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

Dean Grueskin’s Advice to Students

Video of a portion of this talk

We’re experimenting with Twitcam.com, which makes live webcasting pretty simple. Here’s video of some of the opening day remarks by Soledad O’Brien of CNN (Twitcam provided 30+ minutes of live video that were webcast instantly, then archived and online within three minutes).

The original tweet: @sreenet: http://twitcam.com/o6g - CNN’s Soledad O’Brien talks to Columbia J-school on opening day #columbiaj

[NOTE: For those of you who Twitter, the hashtag for J-school events is #columbiaj (if you have no idea what the previous sentence means, you will have plenty of opportunities to learn during your time here).]

SPRING SEMESTER KICKOFF DAY
An annual day of academic, career and writing/reporting tips and advice, before the semester formally begins. Brought to you by Student Affairs, Academic Affairs and Career Services

Mandatory for full-time MS and MA students; all other students, faculty, staff are encouraged to attend.

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009

10-10:30 am: Breakfast served - coffee, tea, muffin and bagel baskets

10:30-11:15 am: WELCOME: Deans Grueskin & Sreenivasan

DISCUSSION: Career Planning Strategies
Dean Sotomayor & the Career Services Team
- how to make best use of the Spring semester for job hunting and job planning

11:15-11:45: DISCUSSION: Surviving & Thriving in the Spring Semester
Deans Huff & Sreenivasan
- how to excel in the Spring, academically and otherwise
- preparing for graduation (never too early!)
- explanation of year-end prizes
[be sure to read Spring survival tips from alumni]
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Dear MA, PT and PhD students:

Wanted to alert you to two parallel events that you might like to consider attending on Monday.

The first is a special J-school panel aimed at the full-time MS class about connecting the Wall Street crisis with the everyday residents in NYC. We have a terrific set of speakers. See details below. All of you are welcome to attend.

The second is an event that’s part of One Web Day and takes place downtown at Washington Square Park by NYU (you can attend, or volunteer to help out). Details below. Because the other event runs exactly at the same time, we are not advertising this to the full-time MS students.
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Wednesday night event at Columbia Journalism School - free and open to the public. NO RSVP required.

Columbia Journalism School and Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and Politics present

A Conversation with Jim Sciutto, the London-based senior foreign correspondent of ABC News and author of “Against Us: The New Face of America’s Enemies in the Muslim World”

Prof. Nathaniel Persily of the Law School will introduce Sciutto and moderate the Q&A.

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2009
7-9 pm
Columbia Journalism School - Lecture Hall
116th St & Broadway (#1 train to 116th St)
No RSVP required. This is an open, public event - no charge.

Please join us for what promises to be a fascinating conversation about America and the world, on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Here’s what Booklist had to say about Sciutto’s book: “Although he paints a sobering picture, Sciutto offers hope for Americans seeking amicable relationships with Muslims …. Much-needed light on dark geopolitical realities.”

And Anthony Shadid, Washington Post’s award-winning Middle East correspondent: “For far too long, U.S. policymakers have relied on a faulty, dangerous premise: We only have to convince the rest of the world of our righteousness to dispel the growing, anti-American tide that has swept across the Arab and Muslim worlds since 2001. In his insightful, captivating and informative book, Jim Sciutto, a veteran reporter in the Middle East, shows how misguided that notion is. To much of the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East, American foreign policy appears singularly imperial. In fact, in less than a decade, two distinct versions of reality have emerged — one there, one here — and in the way America is perceived, they rarely intersect. We can’t wish away what has happened to our image. We have to understand the phenomenon. We have to recognize it. And Sciutto’s book is essential reading in doing so.”

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Prof. Sig Gissler, who teaches in the new media program and is administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, gave his annual “Covering Your Beat” lecture to the full-time M.S. students. Here is the PowerPoint presentation he used this year (if the version below doesn’t work, try this link).

Len Downie, the executive editor of The Washington Post, was the opening day speaker at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism on Monday, August 11, 2008. His talk, and the Q&A that followed, dealt extensively with current trends in journalism, his experience at the Post and accountability journalism.  He sprinkled his discussion with examples from Post stories and colleagues. What follows is an annotated version of the unedited notes from which Downie spoke. It will give you a sense of the conversation and allow you to read some of the stories he cited.

Len Downie, executive editor, The Washington Post
Opening Day Speaker
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
Monday, August 11, 2008

Why are you here? What do you want to do in journalism?

News media undergoing seismic changes:

• Audience shifts from print newspapers and television to Internet
• Classified advertising (jobs, cars, houses) from print to Web
• Print advertising revenue decline accelerated by economic slowdown
• Television news audience shift from broadcast to cable networks

Impact:

• Newspaper profits shrinking, even losses ($30-40 million a year at Newark Star-Ledger, several million last quarter at Washington Post)
• Chains, heavily in debt, selling some papers (Tribune sold Newsday, McCatchey sold Phi Inquirer and Minn. Star-Tribune) and may break up
• Some major metro dailies may fold
• A few smaller papers are moving onto Internet only one or more days a week or completely
• Newspaper newsroom staffs are shrinking rapidly – between 25 and 50 % so far
• Television network and station newsrooms also shrinking

So why go into journalism?
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2008 Graduation Week
Congratulations to all our graduates!

Read (and listen to) transcript of the Henry J. Pringle Lecture by Dan Balz, chief political correspondent of The Washington Post. Read transcript of graduation address by Terry Gross of NPR’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” winner of the Columbia Journalism Awards, the school’s highest honor. Scroll down to read Dean Lemann’s remarks. Scroll down to read remarks by class president Yian Huang. Watch the year-end video starring several graduating students: “If I were giving the graduation speech…”: Facebook version | YouTube version. Read Dean Huff’s Year-end Manual (info about use of the building, Columbia e-mail, computers, alumni services, etc). Download photos of J-School class of 2008 · Class photo · Class photo waving · Commencement with ripped newspaper in the air Not our graduation, but Prof. Sig Gissler recommends this short AP story about Pulitzer Prize-winner David McCollough’s commencement address at Boston College: “Please, please do what you can to cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation.”He said he’s particularly troubled by the “relentless, wearisome use of words” such as like, awesome and actually.” Photo on right: Wednesday, May 21, 12:10 pm - J-schoolers at the main university ceremony, complete with Reuters-branded beach ball. PHOTO: Craig Hettich. See a year’s worth of Student Affairs photos.

The following awards were presented on May 20 and the winners were acknowledged again at the main graduation ceremony on May 21. Here’s an explanation of how the awards are selected.

PULITZER TRAVELING FELLOWSHIPS & EIBEL AWARD for the top six students in the Class of 2008 (another slideshow below):

PULITZER FELLOWSHIP WINNERS:
Eliza Browning - class valedictorian
Lam Thuy Vo
Robert Jacob Corey-Boulet
Ailsa Wei-tan Chang
Molly Anne Birnbaum

David Marcus Eibel Memorial Scholarship: Srividya Rao

The M.A. Program Prize:
Arthur Harris Award for Best M.A. Thesis: Dorian Sanae Merina
runner-up: Don James Duncan
runner-up: Jacques Solomon Menasche

Award & Winner(s):
Baker Award for Bronx Beat: Katherine Santiago & Stephen Beardsley
Baker Award for CNS: Srividya Rao
Baker Award for Magazine Workshops: Alexa Taylor Schirtzinger
Balakian Award for writing about literature: Adam Weinstein
Blood Award for reporting: Carolina Joan Astigarraga
Brown Award for history of journalism: Rachel Clare Rosenthal
runner-up: Robert Jacob Corey-Boulet
runner-up: Daniel Luzer
Criticism Prize: Ronni J. Reich
Documentary Workshop Award: Aleksandra Halina Michalska
Editing Award: Thomas Arthur McCarthy
Greer Award for financial writing: Richard John McRoskey
Hechinger Education Journalism Award : Elizabeth Cristina Berry
Hechinger Education Journalism: Sarah N. Lynch
Horgan Science 1st prize: Daye Kim
Horgan Science 2st prize: Euna Lhee
Horgan Science 3rd prize: Erin M. Carlyle
Horgan Science 3rd prize: Olga Marie Pierce
Joan Konner Award for Best Broadcast Student: Megan Courtney Chuchmach
Louis Winnick Prize for RWI Writing: Anup Kaphle & Sarah Lynch
Lynton Fellowship in Book Writing: Garin K. Hovannisian
Lynton Fellowship in Book Writing: Jennifer Miller
Mencher Award for superior reporting: Stokely Baksh & Renee Feltz
Lars Erik Nelson Award for national affairs: Ailsa Chang
Lars Erik Nelson Award for national affairs: Eliza Cooke Browning
New Media Workshop Award: Lisa M. Biagiotti
New Media Workshop Award: Anup Kaphle
Nightly News Workshop Award: Eliza Cooke Browning & Megan Chuchmach
Radio Workshop Award: Margaret Julia Messick & Ailsa Chang
Robert Harron Award (”nice guy/nice gal” prize): Alexander James Sundby
Sackett Award for Law Class: Adam Edmund Hirsch
Sander Award for social justice reporting: Alexandra Louise Haugen Horowitz
Taylor Award for best international student: Anup Kaphle
TV Magazine Workshop Award: Sharona Sarah Coutts
Weschler for international reporting: Nadja Drost
Weschler for local reporting: Casey O’Connor Lyons
Weschler for national reporting: Renee Kathrine Feltz & Stokely Baksh
NOTE: Part-time students Sumi Aggarwal and Margaret Ballantyne, who are graduating this year, won awards last year.
The winners of the two awards presented by the students:
SPJ Teacher of the Year: Bruce Porter
SPJ Student of the Year: Lam Thuy Vo

List of Students Graduating with Honors
Margaret “Coco” Ballantyne
Elizabeth Berry
Molly Birnbaum
Eliza Browning
Erin Carlyle
Ailsa Chang
Megan Chuchmach
Robert Corey-Boulet
Sharona Coutts
Lawrence Delevingne
Michael Gadd
Garin Hovannisian
Jessica Leber
Thomas McCarthy
Margaret Messick
Jennifer Miller
Neilesh Munshi
Alexis Nunes
Nicholas Phillips
Benjamin Protess
Srividya Rao
Linzi Sheldon
Gregory Simmons
Susan Sipprelle
Lam Vo

More photos of our top six students. PHOTOS: Rebecca Castillo

See 2007 Graduation Awards.

o o o o o

TRANSCRIPT
Commencement 2008
Remarks by Dean Nicholas Lemann
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

There are two things everybody knows about what they teach in journalism school. One is the five W’s—who, what, where, when, why—that every story must address, and the other is that if a dog bites a man, that’s not news, but if a man bites a dog, that is news. What we teach at Columbia Journalism School sometimes gets a little more complicated than that, but, nonetheless, the old bromides have a certain timeless appeal.

The graduation-speech version of the dog bites man story is telling students who are about to receive degrees that they represent the future. In deference to journalistic standards, I shouldn’t do it here. But I can’t help myself.

This is my fifth Commencement as dean. In that short time, the mood of our profession has changed profoundly. There are a number of reasons why, but the main one is the manifold effects of the Internet. The Internet has a nearly miraculous power to put the ability to publish, and to receive, journalism into the hands of untold millions of people all over the world. For more sophisticated practitioners like many of the people in this auditorium, it gives journalists a greater variety of means of conveying information than we have ever had before. But at the same time, the Internet has clearly eroded the economic basis of at least the corner of journalism into which this school has traditionally sent the plurality of its graduates, the American big-city daily newspaper.

When Columbia Journalism School opened in 1912, most American cities had several daily papers—certainly New York did—and there was no radio or television journalism. Through the twentieth century the newspapers died one by one, casualties of competition or suburbanization or the arrival of new-media competition, but the net result in most cities was a small number of papers that looked quite secure.

The big American newspaper of the late twentieth century was, it seems now, an odd institution, a kind of museum of all the historical phases of journalism, from partisanship (on the editorial page) to pure entertainment (in the comics and horoscopes) to serious political reporting. It was the most efficient way for people to get a big packet of information in one place. Even today’s graduates will remember the days when, if you wanted to find out who had won a ball game, or when a movie was playing, or by how much someone had won an election, you naturally picked up the newspaper. And, in the realm of business, if you were an auto dealer or a department store owner, or an individual engaged in small-scale commerce, the newspaper was the best means of getting people to buy what you were selling. Remember? And, because of the immense plant, equipment, paper, printing, and delivery costs that publishing a newspaper entailed, people who were already in the business were well protected from new competition.

Well, none of that is true any more. Most of the individual aspects of a traditional newspaper are available on the Internet, for free. Newspapers are still producing great quantities of original information, thanks to the hard work of people like you, but they no longer have local quasi-monopolies as sources of information. Their audiences are now primarily on the Internet—that wasn’t the case just a few years ago. And, even more recently, on the Web the lines between the various originating media have started seriously blurring. On the front pages of newspaper Web sites, you’re starting to find what we would recently have taught as television stories—video and audio presentations a few minutes long. Television sites publish what we teach as newspaper stories—stories made up only of printed words, without images. Magazine sites publish animated cartoons. And so on. The tectonic plates underlying our profession—those traditional categorical divisions by type of news, by news medium, by geography—are palpably, and rapidly, rearranging themselves.

Today, more of you have definite plans that entail paid employment in journalism than had such plans when I first stood at this podium five years ago. How can that be? Much of the credit is due to the great work our Career Services office does, but it’s also that employers want you because you’re energetic, because you have skills that people already in newsrooms don’t have, and perhaps also because you aren’t so wedded to doing things the way they’ve always been done in journalism.

You soon-to-be graduates are a diverse lot. You come from all over the world, work in every news medium, and cover the whole range of complicated subjects–but every one of you is a reporter: You know how to gather information, primarily through in-person interviewing, and to present it accurately, fairly, and engagingly. I would urge you, however, not to take it for granted that the best way to present information is an 800-word, all-text, pyramid-style news story—a method of presentation that grew up in the nineteenth century and dominated our profession for most of the twentieth, but may not in the twenty-first. And, as you’re well advised to be creative about how to present each individual story, the news organizations you work for are going to have to be similarly creative about figuring out, in the aggregate, what package of material they are presenting. It is going to have to be something unobtainable elsewhere—a rich mix of information about a community or a subject that the news organization’s Web site puts together more powerfully and efficiently than anybody else. It is not going to look just like the package of material that populates a newspaper now.

Inventing this is your task. You can’t avoid it—the old way doesn’t work any more—but it’s a far more creative, challenging assignment than what was handed to my generation when we went to journalism. Our job was to improve on the old model. Your job is to create a new model. You shouldn’t be daunted by this: newspapers in particular, and news in general, have been changing in non-incremental ways for three centuries. Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World (the profits from which endowed this school) had almost nothing in common except that they were printed on cheap paper and distributed in cities, and neither had much in common with a big-city newspaper today. On your watch, newspapers will be primarily digital, but the primary task for you is not to switch delivery media, it’s to invent a new social compact with a community around the gathering and presentation of information.

I suppose that qualifies as a man bites dog story—but it’s still contained within a dog bites man story, which is that you are leaders who hold the future of journalism in your hands. Sorry, it’s unavoidable. Have fun with it.

- - -

And here are the remarks Dean Lemann made when he introduced the Journalism students at the main university commencement in front of all the other schools, recipients of honorary degrees, etc - the tradition is to have some fun with this introduction (over the top is the norm from the various deans):

Mr. President, surely you must wish sometimes that everybody believed in free speech as completely as you do.

Well, sir, there is an easy way to achieve that happy state of affairs: Just make sure that the entire public discourse is based on the rock-solid reporting produced by the magnificently well-trained, hard-working, brilliant company of women and men I have the honor to present to you today.

Candidates of the Faculty of Journalism.

They are global. They are Webby. They are intellectually confident. Most, or possibly all, of the world’s problems would disappear overnight if only people would give full attention to their hard-earned facts and well-reasoned interpretations.

And they have completed the nearly insuperable requirements for the degrees of Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy.

I humbly beg you, sir, to grant them this degree along with the rights and privileges thereto attached.

o o o o o

TRANSCRIPT
Remarks by Yian Huang, J2008 Class President
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dean Lemann, distinguished faculty, treasured guests, … and FELLOW GRADUATES OF THE CLASS OF 2008.

Graduates … Graduates … What an exciting world we are being launched into! There are so many great subjects for us to cover: Painful ones, joyful ones. There are disasters, human stories, war, peace and … perhaps even a scandal or two waiting to be discovered.

We are now a part of the best profession in the world—the one that gives us an excuse to ask people to let us into their lives and their homes; to tell us their intimate stories. And if we ask with “Joyful Entitlement,” as Professor Gissler taught us, people say yes.

We are the next generation of leaders of journalists. Right now, we look at journalists who inspire us, and we think we are merely students, or interns. But you know what, they all look at us, and they expect us to lead.

We have been so honored to have spent the last year at Columbia—the best journalism school in the world. We have reported on the diversity of New York City, a place that many say is the center of the universe.

Ok, that’s the fun bit. Now we’re going to discuss the serious part, which is about WORKING TOGETHER.

Our profession gives us a real opportunity—and thus an obligation—to change the world, by deciding what’s news, as Herbert Gans wrote.

So what do we want to change? What are our big dreams? What if we were the heads of the NY Times or CNN, or what if we had a couple of Pulitzers under our belt? What would we use our voice to say then? Look around this room. Look at the person in the seat next to you, the one in front of you blocking your view. In 20, 30 years, we as a class, we’ll have those things. What then? And then the obvious question is, why wait till then? Use our voices now. Yes, we might have to cover community board meetings starting out, but never lose sight of why we got into this in the first place.

For me, as a conflict photographer I’ve found that documenting—and almost glorifying—violence with my photos might not lead to peace, as I wish it might. News is not just about the conventional “If it bleeds, it leads.” We should strive to uncover the greater complexity of the stories we cover and challenge the established view.

So here’s the “nut” of this speech: To accomplish anything great, we need to harvest the power of the group. As individuals, we can only do so much.

So, stick together. Being unstoppable in the face of the adversities we are certain to face is so much easier with the help of our friends. We are our own best resources:
— We have:… the largest ever PhD graduating class of 6 students, who are our resources in macro trends in media.
— We have Knight Bagehot fellows who have enriched our conversations with their experience, and showed us that learning never stops.
— We have M.A. students who have given up established careers to study with us and cover Arts, Business, Politics.
— And we have the diverse and international M.S. class, who are already trailblazing new ways of telling stories.

Find a collaborator from this group. We can’t do everything ourselves. It’s more effective to work together than be the jack-of-all-trades one-man/woman-mobile-journalist/video/photographer/blogger that the industry seems to want.

Look at how the class came together when Ahmadinejad spoke on this stage last September. We got 30 reporters together to create a blog. We had print pieces, we had video, we had audio slideshows. We killed this story. And we got 165,000 visits in 48 hours.

Look at what we’ve survived together this year: the freezing basement and the horrible experience of the toilets there. We survived not having coffee for an unconscionable amount of time. And don’t get us started on the mythical Argentinean glass that’s being flown in from Paris by way of China. Last I heard, the cafe will be ready in Aug. but that’s what they told us last spring too.

PARENTS IN THE AUDIENCE, so sorry to tell you, that while it is true that this has been a tough year for us, WE ARE NOT DETERRED from this profession. Not in the slightest.

As president of the class, I have the privilege of speaking on behalf of all the students. Dean Lemann, a heartfelt Thank You to you, your faculty and staff, for all your time and teachings that you have imparted to us so very generously. May we be as generous to those coming after us.

Ms. Gross, thank you for coming. It’s a wonderful privilege for us. Since 1973, All You Did Was Ask Questions, if I may paraphrase the title of your book. We would like to ask: If you had only one person left to interview and only one question, who would it be and what would you ask?

A special shout out to adviser Rebecca Castillo and the SPJ Board, the tireless students who labored on behalf of all of us to make it a great experience for one and all. Please stand up and be recognized. Thank you.

Last, and certainly not least, we should all acknowledge our parents. I’m going to ask everyone to stand up, turn around, and show them our appreciation.
When you leave today, find something nice to say to your own parents;
(for me): Dad, for pushing me to do my best always;
and Mum, for teaching me the true meaning of love;
I am only here today because of both of you, so thank you.

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Prof. David Hajdu [DavidHajdu.com], who teaches arts journalism at the school and is a prolific author, was a guest at Google HQ, for one of their Google Talks events. You can watch the 48-minute video below or at this link.


You can also listen to a web radio interview we did with Prof. Hajdu on April 23, 2008 below or at this link.

Send your comments to dh2145[at]columbia.edu

[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. You can see the master list of all the “Notes From” items here.]

Below, notes from a talk by Hassan Fattah of The New York Times. Many thanks to the volunteer notes-taker Mohammad Al-Kassim. Feel free to post a comment below (free, one-timeregistration required).

NOTES FROM… A Talk by Hassan Fattah of The New York Times
Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007
Lecture Hall, Columbia Journalism School

By Mohammad Al-Kassim, J2008

Hassan Fattah, Columbia University J-School Class of 2000, and New York Times Middle East Correspondant based in Dubai, spoke to J-School students at the Lecture Hall on Tuesday morning. A former Baghdad correspondent, he now covers the entire region except for Iraq, Israel and Palestine.
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[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. You can see the master list of all the “Notes From” items here.]

Below, notes from a talk by Brian Ross of ABC News. Many thanks to the volunteer notes-takers. Feel free to post a comment below (free, one-timeregistration required).

NOTES FROM… A Talk by Brian Ross, ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent
Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007
Lecture Hall, Columbia Journalism School
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Hassan M. Fattah, NYT Middle East correspondent based in Dubai, talks to Columbia J-school Students. He graduated from the school in May 2000. This is just one minute from a 45-minute talk he gave on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007. In the background, you see two of the things that he says are critical for all foreign correspondents to have at all times: a pencil (not a pen, a pencil) and a Nokia phone (in other countries, you can always find someone nearby who has a Nokia charger). Hassan’s bio is below.

Publish your comments below.

ABOUT HASSAN FATTAH
Hassan M. Fattah is the Middle East Correspondent for the New York Times,
based in Dubai. He is responsible for covering the entire region outside
Iraq and Israel/Palestine.

In 2003, he co-founded Iraq Today, an English-language weekly newspaper
written and edited by Iraqis, turning the venture into an internationally
recognized publication before its closure a year later due to security
concerns. In 2004, Mr. Fattah helped found Aswat Al Iraq, Iraq.s first
independent, non-governmental news exchange, funded by the United Nations
and focused on developing a new generation of Iraqi journalists.

He has served as a correspondent for Time, and at various times has been a
regular contributor to the Economist, Prospect Magazine and the New
Republic, among other international publications.

Born in Beirut Lebanon to Iraqi parents, Mr. Fattah was raised between
Lebanon, Jordan and the U.S. He holds a B.S. in Engineering from the
University of California at Berkeley and a Masters in Science from the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

[ 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 the 2007 graduation speech by Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Phil Wahba, who is a Part-Time student graduating in 2008.
Feel free to drop him note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Ben Bradlee’s Graduation Speech, Columbia Journalism School
By Phil Wahba
E-mail: pw2158[at]columbia.edu

LERNER HALL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, MAY 16, 2007: “Love your job, and work harder than the guy next to you.” With those words, former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee imparted his advice to the latest batch of Columbia University Journalism School grads setting out into the world of journalism. He is this year’s recipient of the Columbia Journalism Award, the J-school’s highest honor (a recent previous winner was David Halberstam - read his 2005 speech).

After an effusive introduction by Dean Nick Lemann at the school’s graduation ceremony, Mr. Bradlee regaled the audience of graduates and their families and friends with tales from his illustrious career, everything from having President Kennedy for a source to nearly getting deported from France while on assignment
for Newsweek magazine. As he spoke, many of the parents and students in the hall started taking photos of him, their camera flashes going off again and again from all over the room.

His talk also included cautionary tales. Recalling that he was the editor who allowed the publication of Janet Cooke’s 1981 Pulitzer-winning article about heroin addiction that turned out to be a complete fabrication, Mr. Bradlee advised the newly-minted journalists, “When you make a mistake, eat it.” And he cautioned the aspiring journalists that sometimes they won’t get to write the stories they find.

From the outset of his remarks, Mr. Bradlee, 86, made clear his optimism for the profession upon which the 250 or so grads were embarking. “I am flat-out sick of dire predictions for the future of journalism,” he told the audience. “We are the latest of the breed, not the last.” And, he said, people will always want to know
the truth.

He firmly believes that good stories will always be in demand and urged the graduates to be patient when working on a story, because the truth emerges eventually.

The gravel-voiced Mr. Bradlee ended his address by quoting his father’s advice for succeeding. “Nose down, ass up and go.”

NUGGETS OF WISDOM FROM BEN BRADLEE

• “Have a good time in your work.”
• “Find the good stories.”
• “Just go out there and live.”
• “Think for yourself and care about other people.”
• “When you make a mistake, admit it.”

Legendary journalist David Halberstam, who was killed in a car crash on April 23, 2007, had a long relationship with the Columbia J-school over several decades.

In 2005, he received the Columbia Journalism School’s highest honor, the Columbia Journalism Award and addressed that year’s graduates.

See the text of his speech here:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2005/halberstam.asp

UPDATE: Prof. Mirta Ojito writes in Poynter about listening to Halberstam’s final speech at Berkeley:
http://poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=122105.

You can also hear audio and read a transcript of that speech here: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/halberstam/

UPDATE FROM CJR:

Rewind: David Halberstam on reporting Vietnam
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/6/Halberstam1.asp

Much of what has been written about Halberstam in the wake of his tragic
death April 23rd, is about Halberstam the writer. But Halberstam was
primarily a reporter. He took great joy in it and respected others who did it
well. Here, in an article for our November 2006 issue, he salutes the other
great reporters who told a true story of the war in Vietnam.

This is a public event, feel free to invite others - come meet some
intriguing journalists and other media folks.

Politics & Internet Panel
Tuesday, Nov. 21 / Columbia Journalism School / 7-9 pm

Columbia Journalism School and the Columbia Arts Initiative present

“Politics and the Internet: Is the Web Revolutionary?”
A panel discussion about issues such as
government censorship and the ability of technology to affect politics.

SPEAKERS:
Sheila Coronel, Stabile Professor of Investigative Journalism
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/faculty/coronel.asp

Hugh Hewitt, blogger and radio host
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/About.aspx

Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder, GlobalVoicesOnline.org
http://rconversation.blogs.com/about.html

MODERATOR: Nicholas Lemann, Dean of Columbia Journalism School & “The Wayward
Press” columnist, The New Yorker
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/faculty/lemann.asp

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006
7-8:30 pm - discussion
No RSVP required. No charge. Open to the public.

Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
Lecture Hall, 3rd Floor - 116th St & Broadway
[ #1 train to 116th St or get directions:
http://www.hopstop.com/route?city=New+York&county2=Manhattan&address2=2950+broadway&mode=s
]

This session is part of a series of talks in honor of a seven-week residency at
Columbia University by Vaclav Havel. An online version of this will be posted
on http://havel.columbia.edu

For more information on these programs (or to submit questions that can be
posed to the panelists), please contact Prof. Sree Sreenivasan at sree@sree.net

ABOUT THE COLUMBIA NEW MEDIA PROGRAM: The Journalism School established its new
media curriculum in Sept. 1994 with a Cyberspace Reporting course. The program
now consists of advanced and introductory classes in website production, online
storytelling and new media trends. The emphasis is on journalism, not
technology, though students do learn high-end production skills. More than 275
students have graduated as new media majors and more than 1,200 print and
broadcast students have taken basic new media classes. The showcase site for
the program is NYC24.org, a site run entirely by students: http://www.nyc24.org

More on the Columbia Journalism School: http://www.jrn.columbia.edu

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[ 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.

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[ 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.

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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).

Below, highlights of the Sig Gissler’s talk about how to cover a beat. Many thanks to volunteer notes-takers Sheena Tahilramani and Irene Liu. Feel free to drop them a note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Prof. Sig Gissler’s lecture: “How to Cover Your Beat”
By Sheena Tahilramani, J2007; e-mail: sat2127[at]columbia.edu
and Irene Liu, J2007; e-mail: ijl2105[at]columbia.edu

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

[Introduction by Dean Sreenivasan]

It is my honor to introduce Sig Gissler, professor and administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

Sig Gissler is one of my favorite people at the J-school and one of this University’s treasures. You are all very lucky to have him as a professor - either in RWI or in sesssions like this. When I was a student here, we weren’t lucky enough to have Prof. Gissler on the faculty. But he has been a teacher and guide to me ever since his arrival here in 1994. I have picked
up tips on reporting, on editing and how to be a better professor - but I feel like I am always trying to catch up. He came to the school after a distinguished career as an editor in Milwaukee and brought with him decades of journalism experience - and a bucketful of midwestern, Scandinavian aphorisms. Those aphorisms and a unique teaching style that encourages you
all to “go there” have inspired generations of students and colleagues alike, resulting in his being named the school’s Teacher of the Year in 1998, and his winning Columbia’s highest teaching award in 2003.

[ Despite his folksiness, he has a geeky side. He was one of the first professors here to edit stories with the “tracking changes” in Word and he embraced digital photography, wireless networking and similar technologies long before most of the faculty, as has his wife, the wonderful Mary Gissler, who offers his students brownies and invaluable advice of her own.]

As administrator of the Pulitzers, he has been given stewardship of one of the journalism’s most imporant institutions and he has taken that to another level as well.

Everywhere in the world I go, his former students, friends and colleagues ask me to say hello to him and many of them say to me what I started my introduction with: You are lucky to have him.

Ladies and gents, Sig Gissler…

WHAT IS A BEAT:
It’s a topical or geographic area assigned to a reporter for regular coverage.
Examples of topical areas are education, politics and business. Examples of geographical areas are a city, county, neighborhood.

ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD REPORTER:

• Works on the three fundamentals–sources, story ideas and execution plans (the “trifecta”)
• Works rigorously on three levels — short range, medium and long — juggling a mix of ideas
• Serves as a watchdog — accountability journalism
• Shows good organization
  - Organize your sources by affiliation
  - Get contact info: mobile, work, home numbers, email
  - Have these numbers so that if you have to, you can call late at night; you can say that you are “calling in the interest of accuracy.”
  - Cultivate sources
  - Keep a running list of story ideas, compiled by topic and subject.
• Stays in touch with editor (without being a pest) “Don’t interview the city desk, interview the city.”

“BEAT NOTES”
Make the best use of your time in August. This is an opportunity to put “hay in the barn” (if you are from the midwest), or “nuts in the nest.” Use this month to find sources, issues, story ideas.
Step 1: See what has already been written
Step 2: Make some initial contacts.

ATTRIBUTION:
All you know is what you’ve been told. Attribute everything, over attribute.

HOW TO APPROACH YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD:

• Attitude and appearance: Have a positive attitude, one of “joyful entitlement”. Build sources one at a time; don’t get bogged down by the enormity of the work. At the end of a meeting/interview, always ask for additional sources. Polite persistence. Don’t be needlessly confrontational. Be a sponge. We reflect the university and our profession so it’s important to maintain a professional appearance. Men should carry a tie wherever they go because you never know when you may be assigned to cover a funeral or other somber event.

• Good start: U.S. Census, “community district needs” handbooks (books created by the 59 community boards that identify “greatest needs” of each neighborhood. Take with a grain of salt, but a good starting resource. RW1 professors have copies), website for Department of City Planning.
  
• Libraries: Libraries provide back issues of community newspapers and other great sources that can be used to learn about this history. The histories of your neighborhoods are important to investigate. Look for defining moments in the history of your community…for example, the burning of the South Bronx. 
• Community Boards: 59 districts, largely advisory bodies. Try to talk to the district manager. However, don’t despair if you are rebuffed. The community board is not the golden fleece.
• Museums in boroughs
• Local historians: Residents who serve as informal historians to the area. Can give you a sense of the history, changes in the neighborhoods over time. The burrough presidents’ offices may be able to point you to them.
• Elected officials: Know the elected officials in your area… city council members, district attorney, congressmen/women, assemblymen/women, etc.
• Police: “Destined to be a murky relationship”. “America’s only fully-armed minority group.” Start at the precinct level. Talk to a community affairs officer or youth officer. Crime statistics by precincts will give you a sense of crime patterns. If referred to the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, be persistent and you might get lucky. Cops really do like to talk.
  
• Firefighters: Firefighters can be a wonderful source. They’re considered heroes in NYC. They see a lot, they know a lot and they’re often gregarious characters. (if you are a freelancer, see
  http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/dcpi/presscred.html
• Mayor’s Management Report
• Churches, mosques, synagogues: “Havens in a heartless world.” Churches are a safe haven in the community. Be sure to talk to leaders and members. 
• Community Based Organizations: They are everywhere. Some have storefront offices, many are connected to umbrella groups.
• Schools: Try to meet the principal, PTA, Parent Coordinator (a staff liaison to parents), union reps, etc. Getting inside may be difficult due to “bunker” mentally, so you might have to report from the outside in. You might need a “passport” but you need to keep pushing.

• Hospitals: A good source on neighborhood health issues. Walk in and just wander around, better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission. 

• The Old: “Wallpaper of the human existence.” Senior citizens are the “eyes of the neighborhood.” They can provide you with a sense of history and context, they’ve witnessed the history of the community. They also have a lot of time. Can be found on the porch, in senior centers. 

• Shopping Areas: Show a good cross section of humanity and are good places to spot fashion trends among the young. Oftentimes, people are more willing to talk while shopping. 

• Community newspapers: Give a sense of what is going on it the community, issues, etc. Talk with editors and reporters; they can give you a sense of the problems and issues in the neighborhoods. An opportunity to pitch articles and get clips. 
• Parks: Look for places, like parks, where people slow down. People may be more willing to pause and talk to you. 
• Colleges: There are colleges all around the city. You may find story ideas. For example: welfare mothers trying to get an education to get out of their situations, innovative efforts to include minority kids in education.
• Sanitation workers: Rarely get interviewed, but are great sources, as are janitors, custodians, building superintendents. 
• Real estate offices: People in the real estate industry watch/are aware of trends in the area. 
• Bus depots: Drivers go up and down the street day after day, they know what’s going on. It is also a good place to catch cops coming home from work. 
• Coffee shops, bodegas and bars: Don’t forget the bars.

A LITTLE ABOUT TECHNIQUE:

• Review safety tips.
• Take a list of professors and phone numbers in case you get in a bind/trouble.
• Build up your comfort level and go with your gut.
• Don’t get complacent; it’s still a big city. The buddy system is a good option.
• Get a map.
• Don’t wait for phone calls…go there, go there and go there!
• Look up…look at the signs, second floors. We are constantly seeing things at eye level but, if you look around, there is so much more.
• Subway life is fascinating. A parallel of the world above. 
• Talk to strangers.
• Try the back door when stymied by a source. If you cannot talk to the principal, talk to the PTA.
• Get the Green Book: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/features/greenbook.shtml
• Find the “mayor” of the neighborhood or the block. Every neighborhood has a self-appointed know-it-all.
• Think of creating your own “board of directors” made up of four or five people that are connected in the community, people you can go to get quick information.
• Establish “listening posts”; find your places to go and get info.
• Never burn a source. If you say you won’t include a quote, don’t include it. If you make a commitment, keep it.
• Nurture your sources; you can learn a lot from them. Show them your “published” story. This helps future Columbia students.
• Finally, learn to treasure the indomitable spirit of New York City.

Q&A:

• Q:Do you recommend tape recorders?
  A: Tape recorders can be useful, especially if a confrontational interview/story, but one of the problems is transcribing the tape. It is a tool and you should use it depending on the circumstances. 
• Q: How should we deal with translation?
  A: Maybe try to find a young person that can translate or help you communicate with a subject. Beyond that, you have to try to deal with it. 
• Q: Is there anyone that you we should not talk to on our beat?
  A: As a class or kind of person, everyone is fair game. 
• Q: What if you’re interviewing and the person becomes uncomfortable with a certain topic or wants to take something off the record?
  A: You can go on and off the record…people have a right to wall-off portions of the conversation that they don’t want published. 
• Q: How do you deal with a source that provides you with great information but wants to remain anonymous?
  You need to set some ground rules at the beginning of the interview. If you do this, the source knows that what he/she says is fair game. If you leave the situation very murky then it can be much more of a contentious situation. Clarity, clarity, clarity! 
• Q: Offering and accepting things from sources?
  In a professional setting, you don’t want to be accepting things from sources. But don’t worry about accepting a cup of coffee.

SOME GISSLERISMS:

• “Keep an open mind, but don’t let your brain fall out.” 
• “Taking information off the Internet is like taking food off the street. Be careful.” 
• “Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.”
  

On Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006, Martin Smith, a distinguished producer at Frontline on PBS, spoke to the class in a session moderated by Prof. June Cross.

You can listen to an audio recording:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/class_lectures.asp

Here is a report, by Doree Shafrir, J2006, of CJRDaily.org:
http://www.cjrdaily.org/behind_the_news/for_frontline_producer_katr.php

Excerpt:

His November 2005 report for Frontline on Hurricane Katrina was unlike anything he’s ever worked on, Smith told an audience of new students at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism Tuesday evening.

That film, The Storm, tells the story of the government’s missteps in the days leading up to and directly after Katrina. “I was affected more by Katrina than Iraq, by the vastness of the devastation,” he said.

The film’s unsparing scenes of mothers crying out for food for their children, looting, police brutality and other bits of mayhem in the days following the storm do indeed make for powerful television.

Read the entire report.

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).

Below, highlights of the opening day lecture by Deborah Amos, NPR foreign correspondent. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Allison Bourne-Vanneck, J2007. Feel free to drop her a note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Deborah Amos Opening Day Lecture
By Allison Bourne-Vanneck, J2007
E-mail: apb2119[at]columbia.edu

LECTURE HALL, Aug. 21, 2006–More than 220 students, faculty and staff gathered for the J-school’s official opening day lecture on Monday morning. The speaker was Deborah Amos (see her bio), a star foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, who had just returned from an eight-week reporting trip to Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Dean Nicholas Lemann, who introduced her, said that for many people like him who are “chained to the ground” in New York, she was living their “fantasy life” - that of a foreign correspondent. He said, “It’s a strange but wonderful way to live and one of the most profound services a journalist can provide to the rest of the world.”

Speaking from prepared remarks, she gave a thoughtful, funny, inspirational talk and answered several questions from students.

You can listen to the entire talk at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/class_lectures.asp.

Here are some of the highlights:

• It’s goals, not roles, that matter in journalism.
  Her goals:
  Be a good journalist; accurately report the news; get as close to reality as possible.

• On covering war:
  Cover a war in your career
  - It will teach you about humanity.
  - You will see the best and worst in people, including your colleagues.

  Don’t cover too many wars
  - Know when it’s time to go home.
  - War is an addictive beat that can dry you up and make you cynical if your not careful.

• On foreign reporting:
  - Learn a foreign language if you can.
  - You are dependent on translators, and you really can’t get it all
  - It’s tempting to rely on English speakers, but you are limiting yourself to a particular class of people.

• On being a war correspondent:
  - Immersion is key to understanding the country.
  - You can move up in your career covering a war.
  - Best way to break into covering a war is to pick yourself up and go there.

• On the Middle East:
  - It’s what happens to civilians that’s important.
  - We need to concentrate on what happens in those communities
  - Hezbollah was an outcome of the Israeli invasion in 1982, and there will be an outcome of this one again, perhaps people more radical than Hezbollah.

• On journalism school:
  If you learn only one thing, learn how to write a clear sentence.

• On breaking into the radio industry:
  - It’s difficult, but not impossible.
  - Local stations over the years have developed large news departments
  Certain stations, such as WNYC, WBUR, as well as those in Portland, Seattle, etc, are great places to work and from their newsrooms you can pitch stories to NPR.

She is now concertrating on covering Islam. She said, “I have come to believe there is no clash of civilizations; there is a clash within a civilization… After all this time it’s the thing that I take the most satisfaction in learning a little bit more about.”

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Thanks to our AV and web staffs, audio recordings of two of our recent speakers are already online. How recent? How about Prof. Bruce Porter’s talk on writing a news story from THIS morning(!) and yesterday’s opening lecture by Deborah Amos, NPR foreign correspondent, just returned from a reporting trip in Syria.

I am listening to Prof. Porter’s advice right now…

You can catch these - as well as future recordings off the Student Resources page (look for “Recordings of Notable Class Lectures”) at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/class_lectures.asp

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).

Below, tips from an August visit by seven journalists - two from Indonesia and five from Morocco. Many thanks to volunteer notes-taker Elizabeth Berry, J2007. Feel free to drop her a note or post a comment below (free, one-time registration required).

Notes From… Meeting with Morocco/Indonesia Journalists
By Elizabeth Berry
E-mail: ecb2123[at]columbia.edu

ROOM 601B, AUG. 18, 2006 — “Why would anyone want to go into journalism in this country?”

After spending 20 days crisscrossing the United States, a group of five Moroccan journalists were still puzzled as to why anyone would want to participate in a news media they viewed as toothless and myopic.

These journalists, in addition to a pair from Indonesia, visited Columbia’s Journalism School as part of a U.S. State Department program that brings hundreds of international journalists each year to the U.S. They participated
in a forum with a group of more than 25 Columbia journalism students. During the hour-long session (the Moroccans had to run to a Blue Man Group
performance and the Indonesians were going to “Mama Mia”), the journalists had a spirited discussion with the students moderated by Dean Sreenivasan (who gave some historical background on Columbia, various current crises in American journalism and more).

One Indonesian journalist expressed concern that his country’s news media has been going in the direction of character assassination and such, and he was adamant that the media should be independent of the business interests that foster sensationalism.

The Moroccans (speaking through a French interpreter) said that in the time that they had been in the U.S., they had noticed that there was almost no coverage of international news beyond the wars in Lebanon and Iraq. One said, “I feel isolated; as if we were on an island.” He noted that in Morocco, he could watch channels from all over the world, whereas here it seemed like we were limited to American networks. At the same time, the Moroccans acknowledged that it was only a recent development that they could write negatively about
the royal family.

Columbia students explained aspects of how the American media works from their respective points of view. One factor cited for lack of in-depth foreign news: the fact that the country is geographically isolated from other countries, and therefore has less interest in the rest of the world. Another factor: the emphasis on local news over regional or world news. But they also mentioned that with large immigrant communities comes a plethora of perspectives—one student mentioned Spanish language media as providing a very different take on the news versus English language reports.

In the course of the discussion, Columbia students attempted to help the visitors understand why they wanted to become journalists here. Among them:
While the American news media may be embattled, it is worth fighting for.

In response to a question about job/internship opportunities in their countries for Columbia grads, the Moroccans said there are plenty of opporunities for French speakers. The Indonesians also indicated that there are internships available for US-trained journalists, even for those who only spoke English.

Students interested in pursuing such opportunities should e-mail the following gentlemen (referring to the Columbia meeting):

Morocco: Mohammed Rida Braim: editor, Maghreb Arab Press, Rabat
E-mail: braim30[at]yahoo.fr

Indonesia: Benny Butar-Butar, National Editor, ANTARA News Agency, Jakarta
E-mail: benny_butarbutar[at]yahoo.com

-30-

2006 Graduation Remarks by Dean Nicholas Lemann
May 17, 2006

Every year at our graduation ceremony I am permitted to pontificate for a few minutes, as long as I keep it brief. So, before we get to the part of the event that you all came for, I will offer just a few minutes of thoughts.

First, congratulations on graduating and good luck in your careers in journalism. This school is a curiously intense place, and, besides its educational benefits, that creates a strong emotional bond that tends to last. As soon as you come up here, cross this stage, and get your diplomas, you will be alumni. Please think of that as just a new a longer-lasting phase in your relationship with the school. In the short run, our career services office plans to be very much a part of your lives, if you need its ministrations, and in the long run I promise we will think of lots of ways to keep you connected to the Journalism School. To paraphrase what the hunky hero of my favorite reality TV show, “The Millionaire,” said in the final episode, we want to continue the journey.

Shortly after our school, which was founded in 1912, was reconstituted as a graduate school in 1934, the large room on the third floor that you all know as the Lecture Hall was made into a newsroom, and it remained so for two decades. The school then, according to James Boylan’s history, Pulitzer’s School, unhesitatingly saw itself as a training ground for newspaper reporters, and the newsroom was meant to replicate as precisely as possible the atmosphere in which the students would be working the following year.

After a long newspaper-only period, the Journalism School serially launched distinguished programs in other forms of journalism — television, radio, photography, magazines, books, online — but today, the more fundamental truth is that we of the faculty don’t know exactly what you, our new graduates, will wind up doing during your careers as journalists. Today the plurality of you enter the school saying you want to be magazine journalists; this time next year, the plurality of you will probably be working for newspapers. But as all of you know, newspaper circulation is gradually slipping, and the consensus in the profession is that the social function we perform is moving to the Internet.

Even in the short three years I have been dean here, it has been striking how much the school has moved in the direction of Internet journalism. I came here during an Internet bust, and now we are clearly entering another Internet boom. We have created a web site for student work, called The Columbia Journalist. We are now filling a newly created position called Assistant Dean for Technology. More and more of our classes, including the class I taught this year, are producing their journalistic work in digital form. Columbia Journalism Review now publishes daily on the Internet, as well as six times a year in magazine form. I doubt there is any news organization that does not have an Internet version of itself, in addition to the original version in whatever medium. The lines are blurring between the different categories of journalism around which our school organizes itself.

For you, our graduates, I would guess that producing journalism for delivery through the Internet will be a much larger part of your professional lives than it has been in the professional lives of most of us on the faculty. For the Journalism School, that raises the question of how we should change in response to the rise of Internet journalism. I am sure that every day for all of the time I am dean here, we will be thinking about that question in some way. I don’t think the answer is as easy as it might appear to be — which is to say that I won’t think the answer is that we should simply teach something called “Internet journalism,” or “convergence journalism,” to all our students.

We don’t really know yet what those terms mean. Journalism has only begun to tap the incredibly rich potential of this new medium, which can employ printed and spoken words, still and moving images, and raw and finished material, all at the same time, which can interact in real time with its audience, which can react more instantaneously, and also be less constrained by the news cycle, than other news media. On the Internet we can get news out more quickly, update it more easily, and keep it out longer, than anywhere else. Simply to teach people the technical skills associated with putting journalism up on a web site is to sell the Internet much too short.

Generally, over the next few years, we should be undertaking two somewhat contradictory missions with respect to the Internet. We should be exploring as fully as we can the overarching principles of great journalism — the things that transcend any medium of transmission. These would include ethics, a sense of the history of our profession (which seems much more relevant at moments when journalistic history is unfolding before our eyes), the most powerful and most penetrating ways of gathering and assessing information, even when it is difficult and technical, and clear, engaging, accurate means of presentation. At the same time, we should be thinking of Internet journalism in particular not so much in terms of basic technological skills — those are only the beginning — but as an enormous untapped opportunity to expand the limits of what is possible in our profession. As a school, we have the luxury of functioning as an experimental laboratory, and the Internet, with its low barriers to entry, provides an ideal occasion for us to do this. Finally, we should be using our fortunate position as one of the main places in the world where thinking about the state of journalism goes on to conduct an ongoing conversation about how what we teach here — reporting — can establish itself as strongly as possible on the Internet, even as that medium also enables a historic flowering of individual, non-professional political and cultural commentary.

We will have fun working on all this at the school, but you will have more fun doing it out in the world. Please don’t be afraid of the changes coming in journalism. If you remain loyal to the core values and skills you have learned here — honesty, curiosity, fairness, clarity, thoroughness — you will be doing something all societies desperately needs, and that is also as consistently challenging and stimulating as any professional endeavor. You are off on a great adventure: enjoy it.

At Graduation each year, the J-school Faculty invites two speakers to address the students at two separate events. One is the main commencement speech, given by the winner of the Columbia Journalism Award (the school’s highest honor). This year’s speaker, in front of the students, families and guests, was Jim Amoss, editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. You can read his remarks here.

The other is the Pringle Lecture, given on Journalism Day (an event without parents and guests - just the Faculty and students). This year, the speaker was Farnaz Fassihi, J’99, Middle East correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. She was introduced by Prof. Sig Gissler, who taught her in the Spring 1999 semester - his remarks are below. You can read her speech here.

Introduction of Farnaz Fassihi
By Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes

Columbia Journalism School
Pringle Lecture
May 16, 2006

In October of 1999, an EgyptAir jetliner plunged out of the clam night sky into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket killing all 217 persons aboard.

The Staff of the Providence Journal mobilized.
The plane had just fallen off the radar screen.
There were fears of pilot suicide.
It was a huge story.

During the newsroom hubbub, Farnaz Fassihi, a new Columbia journalism school graduate working in a suburban bureau, was basically overlooked.

Nonetheless, she pitched a piece on the religious implications of the crash.

After all, the pilots and most victims were Muslim. While the staff chased the big story, Farnaz pursued her angle – showing, among other things, the value of newsroom diversity.

Soon, using her knowledge of Islam, she bonded with the imam who would be at the heart of the saga as survivors arrived from Egypt. Farnaz broke one exclusive story after another, so impressing editors that they sent her to Cairo for further reports. Her work won a major award and she was a finalist for a Livingston Award, given to outstanding journalists under 35.

Columbia professors who had Farnaz as a student were not surprised.

Courage, tenacity, charm and resourcefulness had been her trademarks.

Soon, she moved to the Star-Ledger in New Jersey, covering Elizabeth, a tough urban community.

After 9/11, as the United States prepared to invade Afghanistan, Farnaz made another pitch. She convinced Star-Ledger editors to give her a crack at covering the conflict. Again, her work sparkled. The paper proudly entered it in the Pulitzer Prize competition for international reporting where, I can say on good authority, the entry was highly regarded by the jury.

In 2002, she caught the eye of The Wall Street Journal, still reeling from the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl at the hands of terrorists. Before naming her its Middle East correspondent, the paper called around.

“Is she reckless?” a Journal editor asked me.

“No,” I said. “But she is gutsy…and tireless.”

Soon this new Journal reporter would underscore those traits amid the awesome perils of Iraq.
* * *
Farnaz was born in the United States of Iranian parents and went to college in Iran. She was hooked on journalism while working as a translator for Western reporters visiting Iran.

Later, she worked as a stringer for the foreign desk of The New York Times in Iran and for the paper’s metro desk in New York City.

Then, came the Columbia training that helped propel her forward.

For Farnaz, foreign reporting was the dream job. However, the war in Iraq altered everything – including what it means to be a correspondent in a combat zone.

Early in the conflict, Farnaz roamed freely in sandals and T-shirt. But as journalists became targets, security concerns dominated her day.

In 2004, she wrote about the terrible transformation in an eloquent private e-mail to friends. Soon, it ricocheted around the world and Farnaz became the center of a presidential election-year controversy (which she will tell you about).

The message has been memorialized in a new book, “Women’s Letters,’’ a collection of letters from the American revolution to the present. Farnaz is in good company – from Dolly Madison to Louisa May Alcott and Jackie Kennedy. Farnaz’s e-mail is the final piece in the book.

However, her portfolio of work is also rich with distinguished reporting on all aspects of the Iraqi conflict. In her array of news features, profiles and analytical pieces — notable for fresh perspectives and memorable details –- the full tragic struggle emerges.

Today, Farnaz is the Journal’s senior Middle East correspondent headquartered in Beirut. Although an occasional trip to Iraq likely, her focus will be on other Middle East issues.

Please welcome an inspiring young colleague, Farnaz Fassihi….

Read Farnaz’s speech here:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2006/Farnazremarks.asp.

If you want to go back one year, you can also read the 2005 graduation
speech by David Halberstam:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2005/halberstam.asp

Many thanks to Ariel Brewster, J2006, for sharing these notes from the recent lunch with Seth Lipsky of The New York Sun.

Notes From A Publisher’s Roundtable with Seth Lipsky of The New York Sun

By Ariel Brewster, J2006
aeb2133[at]columbia.edu

New York Sun publisher Seth Lipsky came to talk about the management side of journalism during a Publisher’s Roundtable discussion with students at the Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday, May 3, 2006.

Lipsky founded the New York Sun four years ago, and was the editor of The Forward for 10 years. Lipsky started his career as a stringer for Time Magazine when he was a student at Harvard, and was offered a position there after graduation, but turned it down to go work for the Anniston Star in Alabama during the Civil Rights movement. He was then drafted and spent two years in the Army, working first for the Army Digest and then for Stars and Stripes as a combat reporter in Vietnam. He then worked for the Wall Street Journal, launching both their Europe and Asia editions.

The New York Sun was launched in April 2002 with a circulation of 20,000. Ads are growing at a rate of 58% a year, but the paper is still losing about $1 million a month, Lipsky said. (The NY Post loses about $20-70 million a year, he said.) Lipsky said that his 21 investors don’t care that they’re losing money — they “just want a good newspaper for this town.” But, he said,
“our goal is profitable publication of a newspaper and we are working our way toward it.”

The Sun was originally sold for 25 cents at the newsstand, but advertisers thought that was “chintzy,” so the paper upped the price to 50 cents, and it may increase to $1 sometime in the near future, Lipsky said.

The Sun’s website has 580,000 unique visitors per month and 4 million page views per month. The site is now free, but Lipsky predicted that they may start charging for archives and some material (with something similar to TimesSelect).

Lipsky described himself as a Democrat with some Reaganite politics. When asked about the cultural and political ideals with which he founded the New York Sun, Lipsky listed his and his paper’s beliefs: pro-labor, a limited but honest government, strong foreign policy, constitutionality, and low taxes, among others.

Lipsky talked about the entrepreneurial element of his personality. Despite what his investors may think, he joked, he considers himself a decent businessman (He once even tried to get an ad salesman position at the WSJ, but was turned down). He compared the newspaper business to high-low poker and referred to spreadsheets as “just the dipstick.” You’re either all guilty or all innocent when it comes to decisions and divisions of news coverage and editorial content, Lipsky said.

Students asked Lipsky how he knows when the time is right to start up a new paper. Lipsky answered that he looks for a story big enough to start that paper; in Asia it was capitalism and communism, in Europe it was the climactic years of the Cold War, and in New York with The Forward in 1991 it was, he said, a “moment” in Jewish identity after the anti-Semitic riots in Crown Heights.

With the Sun, Lipsky thought the NY Times was becoming too national, giving national advertisers preference and relegating local stories to the Metro section. So Lipsky saw an opening the market and they launched the Sun with the slogan, “New York on Page One.” But the Times editors quickly countered by moving one B1 story onto A1 with an easy (and at no cost) click of the mouse. So the Sun built up its Washington efforts and started doing more national and international stories. Lipsky thinks that lots of people who love the NY Times still want another paper, and focus groups confirm this. (Dean Lemann then pointed out that one of Lipsky’s business partners used to run SmarterTimes.com, a daily critique of the Times, that now redirects to NYSun.com).

Lipsky also said that he thinks there’s nothing wrong with a paper having a few “pet issues.” At the Sun, the include the Columbia Middle East professor controversy, the debate over eminent domain and allegations of corruption at the United Nations. Lipsky pointed out that in the 1800s the New York Tribune organized, armed, and sent New Yorkers to settle in Kansas during the slavery issue, and he sees nothing wrong with that. That was an era of ascendant newspapers, and he’s worried that now we’re in an era of descendant newspapers. We shouldn’t be worried about Chinese walls. In fact, Lipsky said that he always asks reporters what their politics are, but has never rejected a job applicant because of their politics. He likes candidates to have politics, and to be excited about issues. Lipsky observed that his staff is, in fact, “fairly diverse.”

Both Lipsky’s most recent papers have had good arts coverage and culture sections, he noted, which he attributes to the people he’s hired to run those parts of the paper. Lipsky himself paints every day, and has an interest in the arts (though he admits he knows nothing about sports).

When the group asked about the merits of working at a small, economically imperiled organization versus working at a more established place, Lipsky advised students to work at a smaller paper where you can get more bylines and do more. You can have enormous impact even with a small circulation, he said. Instead of inching up the career ladder at a big organization, he recommended going somewhere else and then “circling back in later.”

To close, Lipsky offered his best advice for younger journalists starting out: Learn grammar, he said, because it’s the foundation of all logic, and second, eschew careerism and go for the story.

-30-

- Columbia Journalism School main website -

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.

NOTES FROM… SPJ Evening with Christopher Allbritton
Monday, Sept. 26, 2005

By Audrey Dutton
E-mail: ard2113@columbia.edu

An Evening with Christopher Allbritton
Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University Chapter

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Room 607a
September 26, 2005, 5-6:30 p.m.

Christopher Allbritton, who writes for TIME, described his
experience covering Iraq and his “circuitous” career path, in a
chat session with j-school students on Monday evening.

Allbritton (J’97) began his career reporting on technology for the
AP and New York Daily News. Then in 2002, he anticipated a war in
Iraq and traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan. He reported and wrote during
his two-month stay, but none of his stories sold when he returned
to the United States because he “didn’t do the legwork” beforehand
to secure relationships with editors. A year later, he returned to
Iraq, after raising $11,000 in donations through his blog. By his
third trip to Iraq in 2004, he was working for TIME as a Middle
East correspondent.

Reporting in Iraq leads to “compassion fatigue,” Allbritton said. He
called Iraq the “single most dangerous place to be for a
journalist,” and said one major pitfall of the reporting is finding
reliable sources, with “everyone lying to you on a continual basis.”
Another frustration he cited is his limited ability to write stories
with creative approaches, saying that CNN and New York Times “lead
the agenda” for coverage.

Allbritton touched on embedding with the military; working with
Iraqi translators and stringers; the need for women reporters in
Iraq; and his concern that Kurds are “constantly under-covered” in
the press.

Allbritton’s blog on the Middle East and war reporting is at
http://www.back-to-iraq.com

Another in the “Notes From…” series. Many thanks to Kat McGrory for
volunteering to write this set. If you have notes to share from event
around school or elsewhere, pass them along.

NOTES FROM… SPJ Evening with Pratap Chatterjee
Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005

By Kathleen McGrory, SPJ Secretary
E-mail: kmm2152@columbia.edu

An Evening with Pratap Chatterjee
Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University Chapter

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Room 601C
September 20, 2005, 5-7 p.m.

Pratap Chatterjee is the managing editor of CorpWatch, a watchdog group
that is critical of corporations. The organization’s website -
http://www.corpwatch.com - is home to news, investigative pieces and
analysis on the subject.

Chatterjee also recently published “Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation,”
his investigative report on corporations in Iraq during the first year of
occupation. For more information on the book, see
http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100484530.

In addition, Chatterjee has worked in print, radio and digital
media. He hosts a weekly radio show on the Berkely station KPFA and
also works as a correspondent for the InterPress Service.

In a nutshell:
Chatterjee discussed his new book “Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable
Occupation,” the investigative process (including a handful of
helpful tips, see below), and the world of alternative media.

In detail:
Chatterjee began by describing “Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable
Occupation.” He said he approached the book as a financial
journalist, eager to investigate the various industries and
corporations in American-occupied Iraq. Chatterjee said the
companies were reluctant to talk to him. “If they are open to
public scrutiny then they are subject to trouble,” he said. “If you
have a history of being an activist or progressive or even critical,
then they don’t want to talk to you.” This being so, the bulk of his
information came from “whistleblowers on the ground,” locals, many
of whom were employed by foreign corporations, that were willing to
talk. He expanded on this when discussing tips for investigative
reporting.

Chatterjee also noted that he often subscribes to tradition of new
journalism. “Putting the journalist in the story, especially in the
case of Iraq, adds color to the piece.”

In discussing his book, Chatterjee offered the following tips for
investigative reporting:
• Spend a lot of time on the ground talking to people. They will
often be your best sources.
• Be persistant. People will often tell you “no.” You get the
information by continually pushing.
• Go there. Don’t just make phone calls. While attempting to write a
story on the training of interrogators, Chatterjee was initially
rebuffed by U.S. Military officials. Chatterjee then just showed up
at the Southern Arizona base where the training too place. He was
ultimately given access. [A great read:
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27860 ]
• Be enterprising. Think Seymour Hirsch.
• Know people on the inside. “You have to be embedded, but not in
the way the military wants you to be embedded. Know people.”
Insiders make great sources.
• Wherever you go, take as many notes as possible. Note what you ate
that day, what you saw, how you felt. You’ll be able to recall
details and make sense of your notes better. “No level of detail
should escape you.”
• Be happy with yourself if you find another story than the one you
set out to write. Go forward with an open mind. Don’t worry so much
about proving your thesis.
• Draw flow charts to put things together. And know that you’ll
often put things together wrong.
• Be patient. Remember that investigative reporting isn’t news
reporting. A good piece could take months to complete. That means
you might miss a good story or two. (Chatterjee was in Iraq
reporting on corporations when Saddam Hussein was arrested in
Tikrit. He chose not to cover that story in order to remain focused
on his investigative piece. He also skipped out on another excursion
to Falljuah in which his buddies ended up getting kidnapped. You win
some, you lose some.)
• Focus, focus, focus.
• Know your beat well.
• Protect, cultivate and love your sources. People won’t tell you
stories unless they know you and they trust you. (Chatterjee once
helped a homeless source find a place to live. He tends to get very
involved with the subjects of his stories.)
• Be creative. Sometimes you need others to get the information on
your behalf (especially if you are a well-known critic).

Chatterjee then discussed CorpWatch and the alternative media.

CorpWatch is by a small group of private investors who are
interested in investigative reporting. Chatterjee noted that he
spends most of his time fundraising. He spends only a quarter of
his time as an investigative journalist.

He added that there is very little money in alternative media. One way to make
money is to go across media. That is, sell a piece in print and then sell it
for radio or television. Another way is to be very enterprising — go where the
other reporters simply aren’t willing to go. Chatterjee also suggested making
your own media a la David Enders in “Baghdad Bulletin” [
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=100388 ].

On the beauty of technology: “If you re willing to put in the time
and you believe in your story, you can put it out there relatively
cheaply.” Websites cost only a few dollars a month.

On reading CorpWatch: “All of our articles are available online. We
want people to steal our stuff.”

Chatterjee then took questions from the audience. See summaries
below.

Q: Do you worry about having such a narrow audience?
Chatterjee responded that his stories often get picked up by the
mainstream media, although Chatterjee himself is usually used as a
background source. “The information is getting out there, even if
it isn’t getting published under my name,” he said. “So even if my
name isn’t on the piece, the piece is still out there and the
change still occurs. I’m happy about that.” Chatterjee went on to
describe the difficulties of being “completely out-classed” by the
mainstream media. He also noted his frustration that stories
carried by alternative sources often do not make the mainstream
news.

Q: If you were in the Bush Administration, what would you have done
differently in Iraq?
Chatterjee said he would have hired more experienced companies,
noting that many of the businesses currently in Iraq have no prior
experience and are thieves. “If I was a Republican, which I’m not,
I’d make sure there was transparency and accountability, and hire
people with a track record in this business before.” He also said
he disagrees with hiring American workers to work in Iraq in lieu
of giving jobs to Iraqis.

Q: What do you think about blogs?
On the whole, he is skeptical. “There are good blogs. There are bad
blogs. There are people that just rant and get their information
out there.” According to Chatterjee, the “good blogs” are those
with good information that will be able to stand the test of time —
links often expire, rendering blogs past-their-time.

He ended by noting that CorpWatch is always looking for freelancers.
They publish every week and pay $500 an article - “that’s more than
the San Francisco Chronicle pays!”

Chatterjee is looking for four things:
• Color: He especially likes stories told in the new journalistic
tradition. Think Rolling Stone.
• Context: Why is this issue important?
• Corporation: Talk to someone inside the corporation, not just PR.
• Community: How does the issue actually affect people’s lives?

-30-

THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED AND SOLD OUT. WATCH FOR FUTURE EVENTS.

We have five seats from our friends at the Council on Foreign Relations. These events are typically only for working press, but they are opening up the seats for a few Columbia J-school folks.

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
*New York On-The-Record Meeting*

A Conversation with Romano Prodi

Speaker:
ROMANO PRODI
Prime Minister, Italy

Presider:
RICHARD N. GARDNER
Senior Counsel, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1977-81

Date: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Camera Set-Up Time: 7:00 - 7:30 a.m.

Press Registration: 7:30 - 7:45 a.m.

Meeting Time: 7:45 - 8:45 a.m.

Location: Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street New York, NY 10021

Open to Council members and accredited journalists only.
Business attire is required.
Please arrive on time and stay for the duration of the meeting.

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Cheers, Deans Sreenivasan & Huff

Prof. Bruce Porter, J’62, gives a terrific annual lecture on how to write the Master’s Project. You can listen to his fall 2004 lecture in Quicktime format here.