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Apr 05 2013
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Interviewing, Journalism, Journalism Education

Convincing student journalists that looking stupid is a good thing

Journalists have to look stupid — a lot.

The very nature of the job entails going to people who have the answers ( be it the expert, the person in the know, etc.) and asking that person to fill us in. Simple enough, right? But every semester, I see students who can’t get a handle on this idea.

For these students — who have spent 12+ years being drilled into a fear of not having the answers — they struggle to come to grips with admitting they don’t have the answers — to, well, look stupid. And so many student journalists who struggle are simply unwilling to go to the lengths needed in an interview to get the information for their articles because of this inability to realize why they are interviewing in the first place.

After all, conducting interviews is an acknowledgement that we don’t have all the answers. The simple fact that if we had all the answers, we wouldn’t need to do interviews. Yet, student journalists often balk at the idea of being vulnerable enough to admit this essential fact of journalism: I don’t know. And since they can’t admit they don’t know, they can’t move to the real work of journalism: finding out.

 

For more news and views on the future of journalism, follow @szuminsky.

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Apr 04 2013
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Interviewing, Journalism, Journalism Education

Covering death: The importance of double-checking your facts

One of the things that is very difficult for me to prepare student journalists for is covering death. It’s just something that (thankfully) doesn’t happen often on a college campus. So I’m always on the look out for ways to prepare young journos for the eventual day where they’ll be asked to go up to someone who’s just lost someone they care about and start asking them questions.

David Cruz recently covered this most unpleasant of reporter’s roles (and the one all news directors and editors insist on). The post (which you can read in full here) is worth your time, but an important point stuck out about avoiding the “cardinal sin” of getting your facts wrong:

What I always do when calling back is I tell them with great sincerity is, “I don’t want to mess your loved ones memory so do you mind if I go over some facts with you again?”  Mourners are usually agreeable and pretty impressed by your sensitivity to their personal tragedy.  In the end, they’re willing to work with you if you write a story that preserves their memory.

Having someone who just experienced tragedy speak with you requires they trust you to not mishandle their loved one’s memory. You need to respect that trust.

 

 

For more news and views on the future of journalism, follow @szuminsky.

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Mar 15 2013
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Interviewing, Journalism Education, Journalism Job Hunt

Hey, J-Students, stop trying to do everything!

Elizabeth R. Miller over at the Knight Blog compiled some advice for new journalists trying to get a job. The tidbits come from Aron Pilhofer, editor of interactive news at The New York Times, and Cindy Royal, associate professor at School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University, during a SXSW panel.

The whole list is worth a read, but what stood out to me was this advice:

1. Lose the jack of all trades. Go deep with one tech skill

A lot of students are coming out of universities prepared to do several things moderately well, Pilhofer said. “It’s both fortunate and unfortunate – it’s unfortunate because you aren’t seeing specialists… the ‘jack of all trades’ approach has a limiting factor built into it.”Instead of encouraging students to learn a little bit of everything, he advised that it is better to be extremely well versed and develop technical skills in one particular area, whether it’s audio, video, web design, etc.

So many times, young journos are told they have to master everything — social media, programming, blogging, SEO, etc. — it’s refreshing to see the perspective that specialization is a trait to strive for. It’s something I envision more and more news orgs will be doing as well, as niche targeting becomes not just the norm but a necessity for survival.

 

For more news and views on the future of journalism, follow @szuminsky.

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Mar 14 2013
1 Comment
Interviewing, Journalism Education, journo-ed

Memo to j-students, get out of the dang chair already

Prof KRG, one of my favorite Twitterers, recently took to her blog to pen an open letter to student journalists who moan about how “nothing ever happens on campus.” Since I just had this exact same conversation with my j-students, it struck home, particularly:

You have to remove your ass from your chair, leave the newsroom and go out into the world to discover the news. News is greater than what you see in your line of sight from your comfy chair or when looking out your dorm window. It is more than what you are hand fed via email. 

News is about a natural curiosity. It is about being among the people and *gasp* talking to them. That’s right, the rules have changed. Now that you’re in college, I want you to talk to strangers — on purpose. 

It’s a lesson that I think is increasingly important as students reared on the Web expect everything to come to them from some sort of screen. I’m no Luddite, but this is one instance we’re I’ll go on a “damn kids today” rant about them not looking up from their phones or laptops.

J-Educators, what are some ways you’re getting your students out of their chairs and out into the wide, scary world?

 

For more news and views on the future of journalism, follow @szuminsky.

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Mar 04 2013
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Interviewing, Journalism, Journalism Education

Impressing the Jockey: The importance of interviewing prep work

Jockey

Jockey talk. (Photo credit: Doug Bethune)

Over at Poynter, Chip Scanlan, who is always worth a read, offers readers 8 tips for becoming a better interviewer. There’s little new ground being covered here, but it’s a worthwhile review. Particularly, Scanlan takes tried-and-true axioms, like doing your research before an interview, and make them concrete through  interesting nuggets like this anecdote:

 

 A. J. Liebling, a legendary writer for The New Yorker, landed an interview with notoriously tight-lipped jockey Willie Shoemaker. He opened with a single question: Why do you ride with one stirrup higher than the other? Impressed by Liebling’s knowledge, Shoemaker opened up.

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