Challenges to the City-Based Newspaper Business:

Opportunities for Journalism and Mass Communication

Programs

AEJMC, St. Louis

Presented by Steve Fox, August 2011

The Challenges

Newspapers face staffing shortages/layoffs.

Beats are going uncovered.

Business model indicates troubled future for newspapers.

The Opportunities

Students get real-life newsroom experience: Working with editors; covering beats; developing story ideas.

Newspapers able to cover beats that might go uncovered.

Web sites/blogs allows for easier publishing for students.

Professionals can learn from students (ie: social media, user habits, multimedia.)

Getting Started

Story. Develop a timely idea: Prince story looked at aftermath of suicide of local high student that became an international story.

Insider. Cultivate relationships within media organization you want to partner with.

Commitments. Get buy-in from your department head/dean.

Time. Be realistic about time commitment involved with such a class: It’s a HUGE time commitment!

Multimedia Mindset“Multimedia storytelling requires the journalist to have

a mindset that rejects the authoritarian, hierarchical and simplistic attitudes towards audiences that infect the lamest newsrooms.”

-- Larry Pryor, University of Southern California

“The people formerly known as the audience wish to inform media people of our existence, and of a shift in power that goes with the platform shift you’ve all heard about.”

-- Jay Rosen, New York University

‘Not Everyone Likes Us’

With this story, students were dealing with a community divided over who was to blame for Prince’s suicide: Bullies or School Administrators?

Students came into the story after intense media scrutiny from outlets all over the world.

Building credibility at start was crucial. Most sources were filled with animosity towards media.

Frustrations provided great teaching moments. REMINDER: These are students.

Keys to Success

Build Trust. Student journalists face an even steeper hill than professional journalists.

Identification. Students should identify themselves at all times. Never use “student project.”

Transparency. Let sources know about project.

Buy-in. Get buy-in from your department head/dean as well as top editors you’re partnering with.

Time. Be realistic about time commitment involved with such a class: It’s a HUGE time commitment!

Potential Tripfalls

Investigating your school. There are many stories to be done but also potential for blowback.

Grading. Can be tough to find the right formula.

Time. Have to be focused. Editing student work eats up a lot of time. Lots of anxiety.

The Lower Third. Getting the class emotionally invested is critical to success. Making sure the lower third doesn’t pull the class down can be a challenge.

Benefits

Beats Are Covered. There were several Board of Education meetings where students were only ones in audience.

Community Is Served. By the end of the year, sources were coming to us.

The Journalism. By getting out into the community and digging beneath the surface, students got beyond lowest common denominator journalism.

Change. Supt. Of Schools and Principal both retired during year of work by students.

Moving On

Next year. Partnering with The Boston Globe and its website.

Tornadoes. Covering the aftermath of the Western Mass. Tornadoes.

Goals. Cover the communities affected but also seeking to quantify recovery efforts.

Contact Info.

Phone: (413) 545-5923 (office)

E-mail: stevejfox@gmail.com

Twitter: stevejfox