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

For several years now, we have used the “Notes From…” format to give people who couldn’t attend some of our events a sense of what they missed. These short reports, written by student volunteers, have been popular with students, faculty and alumni.

Just bookmark http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/30/reports-all-the-notes-from-reports/ to have this constantly updated list handy.

Please note that you can post your comments directly to the DOS Blog (free, one-time registration required).

[Be sure to check out audio recordings section of the main J-school site as well.]

If you would like to share your notes, write to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

Here’s the list, with the latest ones on top…

1. Sept. 23, 2007:Notes From…Early Protest of Talk by Iranian President
   By Mohamamad Al-Kassim & Anup Kaphle, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2007/09/23/477/
2. Aug. 21, 2007: Notes From… Talk by Hassan Fattah of the New York Times
   By Mohammad Al-Kassim, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2007/08/31/notes-from-talk-by-hassan-fattah-nyt-middle-east-correspondent/
3. Aug. 15, 2007: Notes From… Talk by Brian Ross, ABC News chief investigative correspondent
   By Renee Feltz, Gregory Catherine Simmons, Jaclyn Trop, J2008
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2007/08/31/notes-from-talk-by-brian-ross-abc-news-investigative-correspondent/
4. May 16, 2007: Notes From… Ben Bradlee’s Graduation Speech
   By Phil Wahba, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2007/05/16/notes-from-ben-bradlees-graduation-speech-2/
   
   You can listen to Bradlee’s speech here, along with remarks by Dana Priest of The Washington Post, another graduation speaker
5. Oct. 18, 2006: Notes From… Lunch with Richard Parsons of Time Inc
   By Elisha Sulai, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/10/28/report-notes-from-lunch-with-richard-parsons-of-time-inc/
6. Oct. 18, 2006: Notes From… Breakfast With The Deans
   By Elizabeth McGarr, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/10/28/report-notes-from-breakfast-with-the-deans/

7. Sept. 20, 2006: Notes From…Talk by Steve Newhouse of advance.net
   By Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/30/report-notes-from-talk-by-steve-newhouse/
8. Sept. 19, 2006: Notes From… CFR Talk by Sen. John Danforth
   By John Whitaker, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/30/report-notes-from-cfr-event-with-sen-danforth/
   
9. Sept. 14, 2006: Notes From… Bruce Porter’s Lecture on choosing a Master’s Project Topic
   By Sheena Tahilramani, J2007
   http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/14/report-notes-from-bruce-porters-lecture/
10. Sept. 6, 2006: Notes From… Talk by Kerry Burke of NY Daily News & Tabloid Wars
    By Rubina Madan & Aaron Cahall, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/07/report-notes-from-kerry-burke-talk/
11. Sept. 1, 2006: Notes From… Paula Span’s lecture on feature writing
    By Jennifer Redfearn, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/14/report-notes-from-paula-spans-lecture/
12. Aug. 24, 2006: Notes From… Meeting with Syrian Journalists
    by Deena Guzder, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/26/report-notes-from-syria-journalists/
13. Aug. 23, 2006: Notes From… Prof. Sig Gissler lecture on covering a beat (also audio)
    by Sheena Tahilramani and Irene Liu, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/25/report-notes-from-sig-gissler/
    
14. Aug. 22, 2006: Notes From… Martin Smith lecture - producer, Frontline (also audio)
    by Doree Shafrir, J2006 - written for CJRDaily.org
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/23/report-notes-from-martin-smith-talk/
    
15. Aug. 21, 2006: Notes From… Deborah Amos lecture - foreign correspondent, NPR (also audio)
    by Allison Bourne-Vanneck, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/23/report-notes-from-deborah-amos/
    
16. Aug. 18, 2006: Notes From… Meeting with Morocco and Indonesia journalists
    by Elizabeth Berry, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/22/report-notes-from-moroccoindonesia-journalists

17. Aug. 21, 2006: Notes From… DOS Tech Jam Session + Andrew Lih on China
    by Adam Edelman, J2007http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/22/report-notes-from-tech-jam-session/
    
18. Aug. 14, 2006: Notes From… Lunch with Stacey Samuel, 2006, grad on job hunting, SPJ, etc
    by Kate Grace Bacheller, J2007
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/08/17/report-notes-from-lunch-with-stacey-samuel-j2006/
19. May 17, 2006: Transcript From… Dean Nicholas Lemann’s Graduation Speech
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/05/30/transcript-dean-lemanns-2006-graduation-speech/
20. May 16, 2006: Notes From… Graduation speakers Jim Amoss and Farnaz Fassihi
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/05/18/remarks/

21. May 3, 2006: Notes From… Lunch with Seth Lipsky, publisher of New York Sun
    by Ariel Brewster, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/05/12/report-notes-from-publishers-roundtable-with-seth-lipsky-of-the-new-york-sun/

22. April 17, 2006: Notes From… Magazine writing lunch with Nicholas Lemann
    by Rebecca Castillo, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/04/18/report-notes-from-magazine-writing-lunch-event-with-dean-lemann/

23. Nov. 3, 2005: Notes From… Event with Chaitanya Kalbag, head of Reuters Asia
    by Dakin Campbell, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/11/08/offer-meet-the-head-of-reuters-asia-operations/

24. Oct. 20, 2005: Notes From… Lunch with Walter Cronkite
    by Shira Ovide, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/10/25/event-report-walter-cronkite-event/

25. Oct. 4, 2005: Notes From… Lunch with Reginald Chua, J’88, editor of Asian Wall Street Journal and deputy managing editor, The Wall Street Journal
    by Megan Chan, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/10/14/report-notes-from-spj-event-with-reginald-chua-j88/
    
26. Sept. 26, 2005: Notes From… Talk by Chris Allbritton, J’97, foreign correspondent, Time
    by Audrey Dutton, J2006
    http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/09/27/report-notes-from-chris-allbritton-talk-spj/

27. Sept. 20, 2005: Notes From… Talk by Pratap Chatterjee, editor of CorpWatch, a corporate watchdog group
    by Kathleen McGrory, J2006 http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/09/23/report-notes-from-pratap-chatterjee-spj-speaker/
    

[ Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. ]

Below, notes from a talk in the J-school World Room by Steve Newhouse, chairman of advance.net. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, J2007. Feel free to drop him note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Talk by Steve Newhouse
By Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
E-mail: ars2157[at]columbia.edu

WORLD ROOM, J-SCHOOL, SEPT. 20, 2006: Steve Newhouse, chairman of advance.net, came to talk about the business side of journalism during a Publisher’s Roundtable discussion with students at the Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday.

Newshouse manages all the internet sites for Conde Nast and Advance Newspapers, including the Portland Oregonian and other major dailies. The company has long been a pioneer on the web. Newhouse said that advance.net runs 10 websites associated with newspaper groups. He is in charge of magazine companion websites and four destination sites.

Newhouse emphasized that websites are different from print forms of journalism since they are interactive and must serve the purpose of a two-way conversation with readers. He said it is hard to compare web audiences with those of print media. epicurious.com attracts 2.5 million unique users a month while Gourmet magazine has a circulation of 800,000. The two biggest sites in his stable are epicurious.com and style.com.

Newhouse said that the web is largely an advertising-driven medium. He has not concentrated on paid subscriptions or access on the web since they didn’t work. Local websites are growing at 40 percent revenue in a year. He said that magazine companion sites are meant to sell subscriptions, showcase the magazine, and take advantage of the new medium by offering real time coverage using video and photography.

When asked to offer a day in the life of Steve Newhouse, he said it was difficult to answer that but instead said that he is always thinking of how to accelerate growth. He said they already have 30-50 audience audience growth per year but he wants to cement their prescence and find out how to get really big, like Yahoo and Google.

Newhouse raised an interesting question: How do we as traditional media company bring in the wave of citizen activity? He offered the example of a football writer for the Syracuse paper who started a weblog that became widely successful. It was opinionated, and of value to the audience. Newhouse advised the students, “Those of you not doing weblogs should start trying. It will enhance your [job] applications.”

Newhouse said that there are three ways that his websites can interact with blogs. They are about to unleash a weblog tool that will allow eventually anyone (although it will be targeted at first) to have a blog on their site. This is a way of establishing a relationship with weblogs that are not on his site. When a student asked about regulating blogs, Newhouse said that the word “regulate” is an old media word. “I think you have to decide whether you want to be part of the new or the old,” he said.

Advance.net has a network of people that screen for certain things such as racism, obscenities, and harassers. But he did say that he wants to encourage conversation that would not appear normally in the letters to the editor page. Newhouse said that the web is not going to takeover great media entities that are great in their own right, such as Vanity Fair. It is very valid to look at how skills that work on the web will offer many entrepeneraul opportunties that do not require much funding.

He spoke about how successful Teen Vogue has been but said that in trying to make a website to acompany the magazine he found that readers are not interested in reading content on the site. They wanted a place to express their creativity . He said Flip.com will launch to offer fashion and beauty and allow teen girls to create their own content.

Other tips from Newhouse:

• Putting content from magazines on the web leads to lack of use. Unless it was specialized like a trade magazine, it would not create new value.
• In the case of citizen journalism, sometimes quantitiy trumps quality.
• Lots of money is not required to take advantage of what the web offers.
• Your portfolio will be enhanced by having blog-format work on , it will give you a leg up.
• A great website complimenting a great traditional media source should offer something different.
• In the newsroom of NJ.com, there are about 15 people and most of them are packaging content so that people can navigate it.
• We are very early in the game, and the most important thing is to have an audience.
• It doesn’t hurt to know HTML.
• The worst thing out there right now is the negativity climate regarding all of this.
• The more involved you get in the new media stuff, the more you will learn about issues that are facing us all.

  -30-

[ Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. ]

Below, notes from a special event at the Council on Foreign Relations that a few of our students got to attend through one of our “Offers.” Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker John Whitaker, J2007. Feel free to drop him note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… CFR event with Sen. John Danforth
By John Whitaker
E-mail: jcw2137[at]columbia.edu

NYC, SEPT. 19, 2006: Ordained priest and former Republican Senator John Danforth has a message for America: “The use of religion to divide us may be a great strategy, but it cannot stand the light of day.”

Danforth, 70, spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on September 19, 2006, to mark the release of his book, “Faith and Politics: How the ‘Moral Values’ Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together.”

Interviewed by Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, Danforth said the exploitation of religion for political ends has turned religion into a wedge, rather than a means of reconciliation.

The problem, in his view, is that politicians have stopped competing for the center; their efforts to energize the base have only divided the populace. He believes a renewed focus on the center, more open religious dialogue, and a commitment to keep church and state separate would help restore America’s health.

1. On religion:
“Religion is obviously a good part of the problem in the world… I think that it’s worth putting the question to people of all faiths: Do you believe that your religion calls for you to kill in the name of God? What is your view of the concept of just war?

“The purpose of religious dialogue should be to isolate extremist and violent views.”

2. On religion’s place in politics:

“At its best, religion provides a sense of humility and a sense of understanding and a sense that we are not the sole possessors of God’s truth, and therefore an ability to deal with each other… So I think religion can bring a lot to the world of politics. But when it becomes ‘My way is God’s way, and God’s way and my way or the highway’ – which is how it’s presented today – it becomes a bad thing.

“Madison recognized the divisive power of religion; we had seen this in Europe; the framers of our constitution had fought this battle in Virginia.

“There’s a lot to be said for understanding the difference between religion and politics. The church is not the state and shouldn’t become the state.

3. Today’s politicians appeal to the base, not the center

“There has been a trend in both political parties not to try to compete for the center. About a third of the electorate was up for grabs. But now they don’t talk about the center. They talk about energizing the base. The base of the Republican Party is now the Christian right. So it turns out, instead of being the ministry of reconciliation, it is now the wedge.”

Toward the end of his Senate career, during which he represented Missouri from 1976 to 1995, Danforth saw declining interest in bipartisanship: “It became a matter of positioning and taking hard edges in positions so you would have clarity in the next round of 30-second commercials… Republicans saw [their] base as being the Christian conservatives, and they saw the Christian conservatives as adding something to traditional Republicans. They would say that traditional Republicans are losers; that’s our history. They would say this has been great. But once the American people get wise to this, it’s not going to work very much longer.

“So what happened to the center? It fell silent. The time has come for the center to speak…

“I think that the answer to the present state of American politics is greater participation by a lot more people.”

Has George W. Bush’s attitude toward religion been divisive?

“I think that getting into that particular question would not further my efforts.

“What other question can I evade?” Danforth said, to the audience’s amusement.

Meacham rejoined: “The truth will set you free, father.”

4. On Religion and participation in the world:

“I think there’s a religious obligation to participate positively in the world. I think where religion gets into problems is when people think… ‘I am God’s true representative; I’ve got the ability to translate God’s will into my political agenda… So my political agenda is God’s, and yours isn’t.’

5. Recommendation for the United Nations

“There should be a direct dealing with religion, and not pretend that this really isn’t religious or there’s no religious component. I think it’s important to face up to the fact that a good part of the problem is a religious problem. It means trying to create understanding. Where are the counter voices within and without Islam?”

Ted Sorensen, the speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, rose to ask a question. He had been invited to speak at an international conference in Rome, he said, and had asked what he should speak about. “They said, ‘Tell us about the good America,’” Sorensen said. “They weren’t speaking on religious terms. But they were talking about a very different kind of America when the President of the United States said, ‘The world knows America will never start a war.’ When…church and state were separated, religion was flourishing…under our bipartisan foreign policy, which was based to a large extent on our moral authority. Now our foreign policy is based largely on our military power, not our moral power. And now we’re known around the world for torture, indefinite detention. What’s happened to this country?”

Without pausing Danforth responded: “We’re facing a threat that we’ve never faced before, and we don’t understand how to deal with it. And we haven’t really had the discussion internally to face up to it. I think the American people are fair and decent people, but I also think they’re scared. And they have every right to be scared.”

-30-

Thanks to I-Ching Ng, J2007, for the alert.

On Friday, September 29, 5 pm, the Met is holding a private screening
of the new Spike Lee documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem
in Four Acts.” There will also be a special appearance by Wynton
Marsalis, the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize, and a special viewing
of the show “New Orleans After the Flood: Photographs by Robert
Polidori.”

This is a free event just for college students. Spots are limited,
so RSVP to metcollegegroup@metmuseum.org. Each person must RSVP
separately.

Tip from David Gura, J2007 - dag2141[at]columbia

On Thursday, Leonard Lopate, on his eponymous show, on WNYC 93.9FM and AM820, will interview Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Since the Papers are the subject of our law class this week, I thought my peers might be interested.

For those who have a free lunch, the show airs live at 12:00PM, on
93.9FM and AM820. Night owls can catch the rerun at 3:00AM, on AM820.
You can listen live or, later, to the archived version at
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate

The J-school is co-presenting a major new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society: ““Suspicious Truths: Politics and the Press in American History.” It features exhibits from 19th Century newspapers and a short video produced by Columbia alumni Amy Rubin and Stefan Knerrich. The exhibition continues through Dec. 17 at the New-York Historical Society, 2 West 77th Street, Manhattan; (212) 873-3400; nyhistory.org.

Here’s an excerpt from the NYT review at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/arts/design/20yell.html

“Presenting the news objectively,” reads the introductory text, “was often only an occasional and tangential goal.” The show (and brief video commentary from Nicholas Lemann, the dean of Columbia’s journalism school) argues that complaints about newspapers have often been the same as they are now, and — just as often — both justified and unjustified.

From Dean Sreenath Sreenivasan
and Prof. June Cross, new SPJ faculty adviser

Dear Students:

It’s time once again for this year’s student government/SPJ elections - a chance for you to get involved with extracurricular activities and have a say in how your academic year turns out. Yes, there will be opportunities later for those of you who want to volunteer for various committees, but for now, we want you to step up and run for office and/or vote!

The online nomination forms (self-nominations only) are now online (they close
on Friday, Sept. 27). The online voting will take place Oct. 3-Oct. 5.

HERE’S THE TIMELINE:

Friday, Oct. 6: First board meeting, 6-7 pm please note the regular board
meeting schedule will be determined by the new board

Thursday, Oct. 5: New board announced, 6 pm

Thursday, Oct. 5: Online ballots closed, 4 pm

Tuesday, Oct. 3: Online ballots open, 4 pm

Tuesday, Oct. 3: Candidate Pitch night, 6:15-6:45 pm in the Lecture Hall
(before that night’s all-class lecture)
Candidates will each make a 60-second speech.
Candidates for president will have 120 seconds each.

Friday, Sept. 29: Nominations closed, 9 am (anyone unopposed will be appointed
to that slot)

Thursday, Sept. 21: Briefing session 6:30-7 pm in Student Lounge (there might
be other sessions; or ask to meet Dean Sreenivasan individually)

Tuesday, Sept. 19: Briefing session 2:00-3 pm with Fahd Hussain, president of the class of 2002 and TV anchor in Pakistan (location TBA)

Here are some links to more information:

* Role of each officer in SPJ:
http://spj.jrn.columbia.edu/officers.html

* SPJ Bylaws, so you can learn what SPJ is all about:
http://spj.jrn.columbia.edu/bylaws2003.pdf (PDF format)

* Online nomination forms to nominate yourself:
http://www.formsite.com/columbiaspj/2006elections/

* As nominations come in, you can read the candidate pitches:
http://snipurl.com/wlkw

* Multimedia presentation by Rebecca Castillo, J2006 Class President at graduation
http://www.rebeccacastillo.com/2006j-schoolstory.html

* See some pitches from previous candidates below.

Please read all the material online and save your questions till the briefing
session(s). If you can’t make the sessions, please see us next week.

- Dean Sreenivasan & Prof. Cross

SAMPLE PITCHES FROM LAST YEAR

* CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
I will do all I can to make sure this is a great year in our lives. This is our
chance to learn a great deal, to have a good time and to make friends for life.
I have the political background to address problems effectively and knowledge
and contacts in New York City to help us get great speakers and event venues.
VOTE FOR ME BECAUSE: - I can get us sponsors to give us a new couch and (clean)
microwave - I’ll let you informed about events in the city and get us discounts
in museums and nightclubs - I’ll make sure we get speakers that inspire us and
people that will actually give us tools and tips about getting a job after
graduation - I’m not afraid of working hard (I’ll only need 4 hours of sleep!)
- Because I am a foreign-born American citizen, I’ll make sure to represent
foreign and domestic students, bringing them together through our events and
creating a way to keep networking throughout the upcoming years.

* CANDIDATE FOR EVENTS DIRECTOR:
I’m running because I believe there really is more to education than ledes and
nut-graphs. Everyone here has something great to offer, and it’d be a shame to
see us spend 9 months doing the same old things (yes, West End, I.m talking to
you) . the year.s too short and this city.s too damn great. For NY - we need to
regularly circulate a list of cheap/free things worth checking out. And on
campus, in addition to holiday bashes and happy hours (maybe a few with our
profs?), how about karaoke and a no-talent show (humiliation unites), and a
pot-luck Thanksgiving for those of us who.ll be on campus. I can.t promise a
huge budget, but I can promise this: I’m a hard-working girl who’s great at
getting something($$$) for nothing($) and doesn.t like hearing .no.. Plus - in
addition to experience, my former job also gives me unparalelled access to
C-list celebs. And if that ain’t culture…

* CANDIDATE FOR SPEAKERS DIRECTOR:
Many colleagues I’ve met with little to no professional journalism experience
have told me over the years that the journalism world seems mysterious, and
gaining entry to it seems daunting. Precisely because this field is so
competitive out there, I believe those who have experience should help relative
neophytes break in. In that vein, I’ll strive to bring speakers who will dispel
beliefs about not making it in the media world by showing us how they’ve done
it. As a fact checker at Mother Jones, I met lots of writers from a variety of
backgrounds, including Peter Maass, Azadeh Moaveni, Liza Featherstone, Susan
Faludi, Jim Wallis. I’ll work to bring a mixture of informative, helpful,
diverse and entertaining speakers, helping you get your money’s worth this
year.

* CANDIDATE FOR WEBMASTER:
I have had a lot of web experience, and love learning new ways of improving
peoples’ web experiences. I will work with the other web masters in updating
the website in a timely manner.

Many journalists use what’s known as “tagging” to keep track of sites they find during their online travels. Sites such as Furl.net, Digg.com and Del.icio.us. See a useful tip on how to use del.icio.us below, sent in by Erica Berenstein, J2007, ericaeve[at]gmail (many of the others work the same way). Post your own comments below.

Del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us - is a website where you can post links to articles, blogs, and websites on your own personal page. I’ve found it very helpful as I do internet research on my beat, since it can be hard to keep all the web resources/sites/articles organized in my
notes. If I find an article that might be of use later, I post it to my del.icio.us page, tag it and add a note to remind myself what it is about. Later I can search my pages and articles by tags or the search option.

M.A. Master’s Thesis

You will work with your Journalism adviser to develop the topic for your thesis, and will also work with this adviser to select an outside adviser who is an expert in your subject area.

The thesis is an 8-10,000 word magazine article, or its equivalent in another medium, that demonstrates mastery of the subject covered combined with journalistic excellence.

Outlined below is the current schedule for the MA thesis. (We may add additional lectures or discussions for the entire MA class on the thesis in the course of the fall, at the discretion of the faculty.)

• September: September 29, 9-11 a.m., room 607B: discussion of the MA thesis led by Prof. James Stewart

• November: Outside advisers chosen
• Monday, Nov. 20: 1,000-word proposal due, with outline & source list

• December: Meeting of student and both advisers to review the proposal
• Friday, Dec. 22: fall grades due

• January: Monday, Jan. 29: first draft due to both advisers

• February: Meeting of student and both advisers to review the first draft

• March: At discretion of J School adviser, a second draft may be required

• April: Monday, April 23: final draft due to both advisers

• May: J School adviser and outside adviser consult on student evaluation
• Monday, May 7: final evaluation due.
• Friday, May 11: spring grades due
• Journalism Day: Winner of M.A. thesis prize announced

FAQ: What are the M.S. Master’s Project deadlines? (FT M.S. & PT students on this schedule)

A: Here are the dates the professors have been given for the full-time M.S. students (and any PT students working on the MP over the Fall and Spring.

M.S. Master’s Project Deadlines, 2006-07

Please note: Students who would like to be considered for broadcast and new media projects have several other internal deadlines - their advisers will keep them abreast of those dates.

Q: How do I find a student or professor’s e-mail address?
A: To find any student, professor of staff member’s e-mail and campus phone, go to http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl

[ Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. ]

Below, notes from a lecture by Prof. Bruce Porter on how to choose a Master’s Project topic. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Sheena Tahilramani, J2007. Feel free to drop her note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Bruce Porter’s lecture: “How to Choose a Master’s Project”
By Sheena Tahilramani
E-mail: sat2127[at]columbia.edu

Prof. Bruce Porter, our resident Master’s Project expert (partly because he did one himself when he was a student at Columbia in the early 1960s, along with his classmater, Patrick J. Buchanan), gives annual talks on various aspects of the Master’s Project. On Wed., Sept.13, he spoke about choosing a topic. He will talk about writing one later in the semester. He gave students, in adavance, copies of his New York Times Magazine cover story on big guns, . At the end of this report, you will see a note listing some good PRINT Master’s Projects from the past that he mentioned in his lecture.

What is the Master’s Project?
It’s a rare event that you’ll be given so much time to explore a topic. The Master’s Projects are also a lasting moment of the school. You should start thinking of them as long magazine stories. Over the years, the contents of the projects have changed—from cosmic stories such as “Let’s Look at Contact Lenses” and “Can We Control the Weather?” to what was known as a ‘’live in experience'’ (i.e., immersion). You ought to learn something from your reporting, to really illuminate something for yourself. It shouldn’t be just to further a political idea or view, etc. Ideally you might want to strive for some kind of combination of the two, take a macro issue and focus on a micro part of it. It’s a story that is meant to convey something that you want to say in a powerful way. It’s something that becomes humanized—’’there are no issues, there are only people.'’

Topic vs. Story
Another thing that you should think about or see the difference in is a master’s topic and a master’s story. For example, “AIDS: Are we Doing Enough?” is a topic. “Infected and In Love” is a story. The story sets the topic in motion.

Access
Access is like gold (see 2005 sous chef story - below). You have to determine early on what sort of access you have. We already know that public officials are impossible to talk to. So, you need to develop strategies on how you’re going to do this without relying on public officials. The solution with police, education and corrections is oftentimes to skirt them (i.e., talk to the inmates). If you want to visit a prison, sign in as a friend not a journalist. You won’t be able to take in a notepad but you can arrange to have the inmate call you and then you can take notes. It is possible to petition the Department of Corrections for entrance as a journalist, but there is a lot of red tape (not recommended). The same holds true for the Department of Education. Nobody can stop you from talking with the students, parents, PTA. You may have to use the information you glean from these sources to leverage an interview with the principal. Don’t limit yourself to advocates. There are a lot of advocates and many of them are compelling and have good stories, but you have to get something from the other side. Otherwise, it’s a one-way street and not a very good story.

How to Approach a Topic
In approaching the topic, avoid becoming hysterical. Take your time choosing a topic. Avoid something that’s a community issue in your RWI class that your professor thinks might be interesting. You’ve got to be interested in this, enthusiastic about your project. A good plan when you first arrive at an idea is to ask yourself, “Is this doable?” It looks like you have a year, but you don’t. Don’t do a big topic, do some small piece of that topic. If you’re doing the issue of homeless people looking for shelters, pick one homeless person! You can’t do them all. Next piece of advice is to work steadily and slowly. Every week, do what a journalist calls ‘’gathering string.'’ You should probably tape record this project because as time passes, your scribbled notes may lose clarity. Get a decent tape recorder and do an interview a week. Transcribe it then, don’t wait! The length of this is around 5,000 words or 20 pages. The process of developing an idea is going to occupy you for about a month. You’ll run into quite a few ideas that don’t seem doable. Look at your story and see if you can come in through a side door, something different.

o o o o o

PROF. PORTER’S LIST OF THE FACULTY’S FAVORITE PRINT STORIES
Prof. Porter asked faculty members for their favorite recent projects - the list is below, with the various professors’ comments (and some input on locations by Deborah Wassertzug, Journalism Librarian).

PLEASE NOTE: All Master’s projects from 2002 to present are in the Journalism Library.
From years earlier than 2002 - just go over to Lehman Library, located in the lower
level of the School of International Affairs building (118th St & Amsterdam). Master’s projects from 1957-2001 are housed on the lower level of Lehman Library.

An index by author of Master’s projects & theses can be found online at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/jour/masters/index.html

You can’t check out any of the bound volumes, so please be prepared to
either sit and read the project or thesis, or put money on your ID to make
photocopies of it in the library.

Please be aware that the list compiled below by faculty includes both
Master’s projects by MS students, as well as MA theses. The MA theses
from 2006 (the program’s first year) are in the Journalism Library as
well, with the volumes bound in red rather than green.

1. My favorite thesis last year was written by Moises Velasquez-Manoff, in
the MA program. Moises has a rare congenital condition called alopecia,
which has made him bald since he was a kid. That’s a traumatic thing to
happen to you when you’re twelve. Now that he’s a science writer, Moises
decided to look into the science of the condition. His research led him
into a big and fascinating area of research that goes way beyond baldness
and that affects many more of us than you’d expect.
**MA THESIS - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**

2. Jill Bauerle, “Surviving the War in Berlin,” 2006.
**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**

3. I’ve got a bunch of faves from among my advisees. Off the top of my
head, Katie Baker ‘05 on sous-chefs (**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM
LIBRARY**); Mark Fass ‘04 on the legal and personal aftermath of a
famous tabloid crime case from the ’60s (**MS MASTER’S PROJECT -
JOURNALISM LIBRARY**); Kelly Niknejad ‘05 on Iranian exiles in the US
(**MA THESIS - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**); also, Greg Gilderman on why cops in Philadelphia aren’t making more progress at reducing the murder rate (it has just been finished and won’t be in the library till summer 2007; Greg is a current PT student, so you can ask him about it directly).

4. Blacks for Bush, by Arin Gencer 2006 : A sophisticated piece of
explanatory journalism about what’s behind the uptick in black Republicans
for Bush in the last election.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**)

5. Danielle Shapiro wrote her 2006 Master’s project on American Muslims
in the Military. It won one of our prizes.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**)

6. Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood-2005
Master’s by Louise Story that ran in the New York Times.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**)

7. Alice Kenny (’03) had a terrific story on autism that the NYT ran as a
cover story in the Westchester section.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**)

8. Alan Rappeport (’02) had fine piece on breakaway Hasidic teenagers,
using one kid’s story to illustrate a larger phenom.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - JOURNALISM LIBRARY**)

9. Kevin Hoffman (’01) had powerful piece on committed couples living with
AIDS when only one partner was infected (both gay and hetero)
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - LEHMAN LIBRARY**)

10. Olivia Barker (’98) had a wonderful piece on tension among Russians in
Brighton Beach.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - LEHMAN LIBRARY**)

11. Chris Nuttall-Smith (’99), profile of released sex offender in New
Jersey, picked up and run as cover story in New York Magazine.
(**MS MASTER’S PROJECT - LEHMAN LIBRARY**)

-30-

[ Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. ]

Below, notes from an all-class lecture by Prof. Paula Span about the art of feature writing. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Jennifer Redfearn, J2007. Feel free to drop her note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Paula Span’s lecture: “The Long & Short of Feature Writing”
By Jennifer Redfearn
E-mail: jtr2113[at]columbia.edu

Paula Span is one of the best-known teachers of feature writing in the country and one of the most popular professors at the Columbia J-school, where she teaches Techniques of feature Writing, among other courses. A former NY correspondent for the Style section of the The Washington Post and staff writer for The Washington Post Magazine, she is now a contributing writer to the magazine. [See her bio.] On Friday, Sept. 1, she gave an all-class lecture for new M.S. and M.A. journalism students - and several professors - about the art of feature writing.

Listen to audio recording here:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/class_lectures.asp

General Thoughts on Feature Writing
1. Feature writing at its best is transporting. It takes you out of your own existence. Away from the breakfast table. Away from the car. Away from the subway. It takes you some place you can’t go yourself.
2. Feature writing is becoming evermore respected and important.
3. It wasn’t until 1979 that a Pulitzer was given for feature writing.
4. It is the future of print and an essential part of the skills that you need as a reporter.
5. We’ve become a more visual culture. We’ve been trained to want to see things not just hear about them through a mediator.

Function of Feature Writing
1. We still convey information, but it’s a different style of story telling.
2. It fills the gap between headlines and what else people want to know.
3. The writer takes the audience to the story.
4. It can be varying lengths and media.
5. Feature writing is less concerned with what happened but why it happened- what is smelled like, what it looked like, who it happened to, why it matters that it happened.
6. Sometimes it’s even about what you think about what happened. Shhh.

Trends of Feature Writing
1. Study results of 20 newspapers by Professor Michele Weldon of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University: In 2001 the percentage of hard news on the front page was 65 % of the entire content, and in 2004 the percentage of hard news stories on the cover dropped to 50%. In 2001, 35% of stories on the cover were features stories and in 2004 features made up 50% of the stories on the cover.
2. This trend is filtering out into the entire MSM. Not just a NYT phenomenon.
3. In most cases, news magazines survive because of analyzing and contextualizing stories.
4. People (readers/audience) want to be behind the scenes and experience things directly.
5. There will always be a need for straight news stories and investigative reporting but we should prepare for more feature stories.

What Counts as a Feature
1. Length doesn’t necessarily define a feature story.
2. They have scenes that tell you what is happening in a place on a particular day.
3. Profiles of people or spotlights of organizations and communities.
4. “Not stories that break but stories that creep,” said legendary editor Eugene Roberts, who was specifically talking about trend stories.
5. Issue, disputes, controversies can be presented in a feature style.
6. Essays are features if they are reported.
7. Memoirs are features if they are reported and factual.

What Distinguishes a Feature
1. Observational, descriptive, they take you there, cinematic, reporting with your senses.
2. Good feature writing borrows fictional techniques.
3. They have scenes like a play or novel.
4. They usually have characters with dialogue. The people in the story are not just talking to you but talking to each other in a way they would do if the reporter was not there.
5. They have action—not just talking heads like Ken Burns’ documentaries.
6. They incorporate narrative.
7. They are vivid and transporting.
8. They have narrative elements that move the story forward.
9. The intent remains journalistic even if the style is different (comic, stylistic)
10. The intent is still to convey information, maybe a different kind of information, but the journalistic values apply- balance, fairness, and accuracy.

Opportunities for Feature Writing at J-School
1. Feature Writing
2. Magazine Writing
3. Narrative Writing
4. Art of the Profile
5. Literary Journalism
6. Personal and Professional Style
7. Book Seminar
8. Science Narratives
9. TV & Radio documentary
10. Photo Curriculum
[Dean Sreenivasan adds: New Media Workshop;
Prof. Solway adds: Cultural Affairs Reporting & Writing]

Downside to Feature Revolution
1. If 50% of stories on front page are bad features then there is no gain for the feature revolution. In some ways, features have to justify themselves more than a straight news story.
2. There is the risk of embroidery. There is a temptation to insert details where they don’t exist. Don’t do it.
3. There is the risk of cliché. We all to work at ways to keep our writing fresh, simple and engaging.
4. Feature writing infiltrated by blogosphere voice.

-30-

Dear students and faculty:

If you are interested in receiving news about UN programmes related
to tolerance, genocide and Holocaust, please send your name and
e-mail address to UNchronicle[at]un.org with a copy to holocaustremembrance[at]un.org. Please tell them about your J-school connection.

From one of our recent grads…

From: Ken Kostel

Sree:

Feel free to circulate if you haven’t already. Last year, a j-school student applied for and received one of these grants. It helped her travel to Kenya and report her master’s project
(which I believe won an award as one of the best projects at the end of the year).

Hope all’s well,
Ken Kostel
Senior Science Writer
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
—–Original Message—–
From: Columbia U. School of Int’l & Public Affairs
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 11:41 AM
Subject: Earth Institute Student Travel Grant Application

Dear Ken,

In response to requests to support student projects, a travel grant program was initiated last year by the Earth Institute. For the 2006-2007 Academic Year, funding has been allocated by the Earth Institute to support travel by students matriculated in Columbia University degree programs engaged in research projects dealing with issues of sustainable development and/or environmental protection. This travel is for projects directly related to degree studies at Columbia University.

The maximum travel grant award is $750 per person. Students awarded a grant must use this to cover the cost of their travel for research they are conducting to meet specific degree requirements. The travel grant program funds individuals rather than projects. In so doing, each member of a research team may apply individually for funding and there is no
limit on the number of people who may apply from any one project group. The final deadline for submitting an application is Friday, September 29, 2006.

Requirements:
In order to be considered for funding, students must follow the
application instructions, adhere to deadlines and be full time students
at Columbia University in good academic standing. Projects must be
related to sustainable development and environmental issues and must
have a faculty academic advisor who is an instructor of record for the
project. The project must be part of a course that awards academic
credit or is a degree requirement. For example, travel can be for
projects that are needed to complete studios, workshops, theses, senior
seminar projects, independent studies and other degree requirements.

Please find below an outline of application procedures and criterion
that will be reviewed when considering an application for a travel
award.

Application Instructions:
Students must complete the application form and submit a cover letter,
resume and project description. Only students who are in good academic
standing and have a faculty member willing to endorse their research and
application will be considered. Please note that applications will be
reviewed based upon the relationship of the travel to specific pedagogic
objectives of the research.

Please ensure you submit all forms together in a single envelope or
email. Hard copy applications should be submitted to the Office of
Education Programs located in room 1408 of the International Affairs
Building (420 West 118th Street, New York, NY 10027). Applications
submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Electronic
applications should be emailed to students@ei.columbia.edu

Submission Checklist:

1.Complete Application form

a.Review the travel information and country specific travel
warnings
b.Review the health and insurance information

2.Signature of Academic Advisor

3.Resume

4.Project Description

Pre-departure meetings:
Successful applicants will need to attend pre-departure meetings that
will be held by the Earth Institute to ensure that students are prepared
for their travel according to the University’s guidelines. Students must
ensure they have read the travel advisory and have followed the travel
instructions as stated in the award letter. Awardees will also be
required to ensure that they have ample health insurance and travel
insurance that covers MEDIVAC in the event that they need it.

Application for Earth Institute Travel Grant

Name:

Telephone #:____________________________E-mail Address:_______________
Degree Program/Year:

Academic Advisor: Name

Signature of
Advisor_________________________________________________________

Project Title:

Project Members (please list all members of your group):

Project Description (Please attach a one page project description:

Proposed Travel Itinerary

Purpose of Travel:

Travel Budget:

We are pleased to announce the launch of the first online edition of the student, Faculty and Staff directory. For the first time, there’s a web version of the venerable “facebook” that has been printed annually for decades (not to be confused with the student-run Facebook.com networking site).

A personal project of Dean Robert MacDonald, this is a useful new resource for all of us. It’s not meant to replace the print copy, but to enhance and update it.

CURRENT FEATURES:

* Password-protected full access from any web browser in the world.

* Each student entry has a more detailed profile, including room for Journalism Focus; Favorite Book; Languages Spoken Fluently

* Most student photos in full color.

* Two modes: Table mode and Book mode. Table mode allows you to see a simple list of names that you can click on to get to the profiles. Book mode allows you to see the photos next to each name, sort of laid out like the print version. On any page, you can switch back and forth.

* You can browse, by alphabetical order, just the student listings or the just the Faculty/Staff listings.

* There’s a keyword search that is very useful. It searches last names or first names (very useful if you remember, as it often happens only a person’s first name) and, in an exciting development for the Career Services office, by languages spoken.

* Some common names: Davids (nine), Elizabeths (seven)…

* Some common languages: Spanish (48), French (47), Chinese/Mandarin/Cantonese (13), German (13), Hindi (12), Arabic (5)…

* Can’t search by favorite books yet

* I don’t know if this is a bug or a feature, but you can search parts of names as well.
eg, If you type in just “ree” you get the last names Freedlander, Freedman, Sreenivasan and the first names Maureen and Nisreen. Not sure how useful this is, but might come in handy if you only know part of a name.

A WISH LIST OF FUTURE FEATURES (some of these may not happen till 2007):

* Color photos of faculty and staff.

* Fuller profiles of faculty and staff.

* Creation of profiles for Adjuncts.

* Add favorite music and other categories.

* Ability to go directly from one profile to the next, without hitting the back button

* Ability to search by favorite books, journalism focus, etc.

* Ability to create customized lists of friends, classes, etc.

HOW TO UPDATE YOUR STUDENT LISTING, ADD OR CHANGE PHOTOS, ETC:

If you did not send us any information or a photograph, please do so immediately in the following manner.

* Send a JPG file (of a reasonable size) to Leslie Akst, laa82[at]columbia (subject line = “Facebook photo)

* Send your text by filling in the online form here:
http://fs7.formsite.com/col-jour/form727799091/

Please note that we are unable to make wholesale changes to existing profiles or endlessly tweak them. If you have a single, major change or deletion (eg, your languages are not listed), please send an e-mail to Leslie Akst, laa82[at]columbia (subject line=”Facebook update”). Please note we may not be able to accommodate all tweaks due to space restrictions.

DEADLINE: Wed., Sept. 20, 2006, at 6 p.m. - after that no changes will be accepted till next semester. A revised version will be published by early October.

A big thank you again to Dean MacDonald.

TO SEE THE ONLINE VERSION:

[LINK SENT VIA E-MAIL]

Feedback, fun facts you find, etc., welcome.

- Dean Sreenivasan

Below are two essays written just before Graduation 2006. The Class of 2006 SPJ fundraised to give a $500 cash award at the end of year to two students who demonstrated their personal growth during the year. To be eligible, students had to: 1) be a paid SPJ student member; 2) submit an essay 300-500 words answering the question: “If I could tell myself in August what I know now, it would be….” All entries were judged by a panel of alumni organized by the alumni office during the first week of May. The awards were announced and given during Journalism Day. The winners were Elisabeth (Lisa) K. McDivitt and

- - -

“If I could tell myself in August what I know now, it would be….”
By Elisabeth (Lisa) K. McDivitt, MS 2006

If I could tell myself in August what I know now, it would be nothing. I would meet myself on the steps next to the statue of Thomas Jefferson, and my August-self would be looking at the school, feeling small and unsure. I would have an urge to say something at first: “Don’t worry, you’ll pass!” But then, just as I would be about to tell myself the outcome, I would back away and let my August-self, filled with anxiety and irrationality, proceed up the steps with the entire discovery still ahead of me. Because if I said anything to me then about what I know now, I would be taking it all away.

I would be taking away the moments where, after all of my senses had been deadened, I got to surge to life again.

I could tell myself that RWI would remind me of my 10th grade AP biology midterm, when I didn’t know any of the answers (not even the extra credit question asking for lyrics to a Jimi Hendrix song), and I would feel simultaneously unlearned and uncool. But that would deprive me of the surprise when, as second semester was starting, I had that sensation where you’ve been standing in a doorway, pressing your elbows against the sides, only to walk out of it and have your arms float up on their own. I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun of learning to love to write again.

I would want to tell my August-self to pay more attention to the city, to look up every once in a while. But that would take away the moment when I actually did look up, and I finally saw the way the tops of the buildings make avenues in the sky.

Or, I could prepare myself for the time in November when I was coming home from Brooklyn on the F train, glaring at the map of New York, while the florescent lights reflected off the plastic and glared right back at me. I was filled with anger at this city that I couldn’t call home, with its cut-up land, its bridges and subways. I didn’t belong to any of it.

But that would spoil the day, months later, when I would be in that same cramped seat on the F train, headed off to dinner with friends. My elbow would knock the book of the woman sitting next to me, and I would apologize. She would look up and smile this warm, forgiving smile, and I would smile back, because we were neighbors. New York neighbors. And I suddenly realized I was home.

So, as I would be walking down the steps of the journalism building, passing my August-self heading up them, I would not say a word. I couldn’t ruin the surprise that, even though I thought I was too old for it, I was about to grow up.

o o o o o

“If I could tell myself in August what I know now, it would be…”
By Carolyn Slutsky, MS 2006

Dear Carolyn,

Relax. Take a deep breath.

Now get on the subway and hit the streets. See the old lady sitting in the park? She’s nice, and she’ll be happy to talk to you about the oil spill in her neighborhood. That guy behind the counter in the pharmacy? That police officer? Friendly, open people. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself, to ask them questions. When you’re pacing the narrow hallway of your apartment, cringing about confronting the lying principal, just pick up the phone and make the call. Don’t be intimidated: once you introduce yourself, 90 percent of people will just start talking, leaving you time to collect your thoughts and think of follow-up questions. If you’re talking to an old person, or a PR flack, or anyone with a little time on their hands, they’ll be more than happy to talk to you (and talk, and talk…).

You know more than you think you know. Remember all the books you’ve read, all the late-night conversations you’ve had, the times when you’ve navigated foreign countries in which you didn’t speak the language. Surely you can get a reluctant doctor to speak to you about his patients, or a Latina administrative assistant to tell you why she gave $50 from her meager paycheck to a political candidate.

Go with what you have. When a meeting falls through, when a source fails to call you back, don’t panic: Everything will be ok. You’ll reschedule, you’ll find a back-up source, you’ll be industrious and spin the article another way. Despite the fact that you may be freezing on a bridge straddling the border of Brooklyn and Queens, or sneaking around a library interviewing Muslim women in hushed voices, when the deadline approaches, you will have a story. It may not be the story you set out to get, but that’s fine. That’s journalism.

When you have a choice (and sometimes you won’t), write stories that enflame you, that make you feel enraged or enlightened. If people around you are interviewing corrupt politicians or investigating undocumented workers for an immigration story and all you want to write about is pierogis in a Polish restaurant in Greenpoint, go for it – your story will end up in the New York Times, and your cheeks will blaze with pride.

Most of all, enjoy this year. It will fly by, and you will make friends and have experiences like no others you have ever had before.

Wear comfortable shoes.

And take it easy; but take it.

-30-

FLASHBACK: Student work starting a few hours after the towers fell on 9/11/2001…
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/terror/

Dear Students:

Five years ago, on a bright Tuesday morning, members of Columbia J-school’s
Class of 2002 hit the streets for the second week of RWI, their reporting
and writing course. It was Primary Day, which meant our students were spread
out across the city, including parts of downtown and what would eventually
become known as Ground Zero.

As the catastrophic events of that day unfolded, our students became part of
the reporting corps that covered the attacks and their aftermath. In
addition to writing stories for their classes, many of them became New York
correspondents for their hometown media outlets across the country and
around the world.

More than 130 of these print stories, including 43 from that Tuesday, were
posted on a hastily-created site, “Terror & Response.”

Prof. Sig Gissler reminded me that it might be a site worth bringing back to
the surface. Here it is:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/terror/

From the introduction:

“For students at the Graduate School of Journalism, the attacks on the World
Trade Center represent a watershed event in their education and careers.
They are covering the main story and its myriad after-effects, emphasizing
the views and voices from their neighborhood beats throughout the city.”

Pictures taken by our photography students, some touching our school’s
cameras for the first time that week, have been posted recently by Prof.
Sara Barrett on the bulletin boards on the third floor. Please stop by to
take a look.

We will see if we can unearth the radio coverage by the broadcast majors.

If you have comments about any of this, please feel free to post them in the
comments section at the bottom of this DOS Blog posting:
http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2006/09/08/student-work-911-stories-from-20
01/

- Sree Sreenivasan

A very useful tip from Sitara Nieves, Columbia J-school student - sn2242[at]columbia.edu
If you have additions, comments, please send them to dos[at]jrn.columbia.edu or use the comment form below.

There are so many great blogs (DOS blog, The Tabloid, Gawker, etc) and news sites out there, but who can remember to regularly check all of them?

There’s a way to make this whole process easy: use RSS feeds, which show you which of your favorite sites have added new content, and automatically compile that new content into the viewing format of your choice.

There are a few simple ways to set up your RSS feed. Many of these options allow you to do more than simply compile news feeds — for example, some allow you to check stock prices, new emails, the weather, etc., or organize your various sites of interest into labeled folders.

* Web-based:
PubSub.com (free)
Bloglines.com (free)
MyYahoo.com (free)
Google.com/reader (free)
NewsGator.com (free)
LiveJournal.com (free)

* Browser:
Firefox, using Sage (free)

* For Macs:
Newsfire.com (costs money)
NetNewsWire.com (costs money)

* For Windows:
NewzCrawler.com (costs money)
Awasu.com (free or subscription)
FeedDemon (same as NewsGator, costs money)

Since I already use Google as my homepage, this was the easiest option for me. On the regular Google webpage, click on “Personalized Home” in the upper right-hand corner, then click on “Add Content” in the upper left-hand of the screen that follows. You’ll need to sign up for a Google account to save your changes. Then, magically, every time you open your web browser, all the recent posts from every blog or news site you choose will appear. I have feeds on my site ranging from the Gotham Gazette, to Sree’s blog, to BBC headlines.

How do you find these mysterious RSS feeds?
* Usually, there’s an orange button that says “RSS”, or “Syndicate”. Click on this button, copy the web address, and paste it into whatever RSS feeder you’re using.
* For the 2007 j-school blog, there doesn’t seem to be a button like this, but just copying the web address (http://the-tabloid.blogspot.com/) worked for me.

Where should I start?
Any website that you visit frequently is a good place to start. This Poynter Online article, by Jonathan Dube, J1997, also has some good ideas on RSS feeds for journalists.

Last question: What does RSS stand for?
Really Simple Syndication.

Below is an important message from Student Services.

Please read it carefully, as it contains news about relocated services for the Registrar and Student Financial Services.
*************************************

Dear Students:

In the division of Student Services, it is our goal to work continually to streamline and upgrade our services to the Columbia University community. In the Registrar and Student Financial Services (SFS), we have been working diligently to improve our service delivery to better reflect the academic reputation of our outstanding schools and departments.

This August, we opened a new Student Service Center in 205 Kent Hall. The Student Service Center is a single point of service for most Registrar and SFS transactions. By cross-training our staff and reconfiguring our workspaces, we hope to greatly improve the student experience. In the Student Service Center, students can request transcripts and academic certification; receive assistance with billing and student account issues; and more.

To make the new Student Service Center a reality, some of our other offices have been relocated, while others remain where they had been. Here are some key points of contact for your reference:

Cashiering 210 Kent (same location)
Diplomas 210 Kent
Federal Work-Study Payroll 210 Kent
Columbia Card ID Center 204 Kent (same location)
Student Financial Planning 208 Kent (same location);
(Architecture, Arts, 202 Kent by mid-September
Continuing Ed, General
Studies, Journalism)

All other Registrar and SFS functions are handled in the Student Service Center.

I also encourage you to use our enhanced websites, www.columbia.edu/cu/sfs, www.columbia.edu/cu/registrar, https://ssol.columbia.edu and http://askus.columbia.edu where you will find online capabilities for many of your needs and answers to many of your questions.

It is my hope that the new Student Service Center will help to reduce the amount of time you spend on the administrative responsibilities of being a student here at Columbia, so that you may focus on your academic work and make the most of your exceptional talents.

Sincerely,

Michelle H. Brown-Nevers, Ed.D.
Associate Vice President
Student Administrative Services and University Registrar

[ Another in our “Notes From…” series - short notes by volunteers summarizing various events around the school, to help those of us who didn’t/couldn’t attend. Watch for several other “Notes From…” throughout the year. If you have one, send it in! Or let us know in advance that you’d like to do one; or after the event, too. ]

Below, notes from a recent visit to an RWI class by Kerry Burke, J2002, a Daily News reporter and star of Bravo’s “Tabloid Wars” (see video link about his famous backpack below). Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Rubina Madan & Aaron Cahall, J2007. Feel free to drop ‘em a note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Talk by Kerry Burke, J2002
By Rubina Madan & Aaron Cahall

J-SCHOOL, SEPT. 6–Students in Sam Boyle’s RWI class had a great first speaker Wednesday: Kerry Burke, one of the stars of the Bravo series “Tabloid Wars.” Burke is a 2002 Columbia J-school grad who started his career as a co-founder of CitySearch , writing reviews of New York bars and concerts. After graduating from Columbia, he got a job at the New York Daily News as a “runner.” Every day, he is out on the streets trying to get the news however possible. He became somewhat of a celebrity this summer with the premiere of “Tabloid Wars,” a six-part series that followed the editors and reporters of the NY Daily News.

Burke’s session with Boyle’s class was particularly entertaining because our adjunct professor is Billy Gorta, a long-time friend of his who now works for his rival paper, the New York Post. Here are some tips and highlights from Burke’s visit:

How to approach people after a crime (or other breaking news):
* When you get to a scene, go into the heart of the scene immediately and work your way outward
* As you go in, make the crowd–look for people standing in a group, talking, crying or in shock. They’ve likely seen something or know someone who has.
* You need to talk to as many of the players as possible; ideally a victim, a family member, an eyewitness, a participant or perpretrator
* Get the names, ages, occupations and neighborhoods of everyone you interview.

Getting a great story:
* Get into the building; visit the incident or key apartment, but also knock on all the doors on the floor. Hit all the apartments in the area.
* Use a police source, but don’t rely on them exclusively. That’s lazy reporting. The cop details will probably be released to reporters at “The Shack” (the media offices at Police Plaza) before they’ll be available at the scene anyway. Also, they’re not necessarilythe definitive version of the truth. Eyewitnesses on the street may have seen more.
* Don’t trust people who are too eager to talk to you. They may not know anything and just want to get on TV/in print.
* Never leave the scene without a “pic of the vic” (photo of the victim) — it humanizes them and helps people relate to the story.

How to treat sources:
* Start by introducing yourself, apologize immediately (”I’m so sorry to bother you.”) You may very well be meeting them at the worst moment of their lives. But don’t forget, you still need the story.
* Tell them what you’ve heard and ask them for the real story (”I give a little, I get a little.”) Don’t outline the story for anyone, but give them some info and let them fill in the rest. (”I hear this guy was kind of a scumbag, but I think maybe he wasn’t…what do you know about him?”)
* Keep it conversational. Don’t badger them with questions or bark at them. (”So I heard a kid from the block got shot…” NOT “What’d you see?”)
* Be polite. Shake their hands and make eye contact.
* If you’re talking to someone whose loved one has died, ask them how they want their loved one to be remembered as a person.
* Always thank them at the end of an interview (”Remember, these people don’t owe you anything. And you will see them again.” Especially if it’s a good story, you may need to do a follow-up.)

People you should try talking to for more information:
* the “mayor of the streets” — the person who has lived there forever and knows everything about it
* detectives and the “white shirts” — Line officers in blue uniforms are not authorized to talk, and may not have the whole story anyway. Officers in white uniforms are lieutenants or higher, and the duty captain on the scene is completely authorized to speak to media and is usually the central point for info coming in. Detectives will arrive wearing suits and can also be useful.
* homeless people — they’re surprisingly helpful

How to avoid getting burned out in the daily grind of reporting:
* If possible, try to write a variety of different stories and try new things (”New situations keeps minds fresh.”)
* Remember that there’s different kinds of reporters. Some love being out on the street, while others would be happy covering the UN, the White House and press conferences.
* “What rejuvenates me is these people. These are gorgeous people; they’ll bring you back.”
* If you get a lot of tough stories in a row, take a break.

What’s in Kerry Burke’s famous backpack?

* a flashlight, a bottle of water, tons of notebooks, a box of pens, a disposable camera, batteries, an umbrella, a tape recorder, lots of maps (borough, subway and bus), a cell phone charger, business cards, magazines and “stake-out food”
* Kerry’s MUST-HAVE: Hagstrom’s NYC Five Borough map book, spiral-bound.

-30-

The Daily Plan-it is asking recent alumni and graduating students to share tips about surviving and thriving in the Spring semester. Responses (some of them contradicting each other, some of them repetitive, many not endorsed by the J-school) will be added here throughout the semester, lightly edited for clarity and style (the newest ones on top).

Please send your suggestions (for either semester) to ss221@columbia.edu.

The Daily Plan-it is asking recent alumni and graduating students to share tips about surviving and thriving in the Fall semester. Responses (some of them contradicting each other, some of them repetitive, many not endorsed by the J-school) will be added here throughout the semester, lightly edited for clarity and style (the newest ones on top).

Please send your suggestions (for either semester) to ss221@columbia.edu.

In the Fall semester at J-School, I wish I had…

1. Chosen my electives better, sometimes the class sounds great but the professor isn’t as great. Choose wisely! And also, make sure you are choosing a class because that is the one you love, not the one everyone else is dying to get into. Enjoy your friends and remember that after graduation most of you will part ways, so make the best of the time you have together.
2. read the ethnic press, and especially community-based websites
3. taken the Q, F and 7 trains out to their terminus’ and gotten more of a feel for the city. It’s worth the time–you’ll be 50
   percent less lost later, and you’ll see some cool stuff along the way.
4. carried cash more
5. …taken the time to read my professors’ books. At least one of them. 
6. …invested in more and better long underwear. Uniqlo (Prince St. on the R/W) makes warming tights/tanktops/undershirts for men and women. They’re cheap, fit under clothes and will make your life suck less inwinter.  
 
7. …introduced myself to more people/organizations (not just on my beat) dealing with things that interested me 
8. taken new media training since the very first week. You won’t find the time later on to get that introduction and you will always betrying to catch up while seeing the others handle it perfectly.
9. gone to more of the August music concerts and cultural events in town…
10. done an internship. Everybody tells you to hold off because you will just be getting into things and gettingused to the schedule and the pace, etc. Ignore them. The spring semester is five times as insane as the fall semester and you’ll be sorry if you don’t do any internships while you’re in the thick of the New York City media world. That said, if you have never worked in journalism before and everything in RW1 is new to you - okay - yeah, take it easy. But if you have been a working journalist and
    if you can find an internship where you can negotiate only a day in the office - and maybe a little work from home - and where you’ll actually get to write (this isn’t that hard since everyone has decimated their staff and is desperate for
    content, especially blogs and sister Web sites to print publications) then DO IT. I did a spring internship and it was great in the end, but I regret not doing one in the fall when things were a little more laid back. If you do get a fall internship, don’t ever, ever, ever tell your RW1 professor you couldn’t cover something or get something done because of your internship or any other class or activity. In fact, it’s best they don’t even know you have an internship because they’ll likely just assume anything they see as less than stellar work is because of the distraction of your internship. Good luck!
11. chosen my elective based on the professor, not the subject.
12. taken time to enjoy the city rather than obssesively fret over RW1 due to an obsessive professor. Do your best but don’t let someone else’s obsession permeate to you.
13. taken an internship. Yes, even in the Fall semester (no matter how busy you get with school, internships in New York are the best way to improve your resume and get a job).
14. taken a deep breath. What seemed stressful then, I realize now was just part of the normal J-school process.
15. drank less coffee (especially the jet-fuel type served downstairs).
16. gone to Career Services earlier. It’s not as scary as it sounds - and you’re going to have to get a job sometime!
17. realized that switching into the part-time program for the spring semester isn’t that hard after all. If you’re serious about freelancing or spending lots of time at a spring internship, it can be a good way to go.
18. sought resume feedback from people outside of the Career Services office. Take every opportunity to have someone currently in the industry look over your resume and clips.
19. built a better list of story ideas for my RWI beat in August. Scrambling to find a good housing story idea on a Tuesday in October — with a Thursday morning deadline — was not fun.
20. taken new media classes. Online skills are so important and you should take advantage of being in a school environment to learn as much as you can. It will pay off after you graduate.
21. taken more advantage of opportunities to re-write articles.
22. tried to freelance some of my articles and possibly radio pieces.
23. explored New York City more because it is a lie that you have more time in the spring semester.
24. …known that feeling overwhelmed isn’t a catastrophe. Instead, it was the first step toward finding my own priorities. On the other hand, I’m glad I told some of my profs that I was feeling overwhelmed. They helped me to remember why I sought out the M.A. program in the first place and led me to some great insights into whatwas important to me. In the end, it was all good for me: the workload, the brain strain, the stumbling, and the getting back up again.
25. …gone to more Happy Hours.
26. …spent more time on my Master’s Project so I could have taken more of a winter break.
27. …gotten to know my classmates better.
28. …attended more of the optional lectures.
29. …stayed in better touch with non-journalist friends.
30. …took the narrative writing elective (so that I could experiment with those awesome narrative techniques in my Spring classes and in the Master’s Projects).
31. …taken more skills courses. I only took one, and now I wish I had also taken the others in photography, radio, etc. just to have that broad base of skills under my belt that would make me much more marketable to employers.
32. …reached out and established a relationship with at least one of my professors — this will really help you down the road, whether it’s just to talk you through the stress come second semester or to point you to some good job prospects (on their own terms of
    course).
33. …hadn’t approached profs just looking for job tips. You *will* connect with at least one professor, and just having that solid, genuine, outside-of-just-class-time friendship will be enough.
34. …tried and made my stories do double time by exploring the logical ripples from one drop in the pond. For example: If you have an education story about arranged marriages, see if you can also get a business story about matchmakers, a lifestyle story on new types of dating, and a religion story on converts to faiths that promote marriage arrangements.
35. …realized that every student is supremely talented. I wish I’d shaken off my
    undergraduate, must-get-honors, competitive mentality and just enjoyed — and learned — from all my classmates. Also, I shouldn’t have let my classmates’ designer jeans and giant
    Fendi bags intimidate me.
36. …applied for internships.
37. …prepared a stack of resumes and clips before class started, which would have made applying for internships less of a burden.
38. …chosen professors more carefully. Track down outgoing students — you should be able to find some by looking up their published work online — and grill them about which professors to seek out and which to avoid. If you can make it to campus, read the course reviews on file
    at the J-School library. [DAILY PLAN-IT NOTE: This last sentence is no longer relevant. Starting with the Spring 2005 courses, all course evaluations are now online for incoming students anywhere in the world.]

39. …made a list of the names, numbers and e-mails of managing editors at
    amNew York, Metro, City Limits and the weekly newspapers that covered my beat and pitched my RWI stories to them on a regular basis.
40. …. read Bob Baker’s Newsthinking. It is especially important to read if you do not have a journalism background.
41. …had a copy of the Upanishads to read to put life into perspective for those times when I
    left the J-school feeling overwhelmed. The big questions posed in the Upanishads could have diminished the significance of the little episodes of worthlessness I felt after some of my edited stories came back bleeding.
42. …applied for internships.
43. …pitched more freelance work.
44. …participated in some sort of activity wholly unrelated to school.
45. …gone to more Happy Hours.
46. …explored NYC (apart from my beat).
47. …read more Master’s Projects in the library.
48. …started exploring my Master’s Project during the summer (at least have a general topic you’re passionate about and that you’d like to learn more about before the first day of school).
49. …been more prepared for failure on all fronts (don’t stress
    when your stories suck - you’re there to learn not win a Pulitzer).
50. …bought a bike. (This is vital. You will cover six times the area on your beat, and actually enjoy it. Biking New York lets you see the 90% of the city that isn’t convenient to a subway line, and all of my great RW1 stories came from out-of-the-way places. Then enjoy the Palisades across the GW bridge or take off your journalist cap and ride with us at Critical Mass last Friday of the month, Union Square, 7 pm.
51. …picked an RWI beat neighborhood more off the beaten path (I picked
    Harlem, which is always inundated with J-Schoolers. I wish I’d picked
    a nabe in Queens or the Bronx).
52. …spent less time beating myself up because I wasn’t getting many
    clips, and more time enjoying the experience.

A tip from Jon Dube, J’97, and his Cyberjournalist.net blog.

TimesSelect University
The New York Times is offering a special offer for college and university students and faculty that allows them to subscribe to TimesSelect for one year at $24.95, half the regular annual subscription fee of $49.95. TimesSelect University will only be available to current students and faculty.

Students and faculty can go to nytimes.com/university to sign up for TimesSelect and receive the 50% discount. Students and faculty who read The Times through their colleges’ readership programs will receive TimesSelect access cards from their colleges. The cards contain individual access codes that enable students and faculty to sign up for TimesSelect through the end of that academic semester.

Dear Colleagues:

* The Palestinian journos told us yesterday they are NOT coming today to the J-school; they have cut their tour short. So no post-picnic event. We will, of course, have plenty of other speakers, foreign and domestic, speak to us in the months ahead. But I’d like to alert you to the arrival, on Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 12:30-1:30 pm, of journalists from the two
biggest Swedish newspapers. Watch for info.

* The picnic, from 1-5 pm, is still on (follows Prof. Span’s 11:30 am-1 pm feature writing lecture). You will be able to purchase a boxed lunch and soda for $5 (normal price is $13; 150 lunches for sale) if you wish. You are welcome to bring your own food, blankets, Frisbees, etc. If it doesn’t rain, the really nice lawn that is fenced off in front of the school will be ours
for the afternoon. If it rains, we will be on the floor in the World Room on the third floor (no Frisbees there!)…

* Details coming shortly of a post-picnic Happy Hour at The Underground Lounge, 955 West End Ave (SW Corner of B’way and 107th).