New Year in the Newsroom

The coffee pot is actually a metaphor to say that College Newsroom and its very handsome development team are back in action for 2011.

A brief hiatus caused by a distracting shiny thing (probably an iPad) has been vitiated and we’re looking for you, the member, to help us make 2011 a great year for us. More importantly, we want you to help us make 2011 a great year for college newspapers across the country.

So, let’s hear what some of your Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) are for the year. We’ll work as a community to help you achieve them.

As always, we welcome your words of wisdom and support, but not photos of kittens hanging from a clothesline. Shoot us an e-mail at admin[at]collegenewsroom[dot]org

A lot needs to be done this upcoming semester for my organization. We’re extremely understaffed right now but I hope that a heavy recruitment phase during the first couple of weeks will bring in some fresh talent who are eager in contributing to our site while building their electronic portfolio’s.

As this fall semester creeps closer, how is your newspaper (or online-only newspaper) preparing for the new school year? What roles need to be filled? How are you planning to recruit new writers, editors etc.? What are some obstacles, both new and old, that your organization faces? Will there be any changes that occur come fall?

Hope everyone is excited to return to their respective college!

I’ve considered blocking the site on each newsroom computer except one, where reporters/editors could log on to use the site legitimately. I really don’t want to have to do that though. I’d like to instead enforce a rule that would help curb erroneous or aimless use of the site, especially when other work could be done. There are always press releases to be rewritten and story idea sheets to be written up, etc.

Any suggestions? I’d like to encourage responsible use of the computers rather than acting like a mean babysitter. Just for reference, its the copyeditors/designers and editors themselves who are the biggest offenders.

Thanks.

So the problem is less financial dependence and more incompetence. I acknowledge that. At the same time, I was just elected EIC, and so I have to clean up this mess. I’m learning about contingency funding and deals we might make with our publisher. But I was hoping to benefit from your advice and expertise. I apologize for not being able to be more specific. Thanks for any and all help.

Thank you!

you can email me at kellis3@ucmerced.edu

As editors and staff move on to whatever is next and leadership roles are filled by new people there is a passing of information.

A lot of what you’ll be doing will stay the same. A lot of what you do will get better. A lot of what you do won’t be fully appreciated by your readers, but we the inky-fingered members of collegiate newspapers are a unique militia of information.

Older and Experiecned Staffers: this is a good time to put that last little tid-bit out there for the newbies to learn.

Younger Inexperienced Staffers: this is a good time to ask some questions.

And we’re not going anywhere.

So leave your thoughts as comments to this post.

(Also, tell your staff, all of them, to sign up for College Newsroom. We’d appreciate, seeing as we’re not much without our members!)

You’re in college. If someone doesn’t respond to your e-mail, call their office. Leave a few messages. I am not holding your hand while you cry about not getting a couple of sources. I can tell you where to go, but I have then handed responsibility to you. I can help where I can, but I will not schedule interviews for you.

Alternatively, do what I did and go for op-ed. That way, no one cares if you interview someone or not.

I write these things down.

That way, I can tell everyone during our Sunday meetings what they did to incur my editorial wrath.

Because the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University is so good at what it does many of the students don’t get proper writing instruction until halfway through sophomore or the beginning of their junior year. (That’s another post entirely …)

That leaves it to me, my editors and an occasional professor, to come in on Sunday afternoons and conduct crash courses in journalism. Sometimes it’s about libel, plagiarism, profile writing, lede workshops … You name it, they need to know it, and we’ll teach it.

This week I felt it necessary to remind people what exactly a direct quote means.

One of the things I’ve really focused on this semester is giving writers feedback.

So often people dog on the Evergreen because our writers are inexperienced. This is a true but unavoidable fact at a college paper. The only thing I can do is to try to prepare my staff as well as possible so they can GAIN experience.

Posted by Dominick Bonny

When a successfully taxing day of classes has come to a close, news stories are coming in late because of less than cooperative sources  and everything needs to be proofed, it can get a little hairy in the newsroom.

This is when leadership on the part of the editor in chief, managing editor or section editors is crucial. Maintaining attitudes that reflect responsible concern and overall awareness in the sense of the duck in the pond. (Very still above the water, but underneath the duck’s legs are churning to propel the duck forward.)

Every newsroom leader handles these situations in their own way, but one commonality between many that I’ve spoken with has been “The Deadline Song” and the euphoria it brings.

Symbolizing the end of an edition, the deadline song is played when the paper is finally put to bed. It’s a celebration, a victory dance and a chance for staff members to sit back, exhale and remind themselves that the work they are doing is good.

This also gives the newsroom leaders the chance to be better managers–by being human. Singing with their eyes closed, dancing badly and insisting on embarrassing themselves are endearing traits. Maybe taking it to the extreme every night isn’t necessary, but the positive Pavlovian result can be important to staff morale.

Examples of Deadline Songs:

\“Roxanne\” — The Police

\“Jump\” — Van Halen

\“All Night Long\” — Lionel Richie

\“Conga\” — Gloria Estefan

What’s your deadline song? What SHOULD it be?