Another question is how to include online publications in your portfolio... On 3/30/07, Allison Steinberg <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > As a current IMA student and a former undergraduate media studies major > at Hunter with a passion for and focus on journalism, I believe it is > of utmost importance for a student to publish work in his/her school > publications. > > I have written for my high school newspaper, at Hunter for the Envoy, > The Word, @Issue (Peter's online magazine in the IMA program) and now > write for several publications for pay. > > Journalism seems to be overshadowed by video in the media department at > Hunter when it comes to course offerings, funding, and focus. Gregg > Morris has it right in publishing students work from basic reporting > on- I remember his emphasis in class on building that portfolio and how > important that was in getting a job later on. If students can't use > your clips from school publications to land paid writing gigs, then at > least they will gain the writing-for-publication experience- invaluable > insight into how things work in the "real world". Practice makes > perfect. > > The Word, perhaps more than the Envoy, publishes stories of social > significance. The same is true with the Hunts Point Express. What > better way to get clips for your portfolio than to be guided by the > knowledge and experience of well-established journalists like the > professors in our program? > > Students must be lazy or not passionate about journalism if they're not > contributing to the school papers. What else could it be? > > Best, > Allison Steinberg > 646.413.8918 > [log in to unmask] > > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 9:04 AM > Subject: Re: It's 11 p.m. Do you know where your portfolio is? > > Based on 30 years of hiring novice reporters seeking their first or > second job > as journalists, I would say there are two keys to winning an interview: > your > cover letter and your clips. > > Particularly when sent to news outlets that aren't household names > outside the > communities they cover, the letter that accompanies your resume and > portfolio > will stand out if it shows some familiarity with the > publication/website/radio > station. > > The letter ought to attract attention; the clips to hold it. Forget > about those > clever movie or music reviews. No hiring editor is interested. He or > she wants > to know whether you can report the news. > > Choose your best three stories, and be sure their leads sparkle. > Remember that > the editor who is reviewing your application has 99 or 149 more sitting > on his > or her desk, and has a paper to get out, too. The editor is going to > read the > first two sentences—no more. If you make the cut into the possible > interview > pile, he'll return to your stories and read on. > > Many neighborhood newspapers will put you through a mini-version of > this process > before they'll even let you freelance a story without pay. So will many > internship programs. It's a classic chicken-and-egg situation, so where > are > those first clips to come from? > > The natural answer is the Envoy, the Word and other school-based > publications, > and I've been puzzled about why relatively few media students report > and write > for them. When Clyde Haberman, the New York Times columnist, visited my > class a > couple of semesters ago, the first thing he asked the students was how > many of > them wrote for the school paper. He was disappointed when no hands went > up. > Being the editor of the City College paper is what got him to The Times > he told > them. > > I think the Envoy has grown into a much better paper this year than it > was in my > first year of teaching here. (Disclosure: its editor was in a class I > taught, > and I've been informally offering her suggestions.) Apart from a > redesign, what > it needs most to continue to improve is more staff. > > That the Word has long been very good is due in part to its > relationship with > Prof. Morris's classes, whose students provide a steady supply of > stories. > Judging by how few issues have been published, I would guess that the > Word in > print has had the same sort of problems as the Envoy in attracting > enough > writers, however. > > For advanced student reporters, my Neighborhood News class offers the > opportunity to publish in a neighborhood newspaper, The Hunts Point > Express, and > to be accountable to an off-campus community. (Yesterday, I got a call > from the > Daily News, which wants to pick up a story from the Express about the > visit of > Naomi Campbell to a community center in Hunts Point as part of her > community > service sentence. The city's metro reporters followed Campbell's every > move in > Manhattan, but it never occurred to them to go to the Bronx. Express > reporter > Christina Davis, though, got a call from a reader, and was on the scene > when the > supermodel arrived.) > > Advanced students can also publish through the class offered each > semester by > the Jack Newfield Visiting Professor. The work of this year's class > will appear > in the Village Voice, as last year's did, and the department hopes that > publication will continue to be the distinctive feature of the program. > > Let me finish where Prof. Parisi started, with questions for students. > > Would you like to see more production classes make publication a > requirement, > as, for example, Prof. Morris's classes and Neighborhood News do? > > Should we be starting as early as basic reporting to require students > to publish > their work? > > And what do you think the relation of faculty members to student > publications > should be? The Envoy declares its independence on its masthead: is > there room > for a faculty advisor? If so, what should the relationship be like? > > Bernard L. Stein > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:58:57 -0500 > >From: Peter Parisi <[log in to unmask]> > >Subject: It's 11 p.m. Do you know where your portfolio is? > >To: [log in to unmask] > > > >The sentiment has been expressed on another departmental listserv that > >students are not sufficiently aware of the importance of compiling > >portfolios of clips as part of their preparation to enter the field of > >journalism. > > > >So, HCJ-Lers, some questions: > > > >Are you aware that it really _is_ important to amass a portfolio of > >clips as you work your way through courses and internships?(It_is_; > >it's true.) > > > >More to the point, what are you doing about it? What obstacles are you > >finding? Where are you finding places to publish? > > > >What experience have you had with some of the obvious venues -- The > >Hunter Envoy? the WORD? The WORD in print? > > > >Professor Buddy Stein may have some words to say about taking > >advantage of New York City community weeklies, an area in which he is > >deeply experienced, as editor of the Riverdale Press. > > > >What's happening for you on this front? > > > >Peter Parisi > > > >-- > >Peter Parisi, Ph.D. > >Dept. of Film & Media Studies > >Hunter College > >695 Park Avenue > >New York, NY 10021 > >212-772-4949 > >"The suffering itself is not so bad, it's the resentment against > >suffering that is the real pain." --Allen Ginsberg > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free > from AOL at AOL.com. > =0 > -- www.personaldemocracy.com www.techpresident.com www.levjoy.com The fourth annual Personal Democracy Forum is happening May 18, 2007 in NYC. Register now: http://www.personaldemocracy.com/conference/2007