Staying ahead of the Digital Curve

College Publisher hosted this session at 12:30 p.m. on Friday and introduced the new edition of College Publisher. The College Publisher 5.0 Beta will be slowly added to newspapers next year.
The biggest news about this version is it will no longer be issue based! This means that the site can be updated as things occur (like a real newsroom).

Another important highlight is that users will have more control of their site's design. Before, you'd have to get in touch with a design expert with College Publisher (which took a while for them to answer their phones) and they would change the site for the user. Now the user can do as they please, with no html knowledge necessary. In the administration screen, all one needs to do is drag and drop. Content can be added to any column.

College Publisher teamed up with a company from Sweden to completely redesign their product. They realized that while their initial product was good, it was not offering college media all that it needed.

Kera Simon

Portfolios and Resumes

On Friday at 11 a.m., I attended a session designed as a question-and-answer panel about portfolios and resumes. This was very helpful for someone like me who has time to improve their resume.

The panel's strongest tip for resume writing was to proofread. They all agreed that the worst thing to see on a resume is common misspellings. They said it is even worse if a person lists "pays attention to details" and has misspellings. One of the panelists said if a person lists that as a quality and then makes spelling errors, "Well, then it is obvious that you don't."

They also emphasized that the copy quality was important. They suggested making a high quality copy to keep and make copies from.

It was also quite emphasized to have an online resume or personal professional website. They said it was very important to show that you are online-savvy. Also, they hinted that if a person doesn't have an online site during this drastic electronic age, it suggests that you are behind the times.

Also, when discussing a portfolio, their suggestion was to be very picky about your selections. The employers want to see your skills as a reporter, so pick the best.

Kera Simon

Living the Dream

One of the sessions directed to Literary Journals was "Living the Dream" It was led by one of the co-founders of Red Morning Press, a poetry publishing press. The leader was a graduate of Poetry, having received his M.F.A. He said how afterwards he and two other friends were tired of writing, but they wanted to stay involved in the literary world. So, they began a press of their own and began attending AWP conferences and the like. He made the process sound easy, but the money very bad. (In the literary world, that's normal) He was very excited and informative. He broke down details of budget and all the legal standards that have to be met. He offered a very different possibility, and even a future, for literary magazine editors and I found the session one of the most helpful and exciting for me.

-- Andi

Column Writing

Bob Levey of the Washington Post emphasized the importance of column writing. The place was packed. Due to an overflow of students, many were forced to find a spot on the floor. Levey spoke with enthusiasm and passion about the "funnest job in the newsroom." He gave tips to overcome writer's block when writing columns, and also discussed the role of the editor and what contitutes a good one.

Chris

When Jail is not an Option

The discussion was about a First Amendment case involving a small community newspaper publishing photos that were vital to a murder case. A 14-year-old male was charged with murder in Santa Monica. A judge forced the publishers to hand over the photos before suffering fines of $1,000 a day. The newspaper turned in the photos, but published them on the same day.

Chris

Covering the Unimaginable: The Collegiate Times Speaks About Virginia Tech Shooting

Amie Steele, editor-in-chief of the Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech gave tips on how to cover a major disaster at your campus. The tips included:

Remember why your’re publishing a paper. Keep the focus on the community.
Communication is the key.
Discuss what should and shouldn’t be published.
Make policies ahead of time for dealing outside media.
Don’t lower your expectations.

Chris

First Amendment and Student Media

Lawyer Adam Goldstein talked about libel issues with college newspapers. He distinguished between the different types of public forums and libel per se and libel per quod. Goldstein also discussed the difference between libeling a public figure and libeling a private citizen. A public figure is anyone who voluntarily includes thrusts themselves into the public spotlight. Actual malice must be proved when libeling a public figure. Only negligence must be proved in a libel suit involving private citizens.

Chris

Convention General Session: Politics and the Media

This was the best session at the convention. Sam Feist, Political Director for CNN, lead a discussion about his job and the 24-hour news channels. Feist was highly motivated and well informed. He led an open forum discussing the war in Iraq and the broadcast media coverage.

Chris

Right on Time: Keeping the College Weekly Fresh and Newsworthy

Chad Stebbins of Missouri Southern State University opened his lecture by discussing the death of print media. He claims it is because “most newspapers are run by 50 and 60 year old men that “don’t realize what’s going on.” He showed a slide show of student newspapers from around the country. The newspapers exhibited new “outside the box” manipulations of headlines, fonts, colors, and images.

Chris

Religious Freedom- the First 16 Words of the First Amendment

Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center in Washington, D.C. discussed the two clauses for religious freedom in the firs amendment. The audience asked questions about the meaning of “no establishment.” Haynes then discussed the reasons behind why we need freedom of religion, and concluded that freedom of conscience was the basis for the Constitution.

Chris

Are you Red? White? Blue? Yellow?

The seminar opened with Kaylene Armstrong of BYU administering a personality test to the audience. The test consisted of a series of questions that determined personality types and divided them into the colors red, white, blue, and yellow. She then discussed ways to deal with different personality types in the newsroom.

Chris

New Media and the 2008 Presidential Campaign

David Anderson of Lewis University discussed the use of the Internet in the 2008 presidential campaign trail. He discussed the presidential debates on YouTube and the positive and negative effects of the Internet and politics. He concluded that new media might lead to a more active electorate and a new town square for public debate.

Chris