CoPress and the problem of turnover at college news outlets

As I’ve risen through the ranks at the Daily Nebraskan, I’ve come to realize one major problem that is inherent in any college news organization: You will have a complete staff turnover roughly every four years. And, in most cases, turnover in top positions occurs at the end of each semester or academic year.

What that means is by the time you’ve settled into your new job and identified problems, you have only a short time to come up with a solution and get it implemented. That is if you can even figure out what that solution should be.

So how do we stop this frustrating cycle?

We share out knowledge and resources. And we do that through groups like CoPress.

What is CoPress?

If you’ve never heard of CoPress, stop right now and go poke around their site.

The guys behind CoPress are some of the most forward-thinking young journalists I’ve come across. Like most journalists today, they want to find a way to make news organizations sustainable online.

The difference is they are specifically focused on college news outlets and they’re working hard to provide resources to those who need them.

And believe me, we need all the help we can get.

A need for collaboration

The group’s recently redesigned site includes a message board that I hope will grow into a one-stop shop for tips from fellow student editors.

Last week’s discussion on the forum centered on how student news outlets need to collaborate. I could rework my original post, but I like how I said it the first time. In short, we need:

Clueless about multimedia? Today's the day that ends

Feel like you don’t know enough about online journalism? Worried about getting an internship this summer?

Don’t just sit on your hands and fret. Start doing something about it!

First thing to do: Take five minutes and read these two blog posts.

Advice for journalism students now

If you asked editors and publishers today to offer advice to journalism students, what would they say?

In response to a survey preceding a journalism job fair, 86 newspaper editors and publishers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio said these are the skills students need to put themselves in the strongest position to land an entry-level job in the newspaper industry today. ….

Number 1 on that list: Diverse skills. This includes multimedia storytelling (audio and video) and Web-first reporting.

This only confirms everything I’ve seen at internships and professional conferences. For many jobs, multimedia is a requirement. For others, it can be the make-or-break factor that gets you hired over someone else.

Reporter’s guide to multimedia proficiency (part 1)s

As promised in my last blog post, I’m going to offer some guidance for journalists who are ready to learn how to transform themselves into multimedia journalists. I think there will be 15 parts, of which this is the first. …

If you are a journalist (or journalism student) who feels like you need to catch up and upgrade your skills, I suggest that you do more than simply read these posts. Put the advice into use immediately — the same day, if possible. Don’t wait! (You’ve waited long enough already.)

000000;">If you think of yourself as a journalist at a print product that just happens to have a Web site, the 5 minutes you spend reading these posts could be the most important of your day.

000000;">If you feel like you don’t even know where to start, keep reading Mindy’s blog. This series sounds truly promising.

So, want to add a few more RSS feeds to your Google Reader? Paul Bradshaw over at the Online Journalism Blog posted a list a while back of 10 top journalism bloggers in America. They’re all well worth your time.

Web-first mentality: Minor victory No. 1

The Daily Nebraskan is far from being totally Web-first … but we’re working on it.

Tonight, a hazardous material crew and other emergency responders were called to a residence hall at UNL, and one floor’s residents were evacuated while 11 other floors were put on lockdown.

Our newsroom’s traditional story flow would have sent this story to the Web at least five hours after the 911 call was made.

We got it up within the hour and posted at least three more updates throughout the night. We got video of the police press conference and photos from the scene.

It’s not flawless, and updates could have been posted more often, but I’m happy with the progress we made tonight.

We had breaking news, and we covered it like it deserved.

The takeaways from tonight:

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. When you have two reporters, one photographer and another videographer all out on the same story, everyone needs to be kept in the loop.
• The AP can be really slow sometimes.
• Breaking news on a Sunday can easily shoot up to the most-read story of the day within the span of a couple hours.
• A police scanner in the Web room would be a fabulous asset. The GChat message from a friend certainly got the job done, but it’d be nice to hear the news ASAP from the police.

[ Photo by Hilary Stohs-Krause, Daily Nebraskan ]

Student journalists, online isn't an option. It's a requirement.

Baffling as it may be, many student journalists don’t have a Web-first mindset. They think of themselves working solely for a print product and think the time for learning new skills is tomorrow, not today.

How do we help them see the light?

Show ‘em the facts.

Looking for a to-the-point, persuasive blog post to help you in your endeavor? Mindy McAdams just posted it.

In response to a survey preceding a journalism job fair, 86 newspaper editors and publishers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio said these are the skills students need to put themselves in the strongest position to land an entry-level job in the newspaper industry today:

Diverse skills: multimedia storytelling, including audio and video; Web-first reporting; report/write for both printed publication and online (45 out of 86)

Writing skills: writing on deadline; writing brief and fast, including for Web site; attention to grammar, spelling, clarity, organization (40 out of 86)

Curiosity and enthusiasm (16 out of 86)

MORE THAN HALF (!!!) want reporters to have a diverse skillset, and my guess is the other half sure wouldn’t mind it if you had one, either.

The rest of the post is just as fact-filled and interesting, including a bit about why you should freelance while still in college.

I’m not trying to pontificate from on high here. I know I have plenty of skills left to learn and a dwindling number of days before graduation. Believe me, those two facts are the source of most of my stress.

The point is that at least I’m aware of my shortcomings.

If we don’t have the right state of mind, we don’t stand a chance at changing how we report the news.

Rob Curley’s two-year-old post still holds true: “Skillset is important. But mindset is most important.”

Mindy just gave us all a tool to use to kick people in gear and get our news organizations innovating again.

[ Photo by minxlabs ]