career talk | Innovation in College Media

You are browsing the archive for career talk.

Mulvaney: Newspaper video has to improve

April 5, 2010 in industry news, Training, video

vixia Colin Mulvaney writes an excellent post on his blog: Video at newspapers needs to improve – that I want to highlight because it’s as good a summary as any of the ways that newspaper-produced video needs to go to reach the storytelling heights that still photojournalism has reached in the past.

He identifies the following problems with much of newspaper video:

Storytelling
Bland Videos
Structure
Editing
Journalism
Narration
Collaboration

Some of these problems stem from the obvious fact that newspapers are still trying to figure out what works for online video, and still photographers are still learning the basics of video storytelling. And when some of the best newspaper videographers get shown the door, or land in academia (Hernandez and Gitner), or must shift careers for personal and geographical reasons, and others (like Mulvaney himself) get pulled off video duty, figuring out what works and indwelling those skills within newspaper staffers just gets that much harder.

A lot of this mediocrity is doubtless self-inflicted. Stories that work in print don’t work so well in video. Stories that benefit from video don’t always get the time they deserve to get it right.

But the greater point is that people (especially student journalists) who want to be videographers for newspapers need to spend a lot more time honing their craft. That includes paying attention to broadcast videographers. While I firmly believe that web-based video necessarily is different from broadcast video, the fact is that broadcast videographers have a lot to teach in terms of video storytelling.

Some of that honing of skills should come through classwork. But a newspaper journalist might only get a few weeks of video training in an intro class. The rest must come from practice and DIY learning (including some of the workshops Mulvaney mentions in his post above). To that end, below are several sites I’d recommend for more advanced DIY training:

Edit Foundry: Shawn Montano’s site hosted by NPPA focuses very sharply on the depths of video editing. What I like about the site is that Montano breaks down a concept – say, Video editing transitions – complete with detailed commentary across the entire video, along with screen grabs.

News Videographer: Angela Grant continues to explore videography from a newspaper veteran’s viewpoint, despite her career developments. An excellent resource.

Mastering Multimedia: Mulvaney’s blog is another excellent resource, which takes a more theoretical approach to multimedia storytelling. Even though he spends less time shooting video, his thoughts are worth the time to absorb.

Multimedia Shooter: Originally set spinning by Richard Koci Hernandez, this site is chock full of tutorials, advice, and inspiration. Not just about video, but a range of multimedia (see Multimedia Rules to Live By and Seven Steps to Train Yourself).

I’m sure there are other excellent sites around the web that focus on video gathering and editing. These are some I’m familiar with and enjoy reading. There are also some excellent sites (Mindy McAdams, among others) who devote some time to video, but also examine a much broader vista of multimedia and online journalism.

Got a favorite site for learning video techniques? Please let us know in the comments.

Print Friendly

Tags: career talk, college newspapers, future of journalism, Multimedia, video
28235 Comments »2010-04-05+20%3A25%3A40Bryan

Future of Journalism panel audio

March 29, 2010 in Academics, career talk, hope for the future, industry news

As promised, I’m embedding the audio from the “Future of Journalism” panel discussion held last Wednesday at EIU.

Panelists were: Will Sullivan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch/STLToday, John Foreman, publisher of the News-Gazette of Champaign-Urbana, Ill. and Nancy Foreman, executive producer at WCIA-TV3 in Champaign. Jeff Lynch, interim dean of the EIU College of Arts and Humanities moderated.

My apologies in advance for the quality of the audio, which was recorded from the audience, not from the sound booth. As you can tell from the discussion, I had several disagreements with John Foreman about the value of online journalism, citizen journalism, and hyperlocal content.

Print Friendly

Tags: career talk, future of journalism, Journalism, Multimedia, social media, stltoday.com
Comments Off

Curley’s advice: Write well

March 1, 2010 in career talk, Conferences, hope for the future

Rob Curley (file photo)

Rob Curley spoke this weekend at the Associated Collegiate Press gathering in Phoenix. It was the first time he’s spoken in public in 18 months, he said. His keynote speech was interesting, but the better session was a Q&A that followed. During that time, he talked about some of the plans the Las Vegas Sun has for the future, and some of the ways they are leveraging a small staff (about 20 writers) to cover Las Vegas.

Toward the end, a student asked Curley how to best prepare for the future of journalism. Curley’s answer was interesting: Learn to write well.

You can listen to the full answer below. It’s about 4 minutes long.

Print Friendly

27253 Comments »Curley%27s+advice%3A+Write+well2010-03-01+13%3A51%3A47Bryan

Opening up Pandora’s box

February 24, 2010 in consulting, hope for the future, Multimedia views, Training

comp Recently, I was on a plane flying back to St. Louis from a two-day workshop at The Daily Toreador at Texas Tech. (I say 2-day – thanks to the airlines and the weather, it was a little less, but that’s a story for another time).

Thinking back on it, I just realized the feeling I usually get when I do these workshops – it’s like opening Pandora’s box. Because I never just talk about audio or video. I always walk through all the other free and easy to use online tools that are available to tell a story online.

I’m so used to seeing all these tools and seeing possibilities to use them that I guess they almost seem mundane in a way.

but when I unpack them in front of a group of students who have never seen an online timeline, or known how easy it is to create a map or edit a piece of audio, I get a glimpse of the magnitude of the vista that is out there for some young journalist who wants to explore online storytelling. It can be intimidating.

That’s why I always repeat the advice I first gave several years ago – pick one thing and learn how to do it well. Don’t worry about the entire river, just find one current to surf for a while. After you’ve got a handle on that, then move to something else.

Everyone will settle on something different, but the crucial part is to get going.

This weekend, I’ll be in Phoenix for ACP’s National College Journalism Convention preaching the multimedia gospel again.

Print Friendly

27214 Comments »Opening+up+Pandora%27s+box2010-02-24+14%3A52%3A57Bryan

Spring CICM Internship Program 2010: Applications now being accepted

January 12, 2010 in CICM shop talk, internships

Flickr photo Creative Commons licensed via adpowers

The pitch: How would you like to learn new media skills while having a positive impact on the college media environment? Join us for a semester of new media opportunity as the intern for the Center for Innovation in College Media for Fall 2009.

Who you are: A bright, dedicated college journalist who wants to help lead the discussion of how technology and online media can improve college media. Internship is open to international students as well (i.e., those outside the United States).

What you’ll do: Help maintain the Innovation in College Media weblog by producing relevant content that highlights what college media are doing in a changing media environment. The possibilities for editorial production are limited only by your imagination and energy. Some of the possibilities:

Podcast interviews with media movers and shakers.
Reviews of college media online initiatives.
Maps and databases of college media online sites.
Live video streams of conferences and/or interviews.
Round-ups of relevant new media writing.
And more.

Skills: Social media savvy (Twitter, friendfeed, etc.), video and audio (soundslides, mogulus or ustream), blogging (WordPress), college journalism (worked as a college journalist, familiar with college media environment).

Location: Wherever you are. I operate from Charleston, IL, Chris Carroll operates from Nashville, TN, but you can operate from anywhere you have a computer and Internet access.

Start/End Dates: Start date is Feb. 8. End date is end of May, 2010.

Hours: As far as hours, it’s really open-ended. You can do some awesome work with minimal hours, or a lot of hours and a minimum of ROI (return on investment). Seriously, it’s all up to you. My goal is for you to succeed.

Pay: We don’t have a lot of money, but we can offer a $500 stipend and a heckuva recommendation letter from yours truly when you’ve finished the race. We’ll make a badge available as well that you can post on your blog or web site.

About the site: ICM is part of the non-profit Center for Innovation in College Media, and is read by numerous college journalists, advisers, and industry folks.

How to apply: Send a copy of your resume and a 250-word essay (or post on your weblog or web site, even better) explaining what ideas you have for the site to me at scmurley@gmail.com. Include links to any multimedia you have produced in the past.

Be forewarned – I will be posting a poll for readers to vote on who is the best potential intern (results will be viewable only by me). However, the ultimate decision on the intern is made by the CICM directors. The winner’s name will be posted after they have been notified and accepted the internship.

Deadline for applications: Monday, Feb. 1, 2010

Print Friendly

26221 Comment »2010-01-12+20%3A10%3A26Bryan

ICM classics: Last words of a journalist: not my job

January 12, 2010 in career talk, hope for the future, ICM Classics, industry news

photo by Flickr user <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href=

photo by Flickr user dlewis5 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Editor’s note: This is a re-post of something I wrote in 2007. I was following some referral logs yesterday, and came across a post by Len Witt about students who want to be great writers. We’ve had a lot of readers come and go in the past three years, so I wanted to repost this for our new readers. As far as I can tell, this is still reality. And be sure to follow the conversation in Len Witt’s subsequent post. The comments are actually civil and thought-provoking.

Meranda Watling posted a comment on an earlier post that I wanted to highlight:

I’ve heard peers say they didn’t get into journalism to blog, to take pictures, to come up with multimedia, to do whatever. They want to write. The other stuff “isn’t that someone else’s job?” or today, another reporter (23-yo recent grad) commented, “why don’t they just hire TV reporter to do the video?” *sigh* Me? I want to hand them a white towel and tell them to surrender now and get out before they get left behind.

I have a confession to make: I was one of those kids. When I was in college – John Tisdale, journalism professor at TCU can attest – I didn’t learn photography because “I want to be a writer.” I focused on editing, writing and gathering information. I neglected the business aspects of the news media. I diligently sent photo requests to the photo department in my first job.

But after I got out of college, I spent time working at a small-town newspaper, where I had to learn how to lay out pages using QuarkXpress. I learned how to take and develop photographs in a darkroom (back when we had to use film). I delivered the papers and collected the change from the racks, and drove the pages to the printer in another town 40 minutes away.

I didn’t do this because I was some kind of “new media guy,” but because it kept me employed. It paid the bills, and made the paper successful. I learned a valuable lesson then – the most versatile journalist has the most job security. It’s served me well over the ensuing years. When the FW Star-Telegram special sections manager wanted volunteers to learn HTML, I was the only one who signed up. When photography was transitioning from film to digital, I was learning all I could. When they needed someone to run the offset press during grad school, I raised my hand.

A wise professor in my Ph.D. program once remarked that the last words he would hear from an employee was “that’s not my job.” I think that’s the right mindset for journalists in the 21st century. It is your job, damnit. Stop acting like a prima donna. If you’re going to be part of the solution to the challenges facing journalism, then you’re going to have to learn to do some “extra” things. Is that going to suck at times? Sure. But you can either buck up and help save journalism or you can whine and join the ranks of the unemployed.

Print (or broadcast, for that matter) isn’t always the best way to tell a story. And that’s what it all boils down to: telling stories.

Updated content: Based on the subsequent discussion, I should qualify that being willing to expand your “toolkit” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on one aspect of your skills. Be the best writer/photographer/designer you can be. But don’t be defined by your unwillingness to try and learn new skills.

Print Friendly

26171 Comment »2010-01-12+13%3A37%3A15Bryan

Using social media to land a job

December 28, 2009 in blogging, career talk, Community, General Media, industry news, internships, social media

As student journalists master the different ways social media can be used to report news and strengthen a publication, tools such as Twitter, Facebook and personal blogging can play an important role in nabbing a job or internship.

Think of it this way — it’s a bit more complicated than just sending out a resume and hard-copy portfolio.

New media guru David Spinks says college journalists on a job search must develop a social media strategy to help separate themselves from droves of others on the prowl for a particular position. Spinks serves as the community manager for Scribnia.com, an online platform for both bloggers and readers, as well as the co-moderator of young professionals Twitter chat #u30pro.

“Social media provides a huge opportunity, ” Spinks said. “It provides an opportunity to build those connections that you wouldn’t have otherwise.”

A personal blog or portfolio site is a must-have for any aspiring journalist entering the job market. (Check out 10000words.net’s list of outstanding journalist portfolios).

“A blog has many values — you can write about anything, but it’s all about how you engage and connect with readers,” Spinks said. “It allows you to establish yourself and tell people about who your are.”

“It’s the differentiator between you and everyone else,” Spinks added.

Blogging frequently and with specific headlines to enhance search engine optimization is one key to attracting readers, but be sure to ask for reader feedback and to enable commenting on the site to create a dialogue.

A personal blog or portfolio site can serve as the corner stone to the online image that new journalists must shape, said Spinks.

“It’s really important that you shape a that image of yourself — that image that comes up when people seek you online,” Spinks said. “It’s up to you personally how you present yourself. Part of blogging and social networking is showing more of your personality and being more transparent. But then there’s the saying that you shouldn’t have anything online that you wouldn’t show your mother.”

Spinks advises that job seekers not to overlook the networking aspect of social networking, using sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to build relationships.

“You should purposely seek out those relationships,” Spinks said. “When I was out looking for a job after college I would seek out the people who worked for the company through social networking before I applied, before I sent out my paper resume and cover letter.”

For more professional new media tips check out Spinks’ blog at davidspinks.com or the #u30pro Twitter chat at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday.

Print Friendly

25759 Comments »Using+social+media+to+land+a+job+2009-12-28+21%3A31%3A50JennaStaul

MPI/APME Chicagoland NewsTrain for educators

December 20, 2009 in Educational opportunities

Note: 20 College Educators will receive a grant to cover their attendance at this workshop. See details below.

At-A-Glance:
Become a more effective editor. Two days of training in editing and management skills for online news and print.

When:
Friday-Saturday, March 26-27, 2010
Sign-in begins about 8:30 a.m. Workshop runs approximately 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. each day.

Where:
The conference will be held at the Daily Herald, 155 E. Algonquin Rd., Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Cost:
$50 registration fee to attend one or both days. This includes lunch and coffee breaks.

Workshop registration: http://bit.ly/Chicagoland_NewsTrain_Registration
Workshop information: http://bit.ly/Chicagoland_NewsTrain_Information

Program highlights:
Track 1: The Nimble Leader
-News Ethics and Values
-The Skeptical Editor
-Creating a Constructive Culture
-Story Planning for Multiple Media and Multiple Deadlines

Track 2: The Evolving Journalist
-Your Data Strategy – What info to collect and what you can do with it
-Alternative distribution – Putting links, RSS and social networking to work
-Covering communities in new ways
-Knowing Your Audiences

Journalism educator awards:
A grant from the McCormick Foundation is funding awards for 20 college journalism educators to attend the two-day NewsTrain workshop. Award winners will also be able to attend a seminar designed exclusively for them. The awards are valued at up to $400 each. Deadline for scholarship applications and letters demonstrating departmental support is 2/15/10, with notification of recipients by 2/23/10. For more information, please contact John Ryan, Mid-America Press Institute, jmryan@eiu.edu, or Elaine Kramer, APME NewsTrain, apmenewstrain@gmail.com.

To apply for a journalism educator award: http://bit.ly/Chicagoland_NewsTrain_Educator_Award

Faculty members:

Mark Briggs is an author and entrepreneur. His book “Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital Reporting and Publishing” was published in fall 2009 by CQPress. It updates his popular online guide “Journalism 2.0” and explains how to use the latest software, tools and concepts to help journalists harness technology and take control of their futures in journalism. As CEO and co-founder of Serra Media, a Seattle-based technology company, Mark connects local publishers with interactive applications and digital platforms that power online innovations. As a speaker, teacher and presenter, he works with students and professionals throughout the U.S. and Europe to do better journalism through technology. He blogs at www.journalism20.com. Previously, Briggs worked The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., and at The Herald in Everett, Wash. He was named to Presstime magazine’s “20 under 40″ list for 2007.

Mitch Pugh is the editor of the Sioux City Journal, a 40,000-circulation daily newspaper in northwest Iowa and one of Editor & Publisher’s “10 That Do It Right” in 2009. Prior to his tenure in Sioux City, Pugh was a managing editor for the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis. He has also served as an editor and writer for news operations in suburban Chicago and Denver. In 2009 he led an APME Online Journalism Credibility Project called Breaking News Without Breaking Trust, which explored the practical issues of breaking news via digital platforms while maintaining high levels of credibility with readers and ethical standards of journalism.

More faculty members to be named.

Payment:
Your $50 fee is expected in advance of the workshop to hold your spot. You may pay by credit card online, or mail in a check.

Checks should be payable to: APME NewsTrain
Mail checks to: John M. Ryan, Professor of Journalism, Director of Student Publications, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Ave.
Charleston, IL 61920

For more information:
APME NewsTrain Project Manager Elaine Kramer, apmenewstrain@gmail.com, (412) 805-0812
John Ryan, Mid-America Press Institute, jmryan@eiu.edu

Local partners:
Mid-America Press Institute
The Daily Herald
Chicago Tribune
Community News Matters
GateHouse Media
Stevens Point (Wis.) Journal
Illinois State University
Northwest Herald
Columbia College
Illinois Press Association
Quad Cities Times

Print Friendly

Comments Off

Journalism school graduates: How to increase your chance of finding a job and decrease your chance of having to vent on AngryJournalist.com (revisited)

December 7, 2009 in career talk

EDIT: Originally posted in March, 2008, I’m promoting this post again on the occasion of angryjournalist.com’s 10,000th comment today (as mentioned by @howardowens and @digidave on Twitter). How much of the advice do you think is still relevant? – ed.

You might have heard of the journalism punching bag I created, AngryJournalist.com, and if you’re a college student right now it’s probably a discouraging place to frequent given all the horror stories that’s on there.

It’s not completely hopeless, despite all the doom and gloom, however, you can’t assume that your college education will be all you need to snag a job. Remember, your journalism degree’s probably no different than the thousands of other j-degrees out there that other graduates have. The only thing that’s going to set you apart from the pack and help you land a job is ultimately related to the amount of self-initiative and investment you place within yourself.

Read the rest of this entry →

Print Friendly

25291 Comment »2009-12-07+19%3A08%3A57Bryan