The Daily Plan-it / Dean of Students Blog, Columbia J-school

Since Monday, most students and faculty have been offline as part of a campus-wide problem. Please be patient, and if necessary, follow-up with phone calls and in-person visits.

A note I got this morning from CUIT:

From: consultant@columbia.edu Mailed-By: columbia.edu
Reply-To: consultant@columbia.edu
To: Sreenath Sreenivasan
Date: Nov 30, 2005 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: pine problem - no INBOX
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Add sender to Contacts list | Trash this message | Report phishing | Show original | Message text garbled?

The current email system started experiencing extreme loads Monday,
November 28 and has continued to experience major service problems
through today. Connections to the mail systems were failing and email
folders or email were missing if access was granted. This was all day for
all users on all email clients (even Pine and Cubmail).

Please note, that it is most likely that you have NOT been removed from
the Columbia email system and that your email has NOT been deleted. You
will eventually regain access to your email.

Between 3 and 5am on Tuesday, 11/29, we will move 200 users from the most
overloaded filer to the Cyrus email system. Another 200 will be moved
Wednesday and another 200 on Thursday. While normally we have been giving
people a week’s notice before moving them, we are moving these 600 people
with little notice in an effort to alleviate the extreme performance
problems experienced on the old mail system today, Monday.

If you try to connect to your email and see only a single message
indicating that you’ve been moved to Cyrus, you will need to reconfigure
your email program in order to see your mail. The email message will point
you to online instructions
(http://www.columbia.edu/acis/email/cyrus/config/) for doing this.

All email users will be moved by the end of Spring Semester 2006, so this
cannot be reversed. If you were not moved, you should gradually see
improved performance as less people are sharing the old email system with
you. Also, if you were not moved this time, you will be notified of your
move date in the near future.

Update 11/29 9am: The first 200 people were successfully moved early this
morning.

Please see http://www.columbia.edu/acis/alerts-list.html for the latest
updates.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Demian Vanderputten
Technical Specialist
CUIT Support Center
CU Information Technology
Columbia University

Here’s the schedule for Spring Semester Prep - events and dates to help you prepare for the Spring Semester. All the information will be available electronically, but you are encouraged to attend any events/briefing sessions you can. Please note we are offering events on a variety of dates and times. These are aimed at the M.S. students (though many of the classes are available to other students within the school). The M.A. students will receive separate briefings.

• The M.S./Knight-Bagehot Spring Ballot is now available at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/courses/spring2006/ballot/


• The Spring Letter is now available at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/admissions/programs/courses/

SPRING PREP (watch for additional dates)

• Tue, Nov. 1, 12:30-1:30 p.m., room 601B: Brown Bag Lunch with the Deans - focus on Spring Semester questions and dealing with Fall RWI mid-semester evaluations
• Tue, Nov. 1, 7:30-8:30 p.m., room 607B: Immigrant America - a preview class by Prof. Mirta Ojito; this is a brand-new seminar.
• Wed, Nov. 2, 12:30-2 p.m., room 601B: Brown Bag Lunch with the Deans - focus on Spring Semester questions and dealing with Fall RWI mid-semester evaluations
• Fri, Nov. 4, 8:15-9 a.m., room 601B : Book Seminar - briefing session for anyone planning to apply for Prof. Sam Freedman’s seminar - Application required
• Wed, Nov. 9, 5:30-6:15 p.m., Lecture Hall: Producing a Magazine Workshops - a briefing session for those interested in these classes taught by Prof. Michael Shapiro and Prof. Victor Navasky
• Wed, Nov. 9, 6:15-7 p.m., Lecture Hall: Covering Religion Seminar - a briefing session for anyone planning to apply for the class taught by Profs. Ari Goldman and Sree Sreenivasan. See last year’s class site (includes report from Spring Break group reporting trip to Israel; this year’s trip is to India): CoveringReligion.org - Application required. See description and application form here.
• Tues, Nov. 15, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Room 601B: News21 Investigative Business Reporting - briefing session about new course taught by Prof. Judith Dobrzynski; she will also explain the News21 summer project, for which we will be hiring 10 students to work for 10 weeks at the J-school May 22-July 31, 2006 - Application required, see News21 details here.
• Thurs, Nov. 17, 8:15-9:15 a.m., Room 607B: Breakfast with the Deans - focus on Spring Semester questions.
• Thurs, Nov. 17, 6-7 p.m., Room 601B: Spring Briefing session (aimed at Part-time students, but all are welcome).
• Tuesday, Nov. 22, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Lecture Hall: Spring Preview Session - an evening when professors who teach Spring seminars and workshops are invited to present three- or five-minute previews of their classes. Typically, most professors present and all M.S. students gather for this session. Please note that only a handful of classes have individual briefing sessions (as listed above), so it is critical that you attend this large gathering.
  
  
• Tuesday, Nov. 22, 10 p.m.: Spring Ballot goes live; closes Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. You can submit ballots any time during that period - NOT first come, first served.
• Wednesday, Nov. 23, 10-11 a.m., 709C: Final prep session
to meet with Deans Sreenivasan and Huff with questions about the spring. Donuts will be served.
• Monday, Nov. 28, 9-6 p.m. Deans Sreenivasan and Huff available for individual meetings.
• Monday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m.: Spring Ballot closes.

  Here are the four classes for which there will be an application process:

  Book Writing
  Covering Religion
  News 21 Investigative Business Reporting
  Personal & Professional Style
  Literary Journalism
  You will know the results of the application process for Covering Religion and Book Writing before the balloting begins.

  Also see:

  • FAQ: How do I switch concentrations?
  • FAQ: How do I take an outside elective?

  Deans Sreenivasan and Huff are available throughout November to discuss your options and help you plan for the Spring, as are your RWI professors, who serve as your advisers the rest of your time here.

When the ballot went live, it incorrectly listed CAR in place of New Media in the skills options for the Spring. We have had the problem fixed. If you completed a ballot expressing an interest in CAR and want instead to express an interest in the other skills options, please resubmit your ballot.

Our apologies for the error.

Please note that we are offering the following skills classes this spring - all after spring break:

• Section 1: New Media - TBA (Saturdays, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: 3/25; 4/1; 4/22; 4/29; 5/6)
• Section 2: Photography - Sara Barrett (Tuesdays, 7-9 p.m.: 3/28; 4/4; 4/11; 4/18; 4/25)
• Section 3: Radio - TBA (Saturdays, 2-6 p.m.: 3/25; 4/1; 4/8; 4/22; 4/29)

Note from Joost van Dreunen, jv2108, aimed at fellow PhD students, but others might find it useful, too.

Instead of forwarding conference deadlines and ‘calls for papers,’
I’m sending you the necessary links to sign up for these
newsletters yourself. Please be aware that some will generate a lot
of daily messages. Here are the (non-videogame) ones I’m subscribed
to:

• DCC-Talk/NYU Forum
  http://forums.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/nyu.pl?enter=dcc-talk
  
• DCC-All/NYU Forum
  http://forums.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/nyu.pl?enter=dcc-all
  
• Call for Papers/U-Penn
  http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/
  
• Media Ecology Association (lots of yammering here)
  http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/mea

  Thusly I resign from spamming the phd mailing list with forwards

Q: How do I take an outside elective?

A: M.S. students are encouraged to make use of the greater Columbia University course offerings to further their knowledge base in areas of particular interest and relevance to their journalistic goals. Classes (except for languages) must be graduate level and must be approved by the Dean of Students office.

M.A. students are required to take outside electives each semester. Classes must be graduate level and must be approved by your discipline professor.

For further information, please go to http://snurl.com/outside_classes

Please note that M.S. students must complete our course preference balloting and registration process with the intention of taking all your classes at the Journalism School (since cross-registrations aren’t always possible, you should carefully complete your ballot). Registration for outside courses is a function of add/drop.

Q: How can I find out about volunteer opportunities for Thanksgiving weekend?

A: Columbia’s Community Impact runs a food pantry and soup kitchen. You can find out more from Caty Saintil at x46310. You can also call 864-6100.

Here are some others:
http://www.volunteernyc.org/org/opp/10206148.html
http://www.bowery.org/features/thanks_volunteer.htm

Q: I’m a full-time student, but my academic profile in says that I’m a part-time student?

A: Any student registered for less than 12 points is automatically a part-time student. As of mid-November, all full-timers have been pre-registered for their 3-point second half of the master’s project. Once Dean Huff gets all the other courses in the system (after the balloting process), the system will once again reflect that you are a full-time student.

A note from Brandon Keim, M.A. 2006 and M.S. 2005, brandon[at]earthlab.net

Hello out there,

Last week there was some emailing among 2005 alumni about Bob Woodward’s recent misconduct.? Afterwards it seemed we needed a place to talk shop without adding to
everyone’s unsolicited email flood, so I set up a list for us. Everyone, of course, is invited. To join, go to http://groups.google.com/group/CSofJ

and sign up. Then feel free to post whatever interests you — questions, observations, good journalism, dilemmas — and hopefully some wisdom will come out of this.

Dean Sree asked me how this is different from TheTenMonthBeat… TheTenMonthBeat is more an event & logistics source — it’s not a place where someone would go and say, “Did you hear about what Bob Woodward did?? What do you think?” or “I was reading this article and trying to figure out how they sourced this part — little help?” or
“I’ve got this source who wants to be identified as such and such — what should I do?” and then have some community discussion about it. Hopefully the seed will sprout into a network whose dialogue helps us be better journalists.

As a followup to Dean Klatell’s introductory memo (below) and the Tuesday briefing for News21, here is how you can apply for the News21 project.

You will be taking two courses:
SEMINAR: Business and Economic Journalism with Prof. Rob Norton
ELECTIVE: Investigative Business Reporting with Prof. Judith Dobrzynski

You must take both to be considered for the News21 project and to be part of
the 16-student pool from which 10 fellows will be selected for the summer.

FORM: You must fill in the News21 application form at
http://www.formsite.com/columbiaspj/news21 (live now)

Deadline for this form is Wednesday, Nov. 23, 10 a.m. Selected students
will be informed by noon on Monday, Nov. 28, the same day the Spring
Ballot is due (at 7 pm). We suggest you hold off till after 12 p.m. on
Monday, Nov. 28, to fill in the Spring Ballot, so that if you don’t get
into News21, you can put a different first choice for your Seminar and
Elective.

Timeline for the project:

Nov. 22, 6:30 p.m.: News21 in overall Spring Preview
Nov. 23, 10 a.m.: Application form deadline
Nov. 28, noon: Selected students named
Nov. 28, 7 pm: Deadline for students to fill in Spring Ballots
Week of Jan. 23: Start of classes
Late March/early April: Selection of 10 Fellows
May 17: Graduation

May 22: Start of 10-week Fellowship

Mid-June: News21 weekend retreat for 44 national Fellows at Berkeley (paid
for by project)

Week of July 24: End of 10 weeks

———- Forwarded message ———-

Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:30:01 -0500
From: David A. Klatell
Subject: News 21 - An Exciting New Combinaion of Study and Employment

This spring, the school will offer an exciting initiative in business and
economics journalism, called News 21. Funded through grants from the Knight
Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, News 21 is part of a consortium among
this School, the schools of journalism at Berkeley, Northwestern, Southern
California and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard. Its aim is to develop
exciting curriculum initiatives while simultaneously producing first-rate
journalism through the combined efforts of students and faculty at these
schools.

The overall theme of the News 21 project this year is “Liberty and
Security”; each of the participating universities have chosen a different
sub-set of that overall story and a different media format. Columbia has
decided to investigate what has changed since 9/11 in the government’s
access to private or corporate financial information, under the rubric of
the fight against terrorism. We want to know what, exactly, has the
government been doing, what has it learned, what has it done with that
information, and to hat extent has it challenged important concepts of
privacy and liberty. We have selected on-line journalism as our preferred
publication format.

There are three important components to this project: a required spring
6-credit Seminar (Business and Economic Journalism - emphasizing the News 21
subject matter, with Professor Norton), a required 3-credit Elective
(Investigative Business Reporting with Judith Dobrzynski), and a 10-week paid
internship ($7,500 per student) reporting and writing stories under the
guidance of the faculty, including Ms Dobrzynski, Louise Story, Dorian Benkoil
and others. There is money available for travel - reporting trips and to meet
with colleagues from the collaborating schools, as well as funds for some
investigative expenses (document searches, court or FOI filings, etc.).

Students interested in participating in the summer reporting project must
(with the exception of night-Bagehot Fellows) enroll in both the Seminar and
Elective noted above. The 10 best-performing students from those classes
will be offered the opportunity to continue working through the summer and,
of course, get paid. Students who take the courses but are not selected may
nevertheless have the opportunity to have their best work published. It is
possible to enroll in these courses (up to the limit of 16 in each) without
becoming a candidate for the summer job.

In the coming days I will provide more information, and we will flesh out
the course descriptions in the Spring Letter, but I wanted to get this
message to you in advance of any course decisions you may be making about
the spring term.

SO HERE’S THE DEAL, PLEASE DON’T ATTEMPT TO NEGOTIATE A DIFFERENT ONE: WE HAVE COMMITED TO THE FUNDATIONS AND THE OTHER UNIVERSITIES THAT THESE COURSES WILL BE REQUIRED OF ALL PARTICIPANTS; THE FACULTY WILL HAVE FINAL SAY OVER THE SELECTION AND ASSIGNMENT OF THE SUMMER JOBS; ANY STUDENT SELECTED MUST MAKE A BINDING COMMITMENT TO REMAIN WORKING ON THE NEWS 21 REPORTING PROJECT FOR AT LEAST THE 10-WEEK PERIOD OF SUMMER REPORTING.

This is a great opportunity for those interested in following the money
trail all the way from individual accounts (ex: “Islamic charities” that
were initially targeted by Homeland Security) to the government agencies
mining, analyzing and acting upon the data. If this is not what you want to
do, please don’t let the appeal of a well-paid internship at the School sway
your judgment; this is serious business and we want only those who will make
and keep the commitments required of participants.

Regards,
DK

From Lane Johnson, J2004, photo[at]laglj.com.

Hi, howdy and what’s up. My name is Lane Johnson. I’m a recent alumnus –
’04 – of the school and more recently a photo adjunct. I’m writing because I would like to photograph you reporting. No, it’s not an incestuous news story
but rather a promotional endeavor for the school; the administration would
like to present a more visual image (read hip) of the school to prospective
students. My present charge is to photograph you – working, reporting,
interviewing. The images need to be self-contained and, well, cool. I’m
looking for lots of color and commotion—cops, fires, any wacky spot news,
festivals, big demonstrations, prominent faces, the whole gamut really. If
you’re reporting a story that lends itself to this project (or just want the
attention) please call me: 917.327.2722. You can email as well,
photo@laglj.com, but I think phone calls will move the project along quicker.

I’m setting aside Thursdays-Sundays until semester’s end to work on this and
am even hoping to begin tomorrow, Friday. The weeks will slip by I’m sure,
especially with the holiday next week, so please call me asap with ideas. I’m
open to all queries. I’m hoping to capture both broadcast and non, and while
the administration suggested I focus on RW1 I’m looking forward to hearing
about any and all stories where you’re out and about rocking in the field. But
call too if you’re interviewing a famous face (or at least has a prominent look
– politicians, doctors). Just call. Thanks.

The images will be used in the sundry promotional publications the school
puts out.

Sincerely,
Lane Johnson, photographer
http://www.laglj.com
917.327.2722

From Dean Klatell.

Renowned First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams will be conducting the
two final classes for the Friday section of Journalism, the Law and
Society. The classes will meet at 9:00 a.m. in the lecture hall this
Friday, November 18 and December 2. All students registered in the
Friday class re required to attend, everyone else is invited to do
so.

Q: How do I find my PID?

A. Because it is not safe to use social security numbers for online forms and via e-mail, the University assigns each student a PID.

You must supply your PID in order to complete your course preference ballots.

All PIDs are C+9 digits.

Students receive their PIDs with their orientation materials and are asked to use them for all official electronic interactions with the University.

If you lose yours, please go to https://ssol.columbia.edu/.

Click on ACADEMIC PROFILE. You will see a screen with VIEWING OPTIONS at the top.
It will indicate that your personal information is hidden. Click on UPDATE VIEW and change the option to “show my personal information.” All your information, including your PID, will then appear on the screen.

ASIA PACIFIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL
WEATHERHEAD EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE

Cordially invite you to network with industry professionals at the
Media Career Event

Panelists:
Fred Katayama, J’83, Award winning CNN correspondent –
Currently anchor at Reuters Television

Susan Berfield
Associate Editor, Businessweek

Oisika Chakrabarti
Officer, U.N. Department of Public Information

Paul Cohen
Vice President, Corporate
Ketchum Public Relations, NYC

Alejandro Reyes
Former Asiaweek journalist –
Currently freelance writer and consultant

Questions: Contact Amy Ahn at - asa6@columbia.edu

JUST SHOW UP!

Co-sponsored by the International Media & Communications Concentration

Q: How do I consider taking an internship in the spring?

A: See this site for for info: http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/admissions/programs/courses/

The New York Times invites J-school students and faculty to…

What’s the Future of the Supreme Court?,
presented as a part of TimesTalks, the New York Times Speaker Series

Tuesday, November 15
6:30 - 8 p.m.
The Kaye Playhouse, Hunter College
68th Street and Lexington Avenue

Participants:
Martin Garbus, trial lawyer and partner, Davis & Gilbert
Suzanne Goldberg, associate professor and director, Women’s Rights
Litigation Clinic, Rutgers Law School
Anthony Lewis, former New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist
Thomas Merrill, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law, Columbia Law
School

Moderator: Linda Greenhouse, Supreme Court correspondent, The New York Times

We hope you will be able to join us at Hunter College for this important
and timely discussion.

Advance RSVPs are strictly required for this complimentary invitation.

Kindly respond no later than Monday, November 14 to Jennifer Pauly via
e-mail to paulyj [at] nytimes.com. Please identify yourself as a Columbia Journalism School student or faculty member and provide your name so that we can add you to our guest list.

If you are interested in learning more about the M.A. student, please see this list of info sessions.

MA Information Sessions (for current students):

· Friday, November 18 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
· December (day and time to be announced)

General Information Sessions (covering ALL programs including the MA and open to the public and current students):

· Wednesday, November 16 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM
· Saturday, December 3 9:30 PM to NOON
· Wednesday, December 7 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Q: FAQ: How do I take an elective outside the J-school?

A: In certain cases, M.S. students may take an outside course as a substitute for the spring elective. Students are encouraged to make use of the greater Columbia University course offerings to further their knowledge base in areas of particular interest and relevance to their journalistic goals. Classes (except for languages) must be graduate level and must be approved by the Dean of Students office. For further information, please go to http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/outside_courses.asp. Please note that you must complete our course preference balloting and registration process with the intention of taking all your classes at the Journalism School (since cross-registrations aren’t always possible, you should carefully complete your ballot). Registration for outside courses is a function of our add/drop period.

FYI, each August, at least 100 students express an interest in taking an outside elective. But by the time spring comes around, usually, no more than 15 students actually follow through.

From Dean Klatell.

This spring, the school will offer an exciting initiative in business and economics journalism, called News 21. Funded through grants from the Knight Foundation and Carnegie Corporation, News 21 is part of a consortium among this School, the schools of journalism at Berkeley, Northwestern, University of Southern California and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard. Its aim is to develop exciting curriculum initiatives while simultaneously producing first-rate journalism through the combined efforts of students and faculty at these schools.

The overall theme of the News 21 project this year is “Liberty and Security”; each of the participating universities have chosen a different sub-set of that overall story and a different media format. Columbia has decided to investigate what has changed since 9/11 in the government’s access to private or corporate financial information, under the rubric of the fight against terrorism. We want to know what, exactly, has the government been doing, what has it learned, what has it done with that information, and to hat extent has it challenged important concepts of privacy and liberty. We have selected on-line journalism as our preferred publication format.

There are three important components to this project: a required spring 6-credit Seminar (Business and Economic Journalism – emphasizing the News 21 subject matter, with Professor Nasar), a required 3-credit Elective (Investigative Business Reporting with Judith Dobrzynski), and a 10-week paid internship ($7,500 per student) reporting and writing stories under the guidance of the faculty, including Ms Dobrzynski, Louise Story, Dorian Benkoil and others. There is money available for travel – reporting trips and to meet with colleagues from the collaborating schools, as well as funds for some investigative expenses (document searches, court or FOI filings, etc.).

Students interested in participating in the summer reporting project must (with the exception of night-Bagehot Fellows) enroll in both the Seminar and Elective noted above. The 10 best-performing students from those classes will be offered the opportunity to continue working through the summer and, of course, get paid. Students who take the courses but are not selected may nevertheless have the opportunity to have their best work published. It is possible to enroll in these courses (up to the limit of 16 in each) without becoming a candidate for the summer job.

In the coming days I will provide more information, and we will flesh out the course descriptions in the Spring Letter, but I wanted to get this message to you in advance of any course decisions you may be making about the spring term.

SO HERE’S THE DEAL, PLEASE DON’T ATTEMPT TO NEGOTIATE A DIFFERENT ONE: WE HAVE COMMITED TO THE FUNDATIONS AND THE OTHER UNIVERSITIES THAT THESE COURSES WILL BE REQUIRED OF ALL PARTICIPANTS; THE FACULTY WILL HAVE FINAL SAY OVER THE SELECTION AND ASSIGNMENT OF THE SUMMER JOBS; ANY STUDENT SELECTED MUST MAKE A BINDING COMMITMENT TO REMAIN WORKING ON THE NEWS 21 REPORTING PROJECT FOR AT LEAST THE 10-WEEK PERIOD OF SUMMER REPORTING.

This is a great opportunity for those interested in following the money trail all the way from individual accounts (ex: “Islamic charities” that were initially targeted by Homeland Security) to the government agencies mining, analyzing and acting upon the data. If this is not what you want to do, please don’t let the appeal of a well-paid internship at the School sway your judgment; this is serious business and we want only those who will make and keep the commitments required of participants.

The Spring 2006 Curriculum Letter is now available at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/admissions/programs/courses/. The on-line ballot will be activated Tuesday, Nov. 22, 10 p.m. (with a link from the Student Resources page). Your completed ballot must be submitted on line no later than Monday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. All ballots received during this time will be considered equal – this is not a “first-come, first-served” process.

Graduate Student with Interest in Newspaper History
Needed to Help with Research for a Book on Pulitzer Prizes

This exciting book project (U. of Missouri Press) presents All the President’s Men-style case studies of winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, woven into a history of the 88 years of Pulitzer “gold medals.”

Work involves assembling databases, using the same techniques often employed by the investigative teams that are the subjects of the book. Can be done on your own time over about three months (approximately December to February), on campus at Butler Rare Manuscripts Library, Columbia’s Pulitzer microfilm archives, and the offices of the Pulitzer Prizes in the Journalism Building.

Author is a Boston-based former Wall Street Journal reporter and editor—now a magazine editor with The Economist Group—who is being assisted by St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Poynter Institute. Stipend of $500 to $1,000 available, depending on time dedicated to the project. Please send name, two references, contact information (for you and them), a brief bio, and a sample of your writing to:

Roy Harris
royharris@cfo.com
or mail to
Roy Harris
111 Martins Lane
Hingham, Mass. 02043

From Prof. Laura J Muha, coordinator of ColumbiaJournalist.org:

Many thanks to everyone who contributed stories for yesterda’s launch of
columbiajournalist.org. It’s no exaggeration to say we couldn’t have done
it without you.

For obvious reasons, the election stories were posted first (and as of this
morning, were still being posted), but in the next couple of days, some of the
other pieces you sent will be starting to go up.

One request: When submitting stories, please make sure your e-mail is at the
top of the piece. I have several stories I want to post, but because they were
written earlier in the semester (or, in the case of part-timers, as far back
as last spring), they need to be updated first. In most cases, that won’t
involve much more than a change in wording, but I need your approval to do that,
and if I have to track down your e-mail address first, it will delay posting of
your piece.

Thanks,
Laura Muha
ljm31 [at] columbia.edu

In case you missed it in the Career Services listings… This is a great opportunity, folks. I have taught in the program a couple of times in the past. Deadline is Nov. 15, 2005.

2006 Poynter Summer Fellowship for Young Journalists
http://www.poyntersummerfellows.org/

- SS

From Prof. John Dinges:

Colleagues, here is the link to tonight’s radio broadcast, 8-10 pm, on the
elections and New York grassroots politics.
Feedback appreciated. - John Dinges

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/academics/studentwork/radio/174/2005-11-08/broadcast.asp

Many thanks to volunteer note-taker Dakin Campbell, J2006, for sharing these with us. If you attend a journalism event for which you’d like to write some notes, please send them to Dean Sreenivasan.

NOTES FROM… A Conversation with Chaitanya Kalbag
Reuters, Managing Editor, Head of Editorial Operations, Asia
Presented by South Asian Journalists Association, NY Chapter
Thursday, November 3, 2005, 6-7.30 pm
Reuters Building, 3 Times Square, 22nd Floor

Notes by Daikin Campbell, dmc2128 [at] columbia.edu

See photos from the event by Preston Merchant: http://www.digitalrailroad.net/pmerchant/gpgs.aspx?pgid=615913&e=0&p=0

NOV. 5, 2005: The head of editorial operations in Asia for Reuters captivated a crowd of nearly 40 journalism professionals and students from Columbia University Thursday evening in an intimate conversation that touched on prospering Asian markets, technology advancements, Reuters Asia and an upbeat analysis of journalism. The event, held at Reuters US headquarters in Times Square, was sponsored by SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association.

Chaitanya Kalbag discussed the enormous potential in Asia, including two of the world’s largest growth markets, India and China. He said technology has continued to develop in Korea, Japan, and China, and at Reuters, where the markets of consumer television, news content on mobile phones, podcasting and citizen journalism are expanding.

With further developments in technology, Kalbag said Reuters will continue to concentrate on financial product and news that adheres to the company’s standards of accuracy, speed and freedom from bias. Those standards are often challenged in Asia where the world’s major news events and overarching economic picture continue
to unfold, he said.

Complexity of stories only places a higher demand on professional journalists trained in schools and Reuters graduate programs, Kalbag said. There is demand in Reuters for journalists with language skills in Mandarin, Thai, Korean, and Japanese, and
opportunities for those who speak English in Singapore, Hong Kong,
the Philippines, India, Australia and elsewhere.

In spite of the cyclical nature of journalism and current naysayers, Kalbag finished by saying that as long as there is a need to tell a story in an objective and truthful way, journalists will serve an important function. He invited journalism students to consider
Reuters in their career plans, and offered to accept clip packages.

o o o o o

CHAITANYA KALBAG BIO
Managing Editor, Head of Editorial Operations, Asia
Chaitanya Kalbag joined Reuters in 1983 as a correspondent in New Delhi, India. He moved to Manila in 1987 and in 1988 became a Chief Sub-editor on the Hong Kong economic desk. In 1991 he moved to Tokyo and in 1993 he was appointed Editor, News Production, Japan. His next post as Editor, News Production Asia was based in Hong Kong. There he was responsible for the quality of all text news output from Asia including output from all editing desks.

In 1997 he became Bureau Chief, India where he was responsible for all text, television and pictures coverage from India, Nepal and Bhutan. He then became Managing Director, Reuters India Limited and Manager South Asia, based in Mumbai. In this role he was the senior Reuters company official for all eight South Asian countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He took on his current role in July 2000 and heads all text, television and pictures news operations in Asia. He is also responsible for the recruitment, safety and security, and career development of nearly 600 journalists in 33 bureaus in 22 countries stretching from Afghanistan to New Zealand. Prior to joining Reuters, he worked in Bombay for a small Indian newspaper, then went on to edit and produce Transindia, a monthly newsmagazine for Indians living in the United States. He moved to New Delhi in 1978, and held senior writing positions at two magazinesNew Delhi and India Today. He won the Rajika Kripalani Young Journalist Award in 1977, the Sanskriti Award for Journalism for 1982, and the India Today-PUCL Human Rights Reporting Award in 1983. He was included in An Anthology of Bombay Poetry, 1977.

Memo from Prof. Laura Muha, coordinator of the ColumbiaJournalist.org project.

The long-awaited student web site, columbiajournalist.org, will be
going online next week, just in time for the election. The site is
the product of nearly a year and a half of planning and hard work,
which began in the summer of 2004 and continued through this fall
as web staffers Branwynne Kennedy; Pablo Calvi, J’01; and Muon Van, along
with other members of the staff and faculty, finished hammering out
the details.

Our goal was to create a year-round site that would showcase the
best of what we do here at the J-school in one easy-to-access
place; it will replace what was essentially a patchwork of sites
put together by individual classes and largely operating only
during the spring semester.

On the new site, we’ll be able to accommodate just about any type of
story that would run in any newspaper: breaking news, features,
enterprise, pieces on the arts, science, medicine, immigration,
foreign affairs, national affairs, investigative stories, religion,
education, cops, crime, courts, business, opinion, etc., etc. And
broadcast majors can rest assured that we’ll also have the capacity
to post radio and TV segments.

In addition to appearing on our site, stories with an appeal beyond
New York City will be considered by Columbia News Service for
national distribution – a great way for students to get print
clips. (The first CNS wire went out last week, using the system
that was already in place, and Prof. Porter tells me that several
stories already have been picked up.)

Because everything that appears on the site represents not only its
author, but also the school, we’re looking for only the
highest-caliber work. If a story wouldn’t be publishable in a daily
newspaper or top-quality magazine, it won’t be publishable on our
site. You should think of web publication as a reward for work well
done, not an entitlement.

Stories will be submitted by your instructors, but as the
managing editor, I’ll make the final decision as to whether they
get posted. Obviously, I’ll consider subject and execution, and
will make sure the story doesn’t duplicate something we’ve already
posted, but small things count, too. The likelihood that your piece
will go on the web decreases exponentially in relation to the amount
of time I have to spend correcting it for things such as grammar
errors and AP style – in other words, all the “little” things your
instructors have been after you about all semester.

One request: If I e-mail you with questions about a story I’m
considering posting, please get back to me promptly – the longer
you wait, the less likely it is that the piece will be useable.

Stories on the site will be searchable by section (national, metro,
science, features, etc.), subject (education, religion, politics,
arts, etc.) and byline. But when the site is fully up and running –
something that, depending on staffing, may or may not occur by next
semester – we’ll also have a special student section that includes
everyone’s bio, photo, and clip portfolio, which will make it easy
for prospective employers to look at your work. (And, judging from
experience with the class sites we’ve had in the past, potential
employers do look at your work online.)

While we can’t promise there won’t be glitches that need to be
worked out in the weeks after our launch, we do think the new site
will be a great resource and opportunity for you while you’re here
at Columbia, and I hope to have the chance to work with all of you
on it between now and the end of the year.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at
ljm31@columbia.edu.

— Laura Muha

Sending and Receiving Faxes: Students may send and receive faxes from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, in Printing Services, located in 106 Journalism. The charges are as follows:

SENDING
Local: $1.50 for first page; $1 for each additional page
Long Distance: $2 for first page; $1 for each additional page
International: $7 for first page; $2 for each additional page

RECEIVING at 212-222-0193
$1 for first page; $.75 per page for pages 2-5; $.50 per page for pages 6-10; $.25 for each additional page

Q: How do I switch concentrations in the Spring semester? (M.S. only)

A: Your M.S. degree from the J-school will only say “Master of Science.” The concentration is an internal designation you can choose to highlight in resumes and elsewhere. Your concentration is actually is determined by workshop assignment, so in some cases, it is possible to switch concentrations midstream. Here’s a quick rundown of the procedure for switching. Keep in mind we do not guarantee switches - there are enrollment caps in all the classes. We plan our hiring and courses well in advance of the semester, based mainly on what students indicated they wanted to concentrate in when they were were accepted to the school. More info to come at various briefing sessions in the weeks ahead.

SWITCHING INTO NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE: When you fill out your Spring ballot, rank the newspaper or magazine workshops as your top choices. Please note that all magazine concentration students are required to take the Delacorte Lecture class (a series of lectures with 0.5 credit) and will be enrolled automatically in it.

SWITCHING INTO DIGITAL MEDIA: Priority for the Digital Media workshops are given to the original Digital Media concentration students. If spaces allows, those who have the required digital media skill set will be considered. Please see Prof. Tu, if you are interested in being considered. You must ballot for workshops in your original concentration. If space allows non-concentration students may try (with Prof. Tu’s approval) for spots in these classes via Add/Drop.

SWITCHING INTO TV BROADCAST: Generally one cannot make this switch as the broadcast workshops are dependent on your having acquired the requisite skills in either Broadcast RWI or the PT Intro to Television News Reporting & Writing class. In rare instances special permission is granted to students with comparable real-world experience. Permission for non-Broadcast students to attempt to take TV workshops via Add/Drop must be granted by the professor of the course of interest. The professor can e-mail his/her consent to Dean Huff.

SWITCHING INTO RADIO BROADCAST: Although broadcast students are given preference, all students are eligible to rank this class as a workshop option.

CONCENTRATION NEUTRAL: There are a number of workshops open to students from all concentrations. They will be labeled as such in the curriculum letter and on the ballot.

Please consider joining Professor Jonathan Weiner, the Pulitzer Prize
winning science journalist, for a lively series of brown-bag lunches to
discuss non-fiction literature. These discussions are open to all students,
whether or not you have a strong interest in reporting on science or the
environment. M.S. students are especially welcome - here’s a chance to read,
think, talk - and not have to write anything about it!

The reading group will meet November 10 in room 709 and December 1 in room
204, both meetings scheduled 12:30-2:00. We anticipate continuing the
reading group next term.

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