JRN 300: That's All, Folks

Everything is in. Nothing left to do. I'll do the math on your base grades, and then I'll make any adjustments based on extra credit, and that's that. Your grades will be locked in, and soon you'll be finding out exactly what you got.

The only thing left for you to do (if you haven't done it already) is evaluate this class via the SIRS online teacher evaluation site. Please take a few minutes to let us know how this online version of JRN 300 went, what we should keep doing, and what could be better.

Plus, there's only one thing for me to do, and that's to thank each of you for spending a semester with me. I enjoyed working with each and every one of you. I really did.

Everyone comes into JRN 300 at a different starting point. Some have some journalistic experience; others don't have much. A few people have a natural talent; others need that talent cultivated a bit before it becomes apparent.

No matter where and how you started, I got to see improvement. Growth. Little everyday victories. Some defeats, but also renewed efforts to overcome those losses.

No matter if you did great in this class or just eked by, remember this is just one step in a larger journey: one toward the day after graduation. Between now and then you'll build on the skills you learned here. You'll improve. You'll get more comfortable doing this. Things will seem more natural as you do them (like AP style).

If journalism was easy to learn, it would be a two-week certificate class at the local community college, and not a four-year major. This is just an early step in that longer trip to your careers and independent lives.

You're on your way. If there's anything I can do to help along the way, please don't hesitate to ask. (All because our class is done doesn't mean I'm not willing to help!)

Good luck to everyone in the coming semester, and one last time, thank you.

JRN 300 Reminder: Your Turn To Grade Me!

Student Instruction Rating System (SIRS Online) collects student feedback on courses and instruction at MSU.  Student Instructional Rating System (SIRS Online) forms will be available for your students to submit feedback during the dates indicated:

     JRN  300  730:  7/31/2017 - 8/30/2017 (SIRS only)


Direct students to https://sirsonline.msu.edu.

Students are required to complete the SIRS Online form OR indicate within that form that they decline to participate.  Otherwise, final grades (for courses using SIRS Online) will be sequestered for seven days following the course grade submission deadline for this semester.

Rating information collected by SIRS Online is reported in summary form only and cannot be linked to individual student responses. Student anonymity is carefully protected.

JRN 300: My Availability This Week

I will be out of the office and unavailable from the morning of Thursday, Aug. 10 through the night of Sunday, Aug. 13. If there is something you absolutely need to see me or talk tome about now, please do so no later than the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 9. Otherwise, I will reply to any messages when I return on the morning of Monday, Aug. 14. Thanks!

Job Shadows: What You Saw, Part 1

Here's a sampling of some of the various job shadows done by you all. Take a look and see what you can learn from everyone's visits. There's a lot of good stuff here to help you decide what you want to do with your lives; what you need to be doing to get there; and what to expect when you do get there.

We will add more job shadow reports to the blog as they are completed. Please give each one of these a quick read, will you?

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I have spent half a day with Laura Hessen, the producer for The Guy Gordon Show on WJR 760. The first thing that she does once she arrives in her office is gather news stories that may be interesting for the listeners. Once she has a good amount of news, she presents them to Guy Gordon and, together, they decide which ones to tackle. At this point Laura tries to contact the writers of the articles or other people of interest. Once she has a rundown, Guy Gordon begins to prepare for the interviews by reading the articles and other literature on the topic. In the meantime Laura and her engineer go to the studio and prepare for the show. At 3:00 pm the show begins and the phone starts to ring. The producer decide which callers to put on the air and answers any question the listener might have on the topic.  The show goes by very quickly between the callers and the directions Laura has to give to Guy. Once the show is over, the producer books some guests for the next day or helps Guy Gordon do commercials. This opportunity was eye-opening for me as it fits perfectly what I want to do. I would like to work for the broadcasting industry in the future and WJR has a great name in the business. I learned many valuable lessons during these few short hours. The way the producer books guests is quick and very friendly yet she did not leave them any chance to say no. When deciding what callers to put on air she is meticulous and chooses people that may reflect different points of view. Overall it was very interesting and I have learned a lot about how to produce a show. 

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I shadowed Don Postles, the evening news anchor at WIVB Channel 4 in Buffalo, New York. Don first showed me around the newsroom and everyone’s offices and cubicles. I saw assignment editors, video and audio editing booths, sound recording booths, the control room with the technical producer who puts on the show and the actual news studio. The news studio looked like every other news studio that I have seen pretty much, there’s cameras that are robotic and there are teleprompters connected to them. There’s an anchor desk for the anchor’s, there’s a sports section where the sports reporters read their report and then there’s a weather section with a green screen. There was one stage manager and he was showing me how the cameras move on their own as the technical producer in the back moves them. I met reporter Jenn Schanz who told me she is from Michigan and her brother went to Michigan State. I will be in contact with her about future stories. I met the sports department including the sports director and two other sports reporters who go out on location and film stories (University of Buffalo football, Bills, Sabres) which is very exciting. Don Postles is one of the oldest anchors still at Channel 4 and went to American University in Washington. Don is joined by his co-anchor Jacqui Walker, who also went to Michigan State, so we bonded over football! I then sat and watched a live filming of the 5 o’clock news, 5:30 p.m. news, and 6 o’clock news. I met Nalina Shapiro, another anchor at Channel 4, and it was so cool to see her read off the teleprompter but also make it sound so natural and interesting. I enjoy news studios and watching them film live news stations and I’ve been in news studios a lot so I am comfortable there. I one day hope to be up there filming my own sports segment on the evening news! Channel 4 felt like home and I love to continue to meet people and network.

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Today, I spent several hours shadowing Alexander Alusheff, a business reporter for the Lansing State Journal. I chose Alex and the LSJ because, last semester, I interview his wife (Abigail Welsh-Alusheff) at the Livingston Daily.

My experience at the Livingston Daily was, in a nutshell, disturbing. New management had recently made serious cuts, gutting the journalism and editorial staff. Not six months after my shadow appointment with Abigail, she left the Livingston Daily to specialize in inbound marketing. Whether this decision was related to changes made by Gannett or not, I’m not sure.

Gannett owns the Livingston Daily, LSJ, the Detroit Free Press, and USA Today. They also own a number of smaller newspapers across Michigan. When I shadowed at the Livingston Daily, I saw the negative parts of this business structure. Writers and editors were cut, the newsroom was nearly empty, and important story flew by unattended.

This afternoon, I bore witness to some of the positive parts of this business structure. Or, at the very least, the positive aspects of working for Gannett.

The LSJ newsroom is impeccably organized, with large monitors sharing page views and other statistics for each published story from a Gannett newspaper. Writers are judged based on views, not on their word count. According to Alex, the minimum number of views per month is 60,000. This encourages writers to communicate with their editors about what stories perform well and what stories don’t. There is no auto-pilot. Every story counts.

I met seven other reporters at LSJ, all of whom were positive about their experience. I also traveled with Alex for an interview, which took place at a real estate office in Okemos. The story focus was on REO Town, which I found poetic, since I just finished a story on REO Town myself. I was impressed by the level of respect given to LSJ reporters. I didn’t note the same respect in Livingston County, where the residents are clearly upset with the organization of the paper and the management of staff.

Despite this positive experience, I still wouldn’t consider working for a newspaper full-time. I think reporting is impressive and necessary but, as I chatted with each reporter about what I do, I found each reporter was just as impressed with my work as I was with theirs. It was validating, especially when a conversation about SEO (a prime focus of my work) began.

Overall, I enjoyed my afternoon at LSJ. Maybe working as a freelance writer and working in a newsroom aren’t all that different, after all.

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JRN 300: About Those Pictures ...

Two things we want in all pictures are humanity (people) and animation (activity). Specifically, we want people who are named in the story doing whatever the story is about.

So, if we're doing a story about a guy who eBays stuff to make money, we can get a pic of the person on their computer, doing eBay postings and/or eBay sales. If we have a story about the minimum age, maybe we get pictures of one of the interview subjects at their job,flipping burgers or waiting tables or whatever.

Regardless, we need to make sure we have humanity and animation. Just taking pictures of buildings or signs or things without people or activity are a sure way to come up with a photo that adds nothing to the story.