Baby got BLOG

So I’ve started my first official convergence J class here, and first on the agenda was writing a blog post about a couple of stories via (the now-defunct) Online Journalism Review:

Backpack journalism is here to stay (Jane Stevens)

The backpack journalist is a “mush of mediocrity” (Martha Stone)

Okay, first of all why are we reading new media stories that are six years old? And second of all, oh my God, Jane Stevens is a wizard who knows all. Seriously though, these people were pretty with it for ‘02. Anyway, here’s my response/rant/opine:

After I read the headline on Martha Stone’s piece, I was getting ready to throw a shoe at my computer monitor. Then I read the rest of it.

I was expecting another old-time, old-media, “pry this newsprint from my cold dead hands” rant about the evils of multimedia journalism. Instead, I found her argument pretty interesting, however flawed.

Let’s face it folks, the internets are here to stay — people generally agreed on that way back in 2002. Multiplatform storytelling isn’t going anywhere. In these two pieces you saw two very different approaches essentially supporting the same idea: that news outlets should embrace convergence and multimedia. On the one hand, elite backpackers who can do it all. On the other, teams of specialized reporters supported by dollars and innovation from management.

One key quote from Jane Stevens’ piece: “Over the next 20 years, if economic conditions don’t worsen … the content of the newspaper and the television news shows are likely to be delivered principally over the Internet.”

The catch: economic conditions have indeed worsened, not only nationwide but for the media business in particular. Layoffs and buyouts are an everyday event — veteran reporters struggling to find jobs (and keep them). Newsroom budgets are perhaps tighter than ever before.

So yes, Martha, it would be fantastic if we had “top-down management’s support and action, expanded research and development budgets.” Maybe that was practical in 2002, but today I just don’t see it. Where’s the beef? How do we pay for it? No, do-it-all journalists probably don’t produce the same quality that an entire team of specialists would. But we have to do the best we can with what we’ve got: fewer readers, fewer dollars, and fewer journalists for fewer teams. Backpack journalism is here to stay. Our own survival, like it or not, depends on it.

My experiment with the Ivory Tower…

… began today.

It was a pretty intense first day: one class. That’s the way most of my days are going to be. I’m taking a general media theory class that’s required of all MA students. There’s only about 10 of us in the class, so it should be a pretty good seminar.

I’m not a theory guy. Or at least I don’t consider myself one at the moment. So obviously I was a little skeptical, and still am, of a class devoted entirely to “scholarly” work. But the prof eased my mind with the first day… I think a lot of this course is about trying to link scholarship with media professionals who are traditionally turned off by it. Maybe there’s something to that…

Heck, understanding other ways of looking at things never hurt anybody.

Augustana; Brian Does Columbia

Yes, the news is in: I’ve officially been to a concert. No, not to cover it. There was no writing involved. No interviews required. I just stood, sat, watched and listened — y’know, like a normal human being.

Other than a Carrie Underwood concert I covered for the paper this summer, this was my first experiment with concert-going (gasp). Call it being spontaneous this weekend. It was something to do, and heck it was free. I guess somebody paid for it…

The band was Augustana. I’ve heard a few of their songs and liked them, “Boston” being the most obvious. I’d never really bothered to listen to much of their other stuff. To my surprise, I liked just about everything they played tonight. “I Still Ain’t Over You” has been growing on me… not something you’re likely to hear on the radio anytime soon. It got me thinking about stepping outside my comfort zone. Tonight I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m not one to take risks. Never have been. It’s a priority for me here, to try new things and meet new people. I’m still the same person I always have been, and I know that. I know there are things I won’t do or won’t like, but I’m trying to be more open in and with my life. Let’s start with music: I vow not to dismiss a band or a song because I haven’t heard of it. That’s something I’ve been horrible about for a long time.

I went to the concert with a new friend from my grad school experience. We felt a little out of place among the undergrads (ugh, there I go using that word…) and sorority “potential new members.” I think that was one part curiosity and two parts nostalgia. Ah to be young again… said Schraum, 20, who had his whole life ahead of him.

After the concert we did a little exploring on campus, which I’ve never seen at night. I was impressed. We went out near the Rec Center and discovered a bunch of folks playing beach volleyball on the artificial courts outside. Also some dudes playing football and a group of people trying out CRICKET! Yes, cricket… I still haven’t figured out how it works but I was most impressed.

They were, after all, trying something a little different. So let it be with me.

Reasons I suck at blogging

• I don’t write often enough. Sometimes I just don’t have anything to say. Most of the time I don’t have the energy at the end of the day. Maybe I should start doing it in the AM…
• I write too long. Usually I’ve waited so long between posts I start rambling to catch up.
• My blog is depressing. Yes, you said it. But I guess I sometimes use this as a venting space for when something is nagging at me. On the flip side, I tend not to write when good things happen… I attribute it to the crusty old newspaper guy that lives somewhere inside of me, hiding — waiting for that perfect moment.
• I don’t link… let’s face it, it takes effort to copy URL’s. And I often find myself less than stocked in the effort department nowadays.

Things that happened this week

• All-day grad school orientation. Plus free dinner and awkward scholary conversation with faculty. PLUS PLUS shameless plugs for international programs we all want to get into anyway.
• Budget meetings at the Missourian.
• Failing at writing my simple assigned story. FOCUS.
• Getting my cell phone replaced. Damn RAZR. Cost me $50. Damn Verizon. Yeah yeah, I could have gotten a free upgrade — with a 2-year contract extension. TWO YEARS! Who knows where I’ll be in two years: broke, farming, living in Bangladesh, dead after a tragic horse accident.
• Playing chicken with Bank of America. Okay, folks, I applied for my checking account a week ago. How long does it take? Oh, and they can’t take my phone call because of “extenuating circumstances.” It’s cool. It’s not like I NEED to open the account, or that I NEED a voided check, because it’s not like I really NEED my assistantship tuition waiver. The bastards.

Bootcamp: Ten-Hut!

Well folks, week one is in the books. Most of it was spent in “boot camp,” the introductory news reporting/writing class that involved spending 7 hours in one room everyday.

I go back and forth on whether it was worth taking. On the one hand, everything was review, and some of the days seemed to go on and on and onandonandonandon. On the other hand, it gave me a chance to meet people and experience campus a little bit. I’ll call it a toss-up. This next week we’ll spend working for the Columbia Missourian, the city paper put out by the J-school.

Bootcamp did get me thinking about some things on a more basic level. For example, one of my profs made the argument that journalism is essentially all about being pro-democracy. That there’s some kind of intricate link between freedom and self-government and a free press. I’d certainly agree there’s a link there… but I wonder if that’s really what we’re supposed to be about. “Democracy spreading” — I shudder at the term, it’s almost a cliche. Is that really our purpose in this world? Isn’t that arguably part of the failure of the news media leading up to the Iraq war? Not being skeptical. Toting the admin line, being greeted as liberators, freeing a people from tyranny…. something to ponder anyway.

Another conflict I’m having: many people are out there pushing for more narrative writing. My prof here would almost seem to argue that every story should be written that way. I’m not buying it. Especially in this online, up-to-the-minute, connected world. People simply do not have time to open up a newspaper or pull up a website and read a 25+ inch narrative story every time they want information. Does the inverted pyramid not serve the readers better? Sure, there are times when long-form features or narratives are appropriate. I like great writing as much as anyone. But I wonder if in our quest to “storytell” we aren’t losing readers in a mess of dense prose that’s heavy on adjectives but light on facts.

And finally… “accuracy checks.” The most shocking news to me this week was the J-school’s policy on news stories: every story requires an accuracy check. Meaning we call back our sources and read-back quotes, double-check facts, even have them review all or part of the story prior to publication. For a traditionalist in that realm of journalism, it was a little hard to swallow. Proponents make a good case — in the end, it’s all about accuracy. Period. I can live with double-checking facts, that’s an important part of what we do… but quotes or entire stories? Are we not opening ourselves up to sources who want to dictate our stories to us? Aren’t we just giving them another opportunity to say “I didn’t say that,” or “that’s not what I meant?”

No, dear Watson, it’s not all elementary…

Mooooovin’

Oh where to start.

I’m officially settled in (barely) in Columbia. I left Friday morning, oversleeping in true Brian fashion. The drive up in the U-HAUL was pretty uneventful, except for the shortcut that wasn’t really a shortcut. I was told to get off on “40″, but ended up getting off on “44″ by mistake — taking me in pretty much the complete opposite direction of where I needed to go. I had to backtrack through some two-lane roads and finally wound my way back up to the freeway.

Got into town and stopped at the leasing office to sign some paperwork. Paying my rent turned out to be a nightmare. I had to pay for August before they’d let me move in. I didn’t have my checks on me, so I figured I’d just pay with a credit card. Which would have been fine if they didn’t charge me a $25 service fee. BALLS.

Moving in has been less than fun. I live on the second floor… carrying crap up stairs was an added bonus. Mom flew in to help me get settled, and drove my car over. She’s been really great, spending money and whatnot. Money’s good.

I also helped a classmate move in yesterday. I met a few folks, who were all really cool. I haven’t gone to the two “social” events people have had because I’ve been so exhausted. I honestly can’t remember feeling this tired… ever.

Got a STEAL on a used couch and a chair in great condition for $120. Having the U-HAUL for 3 days was really helpful, because I could use it for that and also to pick up a bed. Carrying the couch up here was both aweful and hilarious. It was me and two girls hanging on for dear life. Oh if only I had a picture.

The place is finally starting to come together. At 8 p.m., I’m headed for bed. My first day of “bootcamp” is tomorrow — introductory reporting/writing. Should all be review, but still a bit nervous. More tomorrow. Until then, happy movin’.

Moving on (again)

Well here I am… in just a few short hours I’ll be hitting to road again for what will hopefully be my last move. Columbia, Mo. is the destination, my new home for the forseeable future.

I’m sitting here part tired, part anxious, part nervous and part sad. I’ve only lived here in Dexter for the last 3 months or so… but it’s finally started to feel like home the last few weeks. Yesterday I drove up to St. Louis with Uncle Bob, who had some business up there. I dropped my car off at a valet parking lot by the airport, and hitched a ride back down. My mom is coming to help me get settled in, so when she gets in she’ll have my car to drive over.

Today was pretty classic: lunch at the airport. All the uncles were there. Uncle Bob. Uncle Jerry. Uncle Benny and Uncle Sam. Couldn’t think of a more appropriate send-off. We went out to nearby Malden to pick up the truck, and went back to UB’s to load all my stuff up. It was pretty friggin’ hot, too. I have WAY too much extra space in there. I could easily fit twice the amount of stuff in there… but that was the smallest truck they had.

For all the boredom and heat and redneck swagger, I’m gonna miss this place. I’m gonna miss the family, yeah it sounds corny – but they never really go away. Family is forever. I owe them a lot for everything this summer.

Now on to the next chapter. See you there.

You haul?

I just learned how to do the inverted pyramid. Righteous.

The Missouri J-school makes new students take J-0900 aka “Bootcamp.” It’s a two-week crash course on news reporting and writing designed to get everyone up to par so they can start their grad programs. Unfortunately for yours truly, it’s also designed to be extremely redundant if you already have J experience or education. They told me I could waive out of the class, but I figured I’d bite the bullet and take it since everyone else is taking it and with my TA gig tuition is free. Hoping it will be a good chance to meet people and familiarize myself with the town and the school.

I’m supposed to read this introductory reporting textbook before class starts. I’ve been working/scanning my way through it. It doesn’t help that I had this exact same book for my first ever undergrad journalism class in community college. It’s chock full of useful information, such as “how to compute an average” and “how to establish rapport with a source”. Oh, and my personal favorite, “using Boolean search commands” — also known as “how to search the Internets”.

Sometimes I wonder if the authors have ever actually used a computer, or if they’ve just heard about them from the Encyclopedia Britannica and Larry King.

There really are some good nuggets of info in the book, though. Little things you never thought about that will help you do what you already know better. It’s kind of like putting the training wheels back on even though you can already ride. But I must say, this is not a book designed for grad students. I mean, there’s a hilarious section on reading budgets where the authors explain what property taxes are — it’s when the government makes you pay taxes on your property. No joke.

Easy reading. Kind of fun. The class is going to be a bitch just because of the time commitment. It’s a two-week intensive couse, meaning 5 days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and maybe on the weekends, too. I’m picturing myself either really loving it or wanting to scratch out my eyeballs after the first hour. The second week is apparently 100% hands-on reporting work, so it shouldn’t be all that bad.

In other news, I reserved a U-HAUL today. $240 later. This is coming up waaaay too quickly. Really, really quickly, now that I look at the calendar. I’m actually borderline freaking out at this very moment. Okay. Gotta go. Need to calm myself down. Time for the chapter on showing, not telling…

Concerns for a changing (dying?) industry

Okay, I’ll bite.

We all know the news business is changing, some say at lightspeed, some say for the worse. I could link to about a million studies and surveys about where the industry is headed, but they all basically reach the same conclusion: things are going to be a little different around here.

I like to think I’ve always been behind the new media shift — I just don’t get people who think the only good journalism comes out on newsprint. Do video, do web-first, do multimedia. Do it well and do it right and you’re providing a better service to your readers/viewers/consumers than you were with picas and paste-ups.

But alas, it’s not that simple anymore. There are even more fundamental changes to worry about, not the least of which is my own financial well-being. So here’s a few concerns, questions if you will, to throw around the old noggin. I won’t claim to be the first to pose them, and I won’t claim to have the answers — if I did I wouldn’t be sitting here writing a blog entry about it.

Read on if you dare…

Lightning crashes

If anyone from Seattle tells you they know about thunderstorms, they’re probably a terrorist.

Midwest rain is way different than Pacific Northwest rain. It comes down in buckets here, really quick, and then lets up. And as the cliche goes, when it rains it pours. You’ll see a severe t-storm warning get posted for your county, then five minutes later you’re under a flash flood watch. The storms can be cool, though… lightning coming down all around your house, followed by the booming thunder — the kind you can feel in your gut. Tonight we got drenched.

No damage to report here in Stoddard County this evening. Of course, it’s dark out so I really wouldn’t know.

Dinner at Uncle Bob’s tonight. Me gusta. I’m working on some paperwork for school, I ordered a textbook and some other stuff. Hard to believe it’s coming up so fast. I don’t think I’ve yet convinced myself this is happening in two weeks…