Journalism Summary 1/14/13

Journalism Students, here are this week's reminders:

• Make a note of your word count for the article you handed in to the editor yesterday, so we can have some idea of our space constraints at next week's layout session.
• When you receive your article back on Monday, you must make any changes and email to me no later than midnight, Tuesday, January 22 (and yes, I will be up working on the paper :>)
• Make sure the article you email me has a headline and dateline (if needed).
• Next Monday, I will decided which "final articles" (students understand my term "final") will appear in Issue III. I will notify you by email, please respond promptly with an emailed copy of your article in the best condition possible.
• Email to me your edited fairy tales by Monday, January 21. If I get enough participants, I hope to put them all in a booklet of sorts.
• All students were told individually what their remaining tasks were for this week, however, if someone is still not sure, please feel free to inquire.
• J-Jargon Challenge next week for the second set of terms (added since December 3rd starting with "Pulitzer Prize") and J-Jargon "final" on 1/28.

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Stock photo (any resemblance is coincidental)

Yesterday, after a discussion and exercise on what makes a good news story, we had a special guest for the last 20 minutes of class. His journalism background includes being the former Editor-in-Chief of the award winning "Re-Marker" -- the school newspaper of St. Mark's School of Texas, winner of the "Golden Pen Award" from the Dallas Morning News for an essay on the banking crisis in the late 80's, weekly financial columnist for the Saratoga News, World Net Daily columnist, and TabForum contributor (a leading site for financial technology). Today, he blogs daily on subjects such as politics and economics.

Mosaic parent, John Harris, spoke to the students about how to overcome two of their biggest challenges -- choosing topics and writing more content than they think possible. He touched on ideas that we have covered this semester -- writing about what interests you and being more aware of current and/or local events so that you have something to write about!

After his talk, each student asked John an open-ended question. After leaving class, John wrote to a journalist-friend in California that, "There is hope for the future."

I think so, too.

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