Knight's 'Poetry & Journalism' on IJPC web site

Journalism deputy director Bill Knight this year wrote a paper on journalism and poetry that USC's Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture organization has linked.

The IJPC says:
"POETRY AND JOURNALISM by Bill Knight, Western Illinois University. Before poet and journalist Archibald MacLeish commented on the intersection of poetry and journalism in a lecture at the University of Minnesota 50 years this fall, journalism and poetry had seemed antagonistic or alien to each other for centuries. Knight explores the relationship between poetry and journalism in this thoughtful essay."

New JobFile

The Chicago Headline Club has a new JobFile listing full of opportunity.

Check it out at http://www.headlineclub.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=14042&orgId=chc

'Angry journalist' martinez in context

This is from my introductory remarks before Kiyoshi Martinez' Monday appearance on campus at WIU.

Obviously, journalism today is different than ever.

But its fundamentals are mostly the same: Informing and entertaining audiences honestly.

It’s changed from when I was a 16-year-old sportswriter for a weekly and a 28-year-old editor of a rock ‘n’ politics newspaper, a 35-year-old entertainment editor at a Washington, D.C. newsweekly, and a 41-year-old environmental reporter for a daily.

But that was evolution, from manual typewriters and some areas where newswomen were banned, from Linotypes and “hot lead” done in composing rooms, in markets where TV photographers shot film that needed developing, to offset production and computers using programming in Fortran and Cobol and a flawed but sometimes useful Freedom of Information Act to searchable data bases and copy desks that have crack designers as well as word specialists

In the last couple of years, that evolution has been upended by a revolution, one that has negatives, such as an unsustainable business model, to positives, from multi-media handheld devices you can use to call, text or Twitter, from choices of content from thousands of magazines and other print, web sites, radio and podcasts, and traditional TV. Our guest is going to share some ideas on the positive opportunities that, if ignored, could be negatives.

Again, journalism is different than ever. But isn’t everything? I know a couple of economics-major seniors who planned on being hedge-fund managers and they’re thinking of career changes after last week. Next week, the Chicago Tribune is unveiling its new look and feel.

Through change, drawing on foundations you build here, you can develop two key things: the self-reliance that’s invaluable to journalists—not being dependent on one source or your parents or teachers— and a zeal for lifelong learning – from do-it-yourself blogs now to internships to training.

In fact, I’m taking a webinar on Thursday.

AngryJournalist.com Author Hits Macomb

Kiyoshi Martinez, architect of the popular AngryJournalist.com blog, spoke Monday at Western Illinois University and shared his thoughts about the current state of the journalism industry. He's written his observations about WIU and Macomb on his blog at http://kiyoshimartinez.com/nerdlusus/2008/09/24/post-presentation-thoughts-on-speaking-at-wiu/.

Additionally, Martinez' speech was spotlighted in Wednesday's edition of the Western Courier, the WIU student newspaper. To read the story, go to http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2008/09/24/News/Kiyoshi.Martinez.Enlightens.Journalism.Students-3448170.shtml.

Blogger Kiyoshi Martinez to visit WIU on Monday

Kiyoshi Martinez, who produces the popular blog, AngryJournalist.com, will speak at Western Illinois University on Monday, September 22. Kiyoshi wrote the following about his upcoming visit on his AngryJournalist blog:

"On Monday, September 22, I’ll be visiting Western Illinois University to talk about this essay I wrote for the Center for Innovation in College Media blog:

'Journalism school graduates: How to increase your chance of finding a job and decrease your chance of having to vent on AngryJournalist.com'

Throughout the day I’ll be meeting with journalism students and faculty and at 3:00 p.m. I’ll be speaking at the Union Sandburg Theater.

I’m rather excited to be speaking to journalism students, as I was a student not long ago looking for a job. Currently, I’m polishing up my presentation, hoping that I don’t become one of those boring people with a PowerPoint.

At the same time, I’m soliciting advice from the crowd for journalism students at AngryJournalist.com, and if you have thoughts you’d like to contribute please do."

Check it out.

Not All Journalists are Dinosaurs

There's an interesting article about mid-career journalists embracing the changing nature of the journalism industry on the Society of Professional Journalists web site, http://www.spj.org/wpr.asp?REF=100#100.

The Media and Sarah Palin

Roger Simon at politico.com. has written a humorous column about how the media has been covering the Sarah Palin story. Check it out: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13143.html

What You Probably Won't Read, See or Hear in the RNC Coverage in St. Paul

For an excellent look at the way St. Paul police are mistreating some photojournalists and journalists at the Republican National Convention, check out this blog: http://carlosmiller.com/2008/09/03/three-more-photojournalists-arrested-on-felony-rioting-charges-at-rnc/. Some things never change....

DNC, RNC welcome multimedia folks

(from the weblog MediaShift, hosted by new media journalism expert Mark Glaser)

This year, the political conventions have tried to be more open to bloggers, video reporters, podcasters and new media. In 2004, the major political conventions gave a few dozen bloggers press credentials, a historic moment for the new media outsiders. In 2008, the Democratic convention credentialed 120 bloggers, and the GOP has credentialed 200 bloggers, according to Forbes.

But perhaps the more interesting trend at the conventions this year is that it’s more difficult to tell the independent bloggers from the mainstream media bloggers. As traditional media embraces a multi-platform approach, including their audience in citizen media reports, the distinction between who deserves a media credential and who doesn’t has blurred like never before. (read more here)

Many will miss Chicago's loudest sportswriter

(A commentary by Mark Fitzgerald, in Editor & Publisher)

CHICAGO -- The unexpected news that Jay Mariotti quit the Chicago Sun-Times will gladden the heart of countless sports fans here, who have gobbled up countless gigabytes in the blogosphere documenting their hatred for the sportswriter.

Google "Jay Mariotti sucks," and you'll get 12,400 returns. Mariotti was held in such contempt in the clubhouses of some teams that he has written his columns for years without stepping foot in them. He said in all seriousness he felt unsafe in the White Sox clubhouse, for instance. (to read more, click here)

How Newspapers Botched the Web

An interesting analysis of how the newspaper industry, as a whole, messed up its various attempts to break into the online world can be found at http://valleywag.com/5039619/5-ways-the-newspapers-botched-the-web.

"Freaked out" seeks career advice

Dear Joe,
Q. I graduated from J-school this May with a newspaper concentration, and I'm interning abroad this summer. Every week I get e-mails from friends who are beginning their newspaper careers in the States and watching newsroom morale crumble around them. One friend says an editor pulled her and other interns aside and told them to get out of the business while they still could. Another intern told me he's the only one in his office who's sure he'll still be working in a week's time. A metro reporter who's only 24 already believes her own job isn't safe.

I still don't think it's that difficult to break into newspapers, especially in small towns or through multimedia. But what about keeping those jobs five years or 10 years down the line? Even if small papers continue to do well, where are the chances to move up going if it's the major metros that are cutting jobs? Sure, Web skills are important, but being able to write HTML or edit video (as it seems almost everyone can do now) won't ensure survival in an ailing industry. It seems to me that the print media industry is headed for a far more compact -- and competitive -- incarnation.

I don't mean to come off as alarmist, but I think my concerns are legitimate. So my question is this: If you had graduated college this May, would you have gone into newspapers? And for us budding writers who are still young and unfettered, is it time to switch paths?

Freaked Out

A. If I came out of school this year, I would not be banking on a long career in newspapers. But I would still study journalism.

When I got out of journalism school, I had no idea in the world that I would ever become such a thing as a newspaper recruiter. I had never heard of one. And then I became one and absolutely loved it for 18 years. And even way back then, more than 30 years ago, we were taught to produce journalism for print, video and audio.

My points: you cannot have your whole career figured out now; uncertainty can include great things; we can't confine ourselves to one medium.

Newspapers are changing, to be sure, and not in pretty ways. Some will not survive. Others will evolve in ways that make them almost unrecognizable -- except that they still do journalism.

I know that video skills are hot today, that everyone is trying to acquire them and that they will soon be surpassed by something else. Evolution has always been the case. But now, change is moving at warp speed. And it is not just happening in newspapers. Don't believe that our brothers and sisters in other industries are having an easier time than we are. They're as worried as we are.

Dealing with this junk takes guts. And it is risky. Yes, many people are getting hurt by this transformation. And some are benefiting. Right now, it seems to me that more are getting hurt. But just as you are at the beginning of a career, all of us are at the beginning of a historic transformation. No one can give you any assurance about what will happen or where we'll wind up. But we are beginning to see some of what it will take to succeed: adaptability, entrepreneurship, initiative and an audience orientation.

If you have a passion for journalism, if you have the qualities I just mentioned and if you can work like hell, I think your chances are pretty good.

(From longtime journalism recruiter Joe Grimm, posted on Poynter Online)

A new way to pay for news you want?

You think your local water supply is polluted. But you’re getting the runaround from local officials, and you can’t get your local newspaper to look into your concerns.

What do you do?

A group of journalists say they have an answer. You hire them to investigate and write about what they find.

The idea, which they are calling “community-funded journalism,” is now being tested in the San Francisco Bay area, where a new nonprofit, Spot Us, is using its Web site, spot.us, to solicit ideas for investigative articles and the money to pay for the reporting. But the experiment has also raised concerns of journalism being bought by the highest bidder.

Read more of the story here.

Russert recalled as effective journalist

Sister Joan Chittister in her National Catholic Reporter column "From Where I Stand" this week mourns the loss not only of the late Tim Russert, but also his skills and the social consequences of his use of them.

"Tim Russert was trying ... to make citizens out of voters, thinkers out of listeners," Chittister writes. "He was trying to form a real democracy rather than simply throw pottage at herds of politicized sheep.

"He was not sensational, not confrontational, not destructive," she continues. "He was a real thinker. He was a real political philosopher for the age. A real journalist."

High praise for a guy who earned it.

Read the whole piece here -- http://ncrcafe.org/node/1914

'When journalists hate journalism...'

Online Journalism Review may be folding soon, but Robert Niles there posted a terrific analysis of the deep divide between journalism and television.

Taken with insightful comments to the posting, it offers positives and negatives about TV, traditional journalism and the loss of public service in a press mission that somehow drifted into Profits Uber Alles.

Check out Niles' piece here -- http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/robert/200806/1497/

3 WIU grads accepted to UIS' PAR program

Three accomplished journalists who graduated from Western in May were accepted into the prestigious Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois-Springfield, director Charlie Wheeler said.

Journalism majors Jason Nevel and Drew Thomason and broadcasting major/Journalism minor Alex Degman will make up 15% of the 20-student program.

The one-year program combines classroom coursework and internships with professional news operations covering the Illinois General Assembly and state government. Grad students earn Master's degrees upon completion of the program.

Nevel was editor of the Western Courier, Thomason the Courier's web editor, and Degman a student reporter for WIUM-FM 91.3.

Essayist picked by Western SPJ wins national award

An Aurora high schooler picked by Western's Society of Professional Journalists chapter and WIU faculty as winner of the Midwest Region's High School Essay Contest also won the national award, SPJ announced.

Mark Brouch of Aurora Central Catholic High School won a $1,000 scholarship in the annual competition, which this year had the thme "Why Free News Media Are Important."

New Media Industry Leader Heads to Las Vegas

New media guru Rob Curley, recognized as one of the leaders in the online journalism field, is departing the Washington Post to head up new media at the Las Vegas Sun. He explains the decision in his latest blog entry at http://robcurley.com/2008/05/24/earlier-this-week-it-was-108-degrees-in-las-vegas.

A trade for all America, this Journalism

I heard now-retired newspaper columnist William Raspberry talk about Journalism once – as a trade – reporting being as vital and hands-on as plumbing or wiring. For graduates (and acknowledging Hall of Fame baseball announcer Ernie Harwell) here’s a salute to Journalism.

Journalism is reporters teasing President Bush at a White House dinner and a child reading the funnies with a mom in White Hall, Ill. It’s the infamous newsroom bums such as Jason Blair and Stephen Glass, sure, but it’s also Sy Hersh, Helen Thomas and many others who keep finding truth and sharing it.

A quiet guy clipping a friend’s obituary – that’s Journalism. So is the pair of young Washington reporters churning out story after story until a President is shamed into resigning.

It’s America, Journalism; an epic poem, a play, a nation’s portrait – remade every day. It’s the New York Times and a community weekly. The color comics on Sunday, a small-town paper’s uptown web site, USA Today’s sports section, and the births and deaths in countless newspapers of record from coast to coast. And ink made from soybeans and newsprint that can soak up spills or be recycled, almost anywhere.

There’s a man in Moline who remembers a story he read by a courthouse newswoman or a kid in Morton who clipped a human-interest piece by a man who took risks for readers. That’s Journalism. So is the subscriber calling for extra copies of the paper with something about a neighbor in the Food or Arts section.

It’s a retired teacher phoning the newsroom with complaints about a typo on page C-6. And a grinning photojournalist giving a high-five to a violinist or gymnast after a first solo or balance-beam routine.

Journalism is “the first rough draft of history,” it’s said, a spirited sprint to record facts and feelings. It’s also an art and a craft to seize moments. Many are noticed – heroism or failure is seen, cheered or booed, and hopefully understood. Some become numbers; others memories.
In Journalism, democracy grows. The only race that should matter is the race to deadline. The creed is the AP Stylebook. Color is something distinguishing a feature story or photo.

Journalism is a foreign visitor asking about the late, great Carl Rowan or Molly Ivins, Hunter S. Thompson or Ruben Salazar. How could America produce and relish the likes of Randy Shilts and I.F. Stone, Vincent Chin and Margaret Bourke-White? Or the First Amendment itself, or SPJ or the Newspaper Guild.

It’s Herblock cranking out classic editorial cartoons and Henry Stanley exploring Africa in search of Dr. Livingstone. It’s a race to a radio for an immediate report from a scene, or someone standing in a hurricane for a weather forecast. Journalism also is the critic lecturing a painter about perspective, and a scientist trying to write a 600-word op-ed piece due tomorrow.

Journalism is jazz without music. Math without grades. Video games without violence.
A woman out West can’t tell you the color of her husband’s eyes but she knows the Dow Jones or the Consumer Price Index or her favorite CD is up or down. That’s Journalism. So is the corporate-minded Newseum in Washington, D.C. And the ex-reporter, still writing while circling the drain teaching at a college somewhere.

Journalism is continuity. A tip, then a source to verify. Desk to deadline to press time. Download, upload, podcast and blog. Idea to illustration. Pictures and stories to audiences’ eyes.

It’s rain soaking the stoop where the paper lies dry in plastic. And lightning making the radio crackle and the TV crawl with warnings. And the flash of email alerts and RSS feeds from keyboards in distant lands, humming like an huge engine fueled by and driving information.

Journalism is a sleepy carrier or a smart-aleck copy editor. The old-timer whose scoops increase every time he remembers the past. A woman celebrating a conviction of a crook or profits at a local factory or good prices for crops by throwing the paper in the air.

Journalism is the cool, clear eyes of Ida Tarbell or Ida B. Wells, the flashing brilliance of Mike Royko, and the daring exploits of adventurers as varied as Nelly Bly and Richard Harding Davis, Marguerite Higgins and Floyd Gibbons.

Journalism, just a job? It’s work, but more. As complex as the American spirit from which it benefits, it’s a trade, a business and, sometimes, even a faith.

Journalism is Tradition written in skinny notebooks. And Shame in missing a story. It is Courage in exposing the lousy treatment of veterans. It is Humor in Dave Barry making us laugh out loud. It’s Amusement in all the crossword puzzles, horoscopes and supplementary flavors that help the hard news go down. And it’s Emotion, going with what you got and working on a follow-up for tomorrow.

Names are Journalism, too. The Hawk Eye, High-Country News and Herald-Whig, the Picayune, Porcupine and Pantagraph; Pulitzer, Scripps and Hearst.

Journalism is a noisy, frantic newsroom where hopes and feelings run as rampant as relay teams or political candidates. It’s a corner pressroom with coffee-stained desks. It’s the endless lists of names in race results – from tracks or voting booths.

The griper and grumbler is Journalism, too. He wants to finish a novel or go on the radio or be on cable TV; nothing’s ever good enough; “whaddaya got today?” And he wants decent wages – and deserves them. Journalism is the newbie, too – the recent grad who goes from the Midwest to Texas on spec, just for an interview or tryout.

His Girl Friday and The Paper, The Daily Planet and the Daily Bugle, Walter Cronkite and Bill Moyers, CBS’s Edward R. Murrow on the radio or TV and the Guild’s Heywood Broun on picket lines or beneath headlines. Journalism is interns – with experience no bigger than the lumps in their throats – trying to begin a dream. It’s veteran scribes, too – tired old hands of 45, knees gone, praying to stay with the work they love.

Every week, day, hour – minutes now – Journalism is the story of David and Goliath, of Sinbad, Paul Bunyan, of Jackie Robinson and the Lord of the Rings.

It’s H.L. Mencken covering the Scopes trial, William Allen White writing a heart-breaking obit of his daughter, Grantland Rice describing the Army-Notre Dame game with the Four Horsemen – “Outlined against a blue, gray October sky …” – Ernie Pyle filing from World War II’s “worm’s eye view,” and John Hersey reporting from the ruins of Hiroshima.

Journalism is not a job description, it’s said. It’s a diagnosis.

This diagnosis is a trade for democracy, for America, this Journalism.

Through the centuries, Journalism has extended from James Boswell and Ambrose Bierce, plus the many nameless reporters at innumerable statehouses, cop shops and press boxes, through Marvel Cooke, Joe Galloway, Gene Roberts, Pete Hamill and Amy Goodman. Journalism is Reuters and Rolling Stone, Clarence Page and the AP, Red Smith and Daniel Pearl.

Sacrifices were made, lives given for Journalism. Don’t disgrace it; celebrate.

Seniors (or those who plan to graduate): good advice

A post on the blog Innovation in College Media last Thursday is aimed at Journalism grads and it's mopre insightful than most comparable advice -- plus it's fairly applicable to a lot of fields.

Valuable for seniors thinking of preparing to search for jobs, and for undergrads a bit late out of the gate for internships, it's main thoughts are
* get real
* know the biz
* don't be stupid
* brand yourself
* don't blame others
* know where you want to work
* don't limit yourself

Check out the whole piece -- and comments -- here: http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2008/03/27/journalism-school-graduates-how-to-increase-your-chance-of-finding-a-job-and-decrease-your-chance-of-having-to-vent-on-angryjournalistcom/