Has your paper made a switch in Content Management Systems?

How did it go?

What do you wish you knew before you started?

Show us your site. (Please)

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

So, we want to see your best.

Post a link to what you think is a Touchdown of a football article or column and share briefly what makes it worth six points.

We’re not voting and you don’t win anything, save for the respect of other college journos and some extra hits on your site.

There’s no limit to your sharing. Checking back often is HIGHLY recommended. (as always)

Do some bragging, people!

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!)

Where that life will be, what it will involve and how to start are all questions young journalists, editors, designers, web-heads and all of the other people dedicated to the news media beyond the college level may ask.

What about people who are willing to relocate? What about people who will move hither and yon to find the work, the fellowship, the internship and the chance to do what they love?

What about all of those other what abouts?

Below is a compiled list of a few resources to help with the search. Please, feel free to share via a comment what worked for you and what you wish you would have known before. Also, any other links or resources that might help someone get the gig.

www.jobspage.com

–Most people who are seriously looking for work in the news could use a guy like Joe Grimm. His site (above) and daily stories on www.poynter.org “Ask the Recruiter” could inspire just about anybody to dream impossible dreams… and stuff like that.

www.journalismjobs.com

–The aptly named source for jobs relating to journalism.

www.gannett.com

–The top right hand corner has a “Careers” link. Not that I’m one to favor one giant media conglomerate over another; the button was just easier to find than at www.mcclatchy.com (Hint: It’s under the “Employees” tab.)

http://writersweekly.com

–A handy tool for checking out publishers and information on freelancers, though admittedly a lot of this was kind of a downer.

Of course, there is www.craigslist.com for writing, editing and some general what-have-yous, but you have to know where you want the opportunity to be before you start searching too hard.

Please share your links and tips as comments below.

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?

We’ve had a few inquiries about this. If your paper has a Social Media policy, a resource for one or something else beneficial, please paste it as a comment below, or share a link to it.

But for college newspapers, a facebook fan page can create a forum where comments may be less about stories and more about attacking writers, staff members or spreading rumors.

Does a Facebook fan page work to bring more readers to your Web site? Should college papers have them?

How does one moderate comments, if at all?

Any examples of well used Facebook fan pages?

Maurer, the publisher and editor of the St. Ignace News in St. Ignace, Mich. and the Mackinac Island Town Crier, represents an old school style of newspaper journalism that isn’t focused on tweets and web prowess, but more so the content that fills the space between the reader’s thumbs as they hold the paper in front of their face.

“If a reporter is using social media at work, I’d fire ‘em,” Maurer said during a panel on re-thinking the news at the Michigan Press Association’s conference in Grand Rapids, Mich. Jan. 29. “I’ve got a paper to put out.”

Maurer makes the point that some struggling newspapers seem to miss. The number of tweets, the quantity of facebook friends amassed and page impressions recorded are meaningless if the stories don’t mean something.

“It’s about honesty and competency,” Maurer said.

Clearly an applicable mantra to newspapers or any business, striving for excellence in your core production will garner the necessary success. Page views, re-tweets and the facebook friends are a byproduct of quality of one’s craft. College newspapers can and should focus on the same. Tweets are not how to tell the story. Tweets are how to get readers to the story.

Of course, web presence is necessary for collegiate newspapers. The students comprising the majority of the readership have grown accustomed to the web as a primary source. But, whether in print or digital, the quality of the content should be a first priority. The rest is just a delivery.

This is a great opportunity for the college newspapers of Michigan to pose questions (as a comment below this post) and get answers.

Let us know what YOU want to know.

Or, if you’re going to be at the conference, stop by our table next to the registration area.

Looking forward to meeting you.

**College Newsroom will be blogging live from the Michigan Press Association Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich. Check back often throughout the day and pose questions. The College Newsroom team will do our best to get the answers.**

8:55am

Check-in and general conversation abounds along with breakfast style nibblets and coffee.

9:30am

The first session has begun as more Michigan News people continue to sign in for the two day conference. MPA Foundation Board Members Dirk Milliman and Jack Batdorff stopped by, along with Adviser to the Ferris State Torch, Steve Fox. Also Wes and Mary Maurer of the St. Ignace News and the Town Crier on Mackinac Island had kind words to share.

We’re looking forward to seeing and sharing more as the day progresses.

10:00am

Colleen Dawson, the lady responsible for getting College Newsroom to the conference today, says things and they become law. Need an easel for your sign? BOOM! Her wish is granted.

Dave Clark, editor in chief of the Big Rapids Pioneer stops by to comment on the scheduled activities and the set up of College Newsroom at the conference.

1:22pm

Things are in full swing at the MPA conference and the College Newsroom table has been active and fun. Young people with college newspapers and those already established in the industry are interacting around the table. Joe Grimm of www.newsrecruiter.com and Ed Wendover, Chief of Staff for State Representative Mike Huckleberry had plenty of questions.

Whew.  Things really picked up and the rest of the updating took a second tier on the priority scale.  Here is a brief re-cap.

Spent some time in the session “Re-Thinking the News” with a panel of diverse industry professionals discussing the nature of newspapers and the changes they are encountering. Some good questions and some great answers. Check the hash tag #rethinkingthenews for tweets from the discussion.

College Newsroom gave a brief presentation to the Michigan Collegiate Press Association (MCPA) and had a sit down with Joe Grimm for a potential story on www.poynter.org