By dcecelia at 4:21 pm
You have the press badge - but what to put on it?
The editors over at The Chronicle — the College of Saint Rose student newspaper where I served as a staff writer and Executive Editor for a few years — are currently considering a name change to coincide with changes being made to the Saint Rose Communications Department.
Deciding on a name for anything is usually a difficult task. Whether it’s your first-born or even just your fantasy football team, it’s easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of options. Names are so intrinsically tied to identity. Choose the wrong one, and it invokes all the wrong connotations for your product/publication/child. (Just think about the recent iPad debacle).
Names for publications generally encompass two things: the audience, and the purpose.
For newspapers, the audience aspect is usually location-based. The purpose portion, however, require some self-analysis.
What kind of publication do you want to produce? Do you plan to chronicle or record the happenings of your city or school? Are you going to ask the tough questions or sound the alarm to corruption? Or, is it more important that you be a voice for your audience and cover a wide spectrum of topics and ideas?
It’s imperative that you be confident in the identity and mission of your publication before deciding on a name. Really, you should already have these principles in place and written in an official mission statement or staff manual, but with the high turnover at college newspapers this can often get lost in the shuffle.
After the jump are some creative college newspaper names I found using the Campus Fundraiser College Newspaper Directory (not a complete directory, the Chronicle wasn’t listed).
Continue reading What’s in a (college newspaper) name?
By dcecelia at 11:51 pm
My friend/classmate/protege Kali Zigrino wrote today about her plans to apply for an internship for her final semester at college. Like many other journalism majors, she is concerned about her future job prospects in the industry.
She writes:
While I know I want to be a journalist; that is a relative term. I’m not sure if I want to write for magazine, newspaper, alternative press, blog, or just chalk my college education up as a loss and go work with my mother.
She goes on to say that one goal of her internship is to gain a more specific direction, but I don’t think that a lack of specific direction is necessarily a negative. Journalists these days have to be more versatile than ever and be willing to take any job that comes along – regardless of it’s print, web, journalism, or technical writing.
Maybe I’m biased, but I think that my lack of specific direction is one of my biggest strengths. It provides me with more options when I’m sending out resumes, and also allows me to take on more responsibilities in whatever position I do obtain – making me more valuable as an employee.
“Jack of all trades but master of none” is usually thought of as a negative, but more and more it is the specialized “master” writers that are losing their jobs at publications while those that are able to cover a variety of topics manage to hold on.
What do you think? Is it better to have a specific focus in your career goals? Does keeping too much of an open mind leave you unorganized and stretched too thin?
Either way, good luck to Kali on her interview Wednesday!
By dcecelia at 1:35 pm
Pretty bleak.
For recent journalism grads, the prospects of a full time journalism job are limited – unless you want to move to a remote location for the promise of a $20,000-a-year reporting job for a newspaper that may not exist in a few years. One of the best options for those who want to work in journalism but still pay the bills is to work part-time in a non-media job while working to build your brand and freelance writing career.
Here’s part one of a two-part post outlining some non-media jobs you can do with a journalism degree and skill set. It might feel weird walking into one of these job interviews with a list of newspaper internships and design programs you know, but just remember to not stress your journalism background, but rather the skills it gives you – writing, phone work, organization, adaptability, creativity, and the ability to work long hours for little pay.
Substitute Teacher
Whether you’re talking grammar with the new reporter or explaining a complicated piece of legislature to the average reader, journalists are like teachers in many ways. One of the functions of the media is, after all, to educate, and your knack for explanation, writing, and people skills can transfer to a teaching position. In many states you don’t need a degree in education, just a bachelor’s degree or in some cases only college coursework to be a substitute teacher. You can also explore options like Teach for America or teaching English abroad.
Why You’ll Like It: Teaching can be altruistic like journalism, and you get to interact with all types of students.
Why You Won’t: Substitute teachers often don’t get the opportunity to build a rapport with students, and the hours can be pretty hit or miss.
How to Start: Contact Teach for America or a local school district to check for state requirements.
Continue reading Non-Media Jobs for Journalists
Twitter
Loading ...
Recent Comments