A New Brand of Journalism

SPJ workshop teaches young journalists the importance of online branding

Grothjan demonstrates the basics of coding.

The age of journalism has gone digital. At least according to Ohio University student Sarah Grothjan, who indicates that students must find a way to brand themselves online, or they take the risk of going unnoticed.

Grothjan, a junior Carr Van Anda major and Society of Professional Journalists’ publicity chair, led an SPJ workshop Monday highlighting the importance of creating an online personal presence.

“Everyone should at least buy their own domain,” Grothjan advises. “Even if they don’t use it right now, they’ll want access to it in the future, if only for SEO [Search Engine Optimization] purposes.”

Her audience, a mixture of JSchool students from different sequences, listened intently as Grothjan guided them through the steps of creating a web page, designing the format and eventually getting it published.

Free Press brings media awareness to Scripps

Sarah Grothjan, Contributing Writer

Free Press CEO Craig Aaron discusses the future of public media.

Last Thursday, Ohio University students and faculty filled the seats of Baker University Theatre to discuss the future of public media and the quality of journalism.

Craig Aaron, CEO and founder of Free Press, a nonprofit organization working to reform the media, led the discussion.

Free Press launched in 2002 as a nonprofit and relies solely on support from its members to continue running.

“We started Free Press, as some of you know, because we believe in real change on any issue that matters,” Aaron said. “It is impossible (to promote change) if we don’t discuss these media issues.”

The change Aaron referred to is the reversal of various media platforms operating under the ownership of only a few corporations.

Free Press works to ‘promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism and universal access to communications,” according to freepress.net.

“Democracy requires journalism. We can’t have journalism without democracy,” Aaron said. “But also, journalism requires democracy.”

Aaron said the current media crisis will actually determine whether democracy in the U.S. continues to flourish.

He presented multiple clips from several different news outlets to show just how many stations utilize the same anchors and even the same newscasts. He emphasized the point that the need for independent news stations is more critical than ever.

“Change comes from mobilizing the public at critical junctures, and we’re at one of those junctures right now,” Aaron said.

And while Aaron said he believes the current public media system is one of the best solutions to filling the gaps left by commercial journalism and the mainstream media, inadequate funding is slowing its progress.

Only one dollar is currently spent per capita on public media, ranking the U.S. as one of the lowest funded public media systems, Aaron said.

A public media trust fund bringing money from small device taxes or even regular auctions is one solution to the meager funding efforts, Aaron said.

“The money is already out there, we’re just spending it on other things,” Aaron said. “What’s missing is the public will.”

Intern veterans pass on advice

Kayla Hanley, Reporter

Ohio University’s Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is back at it again with their many meetings to better prepare Scripps students in their journey through journalism.

Last Tuesday, SPJ held an internship panel consisting of five current Ohio University Scripps School students. The panelists were Catherine Caldwell, Wesley Lowery, Sarah Grothjan, Nadine Ajaka, and Graylyn Roose.

The panel provided an opportunity for the students to hear the trials and tribulations of interning within the journalism field.

Panelists Catherine Caldwell, Wesley Lowery and Sarah Grothjan share their experiences.

Catherine Caldwell recently interned at Marie Claire Magazine in New York City this past summer and the way she said she heard about the job was by googling “internships in New York City.”

“I never thought I’d be interested in beauty,” Caldwell said,” “but what I found interesting was how a magazine process works.”

Caldwell said she preformed a variety of tasks, whether it was walking around Manhattan in her heels to different stores, or writing pieces for the magazine. She was focused on the Public Relations aspect of the magazine, but broadened her views by helping out in every department.

“I didn’t get to do as much writing as I had hoped, but I did gain a lot more contacts through each department I took part in,”said Caldwell.

Wesley Lowery had a similar experience in his internship this past summer in New York City while working at The Wall Street Journal.

“I started writing for real estate and then ended up in politics,” Lowery said. “You honestly have to take what you can get.”

Lowery  said he was lucky that he got to do more hands on experience in NYC, along with his previous internships, which have included the Columbus Dispatch and Detroit News.

Lowery said, “I really had to be open-minded about the different topics I was writing for that I had not one clue how or what to write about. If you don’t know how to do something, ask for help and an explanation.”

Sarah Grothjan recently finished an internship this past summer in Las Angeles for an online entertainment news source called Celebuzz.

Grothjan spoke of very strong organizational skills she had to obtain for her internship by keeping her resume and cover letters up to date.

“With my previous internships I made sure my resume and cover letter complied with the other. I even had similar letterheads for each one,” Grotjhan said.

All three panelists agreed that a strong cover letter is what you need for any internship.

Journalism   students want to have the experience of an internship to better shape their future after college, but once students are in the process of the job there are a few ups and downs along the way.

“If you’re finding yourself sitting around, go to other departments and ask if there is anything you can do to help,” Caldwell said. This is a high profile way to gain contacts with other employers so you can make them aware of what you can do.

They key thing the panelists said interns shouldn’t do is to sit down and log onto Facebook.

“It really is the worst option you could do,” Grothjan said “Employers will see you do it, but not say anything because in their mind then they are thinking ‘oh they’re only here for a month’.”

The panelists’ helpful advice allowed attendees to leave with some sense of direction and key insight concerning their employment futures.

Resumes are InDesign

Kenneth McNulty, Reporter

On Tuesday, September 27 ,the Society of Professional Journalists will be hosting an InDesign workshop from 5-7 pm in the 002 Mac lab of Scripps Hall.

Sarah Grothjan, Publicity Chair for SPJ organized the event to help out journalism students who may not know what InDesign is or how to use it.

“We felt that it was important that people could get skill sets at these meetings that they can’t necessarily get in the classroom unless they take courses within the school of visual communication,” said Grothjan.

Grothjan said she wanted to hold this workshop to help journalism students of all fields.

InDesign is an ever-growing tool in the journalistic field and Grothjan sees the program as vital for students to be comfortable with early on.

Grothjan will be teaching students how to use InDesign and will specifically go through how to make a resume using the program. She wants the students to not only be able to use InDesign comfortably after the session, but also to come out with something to prove what they have learned.

President of SPJ, Taylor Mirfendereski said,  “We just wanted to benefit our members however possible, so it was kind of like a two birds with one stone kind of deal.”

Mirfendereski sees these events as a very beneficial force in helping students get a more in depth overview of the software, which are skills they may not be able to fully encompass during their classes.

“Really whatever programs our members are eager to learn, we will find a way to make it happen,” said Mirfendereski.

SPJ encourages students who may need help with learning the mechanics of the InDesign software, or just want a head start on their resume design, to come to Scripps 002 this Tuesday and leave with the skills and materials desired.

 

An experienced SPJ executive board to focus on meeting recruitment

Alex Felser, Reporter

Last year’s nationally top-ranked Society of Professional Journalists chapter has one big focus in the upcoming year: involvement.

The newly elected executive board held their first meeting together last week and are “focusing on recruiting new members for next year,” said Junior Taylor Mirfendereski, next year’s Chapter President.

Mirfendereski, along with the rest of the executive board, has been involved with SPJ since her freshman year.

“I’ve invested so much and saw it grow throughout the years. I wanted to help and represent the organization,” Mirfendereski said.

SPJ has been one of the most important organizations to Mirfendereski, who has been Vice President the previous two years. This encouraged her to help SPJ continue to grow and stay involved, she said.

Mirfendereski is also excited about the new executive board. Each person brings their own strengths and diversity that helps a lot in event planning.

Freshman Sandhya Kambhampati, next year’s co-programming chair, enjoyed planning different meetings and organizing events for the chapter as one of this year’s freshman liaisons, which motivated her to run for an executive position.

“It’s a good organization to get involved with and next year I will get to help plan meetings for future freshman and members,” Kambhampati said.

SPJ’s biggest event this past year was the Sunshine Summit, which brought together students from all over Ohio to Ohio University to discuss press freedom issues confronting student journalists.

“We want people to realize we do these events,” Mirfendereski said.

As far as for the events, “we would like to increase attendance,” said junior Emma Morehart, next year’s vice president.

Morehart, who has been treasurer the past two years, feels she has a lot of experience on how the executive board works and looks forward to working with Mirfendereski next year, despite having an internship fall quarter.

Sophomore Sarah Grothjan, who will be next year’s publicity chair, hopes to inform students about SPJ and the resources it offers.

“My goal for next year is to simple spread the word about our chapter,” she said.

“It’s a great organization for anyone who wants to learn more and keep up on the facts in our field,” said junior Gina Mussio, next year’s secretary.

“I want people to look forward to our meetings each week. I have gotten so much out of them, and I’d love other students to as well,” Grothjan said.

“Every year we continue to grow,” Mirfendereski said.

Letter from Sarah

Sarah Grothjan, Co-Editor

As INC caps off another quarter as the weekly voice of Scripps news and industry-related commentary, I find myself excited to see what the upcoming quarter will bring.  You see, no two quarters are the same for INC.  In fact, no two days are quite alike.

Driven by a diverse crew of hardworking reporters, a diligent copy chief, faithful designers, a crafty PR guru, a savvy photo chief and an overly devoted co-editor, it is no surprise that each day working with INC takes a bit of a different turn.  These personalities have collaborated to manifest a weekly publication that writers can be proud to boast several bylines in.

And while we have not strayed from continuing to deliver up-to-date industry news, it is no secret that INC is continually undergoing a myriad of alterations to both its appearance and how it is promoted. Next quarter will be the time to finalize the hard work that was contributed this quarter and to solidify the progress that has been made.

While many aspects of INC will remain the same, I hope that under the collaborative direction of Co-editor Kellie Rizer and myself, the weekly newsletter will continue to grow throughout the next quarter. 

We hope to pleasantly surprise readers with a few new additions to the INC agenda, and, if nothing else, we hope to continually deliver the best of journalism news to Scripps students and faculty.

SPJ to examine sensitive issues from bird’s-eye perspective

Story // April Jaynes, Reporter

What images does the term “marginalized groups” bring to mind? More importantly,  how are these images perceived?  Perhaps looking to the media with careful consideration can shed some light onto these underlying views.

This week, SPJ plans to do just that. An analytical approach to media concerning its portrayal of marginalized groups of citizens and a discussion among members will be led by SPJ Treasurer Emma Morehart and INC Co-editor Sarah Grothjan.

Morehart said SPJ wants to discuss this issue with an observant perspective because of its sensitivity and its importance for unbiased journalism.

“I think it’s really important for journalists, regardless of what they’re writing about,  to take a step back and analyze the work of their colleagues and of themselves,” she said.

Specifically, SPJ plans to review video and story clips concerning minorities from various news sources for attendees to analyze.

Morehart said stories that deal with a white man accused of murder compared with stories of minority groups accused of the same crime, are the kinds of articles that will be presented to members for discussion. Morehart said the spark for this meeting was Black History Month, but SPJ would like to cover more than just racial minorities.

She added that NBC’s Dateline series about families struggling economically will be analyzed because the issue of poverty may portray individuals differently if not correctly addressed.

“I’m not sure I can say media portrays minorities in a negative way, but I think in journalism, if there’s a portrayal of two different groups of people in a different way, then that’s not being as objective as we can be,” Morehart said.

Feeling the need to distinguish the race of a person involved in a news story may not be objective, but it has become embedded in our culture, Morehart said.

Additionally, researching information on this touchy topic isn’t an easy task.

“It’s been hard to find stuff that is interesting in and of itself,” Morehart said.

When researching for minority news, Morehart said the first hit she got was from 1999, but the most recent was from 2005.

“I wonder if people just think it’s not an issue anymore,” Morehart said.

She added that she isn’t sure whether there is a specific change that needs to happen regarding the portrayal of marginalized groups in news.

“If as much objectivity as possible is the goal in journalism, then I only think it’s wise that we step back and stop thinking about what we write and look at what other people are writing. [This provides] a broad idea of how the news covers different topics, different groups or different countries,” said Morehart, emphasizing that it is easier to be more objective by obtaining more perspectives.

Morehart said the goal of the upcoming meeting is to encourage members to analyze the issue as best as possible and come to their own conclusions.

“There really is no one opinion about how minorities are covered in the news.”

Having graduated just last quarter, how smooth has the transition been from journalism student to full-time, working journalist? Has the transition to seeking employment been a tough undertaking?

When I graduated at the end of November, I was definitely ready for a break. I spent time with family and friends during the holidays, while sending out my resume to newspapers and magazines across Ohio. Although I received many rejection notices, I stayed positive and made the most of my free time by networking and using word-of-mouth to learn about job openings. It was stressful at times, especially because I haven’t started working yet; however, I have been accepted for a six-month fellowship position as a multimedia journalist for The Gleaner, a daily newspaper in Henderson, Ky. I’ll be moving in two weeks and cannot wait to start!

Graduating during a tough economic time creates an increased amount of job competition for recent graduates. How did you handle this competition post-graduation?

One of the first things I did after I graduated was contacted my former employers to seek advice about how to enter the current job market. I received a bunch of different suggestions, such as increasing my Web presence and learning a new technological skill (HTML coding, videography production, etc.). Everyone I spoke with also stressed the importance of relocation, explaining that, although journalism jobs may be few and far between in my hometown, many exist in other places and not to be afraid to extend my search outside Ohio. I was able to use all of the advice to find the fellowship in Henderson.

What career endeavors or additional schooling goals are you preparing yourself for?

I’m confident that I will continue my education at some point but know that I need some real-world experience first. I plan on working for at least two years before considering graduate school – that way I’ll have a better grasp on what field to study. It would also be incredible to receive my PhD someday and be able to teach at the college level, but that’s more of a long-term goal.

What has been a rewarding aspect of being a working journalist as opposed to a student journalist?

Well, ask me that in a few weeks and I’ll give you a better answer! I can say that when everyone returned to Athens for Winter Quarter, I was a bit jealous that I couldn’t be there, too (forgetting about the nasty weather, of course). However, I am looking forward to starting this next adventure with different kinds of challenges in a new environment!