Behind The BG News

BG News editor farewell

2010-05-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

I owe my journalism success to The BG News.

On May 8, I graduated from Bowling Green State University and, therefore, have been officially bumped out of my college journalism career at the daily paper. This closing blog post is written in honor of my four years at the award-winning publication.

I've met great people and learned invaluable skills. The writing, reporting, editing and multimedia experiences helped me nail my summer reporting internship with The Columbus Dispatch. I couldn't be happier to move on in my post-grad career in a field I've grown to love.

Who doesn't want to meet new people and hear new stories every day at work? I can't believe I'll get paid to do this.

So to all those sticking around The BG News, good luck and keep up the reputation my graduating class has made in the 2009-10 year. Readers keep reading and viewers keep an eye on the website (facelift coming in the fall).

But this isn't the last you'll hear from me about journalism. I'll be starting another blog after I start my reporting internship May 17. Stay tuned.

Courts debate college newspaper alcohol ads

2010-04-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

In Virginia, college newspapers have been banned from running alcohol-related advertising, according to a new ruling.

Virginia's alcohol regulatory board thinks the ban is needed to prevent underage drinking and alcohol use in general among college students. On April 12, the court ruled to reverse a lower-court decision favoring the student newspapers at Virginia Tech (The Collegiate Times) and the University of Virginia (The Cavalier Daily).

This move will cost the two newspapers $30,000 in annual ad revenues. An appeal is possible.

Here at The BG News, the ad staff adheres to the state of Ohio's first amendment commercial speech laws when deciding which ads are fit to run and which are not. Just because an ad is alcohol-related, does not mean it will not be able to run.

And just because a college newspaper runs an alcohol ad, does not mean college students will be compelled to drink alcohol, though that's what the Virginia board believes.

"It is counterintuitive for alcohol vendors to spend their money on advertisements in newspapers with relatively limited circulation, directed primarily at college students, if they believed that these ads would not increase demand by college students," according to the decision.

College newspapers do not run alcohol-related ads to influence students. They run ads because that is a reflection of their readership. It's part of the atmosphere, whether or not all partake.

The BG News runs few alcohol-related ads, not because it censors, but because few companies take out the space.

Listen to this audio piece for Director of Student Publications (and BG News adviser) Bob Bortel's take on alcohol in college newspaper advertising.

Debunking the salary myth

2010-04-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

Journalists are not in this field for the money.

A common misconception is that the editor-in-chief of The BG News makes a lot of money. That simply is not the case.

While the BGSU Undergraduate Student Government president may earn a year's tuition and fees as compensation for labor (more than $9,000), no one at the daily student newspaper makes near that much. Or half that much.

Students looking to practice their journalism skills work at the newspaper for free initially and then can earn a meager bi-weekly salary if they are reliable and stick around. They are getting paid in experience. How else would they have clips to show potential employers?

The student editor-in-chief is given a set number of dollars to divide among the nearly 150 students on staff, doling out paychecks to editors, staffer veterans and even deciding their own cut of the (tiny) pie. Working with numbers isn't usually fun for a journalist, but determining student incomes is especially taxing (no pun intended).

If an editor wants to pay more people, he or she must pay others (including herself or himself) less. It's always been this way, and with declining newspaper revenues, student journalists are becoming more and more aware of these realities. And though I won't be listing The BG News payroll on this blog, know cuts were made to pay more students this semester.

As journalists, we're in the truth business, not the making big money business. Journalists just plug along (and there's always the hope of winning the lottery).

Student newsroom hierachy differs from professional

2010-04-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm officially a lame duck.

The 11-member Board of Student Publications picked the 2010-2011 editor-in-chief of The BG News at the beginning of this month. Heather Linder is the next editor to lead the award-winning student newspaper. The paper will be hers once I am forced out of the position (by graduation May 8).

The board of journalism faculty, alumni and a couple students chooses the student editor to run the daily publication. At a professional publication, an editor is not chosen by this type of panel. They are approved from within the news organization and oversee the structure that is already set in place (unless they lose positions).

At The BG News, an editor can choose the newsroom hierarchy. The number and title of editors can change, as well as work flow, deadlines and salaries. My successor will probably switch up the editor positions or job descriptions, which is all right with me.

In honor of this passing of the torch, here's a look at the editor hierarchy for 2009-2010:

*Editor-in-chief
Managing editor
Campus editor -- City Editor
In Focus editor
Special sections editor
Sports editor -- Assistant Sports editor
Copy chief
Design editor
Forum (opinion) editor -- Assistant Forum editor
Pulse editor -- Assistant Pulse editor
Photo editor
Multimedia editor
Web editor

BG News: best in state, second in region

2010-04-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

The BG News is No. 1 in Ohio and No. 2 in the region.

At the Region 4 Society of Professional Journalists conference (see earlier post), The BG News was picked as the second best all-around daily student newspaper, edging out Kent State (who took third place) and placing just behind West Virginia University.

These rankings show The BG News is the best all-around student paper in Ohio based on the three specific issues SPJ used to judge in the Mark of Excellence Awards. The paper also received a second place finish in sports photography (ala Christina McGinnis) and its magazine counterpart The Key took first place in the region, which moves the publication on to be judged in the national fall competition.

This honor is one The BG News hasn't received in four years, according to the director of Student Publications. Congrats and thanks to all the students whose work is responsible for this amazing accomplishment.

Here's a list of judging criteria SPJ uses to determine overall excellence:

1. Accuracy and completeness
2. Enterprise and ingenuity
3. Adherence to high journalistic standards
4. Significance and effectiveness
5. Extenuating circumstances
6. Clarity, insight and respect for the audience
7. Creative use of the medium’s unique capabilities
8. Adherence to the SPJ Code of Ethics
9. Judges will weigh the resources available to the student when selecting the winners.

BG competes in Society of Professional Journalists regional

2010-04-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

Several BG News staffers are traveling to Cleveland to attend the Region 4 Society of Professional Journalists conference this weekend. The student newspaper will find out what two awards it will take home on Saturday.

In honor of the awards, I've mapped out the 22 college student SPJ chapters of Region 4 in Ohio, Michigan, West Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

View SPJ student chapters in a larger map

News series provides depth in smaller doses

2010-03-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

You don't want to overwhelm a reader.

Some news stories are just told better with a series of articles focusing on specific aspects of one issue. One story with that amount of information can confuse the reader or let them lose sight of a key point.

This kind of in-depth reporting takes longer to gather, piece together and (hopefully) emits emotion from its readers. Readers should walk away thinking, "Wow, I've learned something new and important." Not wondering why they invested so much time on your boring, unclear story.

This week in The BG News, we're running a series about BGSU's Employee Separation Program, which has 149 employees leaving within the next year to save the University some money. The three-part series examines how faculty, administrative staff and classified staff will be affected by the departure, focusing more on the people leaving than the process (which has yet to be determined).

In honor of this series, I've gathered a list of five other news series you might want to take a look at:

1. Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's series about Watergate led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

2. The Toledo Blade's Tiger Force series exposed Vietnam war crimes against civilians.

3. The Hartford Courant took a look at nursing home patient care in one of its series.

4. NBC created a five-part video series looking at the state of African American women in society.

5. The Las Vegas Sun forced government to reexamine the safety of construction workers with its series.

To endorse or not to endorse?

2010-03-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Readers do not love or hate endorsements. They consider or disregard them.

Whether newspapers should endorse political candidates is an ongoing discussion, since readers will probably come to the table with their own opinions anyway.

At The BG News, our editorial board chose to endorse a candidate for Undergraduate Student Government president on Monday, the first day of week-long elections at BGSU.

The following day a concerned student wrote a letter to the editor saying how disappointed she was to see the newspaper's opinion and not just the facts.

Some journalists feel endorsements (or anti-endorsements in some cases) are an obligation to educate the public. Others, like USA Today founder Allen H. Neuharth, claim it's a practice only followed by those journalists who think they know better than their readers.

Research into how influential professional media outlet endorsements are shows the effect is "minor" at best. Of people surveyed in a 2004 Pew poll, 83 percent said it made no difference to them who their local newspaper endorsed.

So why do newspapers continue this "outdated" tradition?

Personally, I feel the college newspaper plays a vital role in campus politics, so why not voice its opinions to the student body? Chances are most students don't know who's running or won't vote at all (USG election turnout has historically been pretty depressing), but if we have all the facts from candidates, it's our duty to interpret and pass that information on to our readers.

Both presidential tickets came in to speak to our editorial board and fielded our questions. After discussion, the seven editors with votes came to a unanimous decision and endorsed the more experienced candidate with more relevant issues.

Though endorsements are something The BG News has abstained from in the past, I think it was the best decision and will in no way affect how we cover University government elections.

(Check out our break down of USG candidates and issues in Thursday's In Focus section.)

Part two: BGSU journalism department shakes up course offerings

2010-03-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

In step with the journalism department (see earlier post), The BG News is also putting greater emphasis on the 'web first' mentality.

A big step in the right direction was making more video and audio equipment available to students, said Bob Bortel, BG News advisor and director of Student Publications. He said The BG News could use bigger, better and more frequent multimedia.

"I would like to see more of an immediate focus," Bortel said.

The student newspaper has a Web site with video and photo gallery capabilities, but students caught up in the five-day-a-week print product aren't always thinking of getting content online first. And typing up small stories and referring to the web is not in their normal day-to-day practices.

After buying more video cameras and holding three multimedia workshops this spring, Bortel hopes students will get more comfortable practicing their new skills. He realizes getting students to think more about using multimedia is as much about changing attitudes as teaching skills.

"We will focus on creating a mentality where the web is not only a partner with print, but will take the lead," he said. "It's about providing an environment where people are thinking about multimedia storytelling."

As for the future of BGSU's journalism department, chair Jim Foust doesn't expect to see fewer students, but probably fewer just wanting to write. He wants employers to be impressed with a BGSU graduate's knowledge of multimedia and ability to adapt in a changing industry.

"We basically more or less have to [change] to remain relevant," Foust said. "Stuff is going to change. Hopefully in a couple years we'll come out on the other end."

Part one: BGSU journalism department shakes up course offerings

2010-03-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Journalism is changing, and so is the field's curriculum.

At Bowling Green State University, the Department of Journalism and Public Relations is in the middle of analyzing and restructuring certain journalism courses to keep up with the curve ball the Internet and social networking Web sites have thrown the field's way.

"In a nutshell, the plan is to get multimedia into basically all our courses," said Jim Foust, professor and chair of the journalism department.

He said video, audio and online skills are being worked into courses, especially those in the traditional print sequence.

The journalism faculty has been comparing the compatibility of its course content with the state of the industry for a couple years, and this summer Foust hopes to complete all the paperwork necessary to officially change the curriculum for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Because the print industry is still trying to find its place in today's always streaming news cycle, Foust said it has been difficult to determine exactly what skills students should know when graduating with a degree in broadcast or print journalism.

"We're in a weird time right now," he said. "They don't yet have a clear direction on what people are supposed to be doing. Right now stuff is just crazy."

Students can expect to see big changes in most classes, especially copy editing, feature writing and public affairs reporting.

Foust's goal is that no journalism student will leave the university without knowing how to collect and edit video and audio, use social networking Web sites, take photos, use the web and report and write, of course.

In the mean time before multimedia skills are integrated into more courses, the department does offer a multimedia course (JOUR 4900) that teaches students basic skills in all those categories.

"Certainly somebody who starts here now will have lots of multimedia experience," Foust said.

(Check out what The BG News is doing with multimedia in Part Two of "BGSU journalism department shakes up course offerings" in my most recent post)

Sources overreact to newroom policies

2010-03-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

When the newsroom receives harrassing phone calls, it's an exciting day.

But not the good "just bought a smoothie" or "just won the lottery" type of exciting. The type where tensions run high and words that can't be printed are thrown around haphazardly.

A student called to ask that a picture taken of him working at his former place of employment be removed from The BG News Web site. (I'd put the photo on this blog but I'd rather not cause more tantrums.)

I informed the young man that because the photo was factually correct, since he did in fact work for the employer at the time it was taken, our news organization would not be taking it down.

He did not take the news well.

After a 15-minute roundabout conversation in which the caller explained his side of a story involving less than ideal working conditions with that boss, the conversation was brought back to its original conclusion that, because of the paper's policy, the photo would not be taken down unless it was inaccurate in some way.

He informed me he did not want to hire an attorney to take the photo down.

This situation just reminds us that sources believe any information printed about them is extremely critical and life-altering, when, in fact, no one really gives a second thought to a photo of someone working at their place of employment when it comes up in a Google search.

If you don't believe a quote, paraphrase or photo is that important, ask the second angry caller (and other person in said photo) who cussed out this editor and abruptly hung up.

Every editor enjoys being called stupid (please note the sarcasm).

So at this time, the photo will not be taken down, the callers will probably return for round two or three -- I fully expect to see them sitting at my desk one day or waiting to jump an editor in the parking lot -- and this issue may continue to arise with others because the campus newspaper does operate as a professional media outlet and adopt those policies.

My hope is that sources will fully understand they are giving consent to use their likeness and words when they are being interviewed or photographed, and that they reconsider an emotional breakdown via The BG News office telephone.

Revenue and circulation aside, news is still news

2010-03-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Someone called the newsroom to ask how many pages The BG News is.

Of course, the woman caller was told the number of pages is determined by the number of ads sold.

She was surprised to learn the paper's size actually varies.

Newspapers are able to survive because businesses and individuals buy ad space in the publications. It's all about revenue and readership.

And unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that newspapers in particular are lacking in these areas.

But it's not just newspapers.

All news organizations except digital and cable news have seen a decline in audience members and revenue, according to an annual report on the state of American journalism. The 2009 Pew report shows network news audiences dropped by 2.5 percent, or 565,000 viewers. Local television news viewers fell 6.5 percent, newspaper circulation declined 10.6 percent from a year ago and magazine industry circulation fell by 2.23 percent in the last six months of 2009.

The revenue numbers are even more troubling. (See graph)

Every commercial news media sector saw revenue declines except for cable, which could spell big trouble for the state of the news.

At this moment in time, the Pew report (and all others in media for that matter) has not figured out the saving grace for diligent reporters gathering news to inform the readers in the traditional (and at times technologically challenged) media.

But at any level in the business, organizations are adapting to remain afloat.

The BG News puts out less pages than in years past, but that doesn't affect the quality of its content. So much to cover, so little time and (hopefully) not so little space.

Journalist defends food's literal existence

2010-03-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Since The BG News has a week hiatus from production for spring break, I had time to finish In Defense of Food. Summing up the book is as simple as: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

The best-selling New York Times Magazine author keeps readers interested until the very end of this piece, first explaining how nutrients have become more important than what a food actually contains, then going into the effects the Western diet has on most eaters and finally laying out a game plan healthy-eater hopefuls should follow. Extensive interviews and research help bolster the compelling argument.

In Defense of Food is a quick read (just 200 pages) and really opens the eyes of the average eater and health nut.

Here are my favorite 10 tips from Pollan's research:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.

2. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are (A) unfamiliar, (B) unpronounceable, (C) more than five in number or that include (D) high-fructose corn syrup.

3. Avoid food products that make health claims.

4. Shop on the edges of supermarkets to avoid the processed foods in the middle.

5. East mostly plants, especially leaves.

6. Eat wild foods when you can.

7. Have a glass of wine with dinner.

8. Pay more, eat less.

9. Do all your eating at a table.

10. Don't get your fuel from the same place as your car does.

Questions: the basis of journalism

2010-03-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Questions are vital. Without them, journalists could not provide answers to readers.

Beyond the regular line of questioning associated with every article in the professional and student journalism world, The BG News has People on the Street at the top of every Forum page. One lucky reader even makes the front page.

Students (usually those in the Union around dinner time) get the chance to answer the random question of the day and get their accompanying headshot in the campus newspaper. And what better place for readers' opinions than the top of the opinion page?

Below is a video People on the (actual) Street asking students what they think of Girls Gone Wild coming to Bowling Green.

Most readers are unaware of the highly scientific way editors pick each day's question; probably because there isn't one.

Questions are usually chosen based on what stories come in that day. For example, Monday's question asked who should replace Carol Cartwright as BGSU president, since her official retirement in 2011 was announced over the weekend. Not surprisingly, most students thought they'd be better equipped for the job title.

Other days the question is picked based off what columns are going in that day and, on desperate occasions, questions have nothing to do with anything. (i.e. "If you could have a bobblehead of anyone, who would it be?")

The point of the questions, beyond providing general entertainment, is to bring human interest into the newspaper. If students know they're going to be in the next day's issue, they may pick it up and see something else they'd like to read.

So for more compelling questions and answers (including students choosing the funniest sounding STIs), check out the PDF archive online.

BG News multimedia workshop

2010-03-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

Because the journalism industry is always changing, Visual Communications Technology Instructor Chris Rogers put together a multimedia workshop for staffers at The BG News to get us thinking outside the print bubble.

As the photos show, students were hard at work editing their video footage on Saturday (and taking advantage of free pizza).

Professionals employ key college demographic

2010-02-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

Online news organizations are well aware college students make up a high percentage of their visitors.

Huffington Post added a new "College" tab on Monday, and its creators really hit the nail on the head.

College students have short attention spans. Reading 700-word articles (or 200-word articles for that matter) is not really the average college student's favorite past time. Even watching two-minute videos that don't have death and destruction in them is taxing for most 20-somethings.

But some college students do have to worry about debt from student loans. And eating disorders. And do worry about making the grade.

That's where Huffington's photos, story-telling and blogs are spot-on.

A student holding up a sign with his or her debt total is a compelling visual, especially with a couple sentences explaining where and why they're going to school, as well as how they got in their financial ruts.

Huffington even provides a section where contributor-hopefuls can write up their own blogs and comments to be posted on the successful blog site.

Giving students a place to vent is key.

At The BG News, the Falcon Screech is that online forum.

Angry at your roommate? Upset with the family? Pissed at the world? Students at Bowling Green State University have to chance to rant online in 100 words or less anonymously about whatever their hearts desire and it will be published in our print edition the following Tuesday.

Young people need outlets for their frustrations, and if anonymous rants help alleviate any added college student stresses, we're happy to provide that outlet (which we did have before Huffington, just fyi).

Public record is ... public record

2010-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

No one wants to be in the police blotter.

A distraught young man called the newsroom yesterday asking why The BG News publishes the police blotter and where they get the information from. I informed him we get our records from the Bowling Green Police Division and that we publish them because it's public record.

"Oh, ok," he said, "so you just publish it because it's public record?"

"Yes."

Dial tone.

This lovely phone conversation brings up an important aspect of journalism: freedom of information. The legislation, commonly known as the sunshine laws in the United States, allows the public (and reporters as their informants) the right to access information, especially records dealing with government and often police.

So once people turn 18 and make bad choices that get them cited or arrested in the Bowling Green area, they make it in the police blotter. Most news outlets have their own form of displaying these types of transgressions, simply because this is news others want to see and are allowed to know.

At The BG News , two types of readers call about the blotter: angry ones and understanding ones. If the young man had stayed on the line long enough, he would have found out blotter entries can be removed if offenders present us with proper documentation from police that they've been exonerated.

After explaining this fact to an older man one day who had been arrested for being present when BGPD found marijuana, he jokingly said, "I should have been cited for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." (Now that's the understanding type of reader)

Ending up in the blotter is unfortunate, especially since the information is forever posted online, but maybe students will think twice the next time they feel the need to relieve themselves outdoors or carry an open container after a night on the town.

Any time at all: the real news cycle

2010-02-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

I need a haircut.

But working in the newsroom doesn't allow time for such luxuries. It's a 24-hour business and, besides the fact journalists don't usually make enough money to be making frivolous purchases like the occasional trim, there's just so little time.

While in the newsroom the other day, another editor and I came up with the most logical way to organize our time into two categories: hours spent in the newsroom and hours spent elsewhere. And even though to the outside observer those two should not be anywhere close to equal time slots, it's pretty close to 50-50. If our bodies didn't need sleep and we could muster up the courage to sleep at our desks, the newsroom would win for sure.

It's obvious the news business is one that never sleeps, but people outside journalism (and those slackers within the profession) don't always understand what that means. Here are several of the highlights:

**No snow days. The last time BGSU canceled classes and most students got to play in the snow, The BG News got an earlier deadline (four hours earlier).

**No real vacation time. Even when journalists in the profession get vacation or the occasional day off, they remain connected to their newsrooms (thank you, smart phones).

**No opinions. Once journalists sign their selves over to a journalism profession, they need to be objective and unattached to most other organizations (except for opinion columnists of course, who get paid for their published opinions).

**No strict schedules. Journalists learn to work with super flexible schedules and deadlines. So there's a family gathering this weekend? Hopefully a big story doesn't break in that time slot.

Don't get me wrong, the journalism profession has more perks than drawbacks, in my opinion. So reporters will continue living in the newsroom and maybe one day soon I'll have money to get that hair cut.

Journalism is changing, not dying

2010-02-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

Print journalism is not the plague. There is potential for the industry, though it will be drastically different in the next five, 10 or more years.

On Monday, 2,000-plus students and parents swarmed Bowling Green State University to check out all it has to offer on Presidents Day. Besides the fact it seemed fewer students were visiting the journalism department in general, some veered away from The BG News table, possibly because "newspapers are dying" and people don't want to get into a failing industry.
So the students hit up the broadcast station tables? People need to realize we're all in the same boat.

How people get their news is constantly changing because of convergence. Newspapers and broadcast stations are no longer the only gatekeepers of the news and leaders in the industry are trying to figure out the best ways to remain relevant.
So why all this talk of dying now? Newspapers have been dying and popping up other places for years. These days, they are just going to their eternal sleeps in batches.

While media experts iron out the kinks in the journalism field, take the time to watch the following video explaining the increasing power of the mobile device.

Top THREE reasons why cell phones will be a (or the) prime news outlet in the future:
1. The average teen sends 2,272 text messages a month
2. 93 percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone
3. The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper and a thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand times smaller than the one computer in 1965

Video overview of the news organization

2010-02-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

The BG News multimedia editor put together this video explaining how the newspaper gets out daily.

Reader feedback only betters a news organization

2010-02-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

You're wrong.

It's not something anyone wants to hear, especially a print publication. But readers rarely call a newsroom to say what reporters get right.

When things go wrong, it's only natural to hear a handful of callers explain how horrible and unprofessional your news organization is. Professional newsrooms have to hear about errors, but when it comes to student media, upset readers can be downright vicious.

Somewhere in the process, readers forget they're viewing the work of student journalists, some seasoned, some not. Student-run organizations are bound to get some facts wrong- though you'd never hear many admit to that- especially if they're running five-day-a-week operations.
Last Friday, several readers confronted The BG News with several calls for correction. For a majority of the day, The BG News was used as a punching bag for those directly or indirectly affected by content. Journalists welcome corrections when something written was, in fact, incorrect. We made some corrections, but it became apparent to me that readers have no idea how much work goes into running a news organization.

Around 150 staff keep The BG News going daily. These students work immeasurable hours and balance school work or other (better-paying) jobs on the side. We put together the best product we can for the same readers that ridicule our work.

Readers need to understand words they're reading come from students learning the trade they'd like to pursue post-graduation. So continue calling us out on mistakes because we are learning. But please, be civil.

Welcome to the news gateway

2010-02-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what makes news news?

This blog is your inside look at the work behind the news, specifically the happenings at The BG News, Bowling Green State University's daily student-run newspaper (and Web site).

But I'm not just talking about The BG News. The purpose of this prose is to use events that occur at our paper to discuss larger issues also happening at other student media and professional news organizations. So please, feel free to bring your own views to the blog or hit me up with topic suggestions.

I'm always a click away.