Story Ideas Week: “The Magic of Being a Mascot” (The Statesman, Stony Brook)

This CMM series features a sampling of crazy cool, highly relevant or offbeat stories by student journalists that can be localized for different campus audiences- along with suggestions on ways to create and present that content. Next up…

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The Magic of Being a Mascot

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He is nearly seven feet tall.  He has wool paws and a massively oversized head.  He dances to entertain the crowds at major sporting events.  “What the crowd doesn’t know is that he’s a senior too. . . . They can’t know about the three years he’s devoted himself to transforming the university’s mascot from a mere character into a symbol. . . . For him, that’s what it means to hold 25,000 students in the palm of his paw, to be the representative of an entire university. For him, that’s what it means to be Wolfie.”

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Wolfie is the mascot for Stony Brook University athletics and the center of a fantastic profile of sorts published last semester in The Statesman, SBU’s student newspaper.  “The Magic of Being a Mascot” is a behind-the-mask glimpse of everything involved in a student’s mascot experience.  It chronicles how the student came to be Wolfie, his practice routine, costume preparation, the challenges of the required “dancing, chest pounding, [and] somersault-rolling,” and the deeper identity issues of being a beloved character one moment and an anonymous undergrad the next.

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The piece also provides an overview of the essential elements of modern mascot marketing: “In less than two years, [a school athletics department staffer] built and nurtured Wolfie’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogger accounts.  She’s also created a Wolfie business card– complete with a telephone and fax number and an email address– and a Wolfie contact sheet that interested parties can use to hire the mascot for an event.”

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Come fall semester, profile your own school’s mascot.  Talk to the student(s) who embody the character(s).  Walk a mile in their suits for a first-person piece. Go with the historical angle- talk to alumni who formerly strutted and cheered in costume and provide a graphic showing the mascot’s evolution over time. Follow this piece’s lead and get the full story- the marketing, athletic department support, university logistics, and off-campus events involved in a mascot’s existence.  (For example, one question this piece prompted: What is Stony Brook’s Wolfie-related revenue- from booked events and stuffed animal sales, etc.?)

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A few other ideas: Shoot a how-to video with a student getting in and out of the costume step-by-step.  Run a fun photo spread showing the mascot posing in various spots around campus or the nearby community.  If campus sentiment is just so-so on the current school mascot, hold a contest asking students and staff to brainstorm a new one, including desired name, creature type, and clothing choices.

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Story Ideas Week: “My Night in the 24-Hour Room” (The California Aggie)

This CMM series features a sampling of crazy cool, highly relevant or offbeat stories by student journalists that can be localized for different campus audiences- along with suggestions on ways to create and present that content. First up…

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An Academic Ethnography

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Roughly a month ago, a California Aggie staff writer penned a first-person account of an all-nighter he pulled in a popular student work spot at UC Davis known as the “24-hour room.” The report reads like a set of polished field notes, recounting- through observations, some interviews, and personal reflections- the room’s overall atmosphere and the sentiments of those who work, sleep, socialize, and play within its walls.

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As he shares about the 8 p.m. timeframe: “The vibe in here seems different. The sun has lowered and the room is slowly weaning off natural light and being replaced by the infamous fluorescent lighting that seems designed to keep your eyes up and your mood down. Things are getting serious in here now. This isn’t your six o’clock crowd, staring leisurely out the window waiting to catch the later [bus]. Students beginning to sit down now are setting up temporary workplaces. This is going to be their home for the next couple of hours and spreading out is key.”

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A glimpse inside the UC Davis 24-Hour Room, via a separate YouTube video.

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The piece is built atop a reporting method that remains basically untapped within collegemediatopia: ethnography, or due to its relative brevity here, what I’ll dub ethnography light.  Instead of covering a news *event* or *issue* or *individual* the piece focuses on a *scene* and attempts to better understand a *culture* unique to its school.

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The wonderful reality of most campuses is that they are alive 24-7, in pockets, with different groups coming, going, and abuzz on their own personal Circadian rhythms.  Stake out some popular and unexpected campus spots.  Document their surroundings, larger moods, and the MO and motivations of the people who gather there.  Publish a time-lapse photographic slideshow of the locations over 12 or 24 hours.

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If the one-reporter-one-location option seems limited, go the other way.  Have a team of staffers stake out a whole bunch of campus hot-spots at the same exact moment.  Bring a video or digital camera.  Tell the story of your school on a specific day, at a specific moment in time.

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ACP Online Pacemaker Finalist: The GW Hatchet

In late March, the Associated Collegiate Press announced its selection of 50 finalists for the annual Online Pacemaker awards.  The finalists represent online versions of print publications and online-only outlets at U.S. schools large and small, public and private, admin.-controlled and independent. Sites were evaluated for the quality of their “multimedia storytelling, writing and editing, site design, in-depth and complete coverage, interactivity, and graphics and photography.”

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In this occasional CMM series, I offer my personal take on some finalists’ standout innovations or positive attributes- aimed at helping other student media up their Web games.  Next up . . .

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The GW Hatchet

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The Hatchet site mixes a newsy content base with a bluesy color scheme- atop a CMN template.  The homepage does teeter a bit toward text-heavy and too-much-for-the-eye-ness, but the soft blue headlines and big-enough-to-actually read story teasers make it work.  I also like that staff do not give up on the below-the-scroll portion.  Instead of a used-car-lot-like links listing, the featured content is still organized with care into appropriate sections and with occasional accompanying images.

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The multimedia slate looks impressive- a collage of squared still images advertising photo sets, audio slideshows, and videos.  Organizing them by date and without even the briefest of explainers does make them a bit overwhelming/bewildering to take in all at once.

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The standout online Hatchet job is found in the paper’s blogosphere. The six blogs cover an array of areas- from basic news and “Beyond the Books” student life to glimpses inside the Hatchet newsroom.  For example, the latter blog recently featured a direct apology to readers for a scheduling error that caused the staff to miss covering one school’s graduation ceremony.

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Most impressive: Unlike many student news sites, the blogs do not exist in isolation.  They are all hyped and linked from a central site (see below).  Most also earn individual shout-outs in multiple spots on the Hatchet homepage.  The blog content overall is still a bit sporadic, but the organization angle is solid.  My favorite of the bunch: Passports, a rundown of GW students’ study abroad experiences.  It allows multiple undergrads to write reflections and post photos to a degree that would just not be desirable or possible in print.

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Trending: “Journalism Schools as News Providers”

As the ranks and resources of the professional press continue shrinking, “news organization-university partnerships” are growing, a new Poynter piece confirms.

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As the piece notes, “The New York Times, The Bay Citizen and Next Door Media have recently partnered with universities in hopes that students can help them expand their hyperlocal coverage, engage new audiences and experiment with different business models. Editors and professors say the partnerships are a step toward re-envisioning the relationship that news organizations and universities often share.”

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This echoes a mid-November commentary in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Michael Schudson and Len Downie: “[T]he major engine of original news gathering since the 19th century— the daily newspapers— are producing less original news reporting than they did a decade ago. . . . Major papers across the country have bought out or laid off editors, reporters, and photographers. . . . There has been a substantial loss of reporting capacity. Journalism schools, thanks to the Internet, can help fill the gap.”

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Both pieces, and others like them, tend to focus on the benefits and difficulties involved for the news providers.  What about the challenges and opportunities for the schools and students? (An upcoming AEJMC pre-conference session, “Journalism Schools as News Providers,” will address this question.)

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My take:  The opportunities provided by these partnerships seem obvious.   The first few that come to mind…

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• It quenches students’ thirst for an immediate, visible presence in the new journalism landscape.

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• It ups students’ motivation to complete “homework” and pay attention in class, considering both can now contain true real world implications. It also ups professors’ motivation to be fully engaged in their teaching-mentoring.

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• The alignment with a trusted media outlet boosts a student’s resume and a school’s reputation.

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• It offers the potential for extra guidance to be provided by staffers at the aligned outlet.

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• The financial incentives available through the alignment deal itself and advertising and other scenarios could be lucrative.

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• And as Schudson and Downie note, it fills a reporting gap.  And it just may save journalism- not journalism as we once knew it, but journalism as our wildest dreams envision it to be.

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Among the most prominent university-media partnerships: The New York Times and New York University’s Arthur J. Carter Journalism Institute are teaming up on “The Local: East Village.”

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On the flip side, three challenges that come to mind…

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• It potentially affects students’ output and involvement in campus media.

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• It presents a myriad of legal and ethical entanglements.  (For example, if a student screws up, who is at fault?  And how do students identify themselves when working on stories without confusing sources?  Or what happens if a student does not want to write for a certain aligned outlet due to political or other beliefs?)

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• It provides a pressure cooker of a classroom experience that needs to be handled just right so students are not overwhelmed.

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What do you think about this j-education trend???

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Is “Student Journalist” an Unfair, “Subhuman” Distinction?

A month ago, a prominent journalism educator lightly scolded me for using the phrase “student journalist” to describe an undergraduate reporter (since graduated) who produced a high-profile story as part of a capstone journalism course.

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In his words: “I think it is important to press for equality between ‘student’ journalists and others.  Somehow ‘student’ denigrates the work as some species of subhuman work. ;0)”

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The comment is intriguing- and continues to gnaw at me.  I have repeatedly argued on this blog and in other writings  that collegians should not run from their student status, but actually wear the ‘j-student’ label as a badge of honor and embrace its many advantages.  Among these advantages, in my opinion:

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• J-students’ access to, and intimate knowledge of, the many people, places, and trends impacting modern higher education.

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• The continual on-the-job training provided by classes and mentoring-on-demand provided by profs.

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• The time and impetus they have to produce feature-length, investigative reports (especially in advanced courses or via senior theses).

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• Their potentially fresh perspectives and idealism, not yet tainted by world-weariness or routine.

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• And of course the potential they now have to share their work with a massive audience ASAP- internship, degree, years of climbing the ladder not required.

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It is this last point that makes the distinction between student and professional journalist more blurry than ever.

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My take: The problem with "student journalist" isn't the term itself...

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The problem is with the perception some people wrongly hold about student journalists being childlike or "subhuman."

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After all, the online empowerment era has made youth or inexperience all but irrelevant if the reporting legwork is sound.  Acceptance by an established media outlet is also no longer the sole path to publication.

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In schools worldwide, j-students’ “class assignments” are now frequently submitted to outside or campus media or posted on a class blog or students’ independent sites, enabling even Reporting 101 write-ups to be potential discussion starters or full-blown journalism blockbusters.  Students’ outside blogging and reporting efforts are also at times accepted and celebrated prior to conferral of a degree, as iconic individuals such as Alana Taylor and Brian Stelter have proven.

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Simply put, student journalists are now able to compete on almost equal footing with almost all professional journalists.  Should a distinction between the two no longer exist???  And in a related sense, does calling someone a student journalist nowadays somehow lessen their work, make it sound “subhuman” or categorize it as inferior to a “true” journalist???

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My take: I think it is a matter of perspective.  The belief that a student journalist is a second-class citizen (journalist) does not reveal a problem with the term “student journalist.”  It reveals a problem with that belief.

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In many ways, I see this as a generational divide- not between old and young but between old and new media.  Conventions have long dictated that a certain amount of training and degrees are required before an individual is considered part of a specific profession.  The journalism profession has traditionally relied on the classes-then-internships-then-cub-reporter convention (although certainly with lots of exceptions).  Students have of course been encouraged to produce work along the way, but it was all seen as a means to an end, not an end to itself.

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Now it can be its own end, and offer its own rewards.  And this end is the beginning … of a new set of conventions.  Student journalism is no longer just an embryonic stage in a journalist’s life.  It is not “subhuman.” It is fully formed.  It is making waves NOW.  I see no need to run from the term.  I say celebrate it.

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I also say that it is a distinction that does not have to stop being used after one’s college commencement. I am a journalism student.  My friend at the Washington Post told me today she still considers herself a journalism student. In many ways, all of us involved in and passionate about journalism are students of the craft, for life.

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College Media Story Ideas: The Campus Bucket List

In a pre-commencement piece published last month in The Pendulum student newspaper at Elon University, a staff writer lays out of a list of more than 20 activities undergrads should consider undertaking prior to leaving campus.

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Some are general- race through sprinklers, steal a brick from a campus walkway, make a 2 a.m. run to the nearby Wal-Mart, pull a library all-nighter, and take a Polar Bear plunge in a freeeeeezing campus lake.  Others are Elon-specific. They add up to what the piece calls the “Elon Bucket List.”

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The related larger question: What are the must-see, must-experience activities, events, and rituals in which every incoming frosh at your own school should take part between class and episodes of “Glee”? Every campus should have a bucket list.  Its prime publishing times: the freshmen orientation issue, the first issue of a new semester or of course just before graduation.  Seek student, alumni, faculty, and staff input via social networking and publish the raddest, funniest, most popular, and most bizarre responses.  Run a contest for the best bucket list viral video.

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The main key to the list’s awesomeness: Go beyond the stereotypical.  (The Pendulum‘s list, admittedly, does swing between fresh and cliché.)  Attempt to localize a national current event.  (Protest at the local BP gas station, wear an Adam Wheeler mask and attempt to get into the admissions building, etc.) Select an activity built around a prominent historical landmark, moment or anniversary on campus.  And remember that at least a few items on any modern bucket list must be digital.

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FAU vs. University Press: “An Increasingly Tense Feud”

As I predicted in a recent post, the FAU-UP imbroglio is heating up and turning nasty.  Administrators are beginning to bandy about threats and coming awfully close to straight-up censorship- earning rebukes from national press groups.  The new director of student media is facing a public scolding from the very j-students she is supposed to be overseeing.  And the beloved former-part-time-adviser-turned-permanent-guest-speaker continues to assist the newspaper, much to school officials’ chagrin.

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For those out of the loop, a student media reorganization at Florida Atlantic University recently led to the almost-immediate, hardly-a-word-of-warning termination of Michael Koretzky, the longtime adviser for The University Press student newspaper.  In his stead, FAU administrators hired an individual responsible for the oversight of all three student media outlets- University Press and the campus radio and TV station.

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UP student staffers were not pleased, feeling the staff shift was a reaction to the pub’s hard-charging reporting and part of a larger effort to regulate content.  They asked Koretzky to stick around as a “permanent guest speaker.”  Koretzky concurred, telling them, “I’ll continue to help you publish the cutting edge journalism that has won this paper awards and its staff jobs. I just won’t get paid for it.”

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At first, FAU said OK, just fill out some paperwork each time he stops by.  Then suddenly, a summer flip flop.  The new student media director, Marti Harvey, is now telling Karla Bowsher, University Press editor in chief, that all individuals who help with the paper must be university employees. It is an abrupt policy change undoubtedly influenced by the current “increasingly tense feud” between the uni and the UP.

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And so Bowsher apparently cannot meet with Koretzky for advising sessions on or off campus . . . or else? Palm Beach Post: “Harvey told Bowsher that FAU’s legal department wanted her to remind Bowsher that she is an employee of the university and therefore subject to university policies.”  It is unclear what the consequences of meeting with Koretzky or allowing him to participate in news production might be for Bowsher.  Will she be fired from her EIC position? Suspended from school?  Banned from Boca Raton?

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Student Press Law Center attorney advocate Adam Goldstein’s one-word response: “Bullsh*t.” :-)  As he continued in his fantastically subtle manner, “That’s a flat-out freedom of association violation. [Koretzky’s] not a leader of a terrorist cell. You can’t just say, ‘You can’t talk to people.'”

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The Society of Professional Journalists agrees, noting in an open letter to FAU’s president: “While Mr. Koretzky’s continued involvement may be awkward for administrators and the newspaper’s official adviser, we do not believe the university has any right to threaten Ms. Bowsher or any other FAU student simply for seeking Mr. Koretzky’s counsel and choosing to list him as a volunteer adviser.”

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The even more awkward side issue in play is an investigation led by Bowsher into Harvey’s professional experience.  It has revealed a potential discrepancy about Harvey’s past stint at the Dallas Morning News.  Palm Beach Post: “Her biography on FAU’s website boasts that she was a reporter for the award-winning sports department at the Dallas Morning News, but the newspaper never published any stories with her byline, and her job duties were more like those of a news clerk.”

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Bowsher: “She constantly name drops her time at the Dallas Morning News, which is by far her biggest claim to journalism experience.  And now we find out she was basically a glorified coffee server.”  (Read Bowsher’s wonderfully thorough review of all this craziness on her personal blog.)

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My take: FAU administrators are simply reaping what they have sewn. Nothing’s wrong with a student media reorganization that benefits the campus press. But the unexpectedness and abruptness of the curb-kick they gave an obviously beloved adviser displays an incredible tone-deafness about these sorts of dramatic moves. At the very least, school officials should have met with Koretzky, given him ample advance notice, and worked with him to design the best plan of attack for a peaceful transition.   The man has advised the paper in good faith for 12 years, for goodness sakes.  He must know it better than anyone.  How could you not consult him about its future?

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The school’s larger error: Treating its j-students like second class citizens. Like Koretzky, UP staffers should have been informed a change was a’coming.   They should have been involved in the hiring process and had a voice in the larger planned restructuring that is obviously now in motion.

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Instead, school officials went with silence, a quick fire-hire scheme, and a PR bungling that is becoming more cringe-inducing by the day. Why is it so bad?  Because UP staffers are student journalists, not school lackeys.  They are not on board with this plan or how it’s been handled, and they are saying so and doing whatever they can to fix it.  They are fighting for control, rightfully asserting they know what’s best for the paper and continuing to push for the best advice they can get prior to putting each issue to bed.

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My one-word response: Bravo.

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Journalism 2.0 “Tidal Wave”: Students Riding High, Adults Running Scared, According to Rutgers J-Prof

One of the most quotable quotes related to collegemediatopia this calendar year appears in a new PBS MediaShift piece that discusses the skill-abilities future journalists need to bring to the newsroom/Google Wave.

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Speaking candidly about the generational divide existing between j-students and middle-aged-and-older j-professionals, former MSNBC.com and NPR producer and current Rutgers University instructor Benjamin Davis admits the following:

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“You have too many people that are old, or my age, that are moaning . . . and they are really missing the tidal wave.  My students are riding the crest of that tidal wave.  As a matter of fact, they don’t even know it’s a tidal wave . . . that they are in a digital tsunami.  They are just having fun in the water, and guys my age are on the beach and seeing this tsunami and running like hell.”

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The comment is a spot-on echo of numerous other observations and opinions uttered in recent years reflecting the irony of journalism 2.0’s outlook: It seems to depend heavily on who is doing the looking.  And younger journalists, the current or recent students, do appear to express far more optimism and excitement at what will be possible in times to come.

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Extreme naiveté, in a negative sense?  That is certainly one fair view.  But maybe it’s a positive- a willingness to not be tied down by what has failed or is failing and instead be prepared and more eager to meet the challenges of creating new paradigms when the wave fully washes over us.  Again, it’s all about perspective.

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J-students, what’s your take? Riding high in digital j-land or running like hell?

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ACP Online Pacemaker Finalist: UNR’s Insight Magazine

In late March, the Associated Collegiate Press announced its selection of 50 finalists for the annual Online Pacemaker awards.  The finalists represent online versions of print publications and online-only outlets at U.S. schools large and small, public and private, admin.-controlled and independent. Sites were evaluated for the quality of their “multimedia storytelling, writing and editing, site design, in-depth and complete coverage, interactivity, and graphics and photography.”

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In this occasional CMM series, I offer my personal take on some finalists’ standout innovations or positive attributes- aimed at helping other student media up their Web games.  Next up . . .

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Insight Magazine

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Insight at the University of Nevada, Reno, presents a sleek, fun-to-scroll-through site.  It comes across as almost emo-ish with the black backdrop, but the standard content font and straight-and-arrow squared-off design specs balance things out.

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My favorite portion of the site is actually a meet-the-staff podcast series hosted by the assistant multimedia editor.  In roughly 30-minute segments, Insight staffers sit for individual chats about their lives, journalism passion, and Insight insights.  The show, called “Inside Insight,” is fantastic for a few reasons:

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1) It embraces what I call the ‘DVD extras’ aspect of the Web.  It is unvarnished bonus material for Insight readers especially interested in the magazine, presented in a way that is not feasible or desirable to replicate in print.

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2) It personalizes the publication.  It gives the audience a glimpse behind the scenes of the magazine production and some background on staff who are otherwise just headshots-text on a bio page.

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3) It is a cool platform for staff.  A quality radio interview about your j-work is a nice accoutrement to the usual stack of bylined pieces included in a job/grad school application.  It is a way to let a potential employer or grad program know a bit more about the real you behind the writing/editing.

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4) It celebrates convergence.  The show streams as a podcast on the Insight site but is actually run on Wolfpack Radio, the campus radio station.

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Daily Northwestern: “Dying” or About to Rebound, Reinvent?

In 1923, Time magazine began publication.  The first portable radio was developed.  The Walt Disney Company was founded.  And a certain student newspaper at a certain lakeside university in Illinois went independent.

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The Daily Northwestern has since enjoyed an almost-unparalleled journalistic renaissance.  Today, it stands as one of the most prolific, trusted, and iconic presences within all of collegemediatopia.  And amid a growing base of complementers and competitors on its own campus (NBN, NAR, NBR, Al Bayan, Stitch, Schmooze, Northwestern Chronicle, et al.), it remains NU’s journalistic gold standard.

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Its independence is the core of its existence and the basis for its editorial success.  Is it now one of the reasons for a dramatic level of financial duress? A new investigative report argues the Daily Northwestern‘s entirely advertising-reliant business model- free from school funding of any sort- has left it in need of a shake-up and bailout.

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The start-up news and culture webzine NU Intel reports that the DN’s non-profit parent company is running a dangerously high deficit, prompting concern among its overseeing board: “Charles Whitaker, a Medill professor and the chair of SPC’s Board of Directors, confesses he’s starting to lose sleep thinking about how to keep the Daily afloat. ‘At our last board meeting in March, it was pretty clear that the train was heading for the cliff, and that something’s going to have to be done,’ he says. . . . The question is, ‘Why is the Daily losing money?'”

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According to the Intel investigation, the biggest reasons for the major revenue decline in recent years have been the craptacular advertising market and a rapid drop in the investment portfolio value of the DN parent company (of course both linked to the larger economic quagmire drowning us all).  Subsequently, stipends for the DN staff are shrinking, even as they apparently express a “willful ignorance” about the paper’s financial precariousness.

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The Intel: The newspaper’s “survival is largely contingent on what-ifs and the expectation that yesterday’s business model is also tomorrow’s. The Daily is in need of a life preserver, and the stopgap measures aren’t true solutions, just piecemeal attempts to stanch the bleeding.”

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The report describes cost cuts down to losing candy purchases at Halloween; a fundraising effort aimed at DN alumni; a search for relevant grants and other outside funding; and a look internally to the school from which the paper separated itself 87 years ago.

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Straight-up university funding?  A more indirect channeling of money through a student activities fee? There are numerous possibilities, but they of course have the potential to tamper with the newspaper’s independence and identity.

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Toward the end of the piece, the Intel reporter paraphrases what might soon be on NU administrators’ minds: “Is the Daily just another student media outlet, or something more important?” Or in other words: Is the newspaper worth saving?  DN staffers interviewed for the piece express hope of a rebound.  They are confident the paper will reinvent along with the rest of journalism.  And as the comments section under the report especially indicates, they take issue (at times rightfully) with some of the Intel‘s sinking-ship conclusions.

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My questions, upon reading the piece: Is this an unrelated situation, or is the Daily just another student media outlet?  Is the potential school “bailout” a sign of surrender or a new reality needing to be embraced?  And most intriguing, is the student journalism renaissance over?

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Larger Lesson of the Breeze Newsroom Raid, Legal Battle

In an agreement reached earlier this month, the county prosecutor responsible for the recent raiding of the newsroom housing The Breeze student newspaper at James Madison University has offered an apology with four zeros behind it.

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As numerous reports confirm, the state of Virginia will pay the $10,000 legal fees accrued by the Breeze in its fight against the sudden late April photo seizure.  The basics of that incident: Police and a prosecutor with a search warrant she had no right to waive around stormed into the Breeze newsroom at JMU.  They digitally burned hundreds of unpublished photos taken by staffers during the recent school-block-party-turned-riot, Springfest. Inexplicably, they also burned lots of other photos unrelated to the event. Breeze staffers were forced to watch, mad and mystified, while their intellectual property was taken.

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Fortunately, the paper fought back, with the help of the Student Press Law Center and a D.C. legal firm- and it seems to have prevailed.  All photos deemed unessential to the Springfest shakedown have been returned. Promises have been made to not bust into a student newsroom in the future without a subpoena.  And as The News Virginian noted, “The Washington-based attorney for the Breeze said the most important piece of the settlement between the student newspaper and [the prosecutor] was her admission that a seizure of photos wasn’t the right way to go.”  Specifically, the prosecutor “issued a statement . . . expressing regret for the ‘fear and concern that I caused the Breeze and its staff.'”

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My take: Student journalism haters, take note.  There is a larger lesson to be gleaned from this saga and others like it over the past academic year. Nowadays, when a breeze becomes a storm and student press freedom is threatened or torn, j-students will not sit quietly or throw up their ink-stained hands in defeat. They have the organizational structure, outside legal and advocacy group support, professional media backing, and the power of the web to enable misdeeds aimed at collegemediatopia to become known and earn mass condemnation (and a related PR nightmare).

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Too many school administrators, outside professionals, and law enforcement still wrongly believe that they can outsmart, intimidate or just ignore student media when they want their way.  The county prosecutor in this case is a perfect example.  She would have never burst into a professional newsroom like she decided she could do to the Breeze.  She no doubt thought she could simply run roughshod over a bunch of kids, legality be damned.  That line of thinking cost her $10,000 and a more invaluable loss of political clout and public respect.

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Simply put, it is tougher than ever to mess with the student press.

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Student Journalist Spotlight: Madison McCord, Web Editor, The Communicator, Spokane Falls CC

In 2007, when Madison McCord enrolled at Spokane Falls Community College in Washington, The Communicator student newspaper sported a two-year-old  clunker of a website.  As McCord, the newspaper’s web editor, recalled, “It was very basic with an outdated color palette and a lot of text.”

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Although no Communicator staffers had any new media or graphics experience, McCord knew they had to embark on an online revamp worthy of Journalism 2.0. He spent Spring Break 2009 with one fellow editor enmeshed in Dreamweaver and Flash for Dummies books. “We then designed our graphics and built our site from the ground up,” he said.  “We used no pre-built templates or code.”

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Two weeks later, the Communicator‘s site was named an Associated Collegiate Press Online Pacemaker award finalist in the two-year schools category.  In fall 2009, it emerged as the winner.  In 2010, it was nominated again (now in a more general small schools category).

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Madison McCord is the web editor of The Communicator Online at Spokane Falls Community College

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In honor of his self-taught web prowess and his oversight of a top-notch, hand-coded (!) news site, McCord rightfully earns a spot in the CMM Student Journalist Spotlight.  Below, he speaks about his online journalism work and offers advice for students aspiring to follow in his stead.

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What were your goals for the revamped site?

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When the site launched, we felt it was necessary to write the following mission statement:

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The Communicator Online, the affiliate news site of The Communicator, takes the concept of how students at Spokane Falls Community College get their news and transforms its presentation from the traditional to the cutting edge of collegiate journalism.  With The Communicator Online, it is our job to know how and when students want to access their news. We stress the use of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to bring our campus news to students, ranging from campus reports to features with their friends and family.  We try to offer online alternatives that our print edition can’t offer. Our new and fresh multimedia presentations and re-occurring Podcasts allow students to access news comparable to professional outlets, but not from those run by students.

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With exclusive web and breaking news stories, we allow our readers to examine every angle of a story, as well as the ability to retrieve information however they may choose. This was the driving decision to create a hand-coded site and maintain said site in-house instead of using a pre-built content management system or hiring professionals to design and maintain the site.

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We have created a separate J-Courses page for both students enrolled in a course and those outside of the program who show an interest in Journalism. They can access PowerPoint presentations, important course documents, online tutorials and journalism-related links that help them reach their journalistic goals.  This tool takes The Communicator Online from the level of a new-media focused news site, to one of the most useful services for students on our campus and in our community.

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What were the biggest challenges as you went through the revamp process?

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We had to create a successful, navigable website that differed from our print edition. To accomplish this we have entered the “new media” realm, with the production of an iPad/iPhone web app. It’s no surprise that our market is consistently changing, and as students, we have been presented an opportunity to figure out the industry in a consequence-free environment. Since we built the site, we have implemented tools like Twitter, Facebook, Flash presentation and an interest in multimedia production. These tools and the addition of new tools are our biggest challenge as far as keeping pace with the industry.

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What led to your decision to hand-code?

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Our decision to hand-code was very easy. We wanted the site our way. By hand-coding, we were able to adjust every part of our site and customize it to what our consumer wants. The one thing that students underestimate is the fact that hand-coding is easy to learn.  We were also pushed by our adviser Jason Nix to go hand-code as opposed to using a template-based site. We feel that the lessons and experience we get from hand-coding will benefit us in the long run.

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What part of the site are you most proud to have put in place?

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This is a three-way tie. On one hand, we have worked very hard to give our viewers the complete multimedia experience in every possible story. Only text and photos exist in print. We have the capability to present audio, video, galleries and other products with a website, and we want to utilize all of those tools.

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Second is our J-Courses page. Students are our main focus, and our college offers five journalism courses. With this page, the instructors are able to post PowerPoints, lecture notes, screencasts, links and assignments. This page also opens up our curriculum to any student who wants to learn about journalism.  Lastly, I’m proud of our iPad/iPhone web app. This technology is the future of media, and we as a student paper want to make sure we are getting the most of these new tools and technologies.

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Any advice for editors at other student media outlets looking to up their own web games?

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The one thing that I see more than anything else on college news sites is the lack of professional multimedia or multimedia content all together. A good multimedia presence can take a site that is lackluster to one that students will appreciate and visit repeatedly. Also, other sites cannot be afraid of change and learning new tools. Yes, programs like Flash take time and effort to learn, but the product that comes out of this increased effort will enhance any organization’s web presence.

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Story Ideas: Hottest Freshmen Photo Spread and Profiles

At the start of fall, put out the call: Seeking model first-year students.  Amid the serious news, op-ed rants, and sports recaps, there is always room for some primping and posing.  Need proof?  Check out a recent feature run in Fifteen Minutes, Harvard Crimson‘s culture/lifestyle magazine, spotlighting Harvard’s “hottest freshmen.”

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As its introduction states, “In the urban jungle that is Cambridge, FM goes on an annual hunt to gather the most attractive freshmen from the Common to the city. Check out these stunning members of the class of 2013 as they go downtown and up to the country.”

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The feature includes a Q&A and a photo showing each student in sunlit, fashionable splendor. It is a creative way to profile students who might otherwise not be “newsworthy.” It feeds the student ego (we all have a craving to unlock the secret model within us). :-)  It gives student photogs a chance to unleash some innovative lensing.  And the list component leaves room for campus debate (i.e. who should have been included/left out).  There may also be the possibility for tie-ins with local fashion outlets, possibly even with an advertising stipulation.

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The FM also rightly adds a multimedia component- in this case a video of the models’ photo shoot.  And of course, it does not have to be freshmen.  It can be other years or centered on different types of students- commuters, athletes, student government officers- or even faculty or staff.

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Police: Lantern Staffer Who Covered Cow Escape Had Fraudulent Press Credentials

The Ohio State student and Lantern photographer recently detained by police while covering a campus cow escape will *not* be charged with trespassing or criminal misconduct.

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Yet, as a new Lantern editorial confirms, law enforcement officials are now bandying about a new charge- this one against the newspaper: fraud.

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For those out of the loop, in late April, Alex Kotran, a top-notch Lantern photographer, boldly raced to cover the escape of two “agitated, angry, nervous, and certainly dangerous” cows on OSU’s campus. He snapped shots, but eventually got too close for school officials’ and campus police’s liking. He was temporarily handcuffed, held against his will, and threatened with charges.

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One of Kotran's late April cow shots.

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Now, an OSU administrator is apparently telling police he does not believe Kotran’s press credentials are valid.  In a new report, police have apparently taken this admin’s word- without checking with the Lantern.

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“As if the story wasn’t bizarre enough, police have accused the Lantern of issuing a fraudulent press credential to staff photographer Alex Kotran,” the editorial notes.  It later confirms: “Police never once called any staff member of the Lantern to determine the authenticity of Kotran’s press pass. If they did, we would have answered without hesitation that it is valid. But no one contacted us, and police were left with the word of an administrator who rarely steps foot into the Lantern newsroom and who is not familiar with all our policies.”

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This ongoing saga has been strange on many levels, for the animals and people involved.  The larger issue it also raises: Who has the right to oversee the issuing of press credentials for independent student media outlets? According to the OSU admin. involved in this imbroglio, only a faculty adviser should be able to validate a student journalist’s press pass.

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My take: Lantern staffers are trusted to talk to sources, tackle tough issues, dig daily for stories large and small, and publish and distribute their publication on campus.  Surely, they can handle determining on their own who can join them and report and edit for the paper officially.

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As the newspaper’s editorial argues, “This is the bottom line: The Lantern is a student newspaper. Students produce and edit the content, students manage the newspaper, and students are ultimately held responsible for the newspaper and the actions of its staff.  University administrators don’t have the jurisdiction to tell us how our newspaper operates. . . . [O]nly students should be able to issue credentials for our newspaper.”

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Former FAU Newspaper Adviser Now Volunteer “Permanent Guest Speaker”

Who is currently the most high-profile student newspaper adviser who is no longer an adviser even while still advising? The answer: Michael Koretzky.

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Koretzky, a veteran journalist, served as the paid part-time adviser for The University Press at Florida Atlantic University for the past 12 years- until late last month.  A student media reorganization at the university led to his almost-immediate, hardly-a-word-of-warning termination. FAU administrators apparently want to hire a single full-time employee to advise all three student media outlets- University Press and the campus radio and TV station.

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According to a Sun-Sentinel report, the paper’s student staffers are unhappy with Koretzky’s sudden firing, feeling it is a reaction to the pub’s hard-charging reporting and part of a larger effort to regulate content.

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The Sun-Sentinel: Staffers “voted unanimously to keep Koretzky as their adviser, which he agreed to do as a volunteer. When FAU wouldn’t go for that, students named him to a new position: permanent guest speaker. He has agreed to show up every week, doing pretty much the same job as he’s done for the past 12 years. Students are also meeting with Koretzky off campus.”

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A screenshot of a portion of Michael Koretzky's homepage.

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Koretzky to students: “I’ll continue to help you publish the cutting edge journalism that has won this paper awards and its staff jobs. I just won’t get paid for it.”

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How will this affect the paper’s relationship with the administration and its desire to continue digging for stories? How will Koretzky’s “permanent” presence and students’ current loyalty to him affect the new adviser’s ability to work with the paper?  And what is the *real* story here? The school is saying straight-up reorganization.  Students are crying content control.  I have almost no doubt this is to be continued…

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