A not-so-old newspaper friend stopped by campus recently.
Allison Bezold-Diaz, who graduated from the University of Miami in spring 2007, spoke to my online journalism class last Thursday. She gave great tutorials on capturing/editing audio, photography/digital SLR basics and editing photos in Photoshop.
I sat down with Allison, a former Miami Hurricane photo editor, to ask her about the importance of multimedia and what advice she would give student journalists.
Here’s what she had to say:
I posted Monday about two journalism events for Comm Week 2008 (read it here); more details have since been released on two other events, a new media workshop and panel.
I will be participating in the workshop and liveblogging the panel. I will post the streaming feed for the panel and then the video once it’s posted. Stay tuned.
Details from the School of Communication Web site:
New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP
February 15, 2008
10:00 am
Location: Communication International Building 2055
Panelists:
Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald visual journalist
Brent McDonald, New York Times visual journalist
Will Payne, Current TV
The workshop is an introduction to video journalism. Lopez, McDonald and Payne will discuss the best gear for the job, basic elements new media reporters should look for while shooting, as well as editing techniques – what to include in a Web audio-visual news story and what to avoid.
PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges
February 15, 2008
11:30 am
Location: Communication International Building 2055
Moderator: Chris Delboni, UM / SoC
Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson — Miami Herald, director of site operations
Phil Lewis — Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial
Ricardo Lopez — Miami Herald, visual journalist
Brent McDonald — New York Times, visual journalist
Will Payne — Current TV, College Outreach
Side note: Check out this video I produced after Suzanne Levinson spoke to my online journalism class.
Suzanne Levinson, director of site operations at The Miami Herald, visited my online journalism class Thursday evening.
She discussed the Herald’s Web site, online journalism and what students need to know to get into the field. The webmaster, visuals editor and I took the opportunity to get her thoughts on the The Miami Hurricane‘s redesign plans, showing her two drafts wireframes.
Yoni Greenbaum recently wrote about how TMZ.com conducts their story meetings: OPEN.
I don’t think this is radical at all, I think this is logical. Why haven’t we been doing this all along?
His Your newsroom could learn something from TMZ… No, really post explains,
“For those of you who watch the very popular television version of the “entertainment news, celebrity gossip and Hollywood rumors†website TMZ.com, you will know that their meetings are done in the open with seemingly broad participation. Editor and founder Harvey Levin stands at the front of the room and users a clear board to note stories that the show will be using. There is a free exchange as the individual staffers (or are they editors?) offer their story ideas.”
Greenbaum says near the end,
“Build the budget from those in attendance, editors can speak for staffers not in attendance, staffers can offer their own ideas based on what they’re working on or what they know is going on. Encourage that free exchange. I think you’ll find that the meeting will boost morale, encourage collaboration and even increase productivity.”
He also includes the following video about The New York Times‘ new integrated newsroom.
I completely agree with the idea. As I commented on Greenbaum’s post, it hits at the “two heads are better than one” cliche. As news editor last year I encouraged reporters to contribute story ideas in our meetings and come by the office on deadline days (Sundays and Wednesdays). As editor in chief this year I still encourage staffers to visit.
I would not say our twice-weekly staff meetings have been closed in past (any staff member is allowed to sit in or be in the office and some designers who are around sometimes do), but we have never before sent out a mass e-mail inviting staffers. But now, I will invite all of The Miami Hurricane‘s staffers to the next meeting and see how it works.
Our small newsroom may not be able to hold everyone, but we’ll see what happens.
Weigh in: Will you try this for your next story meeting?
An introduction to the redesign process for TheMiamiHurricane.com, focusing on the content management system.