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J-Student Spotlight: Rachael Dickson, George Mason U., UWIRE 100

July 11, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Rachael Dickson is an award-winning, professionally-trained harpist.  Over the years, she has even played “rock harp” in a few bars, which immediately makes her cooler than you.  The  rising senior at George Mason University is also a self-described “21-year-old reporter kicking it new-school online with thoughts, musings, articles, videos, and photos.” 

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Her online awesomeness extended this past year to Connect2Mason, a student-run online outlet that breaks down all-things GMU through a smorgasbord of Journalism 3.0 styles and tools.  According to one projo/admirer, Dickson’s writing for the site, and during separate internships, “excell[s] in everything from short deadline, event based reporting to multimedia features, and from movie reviews to political profiles.”

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For her reporting wunderkind status, the rock harpist and history major (with minors in, you guessed it, electronic journalism and music) recently earned a place on the UWIRE 100, a listing of the best of the best of college media worldwide.  Today, the Dallas native also takes her rightful place in the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight.

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Rachael Dickson, Connect2Mason.com writer at George Mason University.

Rachael Dickson, writer, Connect2Mason.com

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Write a six-word memoir of your student journalism experiences.

Bring it on; Perseverance pays off.

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What is the best piece of journalism advice you’ve ever received or given?

I read in a book that you should always carry a pencil with you in case it rains.  Sure enough, when it rained like crazy at an Obama/Biden rally about a month later, I was still able to take notes.  It was a bit more difficult taking pictures through a plastic bag though. . .

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Memorable behind-the-scenes production moment.

I just recently participated in a fun photo shoot where I pretended to interview these two flamingos named Splosh and Pecks (for Victoria “Posh” and David “Becks” Beckham).  I had to climb out to a center island in their little creek, throw food to them, and make weird clucking sounds so they would look my way.  It was pretty amusing.

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What first sparked your passion for journalism?

Really out of curiosity, I took a journalism class at my high school.  My very first story looked at the dispute between the marching band and the neighbors across the street who kept calling the cops on them.  I went door to door talking to neighbors about how they felt.  The story ended up getting published on the front page of the high school newspaper.  From that day, I was hooked.

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What are your predictions for the future of college journalism?

I believe college journalism will continue in one form or another for the next couple of decades at least.  We’re in the midst of the information age.  There’s always going to be a demand for localized news on student campuses.  I personally believe the printed newspaper will exist for a while longer on college campuses, where it can be easier to pick up a paper than reach a computer sometimes.  However, I think the demand for new multimedia will push student media organizations to innovate and develop new, exciting ways of conveying information to their readers.

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What is one question we should all be asking much more often about the current state or future of journalism?

While it is important to get news out there very quickly, especially in this Internet-based time, I think a lot of times reporters work so hard to snap out stories that they forget to really check that their stories are accurate and as unbiased as possible.  Incidents such as these have destroyed the reputations of journalists once it came out that they hadn’t done their legwork in checking the claims.  It’s really important to just step back for a second, take a breath, and ask yourself before publishing something: Am I sure this story is accurate?  Have I talked to all the relevant people to this story?  It sounds like such a little thing, but it’s huge.

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You wake up in ten years. Where are you and what are you doing?

In ten years, I hope to wake up somewhere in Asia or Africa, reporting from abroad and writing a book on free speech and media issues in that location.  (I plan to study First Amendment and media law between now and then.)

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalist Spotlight | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Plagiarism Equals Expulsion for Once Mighty Mac Arthur

July 9, 2009 by Dan Reimold

The Independent Florida Alligator has verified it, with the help of UF’s journalism department chair: If confirmed, UF rising junior Hailey Mac Arthur’s NYT’s love-fest/plagiarism will result in her expulsion from the College of Journalism and Communications.  (What about from the university or the journalism field in general or from America or Second Life or the Third World???)

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A recent Facebook status update from the College of Journalism and Communications Dean John Wright: “One thing is certain. Plagiarism will not be tolerated at the College of Journalism and Communications.”  (By the way, if Wright also tweets, he is officially nominated for “The Coolest Dean … Ever Award.”)

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Students commenting on a UF media class blog had this to say:

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“I’m pissed, too! I worked so hard to get into UF because it is one of the best J-schools in the country! Now, what would have gotten my resume put on top of the pile (my hard earned effing degree) will just invoke a wary glance as it gets tossed in the ‘maybe’ pile. This girl lied to keep herself in a position she clearly wasn’t qualified for– if you can’t stand the heat (ie: write your own sh*t), stay out of the newsroom.”

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“[T]his is really ridiculous why would she do blatant dumbass thing like that i mean plagiarism is messed up any way you slice it but its the ny times man balls to that!”

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“I also believe that Hailey did a very stupid thing by thinking she could get away with plagiarizing in a daily read newspaper. On the other hand, I do not think that it will cause everyone to think that now every journalism student at UF does the same thing and cause job problems. It was also just in the paper today that a UF student shot and killed someone, that does not mean that now everyone looks down on UF because we are murderers. I believe it is just a minor set back and it will be forgotten shortly.”

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My take: Let’s all be chill for a minute.  The girl got caught.  She’s being (quite fairly) excoriated across the Web, which is of course not so fun in the age of the blogosphere.  It looks like she’s also rightly heading for expulsion-town, showing there is some justice left in J-ville.  Mighty Mac Arthur has struck out, and she will (and SHOULD) be shut out from any future jobs requiring truth and ethics.  The closest she will ever get to a New York Times job is delivering them.  She is also very young, the part that gives me pause prior to simply wanting to scream at her.  Yes, her blog bio hints at uber-narcissism (Hi, I’m an award-winning journalist…) and with a few internships and other gigs under her belt this was no babe in the woods.  But she is still (or soon, was) a student. Hopefully she has learned a lesson that will stay with her forever (sort of like the Google results for searches of her name that will forever be beyond embarassing).  In the meantime, Alligator peeps, you better start checking the archives.  Plagiarists tend to be serial creeps.

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments »

Florida Journalism Student Fired for Plagiarizing Stories from New York Times

July 8, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Somewhere, Tim Tebow is shaking his fists with rage.  In a case of either sheer unethical boldness or unbelievable ignorance, a University of Florida journalism student has sullied the UF championship facade- plagiarizing parts of articles she wrote as an intern for a Colorado newspaper from none other than the New York freakin’ Times.  (As a friend just mentioned to me: “FYI, you are not even allowed to take the word ‘the’ from the New York- Messiah of National Newspapers- Times.”)

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According to a Gawker report (sent my way by a distressed UF lover), Hailey Mac Arthur stole scraps from four NYT stories covering everything from sheep shearing to homelessness and spun them as her own for publication in The Colorado Springs Gazette.  In an editor’s note, Mac Arthur’s overseer at the Gazette labeled the shoddy journalism a true “breach of trust.”  Here’s an example he gave of her stolen work:

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Mac Arthur story in Gazette, July 2, “Bicycle safety a hit-or-miss proposition in Springs”

From the vantage point of a bicycle, the city presents itself as a panorama passing by at a speed somewhere between the blur outside a car window and the plodding pace of walking.

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Random New York Times story, Oct. 3, 2004, “Spin city“

From the vantage point of a bike, the city presents itself as a savorable panorama passing by at a speed somewhere between the blur outside a car window and the plodding pace of walking.

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Spot the similarities?  Gawker is the first and certainly won’t be the last to make the Mac Arthur-Maureen Dowd comparison.  (For those stuck on no-journalism-allowed-island recently, Dowd faced scrutiny in May for penning a column that contained an eerily similar passage to a piece posted on a popular blog.)

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Here’s Gawker’s take: ”Perhaps the ultimate irony in all of this is that young Hailey Mac Arthur’s writing seems to have some Maureen Dowd-ish qualities to it, no? Too bad Mac Arthur couldn’t get away with concocting some sort of ridiculous ‘my friend told it all to me over the phone’ excuse like Dowd so famously did back in May when she plagiarized TPM’s Josh Marshall. If there’s any justice in the world maybe the Times will give Hailey Mac Arthur her second chance. After all, everyone does deserve one.”

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According to the bio on Mac Arthur’s blog, (a cached version, since, as Gawker confirmed, she’s privatized the blog and erased her profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn) she’s preparing for a trip to Brazil in the fall as part of a UF advanced journalism practicum.  Interesting side question: Should a student’s j-misdeeds as an intern (while representing the university) impact her class standing or enrollment in any way???

Posted in Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Teachable Moment | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Michigan State Journalism School Drama Continues…

July 6, 2009 by Dan Reimold

The j-drama is heating up at Michigan State.  More news is seeping out about the sudden resignation request thrown at the j-school director.  And a student activist site has even sprung up in the vein of The Daily Emerald’s strike blog from this past spring.  Of course in this case, the site is promoting and fighting for a different cause: an explanation of this administrative decision and a confirmation that the school itself will be OK!  (Seems quite reasonable to me.)

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Here’s what we now know:

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  • According to her public statements, J-School Director Jane Briggs-Bunting was given no warning or explanation when asked to immediately resign by new Communication Arts & Sciences Dean Pamela Whitten. “There were no options for me, and there was no discussion,” she said in a new State News report. “In this sort of situation, you’d think being able to sit down and discuss things would happen.”  School faculty were also in the dark, meaning they are now scrambling to ensure her duties will be filled in the short-term.  Briggs-Bunting, meanwhile, has retained a lawyer.

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  • Apparently, Briggs-Bunting had recently overseen a plan for a curriculum “overhaul” that was unanimously approved by j-school faculty and was awaiting administrative approval.  (My $10 bet: Will it be approved?  Not so much.  Obviously someone in the big house didn’t like what she saw.  Initials PW?)

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  • A group of students are angered enough about the cloudiness hanging over the administrative decision that they have started an impressive-looking blog-from-scratch, “Save MSU Journalism.” (It even has original/mash-up graphics!  See below.)  On a read-through, it’s clear that the blog’s aim is NOT so much to save Briggs-Bunting’s job as much as it is to simply fight for a clear, sensible explanation of the decision and ensure the j-school’s future is sound.  This group (or one connected to it) is serious: It has even filed FOIA requests for docs related to the hiring of Whitten and past performance reviews for both Whitten and Briggs-Bunting.

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  • Here’s what students write in one of the first blog posts: “Jane Briggs-Bunting was asked to resign as director of the School of Journalism at Michigan State University on the morning of July 1, Pamela Whitten’s first day as dean. J-School students spread the news via Twitter, until official acknowledgment came July 2 in statements from the university spokesman. Briggs-Bunting’s name was removed from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences Web site prior to the official announcement from the University. We feel this reflects poorly on the ability of CAS and Dean Whitten to clearly communicate a message. This incident and their lack of transparency clearly indicates that the leadership of CAS is unable to practice what it preaches.”

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An image from the site “Save MSU Journalism” calling out the new dean who asked for the j-school director’s resignation.

Posted in Journalism, Journalism Education | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Michigan State Journalism School Director Asked to Resign

July 6, 2009 by Dan Reimold

J-Drama Alert!  In a decision that reeks of either randomness or behind-the-scenes fighting, Jane Briggs-Bunting, the director of the journalism school at Michigan State University, was asked to step down from her position ASAP by a new dean- during her first day on the job.  Hmmmm.

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No administrative explanations so far.  Briggs-Bunting: “I’m very concerned. We are one of the schools at the cutting edge of redefining journalism. I really would hate to see that momentum slowed.”  Here’s a State News brief on the incident.  I’m interested to read a related editorial or column on the matter soon!

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In the meantime, anyone have any inside knowledge of the admin’s BB gunning???

Posted in Journalism, Journalism Education | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

J-Student Spotlight: Hailey Branson, Univ. of Oklahoma, UWIRE 100

July 3, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Hailey Branson is afraid of microwaves.  She plays paintball, the piano, and the marimba.  And she also oozes reporting talent and a passion for journalism that borders on life affirming.

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As a former j-student colleague gushes: “In an age of constant technological advances and increased cynicism, you would be hard pressed to find someone who believes in the value of the written word, the importance of being unbiased when reporting the news, and loves the smell of a newspaper as much as Ms. Branson. . . . Branson has made me believe in journalism again.  As corny as that might sound, it is true.  Talking with her, I have seen what an honest person with a commitment to telling the truth can do.”

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Branson’s collegiate journalism career is as varied and impressive as any I have ever come across.  The 21-year-old rising senior at the University of Oklahoma has served as a reporter, opinion editor, and assistant managing editor for The Oklahoma Daily. Last semester, she pulled double duty in Washington D.C. as a Daily correspondent and an intern for The Houston Chronicle and Hearst Newspapers.  She’s reported on all-things-Oklahoma for a few smaller pubs.  And at this moment, she is in Manhattan, interning at the New York Times, more than 1,400 miles and a world away from her hometown of Perry, Oklahoma, which she describes ironically as a “sprawling metropolis” (population: 5,000).

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For her all-around j-amazingness, Branson rightfully earned a spot in the latest UWIRE 100 listing, a selection of college media’s most productive, innovative, and elite.  Below, she happily dons a ’stache and gives a thumbs up to her inclusion in the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight.

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Hailey Branson

Hailey Branson2

Hailey Branson's reporting style has many facets, and faces.

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Write a six-word memoir of your student journalism experiences.

I guess it could be weirder.

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What is the best piece of journalism advice you’ve ever received or given?

I went to dinner with Helen Thomas- the Helen Thomas- this past semester.  She told me that to be successful in this job you have to learn something new every day and you always have to tell people the truth, even when it’s something they need to hear more than they want to hear.

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Memorable behind-the-scenes moment.

I’ll never forget doing a story for The Oklahoma Daily about identity theft.  My source had her debit card number stolen- and used to buy foreign porn.  I was walking across campus when I called her and ended up having to leave a voicemail message that made my face go beet red: “Hi, Katie.  This is Hailey Branson with the OU Daily. I need to  talk to you . . . about your porn.”   It was good preparation for my summer internship, which ended with me having to do a story about bestiality.

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What first sparked your passion for journalism?

I have always been kind of a stalker.  As a child, I used to watch my neighbors from my bedroom window and write conspiracy theories about them in my diary.  When I found out I could get paid to keep tabs on people, I thought it was too good to be true.  I knew I was hooked on journalism when I got my first byline in the local newspaper at the age of 15, and my first job as a laborer on the old manual press that still required wax-up layout.

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What are your predictions for the future of college journalism?

College journalism is in a period of change right now, just as professional journalism is.  But it certainly is not dying.  Students want more news now than ever before and, with the constant news cycle created by online news, college journalists will become more and more important to campuses and communities.

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College journalism will likely be focused more and more on multimedia projects that involve text (both online and in hard copy), photos, video, and podcasts.  Full package stories will be much more common, as opposed to print-only stories.  This will provide excellent opportunities for students with different journalism interests to work together, learn specialized skills from each other, and make all team members competitive in an increasingly cutthroat industry.

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What is one question we should all be asking much more often about the current state or future of journalism?

Why are so many people spending more time complaining about changes in journalism than learning new skills that will make them competitive?

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You wake up in ten years. Where are you and what are you doing?

I am in bed, wondering why I had another nightmare about clowns.  I live in New York City and have a job as an in-depth reporter for the New York Times.  I keep a popular blog, do regular online video work, and have a few awards and a cat named Mrs. Parks.

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalist Spotlight | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Daily Nexus Editor: Print Newspaper Still in Play on Campus

July 1, 2009 by Dan Reimold

I received an excellent comment recently from Mackenzie Weinger, editor in chief of the esteemed Daily Nexus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She further confirms a truth I’ve fought hard to get recognized over the past year (through this blog and via a chat with CICM’s Bryan Murley): College students are still reading print newspapers.

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Here’s Weigner’s brief, well-written treatise on the subject:

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As someone who fought hard this past year to get a lock-in fee passed to bring back our Friday paper, I’ve got to say that trying to save print is not about fear of the unknown.  It’s rooted in the fact that the only place where everyone still picks up a paper each day is a college campus, and where less than a handful of students venture online to read content.

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No one goes into a huge lecture hall without a copy of the paper, if only because they just might need the Sudoku or crossword if things get boring.  I’m fine with that- maybe they’ll even glance at a lede or a photo while they’re at it.

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And students still love print- after all, we somehow convinced the student body to give us more funding in order to bring back our Friday edition.  In the midst of this fantastic economy, that’s really saying something. [END of comment]

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I do believe campus papers’ uber-accessibility, free price tags, and convenience as crossword/Sudoku puzzle providers help a ton.  I also think campus print papers still inspire reading because they are thin enough to not seem overwhelming (as compared to the immediate guilt factor of picking up most dailies and knowing you’re only going to sneak a peek at a few sections).  And they are true peer-to-peer content vehicles, something professional papers for the most part struggle to echo because they are reporting first to a specific PLACE not to a specific demographic of PEOPLE.   (Although of course faculty, admins., parents of students, townies also read campus papers, in the end most staffers passionately espouse a student-first editorial philosophy for their publications.)

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WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, Student Newspaper | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Michael Jackson Death Coverage NOT a New Media Triumph

June 30, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Every major breaking story nowadays comes with a seemingly instant meta-analysis of how new media have fared while impacting the story’s coverage. Case in point: a CNN piece about the Michael Jackson death gossip-mongering news coverage.

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My take: This is NOT a story that symbolizes new media’s shining greatness. In fact, they are hardly helping matters at all.  Now, in fairness, there are some positives.  Some of the more visual career timelines and discographies have caught my eye and are serving as stellar complements to the basic news pieces, especially impressive given how little lead time there was to put them together. The endless videos available of every Jackson utterance, moonwalk, and nose alteration have also been helpful at times for context and in quiet moments simply for entertainment/remembrance sake.  And obviously, the Internet proved useful for the newsibodies and Jackson fans to commiserate and find out the first death details as they spilled out.

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But that’s it.  So the story broke on TMZ, and many people followed it there and on PerezHilton.com.  Who cares? Those two sites are part of the media establishment now anyway (whether the oldies like it or not).  TMZ had the story a few minutes before everyone else, but this is NOT a story in which that sort of scoop really matters at all.  I mean, c’mon, do people other than TMZ junkies and media watchers even know or care that it was the site that first broke the story?

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Otherwise, TMZ has basically been doing one-source reporting updates on everything from Madonna’s reaction to the initial autopsy announcement.  (And, if you notice, Perez Hilton is basically parroting TMZ with the same news updates and with only an implicit shout-out to TMZ for doing the actual ‘reporting’ via a link to its updates in his posts.)  First, TMZ is the ONLY non-mainstream news outlet providing any credible, worthwhile details, making any citizen journalist, all-atwitter-over-Twitter or blogosphere-for-President arguments moot.  TMZ may not be the BIG media of yesteryear, but now, with its success, it has come to embody the same one-to-many media model we were raised on i.e. OLD not new.

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And while, OK, it’s kind of cool that TMZ is doing some solid scoop reporting in real time, as it happens, as I go through the content (like most people) once or twice a day, I can’t help but feel like an old-style news summary would save me a lot of trouble scrolling and putting together the pieces into a coherent larger picture.

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The problem with the Jackson story for new media: It’s NOT a continuing saga, unlike the Iran controversy or even something like Jon & Kate’s drama. It’s essentially one story (umm, he’s dead) with new (and old) media outlets attempting to spotlight a TON of fairly minor side stories around it to keep our interest (and keep up their Web traffic).

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I’ve got new media coursing through my veins but, yes, I’m saying it: Give me a once-a-day update on all-things-Jackson in the style of an old-world newspaper report!  Why?  Because at this point, I’m already (ALREADY?!) sick of the endless updates.  And this is another ill effect of new media’s obsessive coverage: the instant overexposure, and subsequent way-too-soon public weariness, of whatever the new media outlets and blogosphere set their common sights upon.

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The real-time updating is also causing problems, most horrifically the false autopsy report about Jackson being bald and speckled with drug needles (a story that I only just minutes ago corrected someone about and probably others still believe is true).  Some Internet prankster got it going, it hit TMZ and others, and boom, it was fact.  CNN mentioned other rumors that ran rampant immediately after his death, including that he was murdered and that Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford had also perished.

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Fortunately, both stars are OK, and new media of course are also here to stay. My instant analysis of their Jackson death coverage: a tiny bit of “Thriller” with some definite “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal” activities thrown into the mix.

Posted in Future of Journalism, Journalism, New Media, Teachable Moment | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Alternative Student Press Strong, Growing, Especially Online

June 27, 2009 by Dan Reimold

A  great new piece by Kate Maternowski in the most recent Student Press Law Center Report documents the continued strength of alternative student publications at campuses across the U.S.  (Full disclosure: I’m quoted in the piece.)

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In her words: ”As mainstream student media across the country fight censorship battles with their school administrations, alternative publications are popping up in steady numbers in response to their own disfavored symbols of authority— official student newspapers. Often utilizing the newest and most innovative means to broadcast their views, student journalists at alternative campus publications are finding a fertile landscape of both resources and audiences.”

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She touches on two of the latest and greatest entrants into the indy game: NYU Local (previous post of mine here) and Student Newspaper at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (previous post of mine here).  (Also check out the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight for Q&As with editors of both outlets.)  Additionally, Maternowski rightly mentions the two main political organizations acting as backers for liberal and conservative pubs: Campus Progress and The Collegiate Network (see screenshots of the homepages for both orgs below).

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The Collegiate Network

Campus Progress–

The alt/indy student press is a personal research passion of mine, something I’ve published, presented, and blogged about since 2007.  As I’m quoted in this piece: “The alternative student press is a spectacular complement to the mainstream student press. It is innovative. It is influential. It is an essential part of journalism’s reinvention. And it is here to stay.”

Posted in College Media, Journalism, New Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Michigan Daily, Time to Step Up, Due to the (Lack of) Competition

June 25, 2009 by Dan Reimold

The Ann Arbor News will cease being a daily newspaper starting in late July, according to a new Poynter report.  It will reemerge as a more svelte online-only operation publishing a print paper twice a week.  The reason this latest newspaper-bad-news headline stands out amid the predicted print reckoning is that it will leave Ann Arbor, Mich., home to the University of Michigan, as the first at least somewhat major metropolitan area in the states without a daily print newspaper.  Or does it?

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Cue The Michigan Daily, the student-produced newspaper in the university town, and soon to become the last shining beacon of daily print news hope in Ann Arbor.  Obviously, it is campus-centric first and of course summer and term breaks make the daily distinction at least a little smudged, but its print tradition, huge readership base, and newsstand reach (maybe something that should even be expanded when fall semester starts?) are not to be snickered at.

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Here’s what the Poynter piece had to say: “I don’t know the campus paper, The Michigan Daily, well, but I have observed in other university towns- Austin, Texas and Athens, Ga.- that a strong paper at a big school is formidable and often quite profitable. It provides enough news to satisfy most of the student population, just passing through for a few years.  Plus it sucks up restaurant and nightlife advertising and may be the first ad buy for youth-oriented shops.”

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Honestly, I’m not loving the backward compliments. The statement admits student papers can sustain mega-huge presences and profits and yet somehow they can only do that by offering just-quality-enough news that satisfies only the just-passing-through student crowd (what about faculty, staff, admins., the local Starbucks baristas, townies, trustees, parents, prospective students, high school teachers who bring them into classes, etc.) and acting as leaches “sucking” away advertising from the apparently more deserving (and in this case just about dead) professional daily.

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How about giving the student press some credit?  While The Ann Arbor News prepares to implode and admits financial failure, The Michigan Daily survives.  Formidable.  Profitable.  And still in print.

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(((The previous student press defense is rated S for snarkiness.)))

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, Student Newspaper | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

J-Student Spotlight: Katelyn Polantz, Univ. of Pittsburgh, UWIRE 100

June 23, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Katelyn Polantz once went on a liquid diet as a college freshman.  It lasted a week.  She fell in love with journalism as a sophomore.  It appears this love will last a lifetime.

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As editor in chief of The Pitt News over the past year, Polantz led a staff of roughly 120 student reporters and editors, oversaw the formation of a multimedia department for PittNews.com, and collected a ton of devotees.  For example, The Pitt News managing editor: “Katelyn has worked tirelessly to improve The Pitt News, both as a publication and an educational experience. . . . Thanks to her efforts, our online and multimedia presences have improved dramatically.”  And the pub’s news adviser: “Katelyn is the future of journalism: informed, passionate, driving, multi-talented.  She has been an outstanding leader of our daily student newspaper.”

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For her multi-talented passion and outstanding leadership, the Pitt alum (she graduated in April and is now at intern at Bloomberg News in NYC) recently joined the student media eliterati as a UWIRE 100 honoree.  Today, she basks in the virtual glow of the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight.

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Katelyn Polantz

Katelyn Polantz, former editor in chief, The Pitt News

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Write a six-word memoir of your student journalism experiences.

It’s a vocation, not a job.

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What is the best piece of journalism advice you’ve ever received or given?

“Get off your ass and knock on doors,” or Goyakod.  It’s become my personal mantra, one that I’m not afraid to yell in the newsroom when someone says “I can’t” about their reporting.  I think I heard it first at a lecture given by Ben Bradlee, the Washington Post executive editor who led the paper through Watergate.

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Memorable behind-the-scenes production moment.

Working on The Pitt News’ first ever sex issue this spring.  It’s when the staff became a team.  One night, a group of editors sat around a white board and deliberated story ideas for hours, debating whether to run a column on the sexile phenomenon vs. one about cockblocking.  It might have been the most professional synergy ever in our office, at the least likely time.

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What first sparked your passion for journalism?

My first semester reporting I unknowingly got sucked into working a beat.  I started reporting a typical fluff profile on a custodian in the Cathedral of Learning, Pitt’s academic skyscraper.  I realized there was a larger story about the disparity between the facilities managers and the workers, and pursued it.  After reporting for four months (much of which I did during the graveyard shift), I had a three-part story that dug into managements’ unreasonable requests of custodians.  All along, my editor at the time discouraged me from working on it.  The experience taught me a lot about doing solid investigative work and sticking with my instincts.  The payoff of seeing the story’s many pieces come together on the front page was what got me in the end.

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What are your predictions for the future of college journalism?

It’ll be around and strong, but the trend of consuming news online rather than in print will permeate campus audiences soon enough.  That’s why college editors need to push multimedia content and Web development now.  When their entire audience is carrying Kindles and laptops to class, college papers should be prepared to reach those eyeballs.

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The business operations of college papers aren’t feeling it that severely right now, but neither were the major metro dailies eight years ago.  Professional newspapers were behind when the shift to Internet news and aggregators hit, and they’re barely making it through now.  College papers don’t have the resources to withstand this type of change if they’re unprepared.  They need to get ahead now and stay ahead.

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What is one question we should all be asking much more often about the current state or future of journalism?

Are we allowing editorial content to be dictated by revenue?  The value of journalism is lost when it becomes a slave to the business world.  I know hundreds of college journalists who do solid work for free every day.  It’s important for papers to reinvent their economic models in order to save themselves, but it scares me to hear editors say current journalism is just as much a business as it is a public service.  It must be a public service, first and foremost, always.

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You wake up in ten years. Where are you and what are you doing?

I’m dressed in brightly colored and slightly wrinkled business clothes, boarding a presidential candidate’s campaign bus.  We’re in the middle of Iowa.  I’m carrying an online newsroom in my backpack, fully prepared to cover this campaign for the national media and crisscross the country until next November.

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalist Spotlight, Student Newspaper | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Iran, Journalism Schools, and Social Media: Links for 22-06-2009

June 21, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Example of Student Press Coverage of the Iranian Revolution: “UI Student Sees History Unfold in Iran”   (Daily Iowan, via UWire)

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“10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media”   (Mashable)

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“Social Media: How Twitter, Facebook, and Others are- Surprise!- Strengthening Friendships”   (Boston Globe)

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“Everything I Need to Know About Twitter I Learned in J School”   (Mashable)

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“UNL Names Berens Interim Journalism Dean”   (Lincoln Journal Star)

Posted in International Student Media, Journalism, Journalism Education, New Media | Tagged , | Leave a Comment »

NYU Local Founder Cody Brown Tackles Batch vs. Real Time News Process and the New York Times

June 20, 2009 by Dan Reimold

Let’s be honest: We’re all jealous of Cody Brown.  The guy oozes Kobe Bryant-Bono-Obama-level cool.  He founded and runs NYU Local, the raddest student media site in Manhattan.  He also has a laugh-out-loud awesome Flash mugshot of himself.  (The trick is to keep watching it for a bit…)  And he recently jumped into the real time versus batch news production debate.  It’s a long-running discussion (at least by new media standards), even tackled in the recent snarky, must-read No Time to Think by Rosenberg and Feldman.

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Batch vs. Real Time is basically this: Print news outlets deliver a batch of stories all at once after the fact and after careful vetting, while online outlets (or print outlets moving online) tend to report on especially important individual stories as they happen, normally without the time to fully vet.  (You see it on stories like actor David Carradine’s recent death in Thailand where real time online reports read like this: Carradine may be dead, Carradine is dead, Carradine committed suicide, Carradine suicide questionable, Carradine’s death still a mystery…)

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Brown’s write-up, headlined ”Batch vs. Real Time Processing, Print vs. Online Journalism: Why the Best Web News Brands Will Never Look Like The New York Times,” makes some interesting points.  The most intriguing to me is the notion that established print outlets like the Times are at a disadvantage when going the real time Web route because what they report “has an immediate effect of seeming true,” owing to their stories-are-complete-and-that’s-the-way-it-is heritage.  In Brown’s words: “The messy, opinionated, incomplete, rumorladen, sh*t-show that is actual news production is hidden away” at these old school/old media outlets.

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Obviously though, print news pubs cannot stay out of the Web’s real time reporting game.  So, according to Brown, it’s time for a rebranding.  Rosenberg and Feldman’s argument is more extremist: Slow down!  Don’t let the medium of the Web dictate the reporting of the message.  Or basically, in their view, many times getting a story right is more important than getting it out fast.  It’s idealistic, but I think it’s like asking a three-year-old to put down the shiny new toy.  Brown’s rebranding stance makes more practical sense to me.  What do you think???

Posted in Future of Journalism, Journalism, New Media | Tagged , | 3 Comments »

College Radio Making Most of Digital Transition

June 18, 2009 by Dan Reimold

The turntables are still turning, new podcasts are humming, indie bands are still being discovered, and social networking is drawing in new listeners at college radio stations worldwide.  According to a new Chicago Daily Herald piece (a localized version of a December 2008 New York Times article), the student radio revolution of the 21st-century is a mix of old school and all-things-digital.

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Rev Moose, editor in chief of College Music Journal: “Instead of killing it, the Internet has just forced college radio to get more creative.  College DJs are producing some of the best music podcasts out there, for example.”

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Also, here’s a separate recent piece from Imprint Magazine by the talented Kelsey McArdle on making the most of the modern college radio experience.  I was humbled to be cited in the piece.  Here’s my take on student radio’s timeless appeal: “From those with whom I’ve spoken and observed, college radio holds a trifecta-sized mystique: on-the-job learning, an empowerment to rock the house the way you want and the opportunity to be surrounded in studio-sized confines with peers who think and behave the same way you do.”

Posted in Broadcast Journalism, College Media, New Media | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

Should Indy Student Photographer Have Legal Protection?

June 17, 2009 by Dan Reimold

A student unaffiliated with any campus or professional media outlet is arguing that the photos he took of a crime scene last April cannot be confiscated by police.  Why?  According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, he says he was a freelance journalist while taking the photos.

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Hmmmm.  It is an interesting dilemma.  Are you a journalist the minute you pop out a camera and start taking shots?  If that’s the case, in this boundary blurring era, can’t EVERYONE basically claim the rights of a journalist, blogger, or news media maven of some kind?  It’s a question of ethics, certainly, and one speaking to larger media and cultural norms.  Now it will be one for the courts to decide.

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My two cents: No dice.  We need *some* level of separation between citizen and journalist, at least as recognized by law.  If the guy had done some journalism work, had published photos somewhere on a freelance basis, or even had a regular blog that went beyond ‘what I ate for dinner last night’ type entries, then maybe *maybe* there’s some credence to the claim.  Otherwise, it just comes across like a blind grab at a legal loophole, one that hopefully the California courts will clean up.

Posted in Future of Journalism, Journalism, Journalism Ethics | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

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