Easily one of the most talked-about topics in journalism these days. Newspapers are closing left and right, two-newspaper towns are becoming one-newspaper towns. People in the news industry are having to think about back-up plans and assess the advantages and disadvantages of taking a buyout.
It is into this reality that I am looking for jobs. No, I'm not going to graduate school, and no, I'm not going to Teach for America or enlist and hope to join the real real world at a more opportune time. I'm diving into the job market head first, praying that I won't land in a bunch of boulder.
So here are a few things I've learned about the job market:
1) It's not as bad as it sounds. Yes, landing a job will be difficult, openings are out there. Don't assume you're looking at a wasteland. There are little patches of life here and there for those who use their resources wisely. Hint: community journalism is what's doing well these days.
2) You will be Googled. I think. A prospective employer gave me feedback on clips that I never provided in great detail. He asked me why I did things a certain way, and why stories turn out the way they did. I always assumed that it was up to me to select the clips that would make me look good. It doesn't end there. Don't get creeped out if your prospective employee is well-informed on what you have done in the past.
3) If you don't have Facebook and Twitter, get with the program. Now. I'm not joking. Twitter isn't just a fad. Like I said in my last post, journalists are absolutely in love with it. I have seen postings where they demanded that applicants have strong networks on both Facebook and Twitter.
4) My favorite job-hunting tools: journalismjobs.com, texaspress.com, and friends. Keep in touch with friends after they graduate, because they will really be able to help you out and pull you into the circle they are now a part of.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
It's the recent obsession in journalism. Although it's gaining a lot of popularity among the general public as well, most people on my campus would respond with a, "What's Twitter?"
If you're one of them, Twitter is a micro-blogging Web site where you post little updates within 140 characters. An easy way to visualize Twitter is a Facebook status update ... and only the Facebook status update (here's a link to Facebook in case you have been living underground participating in a social experiment). People are updating, or "tweeting," by the minute on their computers and cell phones. To be honest, I feel a little ridiculous saying, "Hey, I'll shoot you a tweet," but it's what's in these days.
Most people's reaction to Twitter is, "What's the point?" If you're asking the same question there are plenty of videos and blog posts that are supposed to help Twitter noobs answer it. I can't remember the last time a social Web product that people are flocking to without really knowing or understanding what the appeal is. According to a video posted by Twitter, while blogs and e-mails keep friends and family updated on the large events in life, such as child birth, death in the family, a new job (ha!), engagement, marriage, etc., Twitter allows people to learn about the little things, like turkey sandwiches for lunch, articles you're reading, a new recipe you discovered, etc.
Anyway, for journalists, Twitter has become yet another tool to reach apathetic readers with short blurbs of news updates. It has especially proved successful for the Star-Telegram's coverage of Ike.
Twitter has become the new "cool" thing for journalists and the rest of the world. I definitely sense an air of arrogance and elitism associated with people's use of Twitter. Now, journalists are expected to know Twitter, have an active account, and to love it. This is why Twitter is the only thing I have tried to become addicted to. It hasn't worked yet, and I think that makes me a bad journalist. Sometimes, I leave it up at work so that maybe people will think I'm tech savvy. Anyway, if you're interested in observing my slow exploration of twitter, follow me.
The Skiff has recently started tweeting as well.
Anyway, here's Jon Stewart's (The Daily Show) take on tweeting journalists:
- edit -
Check out what student journalists in Minnesota did with Twitter for a story about disabled parking.
If you're one of them, Twitter is a micro-blogging Web site where you post little updates within 140 characters. An easy way to visualize Twitter is a Facebook status update ... and only the Facebook status update (here's a link to Facebook in case you have been living underground participating in a social experiment). People are updating, or "tweeting," by the minute on their computers and cell phones. To be honest, I feel a little ridiculous saying, "Hey, I'll shoot you a tweet," but it's what's in these days.
Most people's reaction to Twitter is, "What's the point?" If you're asking the same question there are plenty of videos and blog posts that are supposed to help Twitter noobs answer it. I can't remember the last time a social Web product that people are flocking to without really knowing or understanding what the appeal is. According to a video posted by Twitter, while blogs and e-mails keep friends and family updated on the large events in life, such as child birth, death in the family, a new job (ha!), engagement, marriage, etc., Twitter allows people to learn about the little things, like turkey sandwiches for lunch, articles you're reading, a new recipe you discovered, etc.
Anyway, for journalists, Twitter has become yet another tool to reach apathetic readers with short blurbs of news updates. It has especially proved successful for the Star-Telegram's coverage of Ike.
Twitter has become the new "cool" thing for journalists and the rest of the world. I definitely sense an air of arrogance and elitism associated with people's use of Twitter. Now, journalists are expected to know Twitter, have an active account, and to love it. This is why Twitter is the only thing I have tried to become addicted to. It hasn't worked yet, and I think that makes me a bad journalist. Sometimes, I leave it up at work so that maybe people will think I'm tech savvy. Anyway, if you're interested in observing my slow exploration of twitter, follow me.
The Skiff has recently started tweeting as well.
Anyway, here's Jon Stewart's (The Daily Show) take on tweeting journalists:
- edit -
Check out what student journalists in Minnesota did with Twitter for a story about disabled parking.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Killing time
We often have a lot of waiting time in the newsroom. First the design team waits for us as we get our copy in and edited. Then, at the end of the night, we wait for the designers to finish, tweak and ship the pages. In the midst of all the waiting, we have become very creative with how we spend our time.
Here's David trying to stick a pen into the ceiling. He says it's like playing darts but harder because pens aren't sharp and pointy. I challenge you to try it. It really is more difficult than darts.
Now, I should remind you that we spend close to 40 hours a week in the newsroom. And we're all full-time students and most of us have scholarships to keep up. Which means it would be wise to put every idle moment toward reading, studying and homework. But instead, we spend hours reading blogs, watching YouTube videos and doing crosswords. Nothing too crazy -- pretty standard for a bunch of 20-something-year-olds.
But lately, we've gotten into a few peculiar hobbies:
Here's David trying to stick a pen into the ceiling. He says it's like playing darts but harder because pens aren't sharp and pointy. I challenge you to try it. It really is more difficult than darts. Next: http://fmylife.com/
It's a hilarious blog that we've recently become really obsessed with due to journalists' inherently dark humor. Here's a recent post that makes me a bad person because I laughed:
It's a hilarious blog that we've recently become really obsessed with due to journalists' inherently dark humor. Here's a recent post that makes me a bad person because I laughed:
Today, my family gathered at my 96 year old great-grandmother's surprise birthday party that was my idea. When she walked in, we surprised her so much that she literally had a heart attack. She is now in the hospital. FML
Third: Neener neener
Writing and talking in neener. I won't be offended if you never return to my blog after this paragraph. I'm just trying to be frank about what we do for fun. It's like Mad Libs but every blank is a neener. The same guy you see trying to poke the ceiling with his pen also wrote our first cop story in neener.
Writing and talking in neener. I won't be offended if you never return to my blog after this paragraph. I'm just trying to be frank about what we do for fun. It's like Mad Libs but every blank is a neener. The same guy you see trying to poke the ceiling with his pen also wrote our first cop story in neener.
Here's what a typical crime story might look like in neener: FORT NEENER -- A Fort Worth neener died at a local hospital Neener morning after he was neenered shot outside of a neener on Berry Neener, neenering to a neener release.
Oh, and I don't know if this warrants its colon to separate it from the rest of our time-killing activities, but we once ordered some midgets to a weekly staff meeting. They haven't called us to confirm our order, though. Does that make us bad people, too?
Anyway, here is a classic time killer:
Eating.
Eating.If someone has ever told you to never leave food in a newsroom, this is because it's true. It's not just because we're starving college students. My copyediting professor has asked me to bring brownies to a professional newsroom when I visited for a class assignment and the brownies were gone in a blink of an eye. No joke. Anyway, our production manager pops so many bags of popcorn a day that we have become convinced that it is part of her official job title. At peak times of the evening, which is around dinner time, she pops two, one after the other.
As you can tell, we aren't really picky about how to kill or waste time. Have any suggestions? My comments are enabled in case you were wondering.
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