PROGRAM: Rockin out, small-paper style
The Vitals
What: Selling Big Ideas in a Smaller Newsroom
Who: Javier Torres, Mike Donlan and Ricardo Rolon, Fort Myers News-Press
When: 1:30 Saturday
Why: Because you work at a small newspaper (or a big newspaper with a small staff) ...duh.
Blogger: Meredith Bowen, Syracuse Univ
It's interesting to see what 'small' means to people. A quick pre-talk survey revealed an audience from papers with circulations from under 10,000 to just over 100,000. But in an era where papers are cutting pack on newsrooms at a really horrifying rate (especially when you're still a student...) maybe we all need to start thinking about how to survive at lightly staffed paper.
This was definitely one of the most useful talks of the week ... it doesn't get much smaller than a college paper (for ex., The Daily Orange has a 6-man graphics staff ... unfortunately, these 6 are also the news, features and sports design and occaisionally illustration staffs).
Here's a breakdown of the session . . .
A) The most horrifying advice that makes way to much sense to ignore: Prioritize your goals so you can devote one person to one project for as long as it takes to make the project good (gulp).
B) The best advice to keep yourself from being disappointed in the results: Think and push for bigger projects/space/resources than you know you'll get ... what you end up with will be just enough and will be well-execute, and then there's always still room to grow.
C) The best advice to make A moderately less scarey: Listen to the staff and let them choose and develop projects from the ground up, even if it means letting someone polish their skills while doing it. Feeling like you own a project and have a real stake in it makes people really want to push themselves (as opposed to just being the guy/gal assigned to someone else's brainchild)
D) The best advice to prevent people from freaking out mid-project: Plan in advance, and set standards for consistency before moving on to huge projects.
E) Easiest advice to follow: Think like a kid -- be creative, kooky and imaginative, and don't give up once you hear the first 'no.'
F) Best mantra: "Break news will never let you know when it's coming, so don't go crazy, go basic." ~ Javier Torres
What: Selling Big Ideas in a Smaller Newsroom
Who: Javier Torres, Mike Donlan and Ricardo Rolon, Fort Myers News-Press
When: 1:30 Saturday
Why: Because you work at a small newspaper (or a big newspaper with a small staff) ...duh.
Blogger: Meredith Bowen, Syracuse Univ
It's interesting to see what 'small' means to people. A quick pre-talk survey revealed an audience from papers with circulations from under 10,000 to just over 100,000. But in an era where papers are cutting pack on newsrooms at a really horrifying rate (especially when you're still a student...) maybe we all need to start thinking about how to survive at lightly staffed paper.
This was definitely one of the most useful talks of the week ... it doesn't get much smaller than a college paper (for ex., The Daily Orange has a 6-man graphics staff ... unfortunately, these 6 are also the news, features and sports design and occaisionally illustration staffs).
Here's a breakdown of the session . . .
A) The most horrifying advice that makes way to much sense to ignore: Prioritize your goals so you can devote one person to one project for as long as it takes to make the project good (gulp).
B) The best advice to keep yourself from being disappointed in the results: Think and push for bigger projects/space/resources than you know you'll get ... what you end up with will be just enough and will be well-execute, and then there's always still room to grow.
C) The best advice to make A moderately less scarey: Listen to the staff and let them choose and develop projects from the ground up, even if it means letting someone polish their skills while doing it. Feeling like you own a project and have a real stake in it makes people really want to push themselves (as opposed to just being the guy/gal assigned to someone else's brainchild)
D) The best advice to prevent people from freaking out mid-project: Plan in advance, and set standards for consistency before moving on to huge projects.
E) Easiest advice to follow: Think like a kid -- be creative, kooky and imaginative, and don't give up once you hear the first 'no.'
F) Best mantra: "Break news will never let you know when it's coming, so don't go crazy, go basic." ~ Javier Torres
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home