“He not busy being born is busy dying"-Bob Dylan
For years, I feared that if I criticized it, The Picket would turn to dust and blow away. But so much has gone wrong so often for so long that I am no longer scared. At this point, I am confident The Picket will survive.
The question is whether it will report newsworthy stories in an interesting and relevant style. That question remains....
For example take the recently published Orientation Issue. Please….
Thank goodness and give credit to the editors that it was published at all!
But is this painful effort the best we can hope to see?
The lead story is a case in point. It is presumably reassuring that the university is taking campus security seriously enough to stage mock emergency situations complete with hostages and potential victims.
But you have to read down to the sixth paragraph to learn that the exercise was not really reassuring after all: “Two victims went unaccounted for during the sweep.” In other words, if the mock emergency had been an actual “open shooter incident” those victims could have been left behind.
The reason for this kind of buried news lead is not that the writer and editor don’t know how to write. The problem is that it might cause discomfort to report what happened rather than what was supposed to happen.
Instead of boasting that the campus security are “taking strides to provide students with a safe campus,” the article might have begun by noting that the security forces are striving but not always succeeding in their noble mission.
I bet more people would have read the article if it had not pulled its punches.
I also would be willing to wager that more students would read The Picket if it did not focus on the public relations aspects already well-represented on the university website. Instead of stories about how well the administration is doing its job and how highly regarded Shepherd is rated, what if The Picket focused on those who are metaphorically or literally left behind?
What about a few more stories on the plight of commuter students juggling the demands of work, family, and fifteen hours of class credit?
Why don’t we read more about the non-traditional students who have become an increasingly significant part of the campus scene?
I would like to see more stories about minority populations on campus.
And though we know that there are problems with issues such as handicap access, we rarely read about these issues in the student newspaper.
And, finally, is it inconceivable to imagine an article devoted to the students who do NOT succeed at Shepherd? Why do so many students drop out or transfer after their first or second semester? It would be a challenge to get people to talk on the record about why Shepherd is not working for them. But it could make some interesting copy to read.
Nothing I am saying is original. Last year’s Picket editor Autumn Papajohn pointed me to the buried news lead. And my riff on the unrepresented voices is based on a talk given last summer by Kate Parry of The Minneapolis Star Tribune at the Associated Collegiate Press workshops.
I am just writing my ruminations.
But what if the student paper included the voices and the perspectives of the struggling individuals who are too often left behind in the parade of recycled news releases about the triumphs and prizes collected by the fortunate few?
The biggest news scoop of all might be just to tell it as it is.
-JL
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Bugaboos and Bright Sparks
When I pick up a fresh issue of The Picket, I have a typical reaction.
At first, I go: Wow! The Picket!
Eagerly, I scan the front page and flip through the sections.
Then I’m, like: Whoa…. The Picket….
The thrill is not gone. But journalism comes without guarantees.
Since some time in the last century, I have been serving as faculty adviser to this student newspaper. Contrary to the assumptions of many, I am not responsible for what gets published. In fact, like everyone in the general public, I see the paper for the first time only when it hits the news-stands.
There is neither prior-review nor prior-restraint for what goes in The Picket.
It has to be that way. Otherwise, students would lack freedom of the press, as guaranteed in the First Amendment and backed up by many court cases.
I used to tear my hair out because of The Picket.
Eventually, I stopped. By then, my hair was gone.
If anyone tries to deny their freedom of expression, I will do everything in my power to defend the students’ constitutional right to be wrong.
Even The New York Times and Washington Post regularly print corrections for the errors they inadvertently make. That is why they say journalism is the first draft of history. It is only the first draft.
The difference in a student publication is that errors should be not only corrected but expected as part of the learning experience.
Yet I still hope that learning from our mistakes can sometimes be possible.
Certain kinds of mistakes can never be excused: misspelled names, inaccurate information, mixed up attributions. These require corrections to be printed in the following issue of the publication.
But I also have a long list of pet-peeves that occur as the common mishaps of even experienced journalists, not to mention those with less experience.
Buried news leads, hiding the most relevant information half way through or near the end of an article, will always drive me to distraction.
Long rambling quotes also give me pain. Just because somebody said something does not mean it should be printed to waste time and space.
Finally, worst of all, opinions of the writer do not belong in news stories. All articles need multiple sources. The reporter should not be one of them.
These Bugaboos of Bad Journalism are not going to disappear, I realize, but I am not going to make peace with them either.
On the other hand, there are also hopeful elements in the bigger picture of student journalism in general and, specifically, in each issue of The Picket.
Student journalists give a lot of time and effort to putting out The Picket. Hard work and devotion to pursuit of the truth goes into every issue.
The editors, writers, photographers and layout people are the Bright Sparks who deserve the respect and gratitude of all the readers of The Picket. They represent the voice of the student body.
In order to make the Orientation Issue available to incoming students, the newspaper staff had to cut into their summer break.
Anyone who would like to contribute to their collective effort should send a message to pickweb@shepherd.edu or simply show up at the regular Tuesday meeting at 3:15 p.m. in the Blue-Grey Room of the Student Center.
Everyone is Welcome!
-published in The Picket 13 Aug. '09
At first, I go: Wow! The Picket!
Eagerly, I scan the front page and flip through the sections.
Then I’m, like: Whoa…. The Picket….
The thrill is not gone. But journalism comes without guarantees.
Since some time in the last century, I have been serving as faculty adviser to this student newspaper. Contrary to the assumptions of many, I am not responsible for what gets published. In fact, like everyone in the general public, I see the paper for the first time only when it hits the news-stands.
There is neither prior-review nor prior-restraint for what goes in The Picket.
It has to be that way. Otherwise, students would lack freedom of the press, as guaranteed in the First Amendment and backed up by many court cases.
I used to tear my hair out because of The Picket.
Eventually, I stopped. By then, my hair was gone.
If anyone tries to deny their freedom of expression, I will do everything in my power to defend the students’ constitutional right to be wrong.
Even The New York Times and Washington Post regularly print corrections for the errors they inadvertently make. That is why they say journalism is the first draft of history. It is only the first draft.
The difference in a student publication is that errors should be not only corrected but expected as part of the learning experience.
Yet I still hope that learning from our mistakes can sometimes be possible.
Certain kinds of mistakes can never be excused: misspelled names, inaccurate information, mixed up attributions. These require corrections to be printed in the following issue of the publication.
But I also have a long list of pet-peeves that occur as the common mishaps of even experienced journalists, not to mention those with less experience.
Buried news leads, hiding the most relevant information half way through or near the end of an article, will always drive me to distraction.
Long rambling quotes also give me pain. Just because somebody said something does not mean it should be printed to waste time and space.
Finally, worst of all, opinions of the writer do not belong in news stories. All articles need multiple sources. The reporter should not be one of them.
These Bugaboos of Bad Journalism are not going to disappear, I realize, but I am not going to make peace with them either.
On the other hand, there are also hopeful elements in the bigger picture of student journalism in general and, specifically, in each issue of The Picket.
Student journalists give a lot of time and effort to putting out The Picket. Hard work and devotion to pursuit of the truth goes into every issue.
The editors, writers, photographers and layout people are the Bright Sparks who deserve the respect and gratitude of all the readers of The Picket. They represent the voice of the student body.
In order to make the Orientation Issue available to incoming students, the newspaper staff had to cut into their summer break.
Anyone who would like to contribute to their collective effort should send a message to pickweb@shepherd.edu or simply show up at the regular Tuesday meeting at 3:15 p.m. in the Blue-Grey Room of the Student Center.
Everyone is Welcome!
-published in The Picket 13 Aug. '09
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