Best journalism blogs for students

I found this list of 40 best blogs for journalism students today. Not only do I teach journalism, I am also a student working online toward a masters degree in journalism at Regent University. So this list will be good for me to add to my Google reader list.

Google reader is a great way to keep up with blogs. It's one-stop shopping that you can check every day or once in a while to catch up.

This little blog isn't on the list, but maybe some day.

Paid content and mobile devices are matching up

A research article in a academic journal I read a couple years ago led me to surmise that online news will grow and be monetized when it is as convenient as the printed word. Mobile devices are making that happen.

This Poynter article shows that an increasing number of people are paying for content with mobile devices. The younger demographics are trending toward smartphones, while the older demographics are trending toward tablets.

Pawley's Front Prorch: Video done easy and a great meal

One of the helpful things we are learning at the convergent journalism teaching bootcamp this week is that you don't have to break out the high-end video cameras and software to produce a decent video for a news website.

Today we used hand-held Kodak video cameras and Windows Movie Maker to produce short videos. Our instructions were to go some place nearby and find a simple story. So partner Kevin Blackistone, who is a  visiting professor at Maryland, and I walked over a mile to this small restaurant he had been to, but they were closed. Fortunately it was a block from our hotel so we got in my rental car and drove a few blocks to a place I had been on Monday, Pawley's Front Porch.

We got the video edited just in time. I had shot the footage, Kevin did the interviewing and the narration and we shared the editing. It's just a simple little story that could be better, but it showed us how easy it is for students to put something together of interest for a student newspaper website.

We had so much fun there that Kevin and I and three others went there for dinner tonight. I had another great hamburger, we shared fired oysters and fried pickles and had a lot of interesting conversation about our experiences and what we've learned this week. It was great time.

Here's the video:

Teaching bootcamp a real education

When you become a professor they don't hand you a how-to manual. So I have learned by trial and error the past three years. That won't change, but I believe the week I am in the middle of at the University of South Carolina's convergent journalism teaching bootcamp will improve the trials and reduce the errors.

The most difficult part of teaching is trying to teach and convince students that there are many ways to tell stories and that they need to learn beyond their preferred style.

• It is important for students to understand that storytelling is still at the heart of everything a journalist does no matter the medium. My job is to teach that concept and expose the students to different forms and teach them to choose the best ones.
• No matter the class, I realize I need to instruct students in producing stories in different mediums. That is the only way they will do it. The ones who find something they like outside of writing for print will, I hope, begin to use those skills for the student newspaper and website.
• And I need to be doing this kind of reporting as well on my own website. That will take a lot of work and planning, but I realize I have no choice.
• At Cedarville, we want to raise up multi-skilled journalists who can write great stories for print and produce interactive stories for online.
• I am discovering this week that learning and teaching basics in producing audio slideshows, audio stories, video stories and creating websites is simpler than you think.

The challenge is immense, but with good students and prayer it is possible.

And I can't recommend this yearly program enough to journalism educators.

Good thoughts on the value of studying journalism

Some good thoughts are offered in this piece by a journalism student about the value of studying journalism.

The printed word is not what it used to be and never will be again. But journalism will live on and jobs will be there. I don't expect a boom per se, but it will get better as online news and revenue from it continues to grow.

If a student feels that call to journalism, he or she should pursue it. Making less money is better than making more and settling for something you don't love to do.

Follow the link above. It's worth your time if you are considering journalism.

5 news organizations that are hiring

The trend of hiring journalists continues to have positive signs. There are places still not replacing people when they leave for another job or retire, but that's not true everywhere. This is a good sign.

Most of what you will find on this link on the cub reporters website are online jobs. But this site is full of postings for full-time positions and internships.

Journalism jobs making a comeback

The job market for journalists just might be on the rebound. A lot of the jobs don't look like a lot of the old jobs that were lost, but a job's a job these days.

This story from Poynter plus a couple of links within explain the trend.

Cedars wins awards

Congratulations to the students who work on Cedars. They have done a great job at rebuilding it.

http://www.cedarville.edu/Offices/Public-Relations/CampusNews/2012/Cedars-Wins--Awards-ONA.aspx