I learned that early in this job, and I’ve been reminded of it often.
Chris Poore, adviser of The Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper at the University of Kentucky, also has a farm business where he delivers eggs door-to-door in downtown Lexington. The Poore Farm sign was a gift from students and presented by Becca Clemons and Rachel Aretakis, two former editors, seen it the photograph with Poore.
I would even advise you to put that phrase on your wall.
It would remind you that each time you get a complaint you should listen, but then make sure students talk to the complainer and resolve the problems themselves. It would remind you that when students make mistakes, you should offer suggestions but make sure the solutions for dealing with those mistakes come from them. And when there are problems on staff, it would remind you to offer your advice but make sure students are driving toward the resolution. Continue reading “Advisers should teach, nudge, offer advice and listen”
College Students, Media Advisers Agree with Professionals Regarding Publication of Graphic Spot News Images
By Bradley Wilson, Ph.D. Midwestern State University
Bradley Wilson, Managing Editor College Media Review
Introduction – Professional photojournalists have been discussing what types of photos they should take and publish since the dawn of the profession. College media advisers and college photojournalists join that discussion more frequently as technology evolves. When dealing with basic photojournalistic ethics, the research and the abundance of prior literature provide a foundation for a discussion about what types of spot news photographs media outlets should publish in an era when all individuals armed with a digital camera can call themselves photojournalists on the scene of a spot news event.
Background – During the last half of the 19th century, photography was becoming an integral part of society. Photographers carrying bulky cameras documented building, still objects and, for those people who could sit still for the long exposures, formal portraits. By the time of the Civil War, photographers such as Matthew Brady carried their cameras to the action to show battlefields, camps, towns and people touched by the war. When a selection of Antietam photos went on exhibit in Brady’s gallery in New York in 1862, The New York Times wrote: “Mr. Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards … he has done something very like it” (“Brady’s Photographs,” 1862). As historian Naomi Rosenblaum (1984) said of photography at the time, “The photograph was regarded as an exemplary record because it was thought to provide an objective — that is, unaltered — view of solid fact and achievement.” Continue reading “Research (Vol. 52): Guiding principles in an age of instantaneous publication”
No foolproof methods, but steps, resources to consider
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series.
By Jody Kleinberg Biehl University at Buffalo
The recent firings of three college newspaper advisers are a sobering reminder of how fragile newspaper advising jobs can be. Often advisers are not tenured faculty, but have renewable yearly contracts that can be denied at the whim of administrators unhappy about student coverage.
This, said, Chris Evans, CMA adviser advocate chair, makes advisers vulnerable. Some – like recently fired Cheryl Reed of Northern Michigan — have come to believe that untenured faculty should not take advising jobs because it puts them too much at risk. Evans himself, said his job at the University of Vermont is on a contract basis, but he regularly takes steps to protect himself.
Advisers, students fighting spate of adviser firings in six months
Illustration by Sean MacEntee via Creative Commons
Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts. The next story will focus on strategies for developing campus educational initiatives in support of First Amendment and student voices.
By Jody Kleinberg Biehl University at Buffalo
Three college media advisers been fired in the past six months – a spate Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, calls “one of the worst stretches I can remember.”
Cheryl Reed from Northern Michigan University, James Compton of Muscatine Community College in Iowa, and Patricia Roberts of Delta State University in Mississippi, have all lost positions as student media advisers since November.
(Editor’s note: A few years ago they were running college newsrooms. As they begin their careers, college media alums now in the profession reflect on their collegiate experiences in this periodic series.)
By Shasta Langenbacher Special to College Media Review
Every group of students wants to put its own mark on the campus paper. For my tenure as a student managing editor, our team’s mark was updating the paper completely.
Illustration: Creative Commons, Joan M. Has
With recent technological advances, students have turned to making a splash on Twitter or getting a story to go viral. But without a graphically appealing paper, it’s even less likely anyone will pick up a paper and stay in tune if it’s nothing but a gray mass splattered on a broadsheet, disconnected from any references to the digital world. Keeping your printed copy visually up to date is vital for securing advertising, as it lets companies know you’re serious about your commitment to all forms of journalism, not just reacting to the next trend in your content and design.
With Internet encroaching on printed pieces of newspaper journalism, it’s more important than ever to incorporate interesting tidbits to accompany a story, whether it’s a teaser to a YouTube page, or to add a tagline to advertise a reporter’s Twitter feed to answer questions on a story. Readers are multi-platform today, and if a student reporter does not learn to design for this now, they will be doomed in the industry. Continue reading “Redesign one way to leave mark on media”
Who are our readers and when are they most active on social media?
(Editor’s note: A few years ago they were running college newsrooms. As they begin their careers, college media alums now in the profession reflect on their collegiate experiences in this periodic series.)
By Kate Jacobson Special to College Media Review
Six years ago, media companies were not that concerned about social media. Twitter was just catching on and Facebook was evolving from college kids sharing pictures to a vehicle for information.
Illustration: Creative Commons, Nick Booth
Almost all media companies big and small have tried to find their own niche in the social media world. Large news organizations have dedicated employees to monitor and craft the company’s social media message, while others have had to improvise.
Back in 2011, I was the editor of The State News at Michigan State University. We were a college newspaper trying to find our place in the world of social media. When we were looking for better ways to reach our audience, we asked ourselves: How can we uniform our social media efforts and maximize the amount of people we reached? Continue reading “Key questions for developing social media policy”
The tributes to the late Bonnie Thrasher continued to flow. Colleagues posted on the College Media Association listserv. Thrasher’s students at Arkansas State University, where she taught and advised The Herald for 22 years, produced a special edition in her honor. A journalism graduate of Arkansas State praised Thrasher’s tough-minded journalistic ways but also fondly called her a fellow “cat lady,” referring to the numerous felines Thrasher rescued over the years.
Thrasher, vice president of the CMA who also held positions of CMA secretary and treasurer, was active in several professional journalism organizations. She died in her sleep at home on March 31, with the Arkansas State University College of Media and Communication posting on its Facebook page: “We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved faculty member, colleague, mentor and friend Ms. Bonnie Thrasher. Kind words and positive thoughts to her family, friends and students in this difficult time.”
Between news of Thrasher’s death and an ensuing memorial service , CMA members, writing on the CMA listserv, painted a portrait with their words of a smart, dedicated, and witty colleague known as much for her dedication to journalism as for being a role model with straightforward talk accented by a lovely Southern accent.
A-STATE HERALD PUBLISHES TRIBUTES FROM STUDENTS, COLLEAGUES
Students of the Arkansas State Herald celebrated the life and times of their adviser, Bonnie Thrasher, who died last week. CLICK ABOVE for link to special edition.
College Media Association Vice President Bonnie Thrasher, 53, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, died March 31, 2015 at her home.
Born July 7, 1961 in St. Charles, Missouri to Bill and Beverly Thrasher, Bonnie resided the last 22 years in Jonesboro after spending time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Starkville, Mississippi where she attended college and graduate school. She was of the Baptist belief.
Here’s a Baker’s Dozen ways to get and improve your visual content
By Robert G. Nulph
Creative Commons: hunnnterr
A student sits in front of her editing set-up. On one side of her desk is a sandwich piled so high it would make Jared proud; at her feet sits a 44-ounce big drink guaranteed to quench her thirst; and on the other side, sits a rainbow of SD cards.
Now, this could be a great dream, or the true definition of hell. It all depends on the work she does before she enters the field as well as during a shoot.
When instructing students in a practicum or lab setting, it’s hard to convince them to plan. They just want to jump in and presume they will land well, the heck with planning ahead! And for the first assignment, it’s tempting to let them run out the classroom door without planning and seeing how they land in that editing bay later (“miserable!”), learning a hard lesson about not planning. Such a lesson is similar to teaching News Writing students who don’t do their research in advance of their interviews. Continue reading “Great visuals are all part of a plan…”
The Media ‘New Kid on the Block’ is still evolving
By Kelly Johnson
Creative Commons: Ken Fager
Over the last five years, journalists and their media outlets have been traversing the social media frontier, experimenting sometimes with abandon, eager to find or afraid to miss the latest helpful tool for bolstering news delivery, revenue and audience engagement and expansion.
Certainly, some uses of some social media platforms are paying off. Facebook and Twitter have become the standard, obligatory social media platforms, with Twitter key for distributing and teasing news and Facebook for developing and maintaining relationships with and engaging audiences. That’s where most outlets attract the most views. Continue reading “Boldly going where no social media has gone before”
