j-schools - 10,000 Words

How to Land a Journalism Fellowship

Mona Zhang — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:51:46 +0000

Scoring a fellowship can not only boost a journo’s career, but provide valuable resources to carry out a project in this cash-strapped industry. From year-long stints at Ivy League schools to short-term projects, there are many options for those looking to enhance their skills. In the latest Mediabistro feature, veteran journalists and fellowship directors give tips on what you can do to make your application stand out. Here’s an excerpt:

Come up with a doable project.

Some projects sound great but are far too ambitious, dangerous or simply not feasible to pull off within the confines of a fellowship program.

“Sometimes people have this idea that if they just come to Stanford there’ll be computer science geeks falling over to work on their project, but that’s not necessarily the case,” said Jim Bettinger, director of the John S. Knight journalism fellowship program at Stanford. “You have to show in your application that you have the skills to do what you’re proposing and that you are the right person to carry it out.”

For more, read 6 Tips for Landing Journalism Fellowships. [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

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Washington Post Joins Forces With Medill To Help Programmers Earn Journalism Degrees

Lauren Rabaino — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:16:50 +0000

Computer programmers looking to move into the news industry have a chance at getting their full tuition paid — that’s right, free grad school — at Northwestern’s Medill program, plus an internship at the Washington Post after graduation, thanks to a new partnership.

Washington Post joined the Knight Foundation in the scholarship program that lets computer programmers earn a master’s degree in journalism in a 12-month program at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. The scholarship program, previously only funded by the Knight Foundation, has so far supported 9 programmers-gone-journalist since 2008, who are now some of the industry leaders:

Brian Boyer, news applications editor at NPR, formerly at Chicago Tribune news apps
Ryan Mark, director of digital product strategy and development at Chicago Tribune Media Group
Manya Gupta, Web technical editor for theworld.org
Steven Melendez, data news at WNYC
Shane Shifflett, reporter and data engineer at the Center for Investigative Reporting

Spread the word to all your programmer friends.

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A New Internship Program at Patch, Complete With Scholarship

Mona Zhang — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:09:05 +0000

This summer, Patch will be partnering with the Dow Jones News Fund to provide their summer interns with a unique experience: Interns will complete a week-long training program at Western Kentucky University before heading back to their prospective posts across the country. Not only are travel expenses and housing covered, interns get an hourly wage and will receive a $1000 scholarship upon completing the program.

All in all, about 40 students will be selected in 18 states. The program will have two start dates: early June through August and mid-June through the first week of September. “[We're looking for] someone who’s really passionate about community journalism,” Andi Morrison, college recruiter at Patch, told 10,000 Words. “That kind of entrepreneurial spirit is the first thing I really look for.” To apply, students should have some online journalism experience, whether it’s writing for campus media or freelancing for a local news outlet. continued…

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Google Offers Journalism Fellowship

Mona Zhang — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:50:25 +0000

Though Google may have contributed to the ailing journalism industry, the search giant will now be offering journalism students 10-week long fellowships. The first of these fellowships will start in the summer of 2013, and are open to both undergrads and graduate students.

The fellowship is aimed at “students interested in using technology to tell stories in new and dynamic ways,” said the announcement. Fellows spend their first week at the Knight Foundation and the last week at Google. The program is especially suited to readers of 10,000 Words, as the intersection of journalism and technology is exactly what the fellowship is about. Below are the qualities that the program is seeking: continued…

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Students Can Win $5K and Publication With Multimedia Story

Mona Zhang — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:35:30 +0000

Students of the journalism craft have a chance to show off their multimedia skills with The Digital Storymakers Award. Not only do entrants get the chance to win a grand prize of $5,000 and publication, but all participants get to use the Atavist’s spiffy software to craft their stories. Here’s how it works: continued…

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The Top 50 Undergraduate Journalism Schools?

Meranda Watling — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:56:04 +0000

Here’s a link to send on to all the aspiring journalists in your life, especially if they haven’t picked a school yet. Dan Reimold of College Media Matters, sponsored by Associate Collegiate Press, updated his list of top journalism schools for 2013. It’s a broad list of 50 undergraduate programs with a few notable exclusions — Columbia, Georgetown, Stanford, etc. — mainly because their j-schools are graduate programs or they don’t have specific journalism majors.

[Top 50 J-Schools word cloud created with Wordle]

If you’re looking to major in journalism or know someone in the hunt for the right college now, this is a solid list to start from of accredited institutions with solid programs beyond the few that people typically toss out as “the best.” Obviously, it’s a subjective list, but based on his perceptions and feedback from alums. And from reading the comments on the post, there’s a lot of discussions on who else should have been added and lots of additional ideas and recommendations for those that were included. It’s a good starting place. I know when I was looking for a j-school I started with a list of reasonably close accredited schools and narrowed it down. This list would have been more useful. And I like that he emphasized digital programs and practical experience — as Reimold put it, “It is strongly biased in favor of programs exciting me in the digital journalism realm and in some way aligned with quality campus media and professional publishing opportunities.” — since that’s what will get the grads hired.

Read the full list: 50 Best Journalism Schools and Programs at U.S. Colleges and Universities [Updated for 2013]

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Richard Prince on Why Students Should Study Journalism

Mona Zhang — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:01:27 +0000

In the face of newsroom cuts and industry-wide belt-tightening, Richard Prince still thinks it’s a good idea to get a journalism degree. In Mediabistro’s latest So What Do You Do? interview, Prince remembers how j-school connections helped him land a gig at New Jersey’s Star-Ledger and Washington Post.

“Primarily, it gives you a leg up in terms of the contacts that you make,” the man behind the Maynard Institute’s “Journal-isms” column explained. “That’s how I got that first job in New Jersey. I was at the Society of Professional Journalists, they were having an induction ceremony, and the editor of the Star-Ledger came to the ceremony. We struck up a conversation, and that started me on the path to that first job. In fact, that’s also how my next job at the Post came about. They had a reporter call the journalism department at NYU and sort of say, ‘Who do you have?’”

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Richard Prince, Columnist for the Maynard Institute?

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Educators: Knight Foundation’s Call For J-school Reform Is Unfair

Lauren Rabaino — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:09:45 +0000

Some educators are reacting negatively to The Knight Foundation’s open letter that called for journalism education reform.

Inside Higher Ed reports that journalism professors in Chicago for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference are discussing the letter, and they don’t think it’s fair. Here are some of the reactions reported by Inside Higher Education.

Linda Steiner, AEJMC’s pressident and professor at University of Maryland, College Park says there’s not a one-size-fits all model:

“But my point is that the conventional j-school is rare these days: Some programs have journalism (including, often, PR and advertising) and other media fields…. Different schools have different understandings of their priorities and their mission.”

Beth Barnes, director of the school of journalism and telecommunications at the University of Kentucky and president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication says it’s not all about the latest gadgets:

[...] to her the debate seemed like a choice between teaching the fundamentals of the profession versus teaching about the “coolest, newest toy on the block.”

What do you think? Did these educators miss the point, or is Knight Foundation in the wrong?

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Knight Foundation: Time To Reform Journalism Education

Lauren Rabaino — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:59:38 +0000

In an open letter to America’s university presidents, The Knight Foundation and representatives from other journalism grant providers said that many journalism schools are not up to date and called on universities to recreate themselves in order to succeed.

From the letter:

Journalism funders agree that academia must be leading instead of resisting the reform effort. Deans must find ways for their schools to evolve, rather than maintain the status quo. Simply put, universities must become forceful partners in revitalizing an industry at the very core of democracy.

We also agree universities should make these changes for the betterment of students and society. Schools that favor the status quo, and thus fall behind in the digital transition, risk becoming irrelevant to both private funders and, more importantly, the students they seek to serve.

The letter was signed by Eric Newton, senior adviser of the Knight Foundation; Clark Bell, journalism program director at McCrmick Foundation; Bob Ross, president and CEO of the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation; Mike Philipps, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation; Linda Shoemaker, president of the Brett Family Foundation; and David Haas, chair of the Wyncote Foundation.

What they all have in common? They represent organizations that give grants to journalism education, and in the letter they warn that schools that do not update their curriculum will “find it difficult to raise money from foundations interested in the future of news.” A threat?

Read the full letter here

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6 Reasons a Journalism Degree Is Still Necessary

Ji Hyun Park — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:43:20 +0000

There’s been much ado about why going to J-school is useless. You can learn to blog and write on the job, they say. The dearth of jobs means you probably won’t be able to cover the cost of those student loans, explain critics. But what about the pros of a formal journalism education?

For one, journalism grads are schooled on the basics of the biz, like handling embargoes, AP style and avoiding libel and slander claims.

“I was definitely in for a rude awakening when I started,” said Anne Urda, an assistant managing editor at Law360 with a master’s in journalism from NYU. “I thought, ‘Hey, I’m a decent writer, I can do this,’ but it really does require a different set of skills and an actual education in the importance of a good lede, asking the right questions of your sources, etc. etc. While you can pick that up along the way in a job, it’s very difficult to find the right mentor or someone who is going to take the time to school you in those fundamentals when you are up against real-world deadlines.”

Read more in Mediabistro’s latest AvantGuild feature, 6 Reasons a Journalism Degree Is Still Necessary, and let us know your thoughts. Was your degree worth it? [subscription required]

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Spain’s First-Ever Investigative, Data Journalism Master’s Program To Launch In Fall

Lauren Rabaino — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:41:51 +0000

The University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid will launch Spain’s first-ever masters degree on investigative reporting, data journalism and visualization this fall, and Google will provide six scholarships that pay 80 percent of recipients’ tuition.

The new program is organized by the journalism school of the media group Unidad Editorial and the University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid. I caught up via e-mail with two people involved with the program: Marcos García Rey, investigative reporter and ICIJ member who will coordinate the master’s, and Mar Cabra, a module coordinator in charge of the data journalism aspect.

Here are the highlights from our Q&A, which is include below:

Data courses will teach students how to think about the paper trail, how to obtain data, and how to use statistics to draw basic conclusions
Data courses will include basic analysis tools like Excel, SQL and web scraping
Second semester will touch on how to choose the correct visualization to convey a story
Reporting classes will be more traditional in nature, though students will be posting to the web from day 1
They drew inspiration from IRE’s Eductaor’s Center, Columbia’s investigative program and personal experiences
continued…

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