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Student Blames Sleeplessness on Journalism, Campus Paper

September 4, 2010 by Dan

Kay Nguyen is overworked, undervalued, and entering the throes of uber-sleep-deprivation.  The Oakland University commuter student always enjoyed a routine family life and a rigid early-to-bed-early-to-rise schedule . . . until she received a laptop and a news media itch.  Cue headlines, ledes, and late, late nights.

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As she asks in an amusing new Huffington Post College piece, “Why did my sleeping habits change when nothing else changed, though? Like everything else: I blame it on journalism.”

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The principal target of Nguyen’s journalistic blame game: her current position as editor in chief of The Oakland Post.  In her words, “Guess when I began harboring the compulsive need to always stay connected and on top of current events?”

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The journalism industry’s woes and their impact on her post-grad plans also keep her up nights.  ”I do unpaid internships,” she writes, “freak out about the prospect of not getting a job, work on my portfolio, worry about the job market, try to get my website up and running . . . try to get good grades in case I have to go to grad school and bug out a little more while scouring the internet for more unpaid Internships that will hopefully land me a job in the future.”

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In the end, Nguyen’s overwrought, insomniac account is most fascinating for what it omits: any explanation about why college journalism circa 2010 is worth staying up for and stressed out over.

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So to all the j-student extraordinaires out there, what’s your answer?  Why are you wide awake and relaxingly optimistic about the journalism of your youth???

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

Newsroom Lockout: An “Impeding Upon Civil Rights”?

September 2, 2010 by Dan

The drama that played out this past month at Community College of Rhode Island seemed simple really.  It involved a campus newspaper, a locked newsroom door, and an apparently censorious student government president who held the key.  But in reality, it appears much more complicated.

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In early August, editors of The Unfiltered Lens, the roughly three-year-old student paper at CCRI, suddenly lost access to their main campus newsroom due to a mass cleaning-lock change-planned reallocation of student office space initiated by the CCRI student government.  In part, the student government president said it was a security measure: “Over the last two years, so many keys have gone out and never been returned. We’re taking safety precautions.”

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Lens staffers have declared the lock-out akin to censorship and an “impeding upon civil rights.” In reply, CCRI says bollocks.  Among the disputed facts:

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  • The Lens does have another dedicated space on campus.  Yet, newspaper eds. say it was declared a fire hazard by the university IT department.  On the flip side, a university administrator says the fire chief approved it as perfectly safe.

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  • Editors also say the student government president overseeing the lockdown offered the paper access in exchange for positive coverage- a weighty charge.  In return, the president and the school deny any sort of quid pro quo, stating that Lens staff have offered no proof of such wrongdoing.

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  • According to a Student Press Law Center report, the paper’s chief executor David Gannon has now received a single key to once again enter the desired newsroom space.  Lens staff consider this only a slight improvement, rightfully pointing out the need for more than one key for an operation requiring numerous individuals working at numerous times.  The school says it will only be a tiny bit longer until everything is back to normal.

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  • And in the strangest twist, the student government prez is claiming that the paper’s possible shift from its current prime newsroom space is because it has not been “one of the most active groups on campus.” While not replying directly to this charge, Lens editors’ actions speak loudest here. After all, if they were not attempting to work over the summer, they would not have come across the locked newsroom door.

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Gannon did not respond to an e-mail requesting additional information.  My best guess: To be continued…

Posted in College Media, Free Press Fights, Journalism, Student Newspaper | Leave a Comment »

In the Spotlight: Whitney Mountain, Editor in Chief, Flux, University of Oregon

August 31, 2010 by Dan

A New Way to Groove.  A Celtic Pioneer.  Flirting with Fate.  Carving a Musical Niche.  Destination Surgery.  Definition of Crazy.  The headlines on its homepage merely hint at the eclectic excellence of Flux, a student news magazine at the University of Oregon focused on using words and visuals to “tell the untold, alternative stories of [the] incredible region” its staffers and host school call home.

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Whitney Mountain, the magazine’s outgoing editor in chief, is nicknamed “WhitMo” and can apparently recite an array of lyrics from 1990s rap songs.  One of her favorites: Salt-n-Pepa’s “Shoop.” So here I go, here I go, here I go again, naming the Portland native as the latest deserving j-student to earn a spot in the CMM spotlight.

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The current Stanford University journalism master’s candidate transformed herself from ”troubled teen” to UO dean’s list student- and became one heck of an editor along the way.  As she shared prior to her UO graduation last spring, “Working on Flux is a dream come true because of its storied tradition of excellence.  But to be asked to serve as the editor in chief was the chance of a lifetime, and it has been one of the most important experiences I have had at the UO.”

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Below, Mountain recalls a memorable all-nighter, moustaches, beards, and the uniqueness of Flux‘s northwest locale.

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Whitney Mountain, Flux's outgoing editor in chief

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What sparked your passion for journalism?

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I have always loved performing arts, so when I told my dad that I might want to major in theater, he got scared and encouraged me to seek a more professional approach to being in the public eye.  I think he always wanted to be a journalist, so he suggested it to me.  Since I sincerely had no idea what I wanted to do, I felt fine trying journalism on for size.  It was a perfect fit!  There are so many ways to get involved in journalism, and you get to work with people, which is fabulous for me!

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Why does Flux rock?

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Flux is the cream of the crop. It is one of the best in the country, and that is why students come from far and wide to work on it during their upper division course work.  After eighteen years, Flux is still winning awards like crazy, which has made it the most sought-after student publication to work for on campus.  When everyone wants to work for a particular magazine, it gets to pick the best and brightest out of an already very talented pool of people.

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When Flux has its staff, there is no stopping it.  Some of the most brilliant-minded young media (soon to be) professionals work on Flux, which in turn, is why it is an honor to work for such a magazine.  Not only does Flux have some of the brightest young minds at work on its pages, but being based in the northwest has made Flux eclectic, interesting, and full of stories that could never be told if the magazine wasn’t produced at the University of Oregon.

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What advantages does Flux have over a professional news mag?

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We are all students.  That means that we have the opportunity to collaborate on all levels.  We work together with our peers and build on each other’s areas of expertise.  Also, thanks to the SOJC [UO's School of Journalism & Communication], we don’t have to worry as much about the business of running a magazine. We have enough financial freedom that we can focus solely on our craft.

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And of course we wouldn’t be anywhere without the guidance of the exceptional faculty and staff who serve as invaluable resources throughout the production process. At Flux, we are expected to be great, but we are still expected to be students, and that means always learning new things and growing as future professionals.  We are always given the opportunity to learn, grow, and change, which may not be available in the professional world.

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What is one story that especially embodies the awesomeness of Flux?

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One of my favorites and one that is most Flux-esque is “No Shave, No Shame,” which is a story about the Central Oregon Moustache and Beard Society (COMBS). This story is unique to northwest culture, and it is one that hasn’t seen very much media coverage.  Not only was it a great “untold story from the northwest,” but it also had some of the best photography I have seen from a student photojournalist.  Rob Dyck had two huge photo spreads in this year’s issue of Flux, and although he shot our cover story, the COMBS story felt more like the eclectic feature that Flux is known for.

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Best memory of your Flux work.

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Our all-nighter.  I LOVE hunkering down for a long stint of good hard editing, so when it came time for our group of top editors and advisers to make sure that each of us had our eyes on every story, I welcomed the challenge.  It was so fun getting together and collaborating to fill the enormous shoes of 17 years of Flux greatness.  We had some of the best student editors in the SOJC, some of the best instructors, and some of the best people to work with together for a night of doing what we all love most- great journalism.

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

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I am a managing editor at a magazine like Sunset or Martha Stewart Living.  Or I am copy editing, while raising a family.  If I am lucky, it will be a combination of the two.

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

Student Newspaper Typo: Sorority Sisters Become “Ho”

August 29, 2010 by Dan

The editorial board of The Independent Florida Alligator is calling it a “front-page nightmare of a typo.” In the eighth paragraph of the lead story in last Wednesday’s paper, a reference to members of a University of Florida sorority was accidentally singular- and sexual.

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A description of students’ outfits on the annual UF sorority bid day: “The Delta Gamma girls wore sailor caps, and the Alpha Epsilon Phi ho wore similar green and white ones.”  Spot the slip?

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In an apology to readers, the Alligator board swore there was no malicious intent, instead blaming the mistake on “technical difficulties.”  As the open letter, headlined “Foot in Mouth,” explained, “Sometime between the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall semester, our computers decided to make our lives a living hell by freezing every time we try to do anything. When we’re typing and the computers freeze, sometimes it takes so long to unfreeze that we completely forget what we were trying to do when it froze.”

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In a related visual (below), the Alligator‘s popular editorial cartoonist Cynthia Despres captured the larger reality of how top eds. at student pubs often come across the errors of their ways.

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The editors’ apology concludes with the line: “And come on, admit it- you laughed.” As a few comments beneath it reveal, that snippet seems to have rubbed some readers the wrong way.  What do you think- accurate in its assessment (admittedly, I did chuckle), a bit crass given the circumstances or a little bit of both?

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Newsroom Debates: Hazing, Cursing & Camel Toe

August 28, 2010 by Dan

As the new faculty adviser for The Minaret, the fantastic student newspaper at the University of Tampa, I am once again happily enmeshed within the student press production process.  This occasional CMM series outlines some of the more interesting newsroom debates we have while putting each issue to bed.

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Hazing

Last spring, a number of pledges rushing a UT sorority accused three of the sorority’s members of hazing activities.  Apparently, the pledges were “yelled at, made to run, do push-ups, squats, eat garlic wrapped in Big Red gum and drink hot sauce, hold a match between their fingers while reciting a pledge, had rocks and grass thrown at them and . . . were paddled.”  The university intervened at the time and punished the members it found at fault.  Over the summer, those members filed a public complaint against the university in local court, saying they were unfairly targeted due to their race.  The university was declared innocent in the case.  Taken altogether, these events added up to a prime story for our back-from-summer issue.

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The question: Do we identify the individuals found at fault by the university for hazing? Relevant details: They are identified in the criminal complaint they filed by two-letter acronyms standing in for their first and last names.  The university has not publicly identified them.  We have not previously run a story on the situation (it became public after the last issue of spring semester came out).

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Cursing

The complaint filed by the fallen sorority sisters includes a quote involving the f-word.  We initially viewed it as relevant enough to include in the story.  The question: How do we cite the f-bomb in print? Spell it out?  Dash it out?  Take the a*terisk approach?  Use “f-word” or another descriptive designation?  Or blot it out [ ] entirely?

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Camel Toe

The draft of a fashion column set for publication in the first issue included a reference to the infamous clothing misfire called “camel toe.”  Referring to denim leggings, the writer advises, “please pair these with a shirt that’s a bit longer than your waistline . . . they are not jeans, don’t treat them as such, unless you’re a fan of camel toe.”  The question: Do we cite this culturally-known but potentially offensive (or just plain gross) term?

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Ultimate decisions: We cited the sorority hazers by acronym, sparing them the Google prints embarrassment, but of course enabling those armed with a yearbook to find out who they are- a recognition of their adult status, culpability in the case, and their proactive decision to make the incident public in court. For the f-word, we decided to run f—.  Ultimately though, the quote was cut prior to publication (a decision unrelated to the term itself).  And as for camel toe, the phrase remains in all its icky glory in the published fashion column, a decision we based in part on its regular usage within media and pop culture circles.

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What would you have done?

Posted in College Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper | 3 Comments »

Princeton Review Best College Newspapers Ranking: Final Thoughts

August 25, 2010 by Dan

Earlier this month, the traffic for this blog suddenly spiked to its highest levels- ever.  An analytics check revealed that a pair of posts accounted for a bulk of the unexpected surge.  Both were about the same thing: the 2010 Princeton Review list of the “Best College Newspapers.”

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The extreme interest in the list is intriguing to me on a few levels.  More than anything, I am stumped about what makes it so fascinating to the public, compared to all the other student press honors given out annually by organizations and schools nationwide.  Is it the panache of The Princeton Review brand overall?  Is it the list’s connection to the other, more fun party schools ranking?  As the Washington Post‘s Jenna Johnson recently noted, “In higher education, it’s often all about the rankings. And so my inbox has filled this afternoon with e-mails about the most important list of the year: The Princeton Review’s Top Party Schools.“

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Whether it’s playing off the “Party” popularity or not, the amount of attention paid to the newspaper list is doubly confusing due to one especially ginormous elephant in the room: The actual ranking system is ridiculous beyond belief. As CICM’s Bryan Murley explains in a wonderfully energized post, the selection process is about as scientifically sound as “American Idol” text message voting.

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According to Murley’s rant, students participating in a survey are basically asked how OTHER people view their own school newspaper’s POPULARITY.  In his words: “Setting aside the obvious epic fail that is popular=best . . . the survey question is flawed because it asks people about what other people think. Who cares? Really, is that verifiable? . . . As well, how on earth do you rank college newspapers based on the opinions of people who have no interaction with other college newspapers? I mean, do most University of Texas students read the The Daily Collegian at Penn State?“

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To be clear, my confusion/frustration is directed elsewhere.  I personally have no problem with the list itself.  All the newspapers included are solid, and a few are spectacular.  All the public and press attention is positive, something that certainly helps college media overall.  And The Princeton Review does not lie about its related survey or selection process, however inane they might be.

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Instead, my concern centers on us.  I worry about our seemingly enormous interest in the list, and the sense I’m getting that this interest alone is giving the list a significance it does not deserve.  (And by blogging about it, I suppose I am as guilty of contributing to this fallacy/epic fail as much as everyone else.)  As Murley rightfully points out, popular does not always equal best.

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

American’s Eagle Forced to Clip Budget, Print Run

August 23, 2010 by Dan

The Eagle at American University is scaling back its print run and making other adjustments due to “financial difficulties.” In an open letter to readers, the student newspaper’s editor in chief Charlie Szold announced a 50 percent budget cut, from $100,000 to roughly $50,000.  He rightly termed it “generally unpleasant.”

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The twice-weekly broadsheet pub will now be a weekly tabloid.  Student staffers’ stipends have been eliminated or severely reduced.  The staff will also deliver the papers themselves, apparently saving $10,000 a year (?!).  According to Szold, the new arrangements were required after a stunning $50,000 drop in ad revenue during the last academic year.

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One potential benefit, Szold says, is the obviously inherent need for a greater online push.  In his words, “Instead of focusing most of The Eagle staff’s efforts on filling newsprint, we can now focus on doing our primary task- informing the AU community.  This year, The Eagle’s website will be updated more consistently with breaking and general news stories. We hope that each day The Eagle’s website will have new, unique and interesting content.”

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The larger question: Is this a financial blip on the college media radar or a sign of a rough semester ahead?

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

CMM 10: Jessica Roy, Editor in Chief, NYU Local

August 21, 2010 by Dan

CMM 10 is a spotlighting of the 10 individuals who have mattered most to college media over the past academic year.  This inaugural edition honors a mix of standout student journalists, innovative student media entrepreneurs, and impassioned outside advocates of campus press 2.0. With a hat tip to the annual Time 100, the posts announcing each honoree include a few words of adoration penned by a close friend or colleague.  Next up…

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Jessica Roy

Outgoing Editor in Chief, NYU Local

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Editor extraordinaire and all-around new media empress Jessica Roy wrote her first short story years ago on construction paper about a young girl who rescues a crashing airplane by injecting chlorine into its engine.  In the end, no lives were lost- and a writer was born.  Cut to April 2008.  Roy, a New York University student, had earned a rep as a no-holds-barred blogger, part of the tag-team responsible for the must-read “Jess and Josh Talk About Stuff.”  An announcement about a new online student news start-up called NYU Local- aiming to be “a mouthpiece of news and culture for the NYU community”- caught her eye.

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She was unimpressed, severely unimpressed.  As she blogged, “I shudder to think of the kind of stories this ‘revolutionary’ news blog will cover. . . . It is, as most things at NYU are, a participatory academic circle-jerk for rich kidz and gayz who want to be known in the media world, but don’t want to write about anything real. . .  . Say it with me now: LOL!”  She now laughs at the memory of the post. Why?  Because before it was a day old, the NYU Localites reached out and asked her to contribute instead of critique.  Cue unexpected life journey.

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She stepped up, joined up, and quickly moved up the editorial ladder, over time coming to champion NYU Local as an online outlet with actual heart and, err, something else.  ”We have a lot of, I don’t know what the term would be for it other than ‘balls,’” Roy told me in March, immediately vaulting herself to the top of my awesomely quotable people list.  ”We’re not afraid to approach people who might not necessarily want to interview with us. . . . I think we’re very tenacious and passionate about the content the site produces so we’re not afraid to kind of go after it in a way that maybe isn’t traditional.”

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Roy recently graduated from NYU and segued to a San Fran social media start-up. The impassioned writer who long ago helped a child save a plane remains.  In her words, “I reminisce too much, bruise too easily and write because I have to, because if I didn’t I would eventually explode.”

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Roy: “A Dear Friend and a Great Mentor”

By Keyana Stevens

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I honestly don’t know what I would be doing in college right now if it weren’t for Jess.  She was the one who convinced me to join NYU Local last year, just as I was about to give up on my dream of becoming a reporter. As an editor, she taught me how to be a better writer and a better journalist.  She told me that as young writers, we shouldn’t give up on the media industry just because it’s not doing well.  Since then she’s become a dear friend and a great mentor, and even though she has graduated, she’s still the first person I go to when I need advice on writing.

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The thing I really admire about Jess, though, is her honesty.  She’s examined her personal life with a painstakingly self-aware lens.  She’s written about things that I would never have the guts to admit to an audience of close friends, let alone the readership of a public blog, and she has done so with a grace and humility that are far beyond her years.  That determination to tackle tough issues in an honest but considerate way extends to her work in journalism as well.  When NYU Local had to cover a student’s death last fall, Jess was the voice of reason in our group that called for respecting the wishes of the student’s family.

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We need more writers like Jess- daring enough to cover difficult issues and compassionate enough to know how to do it right.  I’m thankful I was lucky enough to work with her, even if only for a short year.

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Stevens most recently served as entertainment editor of NYU Local.  She’ll be on hiatus this fall while studying abroad.

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Other CMM 10 honorees:

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Karla Bowsher, University Press

Ryan Dunn & Dave Hendricks, College News Network

Leah Finnegan & Jose Antonio Vargas, Huffington Post College

Adam Goldstein, Student Press Law Center

Windsor Hanger, Stephanie Kaplan & Annie Wang, Her Campus

Davis Shaver, Onward State

Jennifer Waits, Spinning Indie

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*** Bonus Footage of Roy:

“Don’t Die in Me” Ukulele Duet in the Subway Station from NYU Local on Vimeo.

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

Journalism Education 2.0: New Media, New Mindsets

August 19, 2010 by Dan

What are the positive characteristics of American journalism education 2.0? According to a recent Diverse Issues in Higher Education report, they include:

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- More students than ever.  As the DIHE piece relates: “To be sure, unlike daily newspapers, magazines and commercial TV newscasts, journalism schools are not struggling with their numbers. Enrollment has inched upward every year since the mid-1990s.”  (Sadly though, j-enrollment is not as healthy at schools located within our neighbor to the north, according to new Canadian Journalism Project and Macleans reports.)

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- Students who view a journalism degree as a solid base for other post-grad pursuits or interests.  Joe Foote, dean of Oklahoma University’s Gaylord School of Journalism and Communications: “Now we find students who study (journalism) with the intention of going to law school, grad school or business school. They are not vocational-minded at all but see the utility of a journalism degree. We are now seeing a first generation of students coming at this from the front end, not expecting to enter the profession. In the past, it was after they got out they decided they didn’t want to do (journalism). This has reinvigorated journalism education in a special way.”

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- A slow-but-steady retooling of j-schools and j-programs- their courses, curricula, academic and professional collaborations, and faculty credentials.  DIHE: “They are rethinking their methods for hiring new faculty, providing free in-depth content to news organizations, partnering with foundations and corporations to develop strategies to save news outlets and teaming up with other academic divisions at their respective universities to offer dual programs.”

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- J-student projects that make a difference now and uncover slices of life j-professionals no longer have the time or resources to cover.  One example cited in the piece: A University of Mississippi student reporting project that includes a story series on “life in the Mississippi Delta” that is being considered for potential publication in newspapers statewide.

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According to Carol Pardun, director of the University of South Carolina’s J&MC school, “The project at Ole Miss- those kinds of things are happening all over the country. It’s a very exciting time for students. They can become the experts and they often know more about the skill set (after graduation) than those that have been working in there for a very long time.”

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, Journalism, Journalism Education, New Media | Leave a Comment »

Gay Kiss Photo in South African Student Newspaper Sparks Anger, Praise

August 17, 2010 by Dan

A front-page photo published in a South African student newspaper showing two male students liplocked in a passionate kiss has prompted an unprecedented reaction from readers, according to local media and the paper’s editor in chief.  In the EIC’s words: “This is the biggest reaction that I’ve had to any story ever.”

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Die Matie, the bimonthly paper produced by students at the University of Stellenbosch, ran the photo as part of its coverage of “Kiss in the Avenue,” an annual kiss-in of sorts attempting to break a record for most people kissing simultaneously in one spot.  For the first time, Lesbigay, the university’s gay and lesbian organization, recruited its own members and additional supporters from nearby universities to join the fun.  The two young men pictured are actually University of Cape Town students transported to Stellenbosch specifically for the event.

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One news report: “Some students have expressed their horror on Facebook and said the paper was seeking cheap publicity, while others are in favour of the bold statement.”  The EIC: “The most interesting thing was to watch people’s reaction as they picked up the newspaper. Some of them asked me, ‘What were you thinking?’ . . . Some people tore the picture out of the paper or crossed it out with a marker.”  A separate report: “Copies of the newspaper were ruined, defaced and slashed as students discussed the impropriety of the image and how it had made them ‘throw up.’“

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On the flip side, public praise for the front-and-center photo has poured in and Lesbigay’s membership has increased by 60 students as a direct result of its publication.  The organization’s chairman: “It seems to have sparked a big debate at the university, which is fantastic. . . . Stellenbosch is very conservative but there has been a lot of talk lately about diversity and change.”  And one of the kissers featured:”I know many people have a problem with seeing two guys kissing each other. . . . It was a nice kiss and worth travelling to Stellenbosch for.”

Posted in College Media, International Student Media, Journalism, Journalism Ethics, Student Newspaper, Teachable Moment | 5 Comments »

At SUNY Binghamton, Students’ Passion for Print is a Pipe Dream

August 15, 2010 by Dan

There is a battle brewing in Binghamton, one pitting print against online, tradition against innovation, ink stains against Google searches, newsstands against trending tweets. It is the story of student journalism’s (r)evolution, writ small.  It is a Pipe Dream.

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Like all campus newspapers, The Pipe Dream at SUNY Binghamton is caught in a state of betwixt and between topsy-turvydom.  According to Binghamton University Magazine, its staffers and on-campus readers still prefer the twice-weekly, hard copy Dream.  Meanwhile, a growing contingent of outside readers- mostly Googlers and Facebook and Twitter stumblers- are visiting the virtual Dream.

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The result: A multi-platform news product that is trying to be everything to everyone- with a won’t-die print mentality and a realization of online inevitability.

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Photo for Binghamton University Magazine by Jonathan Cohen

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Steve Rice, the newspaper’s most recent technology manager, openly admits: “We’re not too far off from becoming a significantly online paper.”  Then why does the Pipe Dream still rock most in print in editors’ and readers’ eyes?

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1) Perceived Newsiness: As the paper’s outgoing editor in chief Ashley Tarr says, ”The news that we put out [in print] is different from the news that you would see online. . . . The hard stories that we put out are still more newsworthy. . . .  So that’s where we focus most of our energy.”

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2) Web 2.uh-oh: The online edition of the paper, like those of many college pubs, is not up to snuff, leading to less staff interest in creating content for it and less reader interest in checking it out.  As Tarr notes, “People love Pipe Dream on this campus.  They pick it up and they say that we do a great job. And our website, as much as we want it to be at a different level than it is right now, we still see a much greater need for our print paper than our online product.”

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3) Convenience: As last year’s managing editor Chris Carpenter says, “Maybe 1,600 copies are delivered to the Lecture Hall alone. Almost every week, they are completely picked up. . . . If [students] see a newspaper sitting in our stands, they’re more likely to pick that up and skim through it.”

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4) Concreteness: The value of in-person newsroom all-nighters and seeing one’s work or name in print remains, for now.  According to outgoing Pipe Dream opinion editor Marina Gaft, “When we stay up to 5 or 6 a.m., and we know that the next morning we can go out and get a paper and actually hold it in our hands, it’s a concrete thing- and that makes a difference.”

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

Sex and the University on Sale at Amazon Starting Today

August 13, 2010 by Dan

In fall 2003, Kate Prengaman became “Sex.” She earned the nickname on the Ultimate Frisbee field, where participants often receive names based on a defining interest or characteristic. Prengaman’s teammates began calling her “Sex” during her freshman year at the College of William & Mary, not long after the debut of “Behind Closed Doors,” her weekly sex column in The Flat Hat student newspaper.

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“Nicknames are big in Ultimate,” said Prengaman in July 2006. “You never play with your real name. Everyone has some sort of bizarre nickname. So, my nickname is bluntly ‘Sex.’ It’s just ‘Sex.’ . . . When you want somebody to cut to get open, you yell, like, ‘I want Liz’ or ‘I want Jenny,’ and they make that next cut to get open for the disc. And our captains just loved the idea of being able to scream, ‘I want Sex!’ in the middle of the Frisbee field.”

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Prengaman’s nickname stuck and spread off the field as well. Friends and classmates regularly whispered “hey ‘Sex’” to her while in the library or screamed “hey ‘Sex,’ we’re over here!” to get her attention while she walked to class. Her Frisbee teammates at times even identified her by nickname in more awkward situations, including while waiting in line for a ride at a Busch Gardens amusement park and during President George W. Bush’s second inauguration festivities in 2005 in Washington D.C.

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“I have to remind people when my parents are coming to visit to just call me Kate,” she said. “They do it in front of their parents and they don’t even realize it, and then I have to explain to them why I’m called ‘Sex.’ I have to say, ‘It’s not because I’m a big slut. It’s because I write a sex column.’” . . . (from Chapter 4, pages 52-53)

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Just a snippet from my new book Sex and the University: Celebrity, Controversy, and a Student Journalism Revolution. I am hyping it mainly because it is available starting today at Amazon.com.

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In the book, I explore the beginnings and rise of modern student newspaper sex columns and sex magazines; the controversies they have caused; the fame and infamy they have brought to their student writers and editors; the sexual generation they are helping define; and the student journalism revolution they represent. The book also dives into the content of the columns and magazines, uncovering for the first time what they are saying en masse about students’ sex and social lives.  Hundreds of student newspapers, magazines, and colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada are featured.

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Among the stories and info included in the book: a recounting of the largest newspaper theft in the history of student journalism; and a modern student “sexicon,” or a glossary of defined terms related to student sex, love, and dating pulled directly from the columns and magazines.

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Bottom line: Please order a copy today! :-)  In the meantime, check out my related interview with Inside Higher Ed.

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Posted in College Media, Journalism, Magazine Journalism, Student Newspaper, Student Newspaper Theft | Leave a Comment »

“First Worldwide College Website” Set to Launch in Sept.

August 11, 2010 by Dan

Its name: College NewsNet International.  Its niche and significance, according to its founders: “the first worldwide college website.”

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Plans for CNI were solidified and presented during the recent World Journalism Education Congress in South Africa.  The basic structure seems like a mix of UPIU, Huffington Post College, and Her Campus.  It will be “a collective space” for j-students anywhere and everywhere to contribute content of all forms for consumption by peers and potential pick-ups by outside media. Apparently, a student editor will be the point-person for undergrads’ work at each school.

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In their project proposal, the CNI co-founders share: “In a world full of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, ‘tweets’ and blogs are unfortunately becoming acceptable substitutions for thorough, responsible reporting. Accordingly, college students are in serious need of a quality, one-stop ‘space’ to strengthen their journalism skills, experience convergence and to become engaged participants in the way tomorrow’s journalists will connect with one another.”

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My take: While staffers at student media outlets probably disagree about the purported vanishing of “thorough, responsible reporting,” the project’s idealism and global reach may be intriguing to them.  The key for CNI’s success will be reaching a tipping point.  It must actually feature quality work from a variety of schools and geographic areas.  If it does not quickly establish that baseline diversity and quality in the eyes of j-students and, more importantly, J&MC programs, this whole thing will be renamed epic fail.   It will become a repository for half-baked class assignments that students are only throwing up to boost their résumés or to please their profs.  I’ve perused those types of sites, and believe me, they ain’t pretty.

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The larger question: Is this good for college media? Of course, it is hard to argue against having more avenues for students to publish.  But will the lure of sites like CNI take away from the reporting that students could be doing for news outlets on their home campuses?  Or will CNI simply bring more students into the fold, giving them extra instruction and the “publishing high” that will lead them to contribute even more to outlets on and off campus?

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Co-founder Robin Goodman, a communication studies professor at Alfred University:  ”CNI will give college students worldwide an opportunity to compare and contrast their international colleagues’ coverage of all types of local and international news and features. Through this easy access, college students worldwide will be given the opportunity to interact among one another like never before . . . and remind college students of the importance of their work to the world community and will inspire them to always report at a professional level. After all, the world is listening.“

Posted in College Media, Future of Journalism, International Student Media, Journalism, Journalism Education, New Media | Leave a Comment »

In the Spotlight: Michael Holtz, Kansas University

August 9, 2010 by Dan

In his own words, Michael Holtz is a “roving student journalist and wannabe foreign correspondent.” The Kansas University student begins a separate bio of himself online with only one word: wanderlust.

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This summer, that word defined him.  Holtz recently concluded a 45-day journalistic tour of sorts across continental Europe that focused on the “rapidly evolving field of foreign reporting.”  The independent research project, made possible via a KU Honors Program grant and generous couchsurfing hosts, included interviews with foreign correspondents and editors and his own reflections on life abroad and as a millennial.

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He documented it all on his blog “The Foreign Telegraph.” (My favorite posts: a Q&A with an editor at AP’s Paris bureau and a two-part interview with “an American radio journalist working for a German media outlet with an English-speaking audience in Africa, Asia and Australia-Pacific.”)

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In the latest installment of the j-student spotlight, Holtz shares a bit about his trip, his blog, and his desire to discover “the new foreign correspondent.”

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Michael Holtz, KU student by day, European foreign correspondent by night.

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What motivated you to look into the work of foreign correspondents?

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Foreign reporting is something I’ve been interested in ever since studying abroad last year in Bonn, Germany. When I got back to Kansas, a friend told me about an internship at a small German newspaper in northern Germany. I applied and found out six weeks later I didn’t get it. I was bummed and immediately started looking for another way to get experience in reporting from overseas. After spending six months abroad, I couldn’t stand the thought of working at an internship in the States. I wanted to see more of the world.

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At first, I considered reporting on something completely different. I wrote an entire grant proposal on comparing sustainability efforts in Germany and the United States.  Then I started researching what it would take to do this project- essentially what it would take to work as a foreign correspondent. I started reading everything I could on the subject, and I was amazed at what I found. It’s an old story really. Media companies are losing money, so they’re forced to cut back on expenses. Americans have traditionally cared less about international news than local news, and foreign bureaus are expensive to maintain. From an economics standpoint, it makes sense to cut back on foreign correspondents.  It was really depressing stuff.

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These huge media companies were cutting foreign correspondents by the handful. Hundreds of years of experience has been lost in the past five or six years. For example, NPR doesn’t have more than two full-time correspondents in all of Africa. That’s a billion people covered by two reporters. Of course NPR probably has fixers and stringers in different places around the continent, but still.  So what you get is this self-perpetuating cycle. People care less when there’s less coverage and vice versa.

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These are the kinds of things I was thinking about during the spring. I was panicking trying to figure out how I could possibly succeed in a profession that may not even exist by the time I graduate, at least not in the same form. I soon realized that other young journalists had the same question. I grew tired of reading these doomsday scenarios predicted by so many jaded, old-time journalists. I wanted to find out for myself what the future of foreign correspondents would be. So over spring break I completely rewrote my grant proposal to the one I now have available on my website. I bought my plane ticket, networked with journalists across Europe, and soon enough found myself sitting at a hostel in Berlin.

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Why does your blog rock?

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The Foreign Telegraph provides an outlet for me to share my experiences while working on this project. I created it as a way to track my research and share with other young journalists everything I have learned along the way. It’s also a way for me to test out the one-man band model, a form of foreign reporting that has grown increasingly popular in recent years. I try to incorporate video and photography along with my research. It’s a lot to do, and since my research came first I found myself doing less of it than I had originally planned. But even so, it has been a great trial run.

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A screenshot of video Holtz captured of a Parisian pension reform protest.

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What were you doing while abroad?

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Aside from one-man band style reporting, I primarily interviewed journalists from different media organizations about their work in foreign reporting. These tend to be American foreign correspondents, but I met several European journalists as well. I asked them about the current state of foreign reporting and their visions of the future. Some journalists have been pretty pessimistic when it comes to this subject, but the conversations have all been incredibly engaging and interesting.

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Worthwhile lesson learned this summer.

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One lesson I learned that surprised me is how easy it is to become a foreign correspondent, but how hard it is to become a good one. All I need is my laptop, digital camera, digital audio recorder, and Flip camcorder to report from virtually anywhere. As long as there’s Internet access, reporting from abroad is as easy as it is to report from a local newsroom.

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To become a good foreign correspondent isn’t nearly so simple. It takes experience, commitment, knowledge, language skills, networking skills- the list goes on and on. The world’s an extremely complicated place, and understanding it well enough to accurately report on it is difficult. No number of gadgets or digital shortcuts will ever change that.

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Can student journalism embrace any tenets of foreign reporting even while campus-specific?

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This question reminds me of a quote by Mort Rosenblum, a foreign correspondent I met in Paris. In his new book, “Little Bunch of Madmen,” Mort explains why “what matters is the message.” Despite the growing role of technology, social networking sites, and media convergence, the foundations of good journalism have never changed. It doesn’t matter if you’re reporting on student government elections, city council meetings or the war in Afghanistan. I think that’s crucial for all journalists to remember, regardless of where they are reporting from.

Posted in College Media, International Student Media, Journalism, Journalism Education, Journalist Spotlight, New Media | Leave a Comment »

CMM 10: Leah Finnegan & Jose Antonio Vargas, Huffington Post College

August 7, 2010 by Dan

CMM 10 is a spotlighting of the 10 individuals who have mattered most to college media over the past academic year.  This inaugural edition honors a mix of standout student journalists, innovative student media entrepreneurs, and impassioned outside advocates of campus press 2.0.  With a hat tip to the annual Time 100, the posts announcing each honoree include a few words of adoration penned by a close friend or colleague.  Next up…

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Leah Finnegan & Jose Antonio Vargas

Editors, Huffington Post College

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Huffington Post College is a high-profile destination site promoting student newswork and providing readers with a glimpse of what’s going down in the current campus zeitgeist. It has become a refreshing part of my morning web browsing and the embodiment of what section co-founder Jose Antonio Vargas calls “the golden age for journalism, a time for experimentation, entrepreneurship and creativity.”  Or as his fellow co-founder Leah Finnegan writes, “I’m not worried about the future of journalism. Rest assured it exists, en masse, typing away on college campuses around the country. And it’s here at HuffPost College that you’ll get to see a lot more of it.”

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Leah Finnegan & Jose Antonio Vargas

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Vargas: Laser-Sharp, Kind, Masterful Journalist

By Leah Finnegan

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There’s no better person in the world to work with than Jose Antonio. He’s laser-sharp, kind and has this finesse that I wish was sold bottled in stores. From the beginning we agreed that HuffPost College would be a different sort of site- a mix of the fun and the serious, the old and the new. And in a matter of months- weeks, even- it was that, because of Jose’s guidance and higher vision for it. His attention to the bigger picture while taking care of details is something only the most masterful journalist embodies.

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Finnegan: “She Loves Journalism, Breathes It, Lives It”

By Jose Antonio Vargas

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What drew me to Leah, first and foremost, is her passion. She loves journalism, breathes it, lives it and lives for it, and it’s just the kind of enthusiasm that makes her a joy to work with. When I think of a young, 21-st century multimedia, multiplatform journalist, I think of someone who mixes, fluidly and compellingly, old-school, shoe-leather, let’s-knock-on-doors reporting with the oceanic possibilities of the social web. I think of someone like Leah, the kind of young journalist we need in these changing and exciting times.

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Other CMM 10 honorees:

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Karla Bowsher, University Press

Ryan Dunn & Dave Hendricks, College News Network

Adam Goldstein, Student Press Law Center

Windsor Hanger, Stephanie Kaplan & Annie Wang, Her Campus

Davis Shaver, Onward State

Jennifer Waits, Spinning Indie

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

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