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
Damn, if he didn't just take the words right out of my mouth!
For you journalism students out there:If I ever meet this kid, I'm buying him a beer and a shot of Jameson. He's said everything I've ever wanted to say about j-school. You'll just have to read it...
But here's a snippet of what Sean Blanda wrote...something that I've come to realize, as I get ready to graduate from j-school:
Preach on, my "brotha!"Any change must come from the students. Change costs money and insulating yourself from it doesn’t. And considering the industry doesn’t know which way is up, does it make financial sense to invest in something you don’t know will be there tomorrow? I am not defending this mindset, as I think it’s the plague of any entrenched institution. But I can understand why a college would be the slowest body to change. Any innovation is going to come from the bottom up, and not the top down.
Many professors know that they have to adjust the curriculum to help the students, but they are several years (sometimes decades) removed from the newsroom and job search. I had a teacher say “You guys should learn this new stuff, I won’t have to, of course, because I’m on my way out.” (Then he may or may not of cackled and ran off).
I would venture that the majority of professors are introduced to new technologies by the students, not the other way around.
Read the full blog post here.
Labels: journalism school, student press, technology
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...Monday, August 13, 2007
We haven't forgotten you!
So yeah.Sorry we've been MIA for much of the weekend, folks. Trying to find an Internet connection and time to post in Vegas is harder than a little bit.
But don't fret, we're coming with some fire - including a point, counterpoint between myself and Veronica about our fellow journalists reaction to Barack Obama's speech.
In the meantime, if you missed the convention, swing by the NABJ Online Student Project and catch up on what you missed. Our very own Aaron was wrecking shop left and right. Check him out.
Labels: NABJ, Sin City, student press
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...Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Our Future Newsroom Leaders Revealing Their True Feelings...
In the Thursday, May 17, 2007 issue of the Golden Gate [X]press the editorial staff conducted an audit of the diversity of the main subjects in published photographs. With the results of the audit, the editorial staff ran an editorialized analysis and the incoming editor-in-chief ran an analysis of his own. His ideas have caused a bit a concern inside and outside of the newsroom community at the [X]press. Just below is the incoming editor's entire article as it ran in issue 16 of the [X]press.Please read it and let Ten95 know if you agree or disagree with Maher's take on diversity.
Note: The following article was run in the [X]press without the consent of Ian Thomas, the out-going editor-in-chief. Thomas has openly expressed his own outrage to the article's content and to the fact that he was left out of the loop.
Discussions of diversity always make me squeamish, chiefly because the discussion is usually based on presumptions that fundamentally reinforce the bigotry such conversations are meant to combat. The [X]press staff addressed in this issue a proportional discord between the recorded ethnic makeup of the campus population and the perceived ethnicity of individuals in published [X]press photography. The article begins by stating our paper’s goal to represent the multi-cultural population that makes our school “what it is,” and goes on without transition to explain how we’ve tested thatrepresentation by auditing our photography. The auditing process seems to be no more sophisticated than looking at people in the photos and concluding, "That's a black guy; that's a Chinese girl," and so on. I appreciate this is not an exact science. Diversity of coverage is a tricky thing to quantify, largely because there is so much disagreement on its definition. And our auditors must tread cautiously, carefully navigating the incredibly provocative waters diversity issues often churn. My heart goes out to them for the enormity complexity of their task, and I admire their devotion to the idea that diversity is so important. But setting aside even the absurd conclusion that skin color and bone structure are the defining elements of one's cultural identity (remember, at the moment we were targeting the importance of representing cultures, not races), I'm astonished we're accepting this particular definition of diversity with so little scrutiny. After all, I've always struggled to maintain belief in the idea that what defines us as people are our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions. What makes a community meaningfully diverse is a wealth of individual beliefs, perspectives and behavior, not a bunch of different-looking faces. When we define diversity primarily in terms of what people look like, we give credence to the idea that a person is defined by those appearances. We accept and assume that societal forces are beyond each individual's control to absorb and react to in his or her own fashion, and in so doing we demean and discourage individuality and help create the stereotypes we intend to dispel. Skin color and gender are often important in determining the experiences that shape our believes and the way we behave around others, yes, and this does often result in groups of people with comparable ideology and behavior who look similar to each other. To that extent, I agree that our paper this semester has left room for improvement in portraying the true diversity of our community, and I pledge to work towards correcting that in the coming months. At the same time, I must make clear that my first priority will always be to promote a diversity defined by ideas and perspectives, above and beyond the aesthetic differences that have for so long afflicted our efforts to join together. Like everybody else, I’m only one person, and have only the benefit of one personal perspective. Our team next semester will work diligently and passionately towards providing as inclusive and accurate a portrayal of our community as possible, but we will need help. I strongly encourage our readers to speak up, and less us know when we are missing out on important perspectives and angles. The true power of the press lies in its close communication with the people. With an engaged and scrutinous audience, I am confident we can build a newspaper of true diversity and integrity.
For further analysis of this article:
Double Consciousness (DC) co-founder and blogger Jack Stephens, who was a staff photographer for the Golden Gate [X]press this spring, breaks down the editorial written by Maher. Christine Joy Ferrer, a contributing blogger to DC and a reporter for the [X]press, also gives her own analysis of Maher's article.
Labels: diversity, student press
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