page 2 tease to the Web site, which drives readers used to reading their news in print to the online edition.

Print Friendly