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

May 15, 2013

EVENT: Video Storytelling Workshop and the 100+ Project

Please come explore the future according to the Video Storytelling Workshop and their 100+ Project!

As the Journalism School winds down its 100 year celebration, video storytelling students from the centennial class look at trends and innovations that will influence the 21st century–everything from 3D printing to cutting-edge pursuits by some recent J-School graduates. Find out more in the attached press release and on social media: Facebook.com/The100PlusProject and @The100Plus
on Twitter.

We hope to see you there, tomorrow, May 16 at 4 p.m. in the Stabile Center. Refreshments will be served!

April 22, 2013

MEMO: Graduation Awards for M.S. & M.A. Students

Attn: Graduating Students
From: Dean Huff
Re: Year-end Awards for M.S. & M.A. Students
April 22, 2013
http://bit.ly/CUJ_Awards13

Each year on Journalism Day the school confers awards on several top-performing students. Each prize winner will receive a certificate and some will receive additional cash prizes (this depends on how the awards were originally set up). Below you will find the descriptions of this year’s awards.

These awards are open to any M.S. students graduating in this cycle (May 2013, Feb. 2013 and Oct. 2012). Some awards are also open to M.A. students – noted in each award description.

There are two broad categories of awards: those for which students can submit entries that are judged by faculty juries and those decided by the professors teaching the course for which they are awarded – no submissions are accepted for these.

Please note: The Blood award is run by an alumni committee and has already accepted submissions.

Another prize, the Harron Award, is decided by a faculty committee from nominations provided by the J-school community – see separate announcement). All M.S., M.A., Knight Bagehot, and Ph.D. students are eligible.

For juried awards, you may submit applications for no more than two categories (the Blood Award is not part of the limit), and each application can contain only one story, or segment of a Master’s Project/Thesis. Submissions must conform to the parameters (word count; video length; type of work) listed in the award description below.

The decisions of the faculty judges are final, and their deliberations are confidential.

To submit, please complete this form. In addition, for audio & video submissions, please also bring five copies of a labeled disk to Lauren Mack in 207A by Tuesday, April 30, at noon. If you are coming after business hours, please drop off the entries through the slot of the gray box outside of the DOS offices (Huff/Sotomayor).

If you are entering more than one category, you must complete a separate form for each entry (note: no more than two categories per student, not including Blood).

You can also read about how students graduate with honors in this DOS Blog post about year-end awards and grading.

FAQs about all this at the end of this post.

If you have any questions, please address them to dos@jrn.columbia.edu.

Regards,

Dean Huff

AWARDS TAKING SUBMISSIONS (descriptions below):

  • Blood Award for reporting (closed)
  • duPont/Judy F. Crichton Award - (M.A. eligible)
  • Hechinger Education Journalism Award - (M.A. eligible)
  • Horgan Prizes (3) for science reporting (M.S. Science Writing seminar only)
  • Journalism Editorial - (M.A. eligible)
  • Mencher Award for superior reporting
  • Wechsler for local reporting - (M.A. eligible)
  • Wechsler for national reporting - (M.A. eligible)
  • Wechsler for international reporting - (M.A. eligible)

AWARDS NOT TAKING SUBMISSIONS:

  • Best M.A. Thesis (M.A. only)
  • Balakian Award for writing about literature - (M.A. eligible)
  • Baker Award for City Newsroom
  • Baker Award for CNS
  • Baker Award for New York World
  • Baker Award for Magazine Workshops
  • Greer Award for financial writing (one M.S. & one M.A.)
  • Peter Keller Award for Editing
  • Joan Konner Broadcast Journalism Award
  • Lynton Fellowship in Book Writing (All Book seminar students eligible)
  • Nelson Award for national affairs reporting
  • Digital Media Workshop Award
  • Nightly News Workshop Award
  • Photography Award
  • Radio Workshop Award
  • Best Performance in Law Class
  • Taylor Award for best international student (M.A. eligible)
  • Video Storytelling Workshop Award
  • Louis Winnick Prize for RWI Writing

AWARD WITH NOMINATIONS FROM J-SCHOOL COMMUNITY

  • Harron Award or excellence in reporting as well as exemplary kindness and courtesy to fellow students (see separate announcement) [Whole school eligible]

2013 STUDENT PRIZES IN DETAIL

AWARDS TAKING SUBMISSIONS

THE RICHARD BLOOD AWARD
The Richard Blood Award is given to the student – judged by a panel of the former professor’s students – to have written the best investigative, hard-news or news feature story (closed).

THE DUPONT/JUDY F. CRICHTON AWARD (M.A. eligible)
The duPont/Judy F. Crichton Award is named in commemoration of the former duPont-Columbia Awards juror, who during her career served as one of the first female documentary producers at “CBS Reports;” and who became the founding Executive Producer of PBS’ show, the “American Experience.” It honors student video work that most encapsulizes Judy’s ideals of hard-hitting journalism, long-form narrative storytelling, and historical perspective on issues of concern to American culture and history. Entries can be posted on Vimeo or Youtube, or on DVD’s There is no time limit on material. Questions? Contact Abi Wright, Director of the duPont Awards: awright@columbia.edu.

THE FRED M. HECHINGER EDUCATION JOURNALISM AWARD (M.A. eligible)
This award is given to a student who produces outstanding work in education reporting. This award was established by the Hechinger Institute on Media and Education at Teachers College, in honor of The New York Times education editor, Fred M. Hechinger. Stories are accepted in television, digital media, radio and print. There is no length restriction. Judges will be looking for insight and excellence in reporting and writing.

HORGAN PRIZES
There are three Horgan awards given to the students who have produced the best stories focused on science, health or the environment in the M.S. science writing seminar. No length restrictions.

JOURNALISM EDITORIAL
This award recognizes excellence in editorial writing. Opinion pieces such as editorials, commentaries, and essays with a strong point of view are eligible. Entries must not exceed 1,000 words.

MELVIN MENCHER REPORTING AWARD
The Melvin Mencher Award was established by the students, friends and associates of Professor Melvin Mencher, the man who wrote that text book, who retired in 1990. The award recognizes superior reporting on local government activity (including education, social services, politics, health, etc.). Only print entries of no more than 2,000 words will be considered. Print Master’s Projects are welcome but must be excerpted or condensed so that they fit the word limit.

THE JAMES A. WECHSLER MEMORIAL AWARDS (M.A. eligible)
The first James A. Wechsler Memorial Award is presented to the student who, in the judgment of the Faculty, submits the best story (no more than 750 words) on a significant local issue. The awards were established by the Pisces Foundation in memory of the former editor and columnist at The New York Post. The second James A. Wechsler Memorial Award is presented to the student who submits the best story (no more than 750 words) on a significant national issue. The final James A. Wechlser memorial Award is presented to the student who submits the best story (no more than 750 words) on a significant international issue. Word counts are non-negotiable and submissions with a higher count will not be considered.

AWARDS NOT TAKING SUBMISSIONS:

BEST M.A. THESIS
This award honors the best M.A. thesis as determined by the deans.

THE NONA BALAKIAN AWARD (M.A. eligible)
The Nona Balakian Award was established in 1992 to honor the student who shows the most promise for achievement in writing about literature. Ms. Balakian, a 1943 graduate of the Journalism School, was an editor at The New York Times Book Review and had much influence on American arts and letters for more than four decades. Students are nominated by faculty and then the nominees will be asked to submit work samples. Book reviews, profiles and articles about the literary world are acceptable.

THE RICHARD T. BAKER AWARDS
The Richard T. Baker Award for outstanding performance in the Newspaper workshops – City Newsroom, New York World, Columbia News Service – was established in honor of the late Dick Baker, a J-School graduate and long-time professor who also served as acting dean, associate dean, historian and administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. The second Richard T. Baker Award is for outstanding performance in the Magazine workshops.

PHILIP GREER MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND AWARD (one M.S. & one M.A.)
The Philip Greer Memorial Scholarship Fund Award, presented for the first time in 1988, was established in honor of the late Mr. Greer, a financial correspondent and columnist for the New York Herald-Tribune and The Washington Post, to recognize the outstanding students in financial writing.

THE ROBERT HARRON AWARD
The Robert Harron Award is presented to the student who has demonstrated excellence in writing and reporting as well as exemplary kindness and courtesy to fellow students. The award was established in memory of Robert Harron, the former sportswriter and long-time assistant to the presidents of this university, through gifts from his many friends. (Call for nominations)

THE PETER KELLER PRIZE FOR EDITING
The Peter Keller Prize is presented to a student who shows great promise in editing. This award is made possible by a gift from Lisa Keller Yakas and Saky Yakas.

THE JOAN KONNER AWARD
This prize is presented to the student who has produced the most thought-provoking and original television and radio reporting.

THE LYNTON FELLOWSHIP IN BOOK WRITING (All students in the Book Writing Seminar are eligible)
Lynton Fellowship in Book Writing is given for outstanding work in the Book Writing seminar.

THE LARS-ERIK NELSON PRIZE
The Lars-Erik Nelson Prize was established by the New York Daily News, in honor of Lars-Erik Nelson, its distinguished Washington columnist, who died in 2000. It is presented to a student for best reporting or opinion piece in the National Affairs Reporting seminar.

THE DIGITAL MEDIA WORKSHOP AWARDS
This award is for outstanding performance in the Digital Media Workshops.

THE NIGHTLY NEWS AWARD
This award is given for outstanding performance in Nightly News Workshop.

THE RADIO WORKSHOP AWARD
This award is for outstanding performance in the Radio Workshop.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN THE LAW CLASS
This award is for outstanding performance in the Law Class.

THE HENRY N. TAYLOR AWARD
The Henry N. Taylor Award was established in 1962 by friends of Henry Taylor, a journalist who was killed on assignment in the Congo at the age of 31. The award is given at the end of each school year to that member of the International Division who has demonstrated the qualities of a superior journalist. The award includes a grant providing for travel in the United States before returning to his or her homeland.

THE VIDEO STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
This award is for outstanding performance in Video Storytelling Workshop.

THE LOUIS WINNICK PRIZE FOR RWI
This award in memory of Louis Winnick, is given to the best story done in RWI in the previous calendar year. The story must demonstrate outstanding reporting and writing, along with great precision and accuracy in grammar.

FAQs ABOUT AWARD SUBMISSIONS

Over the years, students have asked questions along these lines:

  • Can I submit more than one entry per award?
    THE ANSWER: No, you cannot. We want you to pick the best story and submit it, rather than send in more than one for any one award.
  • Can I really only submit entries in two awards?
    THE ANSWER: We want you to pick up to two awards and submit stories for those only. The Blood Award is not part of that quota.
  • Can I submit same piece for two different awards?
    THE ANSWER: Yes, you may submit the same story for two different awards.
  • Can I submit a double-bylined story or a team production in broadcast or digital media?
    THE ANSWER: Yes, you may. Each year, multi-person entries do win awards.
  • All questions to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

March 13, 2013

STUDENT WORK: Religio Relaunches

Religio, the website of Prof. Ari Goldman’s “Covering Religion” Spring seminar, has relaunched.

Please go to www.coveringreligion.org to find Religio: Exploring Faiths Through Italy. You can follow the group on Twitter here: @Religio13.

The class leaves on Thursday, March 14, for a week of reporting in Rome. They will be covering the end of the papal conclave and, if all goes well, the installation mass for the new pope. There will also be articles about other religious groups in Italy as well as well as with photos, videos and travelogs.

You can also view pieces filed from New York during the first few weeks of the class, student profiles and archives of previous trips to India, Ireland, the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia and the American South.

Please join me in wishing the group the very best and be sure to check out:

Website: www.coveringreligion.org

Twitter: @Religio13

Hashtag: #cujrome

November 6, 2012

ANNOUNCEMENT: SPJ Launches Student Newswire

SPJ is excited to announce the launch of a newswire to help students get their work published!!

The SPJ Student Newswire will be a collection of the best stories written or produced by Columbia Journalism students, sent out twice a month and free of charge to publications around New York City.

Last year, publications like The Huffington Post, The New York Daily News, The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated the Nieman Lab at Harvard and many others expressed interest in the wire.

SUBMISSION RULES:
To be eligible for submission, a story must have been edited by a professor and not have been published on the class’s website.

For the first run please submit your best stories by Monday,November 12, 2012

To submit your stories-
Go to http://spjnewswire.jrn.columbia.edu/
Username: cujstudent
Password: $PJnewswire1

Please include links for images, audio and video stories in the text submission.

VETTING:
Over a one-week period the submissions will be vetted by a group of
10 readers and the best stories will go on the wire. The wire will be password protected and accessible to publishers.
The story’s authors will retain full ownership of the stories in all instances. The authors whose stories are picked up for publication will be notified by SPJ.

Stories that are not put on the final wire will be put on the open access public page of the newswire.

For any questions please contact the News Wire Chairs below. (A special thanks to Keith Collins for his tireless work in setting up the Newswire website)

Keith Collins kc2766@columbia.edu
Harman Boparai hsb2129@columbia.edu
Tanay Warerkar tw2401@columbia.edu

_______________________________________________

April 17, 2009

SCREENING: New Media Shot Documentary Film Screening

WHAT: New Media Shot Documentary Film Screening
WHEN: April 21, 2009 (Tues). 6:30 to 9 PM
WHERE: Stabile Student Center, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

FREE and open to students and guests

Please join us for the screening of short documentaries produced by Columbia J-School New Media students as a part of their masters projects. These films include intimate portraits of Brooklyn step dancers, modern-day hobos, obsessive hoarders, bagel makers, and former Wall Streeters coming to terms with their new lives. The filmmakers will be available for questions. Full program below.

New Media Short Documentary Films (2009) Program:

Brooklyn Step (27 min)
Produced by Celina Canales, Dana Chivvis, Mariel S. Clark.
Description: The Brooklyn Tech High School step teams take time away from their school work, families, friends, and jobs to practice a dance they love.


My Life After Bear (10 min)

Produced by Chikodi Chima, Heather Grossmann, and Alan Haburchak
Description: In the aftermath of Bear Stearns’ collapse, a former employee shows the human side of the bank’s failure.


Debugging and Decluttering (4 min)

Produced by Karn Dhingra, Jacquelyn Kasuya, Ben Piven
Description: Frederick’s belongings are packed up and moved out by Magic Exterminating so that his studio apartment can be fumigated for bed bugs.


Hostage to Hoarding (4 min)

Produced by Karn Dhingra, Jacquelyn Kasuya, Ben Piven
Description: Having cluttered her East Village apartment for decades, ex-actress Fran begins to combat her problem.


Paliative Care (5 min)

Produced by Greg Emerson Bocquet, Gaia Pianigiani, and Paul Daniel Stephens
Description: In palliative care, there are good deaths and there are bad deaths. Hear the hospital team describe this aspect of end-of-life care.


Hunger (2 min)

Produced by Jamie Oppenheim, Parul Malik, Owen Kiben
Description: escription: Eric Johnson, the 44-year old luxury bus driver was laid off before Christmas. From having a respectable annual income of $54000, today Johnson and his wife have to do multiple rounds of food pantries. But they have not lost faith.


Rise of the Machines (4 min)

Produced by Nicole Breskin, Jenny Brown, and Jeff Otieno
Description: How bagel machines de-ethnicized the bagel and made it an American phenomenon.


Wheat Crisis Havoc (2 min)

Produced by Nicole Breskin, Jenny Brown, and Jeff Otieno
Description: How the wheat crisis hurt business for New York bagel bakers like never before.


Hoop Knight (26 min)

Produced by Collin Crowell and Chris Kieffer
Description: A short documentary film chronicling the nationally-ranked Mount Vernon Knights high school boys’ basketball team and the season it almost lost.


Two Rivers in DC (5 min)
Produced by Lina Ejeilat, Khalil Jetha
Description: Traditional Jazz meets Iraqi Maqam in Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Concert at the Freer & Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C.


Rail Riders (9 min)

Produced by Eric Baliantz, Alex Lowther, and Meredith Melnick.
Description: An exploration of the contemporary freight train rider.


The Making of Rail Riders (2 min)

Produced by Eric Baliantz, Alex Lowther, and Meredith Melnick.
Description: A romp through the sand line with Team Hobo.

———————————————————–
Duy Linh Tu
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice
Coordinator, New Media Program
Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University
2950 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
P: 212.851.0791
F: 212.851.0751
E: dnt3@columbia.edu

April 16, 2009

SCREENING: MS ’09 Radio Master’s Project Presentations

The broadcast department invites you to a screening and discussion of four of the MS ’09 radio master’s projects.

WHEN AND WHERE:

April 21, Room 607C

SCHEDULE:

3 p.m. Devin Dwyer, “The Social Media Revolution @ Work”

4 p.m. Adi Narayan, “Musical Healing, Then and Now”

5 p.m. Eleanor Boudreau, “Poetry: The Underappreciated Art”

6 p.m. Hannah Yi, “Pop Justice: The Intersection of Celebrity Culture and Social Justice”

See you there……and stay tuned for four more screenings April 28, when you can hear radio master’s projects by Kirk Carapezza, Sheena Lee, Dan O’Donnell, and Smriti Rao.

Ann Cooper

Broadcast Director

Graduate School of Journalism

Columbia University

2950 Broadway

New York, NY 10027

212-854-9696

akc24@columbia.edu

August 5, 2008

NEW SITE: Columbia/News21’s “Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears”

Filed under: Student work

I wanted to draw your attention to the launch of “Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears,” the Columbia News21 project for “What’s At Stake: Election 08,” http://newsinitiative.org/project/immigration_new_voters_old_fears

From a creative, animated home page to the wide array of richly
interactive, multimedia stories inside, “Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears” is a remarkable and innovative news website.

It was created by 10 News21 Fellows working in the 801 Lab under the guidance of project coordinator John B. Judis of The New Republic, along with Adjunct Prof. Adam Glenn as managing editor, and Dean of Students Melanie Huff. Also consulting on the project were Prof. Duy Linh Tu, coordinator of the New Media Program, and Adjunct Prof. Russell Chun, along with New Media Fellows Dave Mayers and Kenan Davis, and J’07 grad Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.

Over 10 weeks, the fellows traveled around the country to better understand the political impact of immigrants and immigration. A massive wave of legal - and illegal - immigrants is transforming the United States, changing the way we live and vote, inspiring hope of national renewal, but also provoking fear and resentment. Our team of journalists explores the impact on this year’s election, and beyond.

The News21 project is a journalism initiative of the Carnegie and Knight foundations and 44 students from five universities (Columbia, UC Berkeley, USC, Medill, Harvard) worked on an overall site, “What’s At Stake:
Election ‘08.”

This is the third year of a three-year cycle for News21. The program recently was expanded with new schools and renewed for another three years. Watch for news this fall how members of the Class of 2009 can participate next spring and summer.

Congrats to the entire team!

Please take a look at their work at:
http://newsinitiative.org/project/immigration_new_voters_old_fears

May 6, 2008

WINNER: 2007 Master’s Project wins Webby

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences has just announced the Webby award winners for this year.

The 2008 Webby Award for the best student site was awarded to Defining Middle Ground: The Next Generation of Muslim New Yorkers - http://definingmiddleground.com/

It is the 2007 Master’s Project site of Tara Kyle, Bilal Qureshi and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.

Webby Award Winner Announcement

April 27, 2008

STUDENT WORK: Kyle Murphy’s op-ed in the the Sunday New York Times

Filed under: Student work

Kyle K. Murphy, a former lieutenant in the New York Police Department, is a current M.S. student at the Columbia Journalism School. He has a major op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times about the Sean Bell shooting case.

Here’s how it begins:

The New York Times
April 27, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor

The Fear Behind the Badge
By KYLE K. MURPHY

THE first time I almost shot someone, I wasn’t that scared.

It was 1986, and my partner and I had responded to a report of a man waving a knife inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal. When we arrived, I saw the knife in the man’s outstretched arm. I drew my weapon, and I yelled at him to drop the knife. My partner began inching his way toward the man, pleading with him to put the knife down. I made up my mind that I was going to shoot if the man lunged toward us. My partner got close enough to swing his nightstick down on the man’s arm. The knife fell to the ground and we quickly handcuffed him.

Why wasn’t I scared? Because I could see the threat clearly; I knew what I was facing. There were plenty of other times during my 20-year police career, however, when I was afraid. Usually it was when I couldn’t clearly see a potential suspect and didn’t know if he had a weapon. For a police officer, if a suspect is ignoring your commands and you can’t see his hands, you will feel that your life is in danger.

Read the rest of the piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27murphy.html

February 20, 2008

MEMO: CUGSJ Students Honored

Three of the five 2008 Foreign Press Association Scholarship Fund awards have gone to students from The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

First Prize: Anup Kaphle, M.S.

Second Prize (one of two): Vinod Jose, M.A.

Third prize (one of two): Lam Thuy Vo, M.S.

CONGRATULATIONS!

September 8, 2006

STUDENT WORK: 9/11 stories from 2001

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

Dear Students:

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

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

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

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

From the introduction:

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

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

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

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

- Sree Sreenivasan

November 9, 2005

STUDENT WORK: Update about CJ site

Filed under: Student work

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

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

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

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

Thanks,
Laura Muha
ljm31 [at] columbia.edu

November 8, 2005

STUDENT WORK: Election radio broadcast

Filed under: Student work

From Prof. John Dinges:

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

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

November 4, 2005

MEMO: Launch of ColumbiaJournalist.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Laura Muha






















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