Entry-level: Benjamin Brown

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Founder and CEO Benjamin Brown

Entry-level is a new series profiling those who are working their first media jobs out of college. Want to be featured? Send an e-mail to d.ceceliamartinez gmail com with a photo and answers to the questions below. Name: Benjamin Brown (@RedLeader656) Location: Albany, NY Gig: Founder and CEO, New Hand Media Education: The College of Saint Rose, 2009 Length of job search: My job search lasted months. During school, I was working for Apple Inc. as a computer tech at one of their retail stores. It was a great job and I was paid well, but there was so much that I felt I was missing. So, making one of the most important decisions of my life, I decided to quit my job and relocate to Charlotte, NC. It was there that I got a taste of the real world and how bad the economy actually is. I spent...

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jQuery: Bylines and extensive editing

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jQuery: Bylines and extensive editing

Q: I am an editor at a smaller publication, and sometimes we find ourselves short on content when deadline rolls around. Every so often, we have to publish poorly-written articles that require extensive editing — even to the point where our copy editor is literally rewriting whole paragraphs and rearranging the structure of the piece. I feel bad because the copy editor is doing so much work while the reporter gets to take credit for the article. Would it be okay to give the copy editor the byline instead, and name the original reporter as a contributor? A: Ideally, this situation would never happen. Ideally, you have more than enough available content every week, and only select the best pieces for publication. Ideally, you have a strict editorial schedule for your publication and have adequate time to work with a writer and help them revise their piece before your...

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Entry-Level: Alex Tunney

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Entry-Level: Alex Tunney

Entry-level is a new series profiling those who are working their first media jobs out of college. Want to be featured? Send an e-mail to d.ceceliamartinez gmail com with a photo and answers to the questions below. Name: Alex J. Tunney Gig: Associate Editor, Data Conversion Labs Education: The College of Saint Rose, December 2008 Length of job search: Roughly a year, not counting my time in retail. How he landed the job: A temp agency pulled my resume off of Monster. I’m a temp now, but it might lead to a permanent position. What kept him motivated throughout his search: Positive feedback. I realized “We’d probably hire you in a better economy,” isn’t the worst thing I could be hearing. Ultimate dream job: An editor of some kind (for a newspaper, magazine, or whatever) while being an essayist on the side. Advice for job seekers out...

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jQuery: Dealing with an unmotivated editorial staff

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jQuery: Dealing with an unmotivated editorial staff

Q: I’m the editor in chief of a college newspaper. My staff is relatively small and there are several positions that have gone unfilled. I’m having a hard time getting some members of my staff to do all of the work they have been assigned – much less take on extra work to make up for the missing staff members. Everyone complains that they are too busy with school and other obligations, and some only do certain parts of their job duties. I feel that I’m to blame because I wasn’t assertive enough in the beginning — mainly because I was so desperate for editors — but I’m starting to feel extremely overwhelmed by all the extra work I now have to take on. Firing them obviously won’t help decrease my workload, and there’s no one to replace them. How can I get my staff to start pulling their...

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Survival Guide: Managing a small college newspaper staff

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meeting

This time last year, I, along with the rest of the staff at my college newspaper, boarded a plane to San Diego, Calif., for the 2009 Associated Collegiate Press College Media Conference. Coming from a relatively small weekly newspaper, I was surprised that so many college publications have circulations that rival my hometown paper. The concept of being in college and publishing a daily newspaper was beyond my comprehension. As a panelist for the “Publishing a College Newspaper in Tough Economic Times” discussion, I was greatly outnumbered by large, advertising-funded newspapers. However, while speaking to other conference attendees, I found that many I spoke with worked at smaller college newspapers, and could relate to the unique challenges that go along with that. A smaller newspaper means a smaller staff, fewer resources and often the lack of a consistent standard or protocol for the publication of the newspaper. You will...

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Five reasons ‘hire me’ Facebook ads need to die, now

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Targeted 'hire me' ads miss the mark.

Two of my favorite blogs recently wrote about a  crop of young job seekers that are trying to landing their dream jobs by taking out targeted ‘hire me’ Facebook ads. First MediaJobsDaily covered the story, and then Joe Grimm at the Ask A Recruiter blog at Poynter did a pretty thorough write-up earlier this week about the trend, and whether or not it is actually effective. The more I read about these ads, the less I like them. Though I am currently employed, I spent a significant amount of time last semester refining my resume, scouring job boards and practicing my tough-interview-question answers.  I know there are a lot of recent and soon-to-be graduates out there are getting increasinly desperate to find a job in their field — but this is not the way to make that happen. Here are five reasons why ‘hire me’ Facebook ads need to die, now.

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RTDNA Social Media/Blogging Guide for Newsrooms

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If I’ve learned anything (and I hope that I have) from reading blogs, goofing around on Twitter and attending the Social Media Breakfast – Tech Valley events, it’s that social media can be a rocket launcher for businesses, organizations and individuals. However, while social media can definitely be a useful tool for a reporter, the implications of a social media presence for journalists and news organizations are still not entirely clear. The release of the Social Media and Blogging Guidelines today by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) is an effort to help those in the news media protect themselves against some of the pitfalls of social media. The guidelines focus on fairness, privacy and transparency and stress that when it comes to social media, nothing is private and journalists aren’t allowed to express personal opinions online — unless they want to open themselves up to complaints and...

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