BrianManzullo.com

What do journalists really need? Adaptability

Last week, 10,000 Words creator Mark S. Luckie wrote a blog post on five myths about digital journalism. I recommend you read the post, but just to provide a roundup, here are the five myths:

• Journalists must know everything.
• Social media is the answer (to saving journalism).
• Journalists must have database development skills.
• Comments suck/comments are essential for democracy.
• There are no journalism jobs.

This led to a rebuttal one day later from Andy Boyle, a digital developer with The New York Times Media Group in Tampa, Fla., on all but one of those points. In a nutshell: You do need to “do it all” with some form of success, there is no one answer to saving journalism and you do need basic database skills.

Combined, the two sides make for an interesting debate on what today’s journalists really need (the subject of this blog post in particular) and what is essential for the industry to move forward. Mindy McAdams, a journalism professor at the University of Florida, rounded up the two sides with her thoughts in a well-written post.

I’m not going to go from point to point on this. I think McAdams did a nice job of it and I generally agree with her arguments (in that both sides are right, to an extent). But I think when it comes to defining what journalists really need, we need to go broader than just what skills are essential, what programs you need to know and what devices you need to be familiar with. Why? Because these skills, programs and devices are changing all the time. One day, we needed to know how to use a voice recorder, then a standard video camera, then a flip cam, then a smartphone. Even different versions of the same program (for example, Photoshop CS2 and CS5) have different learning curves — and I had to work with all four in between during my five years in college!

The real key for journalists in moving ahead is adaptability. And not just being able to adapt, but being willing, too. Andy Boyle touched up on this: ” … you DO need to be able to do it all with some semblance of not-suckitude.” What I mean by adaptability is being willing and able to try new things to enhance the quality of your journalistic work with some degree of success. This can be anything from using your smartphone to shoot photos or video on the job to using a public records database for a follow-up story.

From working at Central Michigan Life for five years, I have come to know dozens of student journalists, possibly hundreds. I know plenty that graduated and moved on to good jobs with good newspapers. But I know others that didn’t. They either couldn’t find a decent, well-paying job, majored outside of journalism, went back to graduate school or dropped out of college altogether.

Not that any of those things are bad! But this is the nature of the beast of journalism: You have to put in a little extra, think outside the box and try new things as they come along for a good journalism job these days, and some people just aren’t willing to do that. It comes down to passion. Do you have to be a master at multiple trades? No. Just be aware of what’s at your disposal and try to maximize your effort in telling the best possible story.

Let’s get even broader with this. A former colleague of mine, Mark W. Smith, was honored as Central Michigan University’s Young Journalist of the Year by the journalism department at the annual Hall of Fame banquet in November. He graduated in 2007 and currently serves as Web Editor at the Detroit Free Press. How’d he get into such a prestigious job so fast?

His motto: “Work harder than the person next to you.”

That, really, is all it comes down to.

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A case for the editorial use of slideshows

A couple of articles I’ve read over the past week caught my eye.

The first was Chadwick Matlin’s piece on “A Faustian Bargain” in the Columbia Journalism Review. Matlin discusses the editorial use of slideshows as a form of online journalism that can generate a massive number of pageviews simply by clicking through each slide. He opens with a great example: A site he worked for, thebigmoney.com, reached its parent company’s pageview goal by offering up slideshows that eventually provided 40 percent of the site’s traffic.

Efforts such as these provided a revelation for Matlin:

We weren’t alone. Across the web, slideshows have become a shortcut to better traffic numbers; a shortcut that sites are now going out of their way to take. And increasingly they’re published because of the medium, not the message.

In addition, Emma Heald (for editorsweblog.org) wrote a take to Matlin’s piece, further discussing the editorial use of slideshows. Are news organizations using them responsibly, or simply as a means of generating pageviews?

It is easy to see why news organizations would want to use slideshows. They’re relatively easy to build and simple to view. They generate clicks with little to no effort, and they can inflate pageview numbers at a staggering rate compared to the average news story. Matlin mentions how sites such as The Huffington Post have turned slideshows into tools of solicitation, meant only to drive pageview counts high and make their web properties more appealing to advertisers.

I find this discussion interesting, mainly because as a web producer at azcentral.com, one of my main duties is to create and manage slideshows. On average, I will tend to 2-3 slideshows per night, whether I’m creating them or adding/deleting photos from others. Most of the time, I’m tending to game slideshows, but other times we’ll manage “Best of” slideshows or other special-interest galleries.

Building visual presentations with meaning

So working with slideshows is an integral part of my job. So what makes what I do different from simple solicitation? It really comes down to two things: 1) The creative process behind the slideshow and 2) the presentation of it.

I’ve written in a previous blog post about taking print content and telling it visually online (see #3). At azcentral.com, we largely do this through the use of the “super slideshow,” which is like our normal slideshows but with two stark differences: A larger presentation of each photo when you choose to remove the caption information, and more editorial content on each slide (usually by a beat writer). Here’s one example that looks back on the Arizona Cardinals’ loss on Sunday.

The intention of these “super slideshows” is to present editorial content in a visually appealing way. It’s meant to turn regular print stories into finger food online, which quick bites of information that each come with a photo to provide visuals. While these days, the possibilities are endless in how you can present information, particularly on the news side, building these slideshows are simple and can easily enhance content for online viewers.

In other words, the right intention is there from an editorial standpoint. You can make a case that these presentations can drive up pageviews, and they do, but they also give our online product value because they tell the same story in a different way. As long as it’s intuitive, it works.

In addition, there are times where we take regular slideshows and use them in creative ways. Take this slideshow, for example. I built this earlier in the week to showcase the week’s biggest football matchups on television. Would you rather view this in the way it’s presented or as a text-heavy list?

Finding value with unique pageviews

Either way you spin the argument, regular pageviews are a grossly overrated statistic. It surprises me that advertisers still continue to find value in them. I could generate 100 “pageviews” by clicking through all 100 slides of a slideshow, but I don’t do the advertiser any good if I don’t pay any attention to their advertisement above the slides. In all actuality, the 99 extra pageviews don’t mean anything anyway if I clicked the ad on the first pageview!

Perhaps the value of a site’s content lies in the eyes of the advertiser, since it’s their money that makes the news operation click (for the most part). But if I’m trying to build a site’s value, my job shouldn’t just be to increase pageviews (I say “just” because pageviews are still a good general barometer of a site’s traffic, just not the greatest). The real value lies in how many people are viewing my site (i.e. unique pageviews). Matlin writes on this, from the advertiser’s perspective:

Advertisers have an easy way to hold sites accountable: rely on unique visitor, rather than page-view, counts. The page-view metric has become diluted by editorial and business tricks like recirculation tools, landing pages, and slideshows. As Gawker Media owner Nick Denton puts it, “Some page views are worth more than others.” That’s why he now judges his staff and sites’ success on a less-manipulated number: how many people come to visit, not how many pages they visit once they’re there.

So the question should be: How do I get more people to look at my slideshows? That’s what a web desk of a newsroom should be asking. And most of the time, it’s as simple as putting more value behind the product and thinking outside the box in terms of presentation.

Economics 101, really.

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A quick roundup of online journalism at work during Election 2010

As a journalist, I’ve never been too involved on the politics side of reporting.

With that confession aside — I love election days.

Not just because few feelings compare to the rush of being in a newsroom on an election night, either. I remember working Central Michigan Life’s website in 2008, during the presidential election, constantly posting voting updates whether they be local or national. I also worked a township election night at The Saginaw News as a reporter, although that was a little less hectic.

The main reason why I love election night: Much of what I wish for in online innovation comes alive, if only temporary.

Look, I know a lot of news outlets are innovating on a somewhat daily or weekly basis on a multitude of stories and issues. But on no other day during the year is there such a large plethora of “true” online journalism at work, across all platforms imaginable. It’s like a museum. Sites are going social, going visual, checking in, building graphs and maps, interacting, crowdmapping, crowdsourcing, fact-checking, . Some news outlets are even trending!

Could you imagine if this sort of quality digital journalism and innovation was employed on a much more regular basis? Not just with elections or politics, but with stories ranging across all topics and genres?

I decided to wring together some links showcasing the different examples of online journalism at work from election day (yesterday). Some of these ideas may have been done before, but made better; others are completely original and should be replicated in more markets. Either way, they’re all worth checking out.

• In social media: To track users who voted on election day, Foursquare encouraged users to check in and use the hashtag #ivoted, using this information to map out every voter via state. Using #ivoted on Twitter generated a graphic, much like we saw during the World Cup. (Speaking of Twitter, the Washington Post attained a promoted hashtag, #election, for its coverage) Finally, Facebook is tallying users who voted, much like it did in previous years, while also helping you find your polling place.
• MSNBC.com is featuring just about everything on its election page: From blogs to maps to graphics to indexes to hashtag art, even. It also offered readers a chance to join the election conversation.
• The New York Times created a Twitter visualization that tracks the number of tweets regarding political candidates over time. The coolest part is watching the visualization play out over time.
• TBD.com employed reader engagement by asking them to help track voting problems throughout D.C. using Crowdmap. This allowed other users to take a look at what could arise at their local polling booth.
• Many newspaper websites have been using Storify to embed voters’ voices to their sites during the elections.
• The Washington Post, as expected, has put together a ton of interactive maps and multimedia for the elections. One example: The live results map for the House and Senate, which goes from county to county.
• For being in a new state, azcentral.com has been helpful in making information convenient to find for this year’s election (Disclosure: I work here). My favorite part is the Fact Check tool, which helps hold Arizona politicians accountable for their claims. A great way to find out who’s honest.

More roundups (with even more links!):

• The multimedia blog 10,000 Words (now with multiple awesome writers, by the way) featured 10 exceptional election front pages. Every example employs a diverse range of multimedia coverage.
• Nieman Journalism Lab put together a roundup of what several news organizations had planned for election coverage.
• DNAinfo.com offers another roundup of election coverage links, although many of these I already have listed above.
• The Society of Professional Journalists’ Toolbox offers a huge list of election resources.

And last, but not least: Some election night visuals from newsrooms around the country, courtesy of Robert Hernandez, a professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. I miss that rush of being in a newsroom during a big news day such as an election night. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Have more examples/links to share? Use the comments below. I’d love to see them.

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Establishing a true online, real-time mentality as a web producer

Last week marked the one-month mark of my job at the Arizona Republic. And with this being my first foray into the web realm on a professional level, I wanted to take time and write down my thoughts on thinking in real-time as a gatekeeper of the Web. Because we’re definitely entering an age of real-time information. Even Google these days is conducting search in real-time as you type.

When you grow up during a time where news is dominated by newspaper monopolies, it’s difficult to think about how to translate that work online without wiping the slate clean. You can’t just put a cast on the problem and let it heal. You have to rethink the business model. You have to rethink the newsgathering process. You have to rewrite job descriptions, reorganize the newsroom structure and, most of all, start with the web, not the print. That’s the future of the business.

But I don’t want this thread to envelop into a notebook about “online journalism” — that could be made into its own hardcover. I just want to encompass what it’s like to think real-time when you’re working as an online producer. As a gatekeeper of the Web. Mainly because this is the sort of real-time thinking that should apply to every job in the newsroom. Much of this tailors toward what I’m doing at The Republic, but I’m also writing on-the-go about things I’ve learned at Central Michigan Life and from observing other news companies such as the Grand Rapids Press (where I interned twice on the copy desk).

1. Constantly cycling content

I start with this because, essentially, it’s the most important part. When you’re thinking online, you constantly have to think about the viewers’ experience. Don’t think about what you want to see; think about what your reader wants. How do you keep them coming to you for the news they want? This isn’t always easy.

The newspaper mentality was much different because newspapers, essentially, were meant to be read once per person per day. They’re picked up once and either thrown away or left somewhere for someone else to read. Once. The online mentality obviously doesn’t work that way. As consumers in 2010, we are now wired to consume information multiple times a day and expect something new every time we look something up. We check our computers and our phones throughout the day, checking in on all our favorite websites to consume information, either in the social realm (Facebook), news realm (New York Times), or anywhere else. Newspaper sites should strive to be one of those “favorites” that we bookmark, and they get there by constantly updating and cycling content. Staying on top of the ball.

One of my duties as night producer at the Republic is to keep the sports site fresh with content, including each of the team sites. While I’m not constantly posting new things, I will cycle content into different spots to give them a share of play on the site’s “hot spots.” And they’re not just stories, either — I’ll use slideshows, blog posts, videos and more. It’s all content. And it’s not going to flow in like a river throughout the night; sometimes, you have to cycle different things you’ve posted in conjunction with other content and keep your site looking fresh. Or just create new content. Which brings me to…

2. Content generation on the fly

As a producer, there are going to be times where everything you can post is posted, and each of the indexes on the site are as updated as can be. This is probably my favorite part of the job — because it allows me to be creative and work on “projects.”

For example, on Sunday nights, one project I will do is “A look at the next opponent.” I’ll do this for Arizona and Arizona State’s football teams. I gather 10-20 images of their next opponent in game action throughout the season, gather their captions and provide extra information about the team in each caption – for example, player stats, coaching history, team history and the team’s success with UA or ASU. Here’s a quick one I did last week for UA’s opponent that weekend, Washington State. It’s a bit smaller than usual given time constraints, but you get the idea.

Another idea I came up with a few Sundays ago was a small slideshow on the Phoenix Suns’ preseason roster battle. One story I had to post was on five players battling for two open spots on the team’s regular-season roster. While reading it over, I thought it’d be a cool idea to put some images together and provide background information on each player. This was the end result (the final slide is since removed because of that player being waived).

These projects are by no means comprehensive. But they offer something new and give readers something visual to look at while consuming information, piece by piece, in a more convenient matter. More stories could be told like this, and they should be.

3. Taking a written story in print and telling it visually online

For many newspapers, this isn’t really a new concept but, for a lot of others, the process from print-to-online is still very routine: Take a story from print, post it online, give it a better SEO headline, URL and attach an image. And move on.

It’s not that the process is wrong — it’s definitely not. You want to tell stories this way, particularly for current mobile platforms. But there are a lot of times where I’ll read stories online from various news outlets, big or small, and think, “It’d be great if this story could be told more visually.” As an alternative, of course.

There are examples all over the web of content told visually — video, audio slideshow, Flash, interactive presentations (one of my favorites here). But there are times where content goes all the way through the process — where it is written, edited and ready for online posting — and it can still be told in a sexier way. One example from azcentral.com, although I can’t take credit for this one: Republic columnist Bob Young writes “The Heat Index” several times per week on random topics in Arizona (or national) sports, and he wrote a column recently on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Max Hall, on how he was undrafted and has a chance to follow in a line of successful undrafted quarterbacks. A producer on staff came up with the idea of telling this visually, showing each of the undrafted quarterbacks and separating the story into chunks with each image.

Compare the slideshow here with the original text here. Which would you rather read? (UPDATE: I actually got to do something similar Sunday night with a general story on ASU football. Here’s the print, here’s the slideshow I created.)

There are many other ways to tell stories than with slideshows or videos — Flash, maps, social media, geolocation, etc. But slideshows are the most basic and generally effective way to tell a story differently, especially in sports. And you can do it on the fly as a producer when nothing else is planned for the web.

4. Using social media to connect rather than spoon-feed links

I’ve written about this sort of thing before (See #2 here). For example, most newspapers do have Twitter accounts to their credit, but most of them don’t use them optimally. The point of Twitter, in a nutshell, is to connect with others, not use it as another outlet for links to your stories and features. That’s what an RSS feed is for!

Use Twitter, Facebook and any other social media platforms in a variation. Link to stories, but do other things, too. Talk to others interacting with your account, post developing story updates, occasionally ask for feedback, retweet your writers’ tweets and promote new sections/presentations on the site. Constantly ask what readers think, and make them heard.

That just about scrapes the surface. You also can use a site like Twitter to crowdsource news events and festivals; live blog; develop working relationships with bloggers who provide similar coverage; provide lists of important area users; the list goes on and on and on. You do these things on a daily basis, you earn more “quality followers” — those who will not just follow you, but click your links and interact with you. It builds your brand, your reputation and, ultimately, your overall online product.

Opening the discussion to the floor

Like I said, this is not meant to be comprehensive. These are simply the ideas I’m developing as I go, whether on the job or reading my RSS feed at home. The beauty of the information age is everything that goes into supplying the optimal product for the consumer when you’re working in the real-time information business. It’s not just about what you can provide differently from print.

What are your thoughts on developing a true online mentality? What else do you think goes into the process, and what’s to come in the months, even years, that follow? Comment below!

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Turning to the public for journalism? Well, they did it in baseball

The inspiration for this blog post came from an idle Tuesday night in the basement of my childhood home in Saginaw, Mich.

I’m watching the MLB Network (one of my new favorite channels) at around 2:30 a.m., trying to rework my biological clock to stay up until 5 a.m. since I’ll be working until that time in Arizona. During a commercial, an interesting short feature came on, focusing on a baseball game unlike any other that occurred 59 years ago Tuesday.

Bill Veeck, an ambitious owner of a St. Louis Browns ballclub that was dead last in the American League at 38-81 that year, decided to give fans control of all managerial decisions during a game against the Philadelphia Athletics (49-75):

A day before, Veeck held a contest in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that would allow fans to vote on the Browns’ starting line-up. Everyone who mailed in their ballot would in return be given a ticket to the Browns-Athletics game; where they would be seated in a special section behind the Browns dugout. Veeck’s plan was for everyone seated in that particular spot in the bleachers, called the Grandstand Managers Section, to vote on what plays the Browns should do next.

Veeck took the concept further by electing two fans to be the first- and third-base coaches for the game, although they had to sit in a box beside the dugout, near manager Zach Taylor, who took in the sights on his night off from decision-making. This was armchair managing taken to a whole new level for the fans.

How did the system work? For each situation that called on the fans for help (the first one didn’t come until the Browns were down 3-0), a public relations employee would hold up a sign, asking the fans what the team should do in that particular situation. Each fan in the section had a sign with “Yes” on one side, “No” on the other, and would hold the sign up with their vote in front. The employee would then relay the call to Taylor, who then relayed the call to his players.

Was it successful? The first question posed was whether to bring the infield in or keep it in double-play position with men on first and third and one out in the top of the first inning. The fans voted to keep the team in double-play position. The result? A double play to end the inning. In fact, the only mistake the fans made was in the bottom half of that inning, with the game tied 3-3. They voted for the man on first to steal second with two outs, and he was caught to end the inning. (Read more about the Grandstand Managers Day)

The St. Louis Browns, who finished the season 52-102, won the game 5-3. They were 1-0 when the fans managed the team.

The idea was duplicated, in fact, on a much grander scale in 2006, when the Schaumburg Flyers, an independent ballclub in Schaumburg, Ill., turned over managerial controls to the fans for the entire second half of the season. This project, partnered with MSN, was dubbed Fan Club: Reality Baseball, and was chronicled over the period of 48 games. These fans had more control than those of the ‘51 Browns: They also had control of front-office moves such as trades. The result? Not as good. The Flyers, who finished the first half 31-17, went 15-33 under the fans’ control.

Translating grandstand managing to grandstand journalism

It doesn’t surprise me that this idea hasn’t been duplicated in any form in the major leagues again. In today’s age of magnified media scrutiny and multimillion-dollar contracts, a concept as outlandish as grandstand managing for what is essentially a true spectator event would spark major controversy, even if both teams involved were out of the playoff race.

But what about journalism?

Okay, this is by no means a new discussion. Many delegate the concept as “citizen journalism,” a term I loathe because of its misleading, stereotypical connotation. It is simply the idea of getting the public more involved in the news-gathering process. Many times, it has nothing to do with writing stories or shooting photos. And despite the efforts of startups such as Spot.Us, news companies in general aren’t doing enough to bring the community’s input into the equation.

What if newspapers routinely asked community members for story ideas? What if, before a reporter begins talking to sources for a story, an effort is made to reach out to community members via social media and inquire about what questions they want asked? What if readers were consulted on ideas and suggestions for the direction of a story? What if they could provide ideas on sources to talk to? What if they were given the opportunity to “complete” a story, a la TBD.com (see photo), via tidbits, photos and news tips?

This concept of “grandstand journalism” was unheard of around, say, the time of the St. Louis Browns. Not because the public didn’t want to be involved — but because they couldn’t. Technology and social media have changed that. It’s no longer as outlandish as it is with baseball now. People can reach out to the media easier than ever. They have a forum. They have a voice. And news organizations need to listen and at least take that into account — or a competitor will.

There are core concepts of journalism that may never change — those so far engrained into the industry’s roots, they will stay there until the end of time. But if a true spectator event such as baseball can break out of the traditional mold, even if it was only temporary, guess what? So can journalism.

I’ll end this entry with a video I linked to a few months ago, but deserves a repeat appearance given the topic. Jeff Jarvis, at TEDxNYED last March, on why “this is bullsh*t”:

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My quick take on TBD.com, a new interpretation of online news

Well, it’s finally here. After about a year, if not more, of development. Jim Brady, Steve Buttry and the TBD gang launched its highly anticipated community-driven news platform today in Washington, D.C.

Normally I wouldn’t be so excited over a news site launching in an area that has almost no relevance to me, but it is widely considered to be a statement to the future of online news. So I have to be excited, right?

I took about 20 minutes to navigate the site. The first thing I noticed? I didn’t have to click all over to find news site necessities — lottery numbers, weather and a calendar, for example — I just scanned the home page. Most news sites bury these sorts of things on their site, if they even display them. TBD.com throws them on the home page. Why? Because people are looking for them! And the way TBD.com is designed, my eyes aren’t confused as to where to go; all these elements are conveniently placed and easy to find.

(One quick idea: A small map, perhaps in the sidebar, that shows me events, police & fire incidents and news in my area, a la Patch.com.)

The next thing I noticed: Excellent branding. TBD.com has spent months building its brand among the ever-growing community network and the city of Washington, particularly through social media and random meetups, but the next thing it’s doing is building the brands of its different sections. The more prominent ones are “The List” and “The 9″ on its homepage. They’re quick, recognizable and, most of all, they draw me in. Navigating further into the site, several TBD blogs, such as TBDScrum, are prominently branded as well, using names similar to the Twitter handles they use.

Speaking of Twitter, the TBD Facts Machine needs a quick mention. It’s a Twitter account that fact-checks and corrects the news in the D.C. area. How many other news organizations are doing this?

My favorite part, however, deals with the philosophy of TBD.com: Hyperlocal community news and features. If I’m in the Washington area, I can plug my zip code right into the home page, below the nav buttons, and find out what’s happening around me, whether it’s the day’s big news story or a meetup at a coffee shop. Furthermore, TBD.com gives me the opportunity to get involved in the news process — by simply retweeting a story I’m interested in or by submitting photos and other news tips on developing stories.

I’ve mentioned before that, in some fashion, the future of news is hyperlocal and personalized. A successful news site has to be able to cater to my area and my interests, while doing the same for others. While the system isn’t perfect (yet), TBD.com does that. And it delivers all that content for all communities it covers in large part because of its ever-expanding blog network, which consists of blogs on dining, style, entertainment, politics and more. I now have a true one-stop shop in navigating the DC writers and content builders that also serve as community members in a sprawling metro.

Obviously, as TBD mentions itself, there are bugs to smooth over. And there are plenty of new ideas to be implemented in the coming weeks, even months. As TBD.com editor Erik Wemple puts it, the site’s development is “always uncertain, forever under construction.” Believe it or not, that’s a great philosophy to have in the online world. If you’re going to keep up, you’re going to need to evaluate the performance of your site quite regularly.

So what does this mean for the future of news? Really, this is one interpretation of the optimal news site (although it’s still developing). If news is going to be hyperlocal and personalized, it can’t have one model for all communities — what works for TBD.com might not work in other areas. But I think the concepts TBD.com is employing are concepts that need to be implemented in all news sites if those sites want to stay relevant, or become relevant again. What these guys did was start from the ground up in building this news platform. Sound familiar?

At this point, I wish TBD.com luck in the future, and I will definitely follow its growth, particularly to the mobile realm. Today is a wonderful start, and only makes me even more excited about what’s to come in journalism.

Other reading on TBD.com

• Mashable community manager Vadim Lavrusik does a great job describing TBD.com and its community-driven approach to news gathering.
• Things that Suzanne Yada loves, along with a few things she doesn’t, about TBD.com.
• A story from the Washington Post on TBD.com. Notice the skeptical tone — it mentions the site is entering a “crowded” news landscape already.
• Jeff Jarvis welcomes TBD.com. Short, but well written.

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The job search is over: I’m off to the Valley of the Sun

Well, the next chapter in my life is finally turning.

I remember thinking back to the night the calendar switched to 2010. I knew it was going to be a big year — I just didn’t know how yet. I was heading into my final semester at Central Michigan University. Everything beyond that was a blank sketch. I had no idea what I would be doing or where I would end up by the time 2011 rolled around — only that I’d be working my first job in journalism, hopefully online.

That was so exciting to think about but, in a way, it’s also a little scary. I had a feeling my time in Michigan was limited, based on the job outlook. That would mean spending time away from my friends and family, who I have an amazing relationship with. That would mean spending time away from the Great Lakes, the family lakehouse near Clare, the places I shared great memories with back home in Saginaw. I’ve spent all 23.5 years of my life in this state.

That’s going to change once September rolls around.

On Wednesday afternoon, I officially accepted a job as online sports producer of the Arizona Republic. Or, in the words of LeBron James, “I’m taking my talents to the Valley of the Sun.” I’ll be starting sometime in September.

For me, this is an unbelievably exciting opportunity for an entry-level job. I’ve loved sports my entire life, and online journalism has been, by far, my largest passion the past year-and-a-half. I get to work for a news organization which, in my opinion, is ahead of the curve in online journalism, and I get to follow Arizona sports, which I already follow anyway, particularly the Suns. This also is an opportunity for me to live out West for the first time, which I’ve always thought about doing at least once in my life. It’s a great chance to gain a new perspective, even if I am still in the United States.

It seems like I have a million people to thank for this. Everyone I’ve ever worked for and with at Central Michigan Life, especially my adviser, Neil Hopp, for building me as a journalist, setting the course for my career and — most of all — being such great friends. Those of you I’ve met at CoPress or on Twitter, for networking with me, helping me with occasional questions/ideas and engaging on journalism. The Grand Rapids Press, for being so supportive throughout both my internships and working with me to maximize my experience there. Most of all, my friends and family, for being downright amazing people. I would never be where I’m at today without any of you.

And so, for these last six weeks or so, I’m going to finish up in Grand Rapids, make all the arrangements needed for the move to the Phoenix area and, of course, say goodbye to everyone in Michigan. That won’t be easy, but it’s something I have to do — for now.

See you on the other side!

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Three things I dare journalism students to do before they graduate

I’ve always thought that if journalism was going to truly move forward, it’s going to have to start again from the ground up. That includes thinking differently about journalism education. After all, that’s where it all begins!

And if there really was a time for a journalism student to make their college experience their own, this is it.

Let’s face it: Many journalism schools are suffering. Whether it’s because of dwindling funds, professor turnover as rapid as student turnover or a refusal to teach new media techniques, students just aren’t getting as much out of their traditional education as they used to. That’s why it’s so important for a handful to take the leap forward. That means taking initiative and becoming the journalist of the future — and it doesn’t matter where you’re going to college.

That leads me to the topic of this post. I was thinking earlier about advice I would give college students after giving Suzanne Yada’s advice a full read (which, by the way, you really need to read if you’re still in school). I’ve already done a similar post for those working in the college newsroom. But what bold, daring things could students try before they graduated? What could they do to optimize their education?

Here are three ideas I came up with:

1. Propose major curriculum adjustments to your journalism school — and get support

This sounds like a bold statement. I meant for it to be. Journalism needs bold people to light the fire behind it. Journalism schools need the same thing.

I know what you’re thinking: The j-school heads aren’t going to listen. They’ll be polite, say “Thank you,” but effectively throw your ideas into the trash. Try countering that by forming a proposal so compelling, they have to listen.

Do research on what some other, better j-schools are doing with their curriculum, as well as some of the skills and techniques that are needed for online media jobs. If your school isn’t teaching it, tell them they should be. Provide proof with job descriptions and interviews with media professionals. Earn support from your peers and perhaps a right-minded professor or two. Chances are, your j-school doesn’t need to be gutted for it to be effective, but it does need to teach things that might apply when you’re looking for a job in 2020. That includes InDesign, Photoshop, Final Cut, iMovie, basic web coding, CMS’s and current social media platforms.

Some of my own thoughts: I’m sick of seeing online media as an option, or a track, in the journalism degree. Online media should be a requirement. Media law should still be a class, but it also should be taught to various degrees in other classes. Social media should be taught, but as a universal topic (because who knows what we’ll be using 3-4 years down the road). Experience at a student newspaper or internship should count as credit.

The one obvious caveat to adjusting a j-school curriculum: Can your professors teach it? Here’s a horror story — a professor at my j-school had to learn Final Cut the night before teaching it to her online journalism class. That, to me, is unacceptable. I expect my professor to know online media if they’re going to lecture/teach students about it. Make sure your j-school is evaluating your professors on a semester basis. You could even form a student committee that serves as a watchdog, rates professors and informs the department of various issues.

2. Form a news startup online and compete with the student newspaper

Even if your student newspaper has been around 100 years, is a perennial award-winner and knows what it’s doing online, consider challenging it as a news source in the community. Seriously.

Take the Onward State, for example. It is a student-run startup that serves as an alternative to the Daily Collegian at Penn State University. It runs the way an online news site should — it links, it crowdsources, and it is open. This site is practically run from dorm rooms, yet it’s doing a sufficient job in competing with a 112-year old student publication by employing strong online and social media practices.

Is there a risk in doing this? In one sense, absolutely — you won’t get paid much, if at all; you have to convince other journalism students to collaborate for little to no pay; there’s a lot of extra work in building the site, advertising it and building its reputation from the ground up; the list goes on. But in another sense, there really isn’t much risk if you put your mind to it. The pay isn’t in money, but in education and experience. Journalism needs leaders — bold people willing to think differently and take risks.

Another benefit of forming a competing news startup: Challenging the student newspaper to do better. Many of them compete with other student newspapers around the state/country for awards, but the real competition they need is in covering the university and the community. If your startup can make them think differently and evolve, then your entire j-school wins and your community wins (because they’re better informed and involved, of course!).

3. Form a network of students that meets regularly to discuss readings and projects

This one isn’t quite as bold as the previous two, but could actually be more beneficial in the long run. This is a great way of building your own education and making something of your valuable time in college.

It’s simple: Get a group of awesome young journalists together (and maybe a professor or two, if you’re so inclined) and think of a good time during the week where everyone can spend one to two hours in a room together. There are a lot of things you can do in this allotted time:

• Brainstorm ideas.
• Have everyone buy one book at the beginning of the semester, read it and discuss it every week. One good example includes Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky. Talk about what you learned from the book and how concepts can be applied to experience in journalism.
• Have “project days,” where everyone brings in a project they’re working on, either for a class, work or for the hell of it. Everyone else provides constructive critique and feedback.
• Brainstorm.
• Invite media professionals to visit, either in person or via teleconference, and engage with the students.
• Set up one challenge for every person to accomplish each week. This can include going on a multimedia assignment, trying one new social media tool or coming up with one killer idea on how to empower a student news organization. Perhaps set up a rewards system to keep people motivated week after week.
• Brainstorm. Brainstorm. Brainstorm!

The idea of this “student network” is to create your own education. It’s like having a class — a fun one, at that — without paying a cent of tuition or taking a single exam. It’s a way to make good friends with other passionate journalists, a way to meet media professionals and network, a way to try new things and read new perspectives and, most importantly, a way to become a better journalist.

It all starts there

The easy part is coming up with the idea. The hard part is executing it.

My hope is current students take this sort of advice (along with Yada’s) to heart and do their best to make the most of their pre-professional experience. This industry needs more bold thinkers and innovators, and it really does start from the ground up. In school.

Feel free to comment: What would you dare students to do before they graduate? What other thoughts do you have about making journalism education better?

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