You can read past posts to see some of my stream-of-consciousness thoughts, feelings and joys from throughout the last month. Some have been great. Some have been pretty depressing. But the main point of this internship was to learn something. And I've learned quite a bit, about a different side of journalism, how a successful publication with a high-quality staff and a metropolitan focus operates, about how to keep stories fresh when you don't have a daily deadline. The most important thing is being able to take these experiences back to our classroom when our staff convenes two weeks from today. Between now and then, I'll be reworking our staff manuals and trying to carry forward the lessons learned here into the future.
A few things I'll take away from this experience.
- You don't have to be daily to have a daily presence. The Internet has revolutionized journalism, and it can revolutionize high school journalism. Use your print publication for timeless, bigger-picture stories. But have your reporters' ears open to *report* on the daily stories. Your website doesn't have to have a tons of bells and whistles to be the go-to destination.
- Social media can be wonderful. IBJ.com had more than 10,000 hits from Facebook and Twitter in a month. That's an easy way to push your brand and get stories out there to the general public, another gateway to your readers.
- Multimedia is our future. Teach your students to be "backpack journalists" and how to use and edit video to enhance stories. This next year, we have eliminated the position of staff photographer and we will have all students shoot their own stories because we had too many issues where things didn't quite match up, and also because students need to be more well-rounded. It doesn't have to be a slickly-produced TV package. It can be as simple as recording and putting a 5-minute interview with the principal or a postgame chat with the football team's running back online.
- Source your stories. I learned it the hard way, but don't be too afraid to ask the simple question. Those questions are vital in making sure the story is accurate and right. A lot of times, young reporters are so nervous and afraid to interview people, they ask a minimum amount of questions and get out of there, and then don't follow up. Also, don't be afraid to call the extra source.
- Get out of your comfort zone. It's not a surprise that a simple three-source story on a focused topic took me less than 90 minutes to do. It's also not a surprise that I had little trouble putting together an education story, and went into an extreme amount of depth with it (I talked with the principal, a teacher, the superintendent, two outside consultants, a guidance counselor and the custodial staff, a few more sources than were probably necessary). But those stories were in my wheelhouse. Doing stories about urban issues -- redevelopment, urban planning, urban gardening, food trucks and the like -- are way out of my comfort zone, but they've made me a better reporter.
- Keep the BS meter high. When a source tells you something, go check it out. I was doing a story on an urban planner, and so I altered my route to work to see exactly what he had planned. It checked out pretty well, but not all stories have.
- Facts and numbers are critical. Try to boil generalities down to exact numbers.
- Your sources usually want to tell their story. Give them a chance. Don't assume you're being intrusive. Sources also understand the power of the press.
- Edit, edit and edit some more. There is value in editing a story with an editor. Require your editors to do that.
- Every source is important. In this assignment, I've sat in on a chat with the Pacers coach, had one-on-one interviews with the Ball State University president, a federal administration department chief, talked with the superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools. But other than the Frank Vogel story (a video story that one of our other reporters did and I sat in on), the other sources were not the focuses of the stories. The stories focused mostly on the other people involved. I quoted contractors and teachers as much as I quoted the presidents and superintendents.
- My students hate meetings -- and all reporters, I think, do. But getting together on a regular basis to discuss story placement, art, what's going to happen in each edition is important. Your section editors need to check in on their reporters every day to determine progress and offer suggestions.
- A weekly or bi-weekly deadline cycle isn't a hindrance. You have to teach your writers to think big picture. The IBJ is one of the area's most respected publications, and it is a weekly publication that is finished on Thursday and dated the following Monday. How? By focusing on timeless, longer-form stories.
- Don't try to overdo it. I've been working on the same story for a week, and it's given me writer's block, headaches, and I come home from the newsroom tired every night because I just can't get the story quite right. I've got one more day to do it, and I'm going to keep looking for inspiration, but keep it simple. The process of writing is a long one, but it doesn't have to be an overboard one.
As stories appear in the newspaper, I'll keep writing. There are a few items we've done that I've worked on, but I feel an ethical desire to not scoop myself and the publication that has entrusted me with their work.
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