Panel on covering youth violence

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma presents:
Getting it Right: Reporting on Youth Violence

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
5:30 - 7:00PM

Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University
World Pulitzer Room
116th Street and Broadway
New York, New York

Even as crime hits record lows in New York, among teenagers around the nation gun homicides, gang violence and police shootings of young people are on the rise. Yet while shootings in suburban schools, churches and malls generate media controversy, epidemic levels of teen homicide in cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New Orleans attract scant attention.

Covering violence by and against young people in cities around the country poses particular challenges to journalists. What stories are being told, and not told? How can the roots of this national crisis be explained? How can the voices of teenagers, neighborhoods and communities be represented more effectively? How can journalists get the story right?

Panelists:
David Meeks, City Editor, Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA
Joseph Rodriguez, Photojournalist, author of East Side Stories and Juvenile,
Brooklyn, NY
Clarivel Ruiz, Director, Youth Programs, DCTV, New York, NY
Susan Snyder, Staff Writer, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA

Moderator:
Bruce Shapiro, Executive Director, Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

To RSVP, email Kate Black at kate.black@dartcenter.org

-Mark Grabowski

New York Times Institute on the Environment

This was passed along to me from the folks at Columbia's J-school...

Journalists and editors are invited to attend the 4th annual New York Times Institute on the Environment

"How Environmental Issues Influence Our Daily Lives: The Nexus Between Environment, Economics And Business"

March 30-April 4, 2008 Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic.

Application deadline: February 15, 2008

The Program This Institute is a weeklong, intensive workshop for editors and journalists that will supply the background and tools to interpret and report on sometimes-conflicting scientific information about leading environmental issues. Through lectures, discussions, and workshops, this Institute is aimed at presenting to reporters and editors the latest information available, the critical issues they will face, and models for how on might report on environmental change and the economic and business consequences of various environmental issues.

Tuition, lodging and facilities costs will be borne primarily by the sponsoring organizations. Participants pay only a program fee of $500 plus airfare. Some subsidies may be available for qualified applicants.

For more info or to apply, click here.

-Mark Grabowski

Internships at The Economist

The journalism internships webpage now has a link to summer internships at The Economist, a publication which needs no qualification. But here's one anyway: a London-based weekly news and international affairs magazine with a worldwide circulation of 1.2 million.

"Interns are treated much as members of staff and expected to join in accordingly," The Economist notes on its journalism internship webpage. "The internships are generally for a three-month period and take place over the summer (at the London office)."

-Mark Grabowski

Advice from Joe Grimm

I recently e-mailed Joe Grimm and asked him if he had any advice for college journalists. He responded with a couple tips:

• "I always advise time-starved students to turn the writing they have to do for classwork into byline opportunities. Double-purposing this way saves time, it can bring clips, perhaps some money and a better grade. Look in 'Writer's Market' to discover a magazine that might buy a variation of that class assignment."

• "Every college town is loaded with publications. Study them. Treat them as directories of writing opportunities and as sources of stories you can write for out-of-town publications. Smart journalists are always pitching stories that they have access to for distant publications."

Joe Grimm recruits for the Detroit Free Press and this year published "Breaking In: The www.jobspage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships." For more advice, visit newsrecruiter.com.

-Mark Grabowski

WSJ seeks law blogger

The Wall Street Journal is hiring a full-time blogger for its law blog, "widely read by lawyers and general readers alike." The blogger will also have the chance to write for the print edition and do video/multimedia/speaking engagements. Might be a good fit for journalist-turned-law student-turned-bitter corporate lawyer.

-Mark Grabowski

Fellowships & scholarships for electronic journalists

The Radio and Television News Directors Association is offering several cash prizes for electronic (radio, TV, online) journalists with 10 years or less experience. Additionally, its foundation offers many scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, for college and graduate students studying journalism and/or planning careers in electronic journalism. The deadline for applying is May 12.

While the focus of this journalism website is on print journalism, I will be expanding it in coming months to include more broadcast journalism and online journalism opportunities. Stay tuned. Also, please e-mail me any good opportunities that aren't already listed on CubReporters.org.

-Mark Grabowski
mark(at)cubreporters(dot)org

New investigative journalism organization hiring

Former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger recently wrote an interesting piece chronicling the history of print media and what’s to come in the future.

At the end of his article, he announced his move to Pro Publica, a non-profit newsroom “dedicated to reporting on abuses of power by anyone with power: government, business, unions, universities, school systems, doctors, hospitals, lawyers, courts, nonprofits, media.”

With $10 million pledged in annual funding and a staff of 24 investigative journalists -- including former Oregonian managing editor Stephen Engelberg -- this organization could provide an important public service many newspapers can no longer afford to.

Interested in investigative reporting? Why not shoot a resume to journalismjobs@propublica.org.

Find journalism jobs in the UK and overseas

journalism.co.uk is basically the British equivalent of JournalismJobs.com. In addition to having lengthy journalism jobs listings that are updated regularly, it lists industry news, awards, freelance opportunities, advice and more. The focus is definitely on the UK, but there's plenty of useful info on there for every journalist, regardless of nationality.

For more journalism jobs and journalism job boards, visit CubReporters.org's jobs page.

-Mark Grabowski

Freelance writing gigs

I highly recommend this website, which offers a number of freelance writing opportunities and is updated every weekday. Of course, some days are more promising than others. But I know someone who recently landed some pretty high-profile and lucrative freelance assignments off of it.

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/category/writing-gigs/

New journalism jobs website

JournalismNow.com is now listed on CubReporters.org's jobs page.

“We are going to specialize in journalism employment & news …” a website official e-mailed me today. “We're hoping to average 5-10+ new job postings a day in the coming weeks.”

Check it out at http://journalismnow.com.

-Professor Mark Grabowski

Journalism scholarship for Southerners

Two journalism scholarships available:

1. Hearin-Chandler Journalism Scholarship: $5,000 scholarship for "full-time journalism study, leading to a degree, at a regionally accredited institution."
   
2. John M. Will Journalism Scholarship: $3,000 scholarship for "full-time journalism study, leading to a degree, at a regionally accredited institution."

Applicants may be a high school senior, college student, or practicing journalist. Must be a resident of Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Clarke, Conecuh, Washington, and Monroe counties in Alabama; Santa Rosa and Escambia counties in Florida; George and Jackson counties in Mississippi.

Application are due in early March.

The 8th way to get bylines

Quill recently ran a story on "Seven Strategies for Getting Bylines," which I wrote. There are actually eight ways to get bylines, but one got edited out:

Study abroad.

Help out in a newspaper’s foreign bureau. Or look into writing for English publications in the foreign country.

“While the crunch on foreign news budgets may limit the amount of staff correspondent posts available, it presents a golden opportunity for upstart journalists,” said Jason Motlagh, a freelancer who’s reported from West Africa, the Caucasus and Haiti. “I’ve met many other full-time reporters who broke in simply by showing up at a far-flung bureau and asking to lend a hand.”

Sorry about the deletion, Jason -- you know how editors can be.

I'm sure y'all can think of more strategies for getting bylines. Please share your ideas in the comments section below.

-Professor Mark Grabowski

Advice from L.A. Times' hiring editor

Recently, I asked the L.A. Times hiring editor if he had any advice for young journalists. He e-mailed back:

"I can't emphasize enough the importance of summer internships. The more the better. In a competitive job market, editors will want to know that their entry-level hires will be able to hit the ground running -- on a wide variety of assignments. "

Randy Hagihara
Senior Editor for Recruitment
Los Angeles Times

Seven ways to get bylines

Don’t wait until you’re hired as a reporter to start acting like one.

Getting articles published is vital to landing a reporting job. Most editors want to see four to six — and sometimes many more — samples of your work.

“It shows much more to those hiring that you’re ambitious about being published, rather than having a resume with a college term paper that never was published attached to it,” said Joe Hight, managing editor of The Oklahoman. “And I can tell you it’s a lot more exciting to see your byline in a publication than the grade that you’ll receive for the term paper.”

While in school, develop a portfolio of good clips that demonstrates your journalism skills. Visit my journalism website to find out how to get bylines.

-Mark Grabowski

Still looking for a summer '08 journalism internship?

The first round of summer internship applications has passed, with major newspapers like the Boston Globe and Washington Post selecting their reporting interns for the upcoming summer. But don't despair if you weren't among the lucky, select few. Lots of good journalism internship opportunities remain. Visit my journalism website to learn about remaining summer 2008 reporting internships.

-Professor Grabowski