Thursday, May 07, 2009
Lamentations on the Future of our Business
A column from the WP's Dana Milbank about the Senate hearing on the future of Newspapers:And later:They came as if to their own funeral.
Reporters from Hearst, USA Today, McClatchy, the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, the Washington Times and the Boston Globe -- their employers in varying stages of decline or death -- took their places at the press table for a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday titled "The Future of Journalism."
"I hope I get laid off," one of the reporters could be heard telling a Senate staffer, "so I can get the severance."
But it was (David) Simon, once a Baltimore Sun reporter, who struck the strongest blow for newspapers. Though scolding publishers for their "martyrology" and mismanagement, he spoke of how "aggregating Web sites and bloggers contribute little more than repetition, commentary and froth" and added: "The parasite is slowly killing the host."
Go read it.
So, I'm procrastinating on writing a story (that got held anyway) and I stumble across this column in the Boston Globe by Kevin Cullen.
As a journalist, I got pulled in by his lede (even if it is a rehash of what was drilled into us in j-school) because really, don't we all think our jobs are more noble than that of those we cover?
If you ask anybody why they got into this business and they say it was for the money, they are either certifiably insane or no longer in the business.
Few in journalism call it a business. We like to think we forfeited bigger paychecks to pursue something that is essential: speaking truth to power, comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable.
I'm here in New England watching as the Globe struggles with wage cuts and other concessions in an effort to stay afloat. I have to say as a newspaper snob myself, I always thought the Times was better than this. I had this notion that if any paper would understand the value of journalists, it would be the Times. And they would do what it took to make sure they continued supporting great journalism. But as Cullen said, the Globe relationship with the Times wasn't a marriage, it was a business deal. And, really, I think we all knew that if it came down to the Times and anything else, the Times was going to take care of home first. Shoot, I was told by Times employees not to go to a Times regional paper expecting the same treatment as I would in New York. Only The New York Times is The New York Times. Cullen continues:
It would be easier to get worked up if there were shining examples of an enlightened newspaper company figuring all this out. The Times has made lots of mistakes. I wish they didn't build the Taj Mahal on Eighth Avenue. I wish they'd close the International Herald Tribune before they gut the Globe. And, at the very least, the bigshots at the Times should have climbed aboard the Acela and come up here to explain to us, and to you, their threat to close the Globe. When an essential element of your business is demanding transparency of others, it looks pretty shoddy when you expect none from yourself.
But hating The New York Times is like hating the Yankees: It might make you feel better, but it means nothing in the standings.
Labels: dismay, dying newsroom, fear, frustration, industry analysis, media ownership, the industry, union, Washington
continue...Friday, January 16, 2009
Pencil Me In
Wow. I think I just had a moment.It's Friday at 6:42 p.m. I just filed my story for tomorrow's paper and, technically, I'm off the clock.
I was going through my calendar on Outlook to see what I needed to do for next week, and that's when it happened. I started to think I might have a handle on this whole journalism thing.
So, here's the deal: At the beginning of this month, my paper turned us all topsy turvy and stripped many of us of our long held beats and gave us new topical ones.
You know I was amped, right?
The heavens were shining down on me because I got assigned to the Justice team -- which I'm affectionately calling the Justice League. (Did you know there was a black woman on the squad?) And because I've been covering the Kent County Court system for about 18 months now, they let me keep it.
Huzzah!
Well, not quite. See, before now, I've been covering Kent County kinda halfway. Keeping track of cases, but using West Warwick as my primary beat. Now, I'd be covering Kent County as my primary beat and a suburb called Smithfield as my secondary.
First week comes, I have no clue how to spend my day. I reach out to court reporter friends at the AP -- they give me some advice and I try to work their suggestions into my own routine. I spend a lot of time in Smithfield -- virtually -- and finally get out to the suburb to meet with the Superintendent and Town Manager. Come back with a gang of story ideas. But I still haven't made headway into the courts.
So I start making calls.
I call the Attorney General's office and speak to the PR guy there to get an idea of who I can talk to at Kent County to get the lowdown on cases. I call the police departments in my county to see if they can begin faxing over their weekly court calendars and dispositions. Some agree. I count it a success.
I piddle the rest of the week away, waiting for court dates that get moved at the last minute, and doing interviews for stories in Smithfield. By the end of the week, I'm depressed because here I am, with the chance to do exactly what I want to do, however I want to do it, and I'm falling back on municipal coverage because I don't know where to start. I gave myself until Janurary 26 to get my bearings and figure out what I wanted to do about this beat.
So, today, I sent an e-mail to my boss asking him to set aside some time this coming week to talk to me about what he expects from my court coverage. Then, I add the following recurring events on my calendar.
*Brainstorm Ideas for staff meeting
*Justice League Staff Meeting
*Go to courthouse to research cases
*Check court calendars
They're small, but it seems so big to me. I'm a lister. A planner. I need structure. I know I need to be in the courthouse to find the stories. But the anal retentive in me needs to have that time marked out on a calendar where it says I've set aside this time to do research. Sure, I can go more times, or at different times than when I've scheduled it on the calendar, BUT IT'S THERE. It feels concrete to me. And coupled with the court dates already filling my calendar from other cases I'm following, it makes me feel like I'm actually doing my job.
I like that feeling.
Labels: communication, courts, crime reporting, frustration, organization
continue...Wednesday, December 17, 2008
MediaNews execs speak out, stating the obvious
"MediaNews Sees Bad Timing on Newspapers, Not Bad Bet..." reads a NY Times headline.Really? Bad timing? Hmmm ... That's an interesting way to put it.
MediaNews has not had a good year. But then again, neither has Tribune, McClatchy, Gannett ... the list goes on ...
And like this country's president, newspaper execs seem to be allowing sobered introspective reflections to slip from their usually mum lips.
Exhibit A:
Many current and former Mercury News executives say that a lack of investment by Knight Ridder and MediaNews have given the paper a fairly ordinary Web site that has been slow to adopt practices that keep readers coming back many times a day, like publishing articles online well before they appear in print, updating them frequently, blogging and posting videos.For real? Really? Hmmm ... so how long have executives held that opinion? Is this a recent epiphany?
... I'll go out on a limb and assume that said executives are preparing to invest in these "ordinary Web sites that have been slow to adopt practices that keeps readers coming back" ... right? Right.
(Sighs.)
Labels: frustration, layoffs, the industry, Web sites
continue...Sunday, September 14, 2008
Copy edit much?
(Sighs.)Readers catch everything. But unfortunately the on-duty editor, the copy editor(s?) and I didn't catch anything.
I wrote my first obit yesterday...
Yes, I know. Something as simple as an obit should be a piece of cake, right? And it was, sorta. Last night I worked the cops desk alone. During the last third of my shift, the editor told me I had less than an hour to research, report and write an obit about a local politician/activist that I barely knew anything about.
I did a public records search. Miraculously, I found the deceased activist's phone number in Sacramento and spoke with his daughter, wife and brother. I spoke with one of the activist's colleagues and attained an emailed statement from a more notable colleague.
By the time I had gathered all the information, I had twenty minutes max to write the story. Surprisingly, I came pretty close to deadline, crafting the best obit I could in just under 30 minutes.
I filed. The copy editor/pagination guy asked me a couple of questions and the story was put to bed. But what had I missed? Well, two or three things, according to a reader who so kindly emailed me to let me know:
Thought you may want to be informed of these probable typos in your article about Peter Camejo in the Contra Costa Times: Here, the word "man" is likely missing from the quote: "He was a person who fought constantly for justice. He was an activist, an entrepreneur and he was a dedicated family," Danny Camejo said.
And in the title of the article, you may want to use the word "rights"
instead of "right" in "Civil right activist..." The rest looks very good and
thank you for your article.
Great. Just great. My first obit and I can't use it as a clip. And who can I place the blame on? I just as soon place it on myself, except I swear two other sets of eyes read this story before it made it to the web and to the page.
Anyone else care to regale us with your copy editing nightmares?
Labels: copy editors, corrections, frustration, get it right
continue...Thursday, August 21, 2008
Say that, say that! Part Duex
(*queues the church organist)Somebody find the person who wrote this comment, get them together with a venture capitalist -- and fast!
(*does a "Halleluah" stomp)
GO!
Labels: dying newsroom, frustration, rebirth, the industry
continue...Monday, August 04, 2008
Letting journalism "have it"
...and the LA Times for that matter.Romenesko posted the ramblings of a disgruntled former LA Times employee. Basically, the guy's talking major trash about the Times and about the industry. Some of it is funny. And some of it is just...well, I'll let you be the judge.
The Ex-LA T'er calls it a list of "42 Things [He] Know[s]".
My favorites:
#3 - ...the business model for newspapers is broken. (Agreed.)
#11 - Newspapers were unbelievably slow in embracing the Internet, even though younger reporters have been pleading with their bosses for years to embrace the Web. (I second that!)
#40 - I have no doubt my newsroom colleagues who I left behind can adapt to the challenges of the New Media environment.
On kicking journalism when its down:
If you leave the industry, because you say it's so broken, doesn't that mean you aren't around to revive or rebirth it?
I've never understood why veteran journalists -- even young ones -- critique the industry, just as they are leaving it. I don't get how that sort of criticism helps.
It's like being the head cook in a restaurant, quitting and then telling management to stop serving steroid-injected chickens because it isn't good for customers.
Labels: for journalism's sake, frustration, industry analysis, journalism
continue...Thursday, July 03, 2008
Did the Wire Service kill the Newspaper Star?
I have nothing against wire services.You know, Reuters. Associated Press. All those news services.
I respect them immensely. The reporters who work there are some of the best in the business and I've been scooped by them at least once (I know you all have, too). Shoot, some of my best friends work for wire services. I was thisclose to applying for a job at one of them myself.
I'm trying really hard not to hate on them because they don't deserve it. It's just, lately, everywhere I look, I see another collegue leaving a newspaper to go to a wire service. If the trend continues, there may not be much of a newspaper for wire services to put their copy into.
Maybe it's the money (I hear they do pay well). Maybe it's the exposure (you get run in papers across the country and online and broadcast!). Maybe it's the fast pace of the deadlines and the ability to make everything a national story and get out of the hyper-local crack newspapers have been on for the last decade.
But as I see some of the best and brightest move to wire services I can't help but think: who's going to be left to write for the newspaper?
Yes, I know the industry is "dying." Many people greater than me have eulogized my dear industry more times than I care to count. Yes, I know everything is going online and people want news now, now now. I got that. But am I the only one saddened even a bit by this trend?
I was talking to a friend of mine who has applied for a job at the AP. The wire service, she says, is the only way to get her out of the small market she's in and into the NYC metro area. The paper she's at, she says, is not longer challenging and the internal politics are wearing on her.
For her, the wire represents a way out.
Here's what I wish would happen:
I wish that all of the great writers everywhere would go to their local newspaper and write the hell out of a beat. When they do that, I wish they would be paid for what they're worth. I wish that everyone -- old newsroom curmudgeons, jaded journos and everyone in between -- would take ownership of the dead trees that land on their doorstep every morning and commit to making it better. I wish that companies would invest more money into the newsroom so the journalists there could have the money to tell the stories they need to tell, the ones they are more than capable of doing.
This is not to knock the hustle of anyone who goes to a wire service because it's a good fit for them, because it's a great opportunity covering something you love, or just because you work there. That's not what this is about.
I want great papers to go to from Providence, and great reporters to learn from while I'm there. And I just wish I didn't feel that the only way to survive in the newspaper business is to jump ship.
Labels: dying newsroom, frustration, inspiration, the industry
continue...Thursday, June 12, 2008
Anyone got a butter knife?
Right now, you could cut the tension in the newsroom with a hot butter knife.Tomorrow, all eligible employees of Bay Area News Group-East Bay will vote on whether they would like the Writer's Guild to represent their interest and enter into collective bargaining over wage, hours and benefits.
To keep it short, I've never seen such outward expressions of bitterness, anger and fatigue within a newsroom. People are on edge, as it seems the future of the newsroom and its reporters will be decided by those who care to vote on it.
I'm the intern. So it's supposed to have little, if nothing to do with me.
But I can't help feeling that this is just another marker for how hard it is and will continue to be for new reporters to break into this market.
One thing I know: a writer's union never stopped anyone from being laid-off.
Side note: I'm neutral in my opinion about whether or not one is needed.
More developments are as they come. Stay tuned...
Labels: frustration, journalism, the industry, writer's guild
continue...Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Never stand up a mayor
OMG!I feel terrible!
Last night before I left my desk for home, I realized I was not as satisfied with a story that was due the next morning.
I had to postpone or cancel a meeting I had scheduled for this morning with the mayor in the small Bay Area town I'm covering. Had I kept the meeting, I would have lost time to complete the story in a reasonable time.
So, what did I do?
I left a message on the mayor's voicemail and also sent an email.
She didn't get either and showed up to City Hall to meet me. (Her office is not at city hall.)
Twenty minutes past the time I'm supposed to have met with her, she calls the newsroom. I pick up the call and she's obviously annoyed. I try to explain to her why I couldn't keep the appointment and then also told her about my messages.
She seemed okay on the phone to schedule an over-the-phone interview for this afternoon. But she never called. Instead, her assistant called me about 15 minutes ago needing an address to snail-mail me some information from the mayor. She also highlighted that the mayor was sort-of upset that I "stood her up."
Ouch.
Totally not my intention. But I realize that in most cases intentions don't matter.
I'm going to call the mayor and apologize again, as I did when I spoke to her on the phone this morning.
But, Jesus. I hope I have not alienated a valuable source.
My editor says this type of thing can usually be smoothed over.
Let's pray he's right.
Labels: city politics, frustration, mayors, schedules
continue...Monday, April 07, 2008
Passive aggresive editors, newsrooms: not good bedfellows
Whoa.I think I've just experienced the first breakdown in communication between me and an assistant editor. This person (we'll call it Shaqwueetah) clearly has bottled up a lot thus far in the semester and has just unleashed it on me, via email.
Passive aggressiveness. Never really been a big fan of it. So when I received the email, which included a laundry list of things that Shaqwueetah felt I was doing wrong, I laughed.
Why? Because many of Shaqweetah's listed items were petty and offered no productive suggestions as to how I might make good on the sins that I've committed this semester.
As the head multimedia editor, I've assumed that most of my assistant editorial staff had figured out that in journalism, being an editor means taking charge with often very little direction.
Oh, but not Shaqwueetah.
Here's a snippet. (If you know me, then you know I had to respond to each listed item.)
6) I have no guidelines to edit multimedias. Producers have no guidelines for producing them either, despite promises you made at the beginning of the semester to hand out something you and Josh put together regarding this.
You have your experience. That is your guideline. That's the beauty of having three and four heads editing multimedia work. Each of us is going to take a different approach at editing, which means we're going to have varied styles of work on the site. That's what distinguishes our work from other college publications that do the same thing over and over. That's why we win awards for our site. It's because WE all bring something unique to the table. Just a note: in each producer's folder there is a document called "Producing Multimedia Stories." That's the document Josh and I put together, that you claim is not available to producers. A "MANUALS" folder also includes a Soundtrack Pro tutorial, an [X]press style guide and a Movable Type manual. So, no I'm not really sympathetic to producers who haven't figured certain things out thus far in the semester. Do more research before you send me another email like this.
So anyway, I've just resolved that some people will be difficult to work with no matter how hard you personally think you are working to prevent breakdowns like this. I'm by no means perfect, and I gladly accept constructive criticism. But not like this.
And over email...geez. I'm glad I didn't pick up the phone and respond. Had Shaqwueetah said something crazy, I may have had to get ignorant.
(Not productive, I know.)
Labels: fights, frustration, I-ain't-never-scared, mean emails, student press
continue...Friday, April 04, 2008
Tale of Two Stories
I'm feeling some kinda way even though I know its just me being bratty.
So, I busted my hump last week (before I went on vacay) to bang out a story on the 40th Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I know you're probably thinking: MLK? In Rhode Island? Err?
Well, I'd pitched the story -- a look at how MLK has impacted the current generation and how his legacy is holding up -- a while back. Somehow, it got lost in the shuffle and they assigned another great reporter to do the story. Turns out MLK visited RI 3 times and, of course, he went to school in Boston. So it's not that far fetched.
Anyway, I hear about the reassignment, my boss lobbies for me, and the reporter (who had no clue I'd pitched the story first) and I work out a plan. We decide to do two parallel stories -- I'll focus on the young people and he'll focus on the civil righters who are still alive.
Great.
So I report, write and gather audio. The whole time, wires are crossed downstairs (codeword for "main newsroom"). Chaos ensues. (Okay, maybe not chaos, but some serious miscommunication.)
No one knows when the story will run - Sunday or today. No photographer shows up for my assignment at a local elementary school. My boss tells me to write like it's running Sunday. I'm amped because I know that with this much copy, they have to give us good play. Downstairs is concerned because there is no audio to go with the stories. I cull through my digital recorder files and hand over usable bits to them. They are grateful. I ask about getting a photog over to the elementary school to take some pics of the kids. I hear nothing back. In checking with the school to get the ages of some kids, I learn that a photog indeed, is at the school and is taking pictures.
Great! I think.
I leave to go on vacation and check the Web site online.
There is no audio. There are no pictures of multicultural children. From the placement on the Web site, I can tell the story did not get great play.
Sigh.
When I get into the office, before I log onto my computer, before I check my messages, I go an dget a copy of the Sunday paper. I look on the front for my blyine. I look inside. Nothing. I turn to the local front. There, above a story about a Curves for tattooed women, is my story about MLK's legacy.
I take solace in the fact that I did a story about MLK in Rhode Island and did it at least fairly well. I hear through my editor that the other reporter's story is going to run on the anniversary. The Web producers tell me they'll launch all of the audio on Friday. I smile and nod.
Today, when I picked up the paper, I felt like I'd gotten slapped in the face.
The anniversary was the A1 centerpiece.
The story, admittedly, was great. I enjoyed it. But I couldn't help but feel a pang of envy that this story got such great play (and the benefit of my audio in the package) while mine was relegated to the local front.
I'm not saying my story was as good as his, or as relevant. I'm just saying. I felt some kinda way because of the way the two stories were treated. I may not have any basis for this, but I know it's messed me up today something serious.
It's just kinda like, man.
That sucks.
*Kicks an errant can in the office*
Labels: dismay, frustration, musings, political coverage
continue...Monday, December 03, 2007
A Lesson in Journalism ... from an Athlete
It's been one of those days where it's easy to forget that you're a journalist, and just as easy to be irritated with your industry. No, scratch that, this whole week has been that way.Today was the funeral of Sean Taylor, aired live on several local stations. I watched as his family, his teammates, his longtime girlfriend fought to get through the three-and-a-half hour service without breaking down. Some were successful. But most weren't.
Tears stung my eyes, while some spilled onto the cheeks of a coworker. It was hard. It was heartbreaking. A supervisor said she wasn't watching specifically because she didn't want to end up sobbing at her desk. And I wanted to turn away myself at times.
But what was keeping me glued in? The fact that for once, in this terrible, terrible week, Sean Taylor was being remembered for what he truly was, by people who truly knew him. Not being analyzed by desk-dwelling anchors. Not being examined by columnists who didn't know him personally. And not being dragged into the tired news narrative that implies everytime a young black man dies, it must have been because of the nature of his "thug" lifestyle.
Luckily, for Sean, his family and his memory, I wasn't the only one choked with frustration. With a bit of a swarm of media people at the service, those who had the opportunity took the chance to bite back at everyone who "reported" on Sean's "thug lifestyle" throughout the week.
Otis Wallace, the mayor of Florida City summed up the sentiment -- saying the media should be ashamed for jumping to conclusions merely on speculation. And he added that he hopes "the media gets a small lesson in grace and humility" from it all.
At my desk, I nodded in agreement and said a quiet "thank you." And an arena-full of mourners stood to applaud, loudly.
But I couldn't help but wonder -- how many times will that quote show up in tomorrow's papers? Will journalists be willing to examine themselves, just as critically as they examined Sean?
I did a Google search. The Washington Post's Jason La Canfora is the only one so far to do so, in his Redskins Insider blog.
I hope it won't stay that way.
When Sean was first wounded, journalists found it necessary report legal woes from years ago, stemming from an incident where he allegedly brandished a gun while trying to keep men from stealing his property. Some, in Sean's death, found it necessary to recount the times he got in trouble on the field. Their implication -- that Sean fell to a lifestyle that, as his loved ones say, he actually wasn't involved in.
So will those same journalists feel the need to report on the open criticism of their work (used loosely) at Sean's service? Will they note that Wallace's words, and the same sentiment from other speakers, drew the some loudest, most earnest applause?
I hope so. We're supposed to report the full story, right?
Labels: 24-hour news cycle, broadcasting, diversity, frustration, industry analysis, journalism, prejudice, sports, the industry
continue...Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The email that I never sent
Last month, the Golden Gate [X]press Online won a the Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press for it's news website. The newspaper also won an award for an edition it entered from this semester. Four editors on the newspaper editorial board planned a trip to the conference in D.C., where the awards were to be given out. Not one of them asked me if I wanted to go, given that the online site was a finalist for the award that we won. By the time I knew about the trip, I could no longer afford the airfare.Slap. in. the. face. Right?
Well, when they returned from their four day trip in D.C., I wanted to send an email expressing how disheartened I was about their disregard for me and my arm of the publication. But after discussing the situation with an adviser, I was advised to talk to them in person. I did. But I don't think they felt me. And all I got was an 'I'm sorry, so sorry.'
So I saved the draft of the email in my drafts folder, as a memento...
Tell me. Should I have sent the email anyway?
Dear [X]press Editors:
First off, congrats to everyone who was involved during the semester(s) that both the Online and the Newspaper won awards for. I'm glad our hard work here is getting noticed at a national level.
I would be remiss in not mentioning that I feel completely disrespected (professionally) that I was not told about or invited to the convention in D.C. And though I was aware of the trip before the delegates left,I made no "stink" about it because they were hard at work laying out a 28-pager.I feel now is an appropriate time to voice my thoughts.
Me and my team of editors have worked hard all semester, as hard as the newspaper editorial team has. I've made an considerable effort in trying to involve myself in what's going on with the newspaper (coordinating with teasers for online features, collaborating with story packages, and just coming in to see how newspaper folks are doing).
To make a long explanation short, it's a slap in the face when your publication is up for an award and you aren't invited to "the party." I know(name omitted), (name omitted), (name omitted) and (name omitted) had been planning the trip for a while...never once was I approached by any of them about whether I would be able to go. Am I not a part of the team? Asking if I wanted to go would have shown me that I'm respected as a valuable colleague on Xpress's editorial board.
Make no mistake about what I'm saying: this is not about being "lovey-dovey" friends. It's about respect. Whether or not you had intentions of leaving out me or anyone else out...whether or not you were completely ignorant to the fact that someone else besides you four might have wanted to go...
As one of the top editors, I would at least think you would ask me. Especially because Online was up for an award. I didn't find out that Online was up for an award until two days before you four were leaving. I would have loved to be there and celebrate with you. I would have found a way to be there. And the award is a collective victory.
When a paper wins a Pulitzer, they don't just send some heads and not other. They, I hope, give each editor an opportunity to decide; that means in time enough so that it would cost $500-600 to get a ticket two days before. But like I said at the top of this email: I'd be disrespecting myself and my work this semester if I didn't speak up.
Lastly, I appreciate those of you who called from DC to congratulate the Online publication. That was thoughtful. But let's try to be thoughtful in all other areas.
Sincerely,
--
Aaron Morrison
Managing Editor, Golden Gate [X]press Online Fall '07
Labels: frustration, office politics, respect-just a little bit-yeah baby
continue...Thursday, November 15, 2007
"You Make Me Sick."
It started off benign enough.“West Bay,” I said into the phone. “Talia Buford speaking.”
“Yeah, I was reading your article on Wednesday,” said the caller.
“Which one?”
“The one on Payette,” he said.
I scroll through our archives and pull it up. A West Warwick man was arrested in connection with the stabbing death of another man the weekend in my community. I did the second day story, covered the arraignment and also spoke to Payette's sister, who said the system failed her brother.
I prompt the caller to continue.
“It’s reporters like you who give the ACI (the state corrections system) a bad name. He’s scumb. He woulda killed you if you looked at him funny. I knew the guy. And you talk to his low-life sister? Give him a job. The best thing that could happen to this guy is to give him the gas chamber. You make me sick. Why don’t you report the truth for once?”
Then he hangs up.
I sat there silent for a few seconds before hanging up the phone. The sigh that escaped from my lips had to be covered in frustration and hurt.
The voice from over the cubicle says quietly: “Talia, are you okay?”
I tell my coworker I’m fine. And I go back to work.
Labels: controversy, frustration, Job survival, readers
continue...Sunday, November 04, 2007
Not always what they seem (Part Deux)
"All quiet here."That's what the police watch commander told me yesterday evening when, at the request of my editor, I called to see if anything "happened" at the day-long educational hip hop summit. I wrote about the events during the day, but missed an evening concert because they weren't about to pay me overtime to cover it.
When my editor first told me about the assignment over the phone, I sighed (in my head). Sure, send the black intern to cover the hip hop event. (I always get that feeling...never mind.) Being that it was held on the peninsula, I knew there would be more Filipinos than anybody else. Turns out that Filipinos were running it.
I often find it interesting to see who is "represented" at hip hop summits. I counted four or five African Americans out of nearly 60 community college kids. Even more interesting...we've yet to see such a rainbow of ethnicity coonin' and bafoonin' (or "boogalooing," rather) on the boob tube. (*scratches head) I've digressed.
What troubled me most was the assumption, made by my editors (and the police), that this collection of youngsters would cause some major fiasco worth reporting. On the phone, an editor asked me to come in later than usual so that I could stay in the newsroom late enough to check into the "danger" that, to everyone else, seemed "inevitable." (And they wonder why young people don't listen. If you've already written them off, why should they?)
Forget that the story I sat down to write was about women and their contribution and image in hip hop. Forget that the workshops were presented in an academic setting and fashion. Forget that the youngsters there were tamer than even I expected them to be.
Instead, let's attempt to write a story about how the police paid overtime for extra units to be ready to march in with riot gear when (and not if) the hip hop concert goes awry.
What kind of journalism is this?
Labels: faux disaster reporting, frustration, hip hop journalism
continue...Friday, October 19, 2007
It's been a long time...
...I shouldn't have left you without a dope post to read through.I've been in the trenches. Working on the launch of the redesigned website for the Golden Gate [X]press at San Francisco State University. We've got the new front (home) page working. The rest will come soon enough. That's the good news. And the bad...
It's been a trial and a half running a staff of 22 online producers. And my tenure here is only half over. And it's made me reexamine the reasons why I chose to be an editor.
I'll tell you this: some people have no business even studying journalism, let only being on somebody's staff. And I won't elaborate, because this isn't the place. Plus, some of these people still have time to make me eat my words. (I would love to eat my words right about now. I'm hungry. Hell, the website's hungry.)
Signing off for now. More to come.
--Slightly disheartened online managing editor in San Francisco
P.S. Let me know what you think of the new front page. Again: Golden Gate [X]press Online
Labels: dismay, frustration, student press
continue...Thursday, August 23, 2007
Entry level woes
After the job fair at NABJ's 32nd annual convention in Las Vegas this summer, it became clear to me that I needed to stop calling myself a multimedia producer. Why? Because I might be selling myself short.It is my opinion that most recruiters do not know how valuable (in $$$) the multimedia skill set is worth in other industries. (Or they don't want to admit it.)
Journalism is my passion...and producing multimedia packages (similar to this at the WaPo) is something that I truly love doing. But what incentive do I have to take my skill set to a newspaper? I live very close to Silicon Valley, the tech hub in California. Working for Yahoo or Google is sounding pretty good right about now.
Papers will pay you this, entry level, if you are lucky:
And this is what I can get at companies like Yahoo or Google, entry level:
These salaries are based on salaries reported in my zip code. So why am I in journalism again?
I know, I know. Because it's what I love to do. But...damn. Seems as though whether or not you have these skills won't get you paid more at a newspaper. Am I wrong?
Please, someone tell me I'm wrong!
Labels: cold hard cash, frustration, moolah, salary, the industry
continue...Saturday, August 04, 2007
Writers beware? ...RIP Chauncey Bailey
When I heard the name 'Chauncey Bailey' and the words 'gunned down in Oakland' spill out of a TV news anchor's mouth Thursday morning as I got ready for another day at work, I paused. In fact, the name Chauncey Bailey, alone, caught my attention because I felt like I knew the name, but I just could not remember how.It wasn't until I got to work that I actually realized how bazaar the news was. The name was familiar because I had seen it several times on an Oakland Tribune byline. The Tribune is a paper I have a connection to, both personally and professionally. And on top of all that, I'd only ever heard that Bailey was a good guy...the editor of the Oakland Post, an African American paper that was delivered to my church every Sunday. My mentor, Bob Butler, sent out a message to the Young Black Journalist email listserv announcing and reflecting on the news of Bailey's death on Thursday morning. It was then that I began to reflect on what it all meant.
Bailey was gunned down by an employee of Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland on Thursday. The employee confessed that he killed him because he was angry over stories Bailey had written about the bakery, its employees and leaders in the past. According to Oakland Tribune reports, Bailey had been working on a story about the group and its finances.
When this news broke Friday, I realized just how serious of a job being a journalist is. Your work has consequence, both good and bad. And I knew that. But I never thought that seeking the truth about your community and reporting it could get you killed.
Just last month, a mother approached me about her concerns that ice cream trucks were selling realisitic toy guns to children in Hayward, Calif. So I wrote a story about it. The woman attended a City Council meeting to voice her complaints, and I wrote a story about that too. Eventually, Hayward's chief of police called a meeting with ice cream truck vendors in Hayward and demanded they stop selling toy guns from their trucks or face reprimand. And I wrote a story.
Never before had I experienced writing something that affected visible change or action on the part of leadership. So I drove home Thursday night to share that with my parents. As my mom fried chicken, she, my step dad and I talked about what had happened to Bailey that morning. Both of them were concerned...because most headlines and anchors read and reported a "Journalist gunned down in Oakland." They thought of me. Jokingly, they asked if any ice cream truck vendors might seek revenge because I had called attention to the fact that some of them had been selling, to six-year-olds, imitation firearms meant for people 18-years-old and up.
Did Bailey ever wonder if writing the stories about the Black Muslim bakery would put him in danger physically? I shiver at the possibility that he knew the stories could possibly get him killed.
It makes me wonder: how careful (or un-careful) are we as journalists when we sit down to write stories that will have some consequence (positive or negative) for the stakeholders?
More on Chauncey Bailey.
Labels: dismay, for journalism's sake, frustration
continue...Saturday, June 16, 2007
Sunny disposition
Sometimes you need to step out of a situation to see it clearly.I think that's doubly true when it comes to your career.
I spent the weekend at Poynter re-evaluating my life. My girl, Jessie, was serving as a guest faculty member at the summer program we both participated in. So, I hoped on a flight and decided to mooch off of her and the Institute for a few days.
The look on my former teacher's faces when I walked in was priceless. I soaked up some sun at Passagrille. And I worked.
I helped one group find their story focus and dished with another girl about racist comments I've encountered on my beat. I sat in on classes, answered questions and encouraged a student to do the stories he wanted to do -- not the ones he felt were too large to do in four days.
Being here not only energized me, but it made me look at where my career has gone. Being here reminded me of how much zeal and passion I used to have for this craft. Being here reminded me why I got into journalism in the first place.
The result? Something needs to change.
I need to tell some stories. I need to do the journalism that initially drew me to this thing. I need something that will fill this void that I've been feeling lately at work.
These three days in St. Pete were exactly what I needed to clear my head.
Now, it's just a matter of making my resolution a reality.
Labels: frustration, inspiration, Job survival
continue...Sunday, June 10, 2007
Settling In To Chaos
Ever have that not so fresh feeling?No, I'm not talking about personal hygiene. I'm talking about not feeling like you're on point, organized and focused.
I've not really settled in to my new gig as managing editor of the campus paper's online site because it really hasn't sunk in yet. And I don't know at what point I will feel on course, organized and focused on my goal.
I've not heard from the faculty advisor, who I'm supposed to work with on a complete re- engineering of the online site. I'm not sure what my staff will look like, as many of the students who have turned in applications do not have online/new media skills. And on top of that, one of my hired assistant editors confessed to me that he might go to Europe in the fall instead, citing missing his girl from Finland (he studied abroad for an entire school year). This would leave me with one other assistant editor.
Needless to say, I'm feeling tremendous pressure. I don't have as large a support staff as the newspaper has. And since most folks prefer to work on the magazine staff, the online side of things often gets ignored. (Why? Most students come into the department thinking magazine writing means less work and longer deadlines. Oh boy, they in for a rude awakening!)
So, how will I do it? How will I find a new assistant, when most of the other qualified people have graduated and moved on to internships or jobs? How will I get the attention and interest of an at least capable multimedia staff? How effective would it be for me to train those who lack the skills during my summer, without any pay? And how will I move to a new place, pay bills, and leave to attend the NABJ convention for an entire week?
I wonder if an industry level managing editor ever goes through the same sort of feelings...
Labels: burnout, frustration, student press
continue...