Advice for Journalism Students

Paul Bradshaw offers wonderful advice on how to be a journalism student in his online journalism blog. Sharon Terlep, who now covers General Motors for The Detroit News, was a Michigan State University student not all that long ago. She had numerous internships in college and was the editor of the State News. But Sharon says she doesn’t think she took advantage of all the resources at her disposal in J-school. She encourages students to use those resources before it's too late.

Blogging done right

One reason for creating this blog was to familiarize students with blogging techniques. As American Journalism Review points out, newspaper staffers are blogging like crazy. So it's a skill set that many of you will need. This list of 10 tips on writing a blogpost is a good guide. Blogging won't do you much good if you ignore traditional journalistic principles. You won't want to show a recruiter your posts if they're filled with spelling or grammar errors. And although the blogosphere seems more freewheeling than traditional print news outlets, you should take a look at the blogging ethics code posted on the cyberjournalist site.

How to succeed as an intern

Once you land an internship, you want to use it to further your career. You need to make the most of the short time you are in the job. You want clips and you want future contacts, who might be references or mentors down the road. One key to your success as an intern is preparation. Theola S. Labbé talks about how to do that on the Detroit Free Press Jobs Page, which has an entire section on internships. Last summer, Nathan Hurst, a business reporting intern, turned his summer job into a full-time position at The Detroit News. Nathan was noticed, in part, because he worked hard to come up with story ideas on his own. He wasn't from Michigan, but he did his homework. In fact, he deliberately drove a different route to the office everyday so he could look for the unusual - anything that might be a future story - on his way to work. He offered advice to a Journalism 300 class this week.

Will blogging get you a job?

Journalism students, take note: At least one editor says you need to have blogging skills to get a job. John Robinson of the News and Observer says he asks job candidates if they blog and if they read his editor's blog when considering them for jobs at his newspaper. A column in Business Week spells out 10 things journalism students need to know to get jobs. Blogging is one of them. British journalist Paul Bradshaw says students seem to be reluctant to blog unless they're required to do so for a class. Why is that? Are you reluctant to blog? Why? Do you think you it will help you get a job? Then why don't you want to do it?

Student threat or sour grapes?

A newspaper publisher in Montana is crying foul over the creation of an online newspaper by journalism students at the University of Montana. The publisher says by covering the Crow Indian Reservation, the students are competing with his traditional newspaper. The online experiment, he maintains, could backfire by hurting his newspaper's ability to sell advertising. Although the students are gaining experience, he says, it may mean he can no longer afford to hire them after they graduate. The student publication is partially funded by J-Lab and is part of an experiment called the Rural News Network, aimed at covering underserved populations.
So what's your take? Is the publisher right? Have the students undercut him? Or is competition good? And is this simply a way for students to get valuable experience in a rapidly changing profession?

The basics: Key to journalism success

Digital superstar Rob Curley, of washingtonpost.com, says the key to being a successful journalist today is the same as it was 25 years ago - you have to write well. He urges students to embrace new technology and be open-minded about how they tell stories but warns that they can't forget the basics. You still need strong reporting and writing skills to succeed. If you don't believe that read this post from Dr. James F. McGrath, assistant professor of religion at Butler University. In his experience, student journalists are forgetting the basics. And that's made him leery of giving interviews to student journalists.
So what do you think? If you're writing for the web, do you need the same reporting and storytelling skills you needed to write for print?

No better time to be a journalist?

Marshall Loeb, the former editor of Fortune, Money and the Columbia Journalism Review, has an interesting take on the cataclysmic changes occurring in journalism. He suggests there is no better time to be a journalist, despite the hand-wringing going on in the industry. Yes, technology is rapidly changing the way journalists do their jobs. But ultimately journalists now have far greater reach - thanks to the internet - than ever before. Jon Friedman, of MarketWatch, also weighs in on the monumental changes in the industry in just the past decade. Who knows what the next 10 or even 2 years will bring?
Are you excited about being part of the revolution? Do you think you can have an impact in greater ways than journalists of past generations?

Oops! UNC student journalist, 140,000 - John Edwards, 0

The John Edwards campaign tried to squash a video produced by a University of North Carolina journalism student, according to a story in the
News and Observer. The video, produced for the campus TV station and posted on youtube, asked if the location of Edwards Chapel Hill headquarters in an exclusive neighborhood squared with his poverty campaign. The brouhaha backfired - at least if Edwards did not want it to get publicity, according to a UNC blog. By Sunday night, the video had more than 140,000 page views. I'm guessing the student reporter never expected the reach her video has gotten - another lesson in the power of multimedia reporting and the web.
What do you think? Of the reported move by the Edwards camp? Of the student video?

Ready to learn new tricks?

A report from a college media conference says Washington Post digital wunderkind Rob Curley told a room full of college journalism students that too many students are resistant to learning online skills. His advice: If you want a job in journalism - get over the resistance, fast! And in Florida, Mindy McAdams tells students at an SPJ meeting that recruiters want to hire students with online skills. McAdams also tells students how easily they can learn multimedia skills - to broaden their storytelling arsenals - on their own. Finally, editors at a conference in Maryland talk about what they're looking for when they hire. Guess what! It's multimedia skills or at least openness to learning new things.
So where do you stack up? Are you trying to learn online skills? Do you see it as a way to reach more people with your stories? Or are you resistant? And why?

The fallout after a student's story

A student at Western Oregon University discovered a security breach on the school's computer system and wrote a story about it for the student newspaper. Although he did not publish any private information about students, he did download the file. It contained private student information including social security numbers. That led to disciplinary action against the student journalist. The student newspaper advisor's contract was not renewed because she failed to tell the student about the university's computer policies. And university police searched the student newspaper's computers without informing the adviser or students who worked at the newspapers. Student press advocates worry about the chilling effect such a search and the disciplinary action may have on student journalists. The university also ordered the student reporter to write a commentary on university policies. Other student journalists worry about the consequences of that? Can a university order up student journalists to write stories? Should they be able to?

What do you think? Was the student journalist out of line? Did the advisor err? Was the university wrong to search the newspaper office?