What’s in a (college newspaper) name?

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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...

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Ethics for Evolving Journalism

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Ethics for Evolving Journalism

Mashable had an interesting article last week about the 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow’s Journalist.  The post focused heavily on the importance of being more than just a journalist. Tomorrow’s journalists will have to be journalists/programmers/photographers/videographers/designers/social media experts and more, and this Mashable article is just another one driving that point home. There is one thing I would add to this list of must-haves – a rock solid sense of ethics. In today’s world of breaking news on twitter and citizen journalism, information may no longer go through an editorial process before reaching the public. While instant access to information as it is happening can be a great thing, it can also change the dynamics of traditional journalism ethics when it comes to reporting. Tiger Woods coverage aside, a recent example of this is the case of Tearah Moore, a solider from Michigan who tweeted during the shooting at...

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Need Direction?

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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...

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Non-Media Jobs for Journalists

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Non-Media Jobs for Journalists

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...

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NaNoWriMo: Novelists and Journalists

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NaNoWriMo: Novelists and Journalists

MediaJobsDaily featured this week a Wall Street Journal  article about how famous novelists get their work done (WSJ, via MediaJobsDaily). The post also references National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I started out as a creative writer. My first writing award in high school was for a collection of short stories, and I never touched an AP stylebook until my sophomore year of college. I decided to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo to brush up on my fiction, but I’m already thousands of words behind. But there are people out there who not only finish, but finish year after year. Although novelists work with fiction while journalists work with facts (ideally, at least), novelists and journalists have more in common than their writing abilities. If you’re a journalist thinking about trying novel writing or if you’re a novelist thinking about breaking into journalism (although really, why would you?), then here...

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Student Journalists and Social Media

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Student Journalists and Social Media

In this week’s issue of Metroland is an article I wrote about the Social Media Breakfast – Tech Valley event series that has skyrocketed in popularity in only three events. The series has become so popular that the 4th event in the series, taking place on December 4th and focusing on blogging, had 90 reservations within 5 hours. Attendees of these breakfasts come from a variety of different industries — many are media professionals looking to hone their skills, others are business professionals interested in finding out how social media can help them improve sales, increase their customer base, or develop their brand. Social media can uniquely benefit student journalists as well. Most student journalists are already using at least one form of social media in their personal lives, but social media can be invaluable when applied to work in journalism.  In addition to being another venue in which...

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The Chronicle Redesign of ’09

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chronicledesignthumb

Inspired by modern, magazine-style layouts of other college newspapers, the redesign got rid of the grid and incorporated bolder fonts, the use of graphics, and a more generous utilization of color.

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