Posts Tagged newspapers
Summer at the Advocate
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on August 6, 2010
Emily Patton
Western Kentucky University
Union County Advocate
Whoever first muttered those dreaded words, “Newspapers are dying,” apparently has never been to Union County, Ky. before.
After interning at the Union County Advocate in Morganfield, Ky. for over a month now, it still takes me by surprise when people come up to me with ear to ear smiles and send thank you cards wanting to discuss a story in last week’s paper.
People here actually read the newspaper front to back, because those same people are the newspaper. Let me introduce you to small-town community journalism, or in other words, my newest summer love.
The office’s doorbell is constantly buzzing with a new subscription order or a sold advertisement.
Even though I live just forty minutes away, the concept of a weekly thriving was brand new to me. Scratch that, everything about this county was brand new to me.
It has been an experience that’s been both educational and priceless as a journalism student at Western Kentucky University.
While attending WKU, I have written about various sports for the College Heights Herald and covered high school football for the Kentucky New Era. All excellent forms of experience —- But unlike the experience I’ve received at the Advocate.
In the past five weeks, I’ve been sent to the local high school’s graduation, city council meetings, car shows, Red Hat Society meetings, city parks, child plays, the marathon which people call the Union County Fair, 4-H dog shows, churches, and countless neighbors’ homes.
I had never talked to city officials, local pastors or a mother who lost her 8 year-old-son a year before in a tragic accident. I had never even stepped close to the Little Sturgis Rally or saw a newspaper collection from the 1940s. I had never sat down with those types of people and tried to understand and relate their stories to the world.
For a girl who once thought when you hit your twenties, well, you’re pretty much done growing up, this summer at the Advocate has above all helped me grow up in more ways than one.
When I leave this newsroom to venture back to my old, I’ll take with me the long conversations in living rooms with Union County residents, the meaningful handshakes, a new love for the Feed Mill Restaurant and a subscription to the Advocate in hand.
Months from now, I’ll need to revisit that amazing feel of small-town community journalism that I found in my new favorite weekly newspaper, the Advocate.
Check me out on the KPA’s new website.
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The Highs and Lows of a Journalism Intern
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on August 6, 2010
They, you know the famous “they” tell you to never assume things. This “assuming” thing makes you look bad and maybe me too. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Well this girl assumed her summer internship would be a breeze.
Maybe they’d let me write a couple stories after a few weeks had passed. Maybe I’d have to take a few pictures. Maybe I’ll be my editor’s sidekick during the experience. All assumptions of course. All wrong. Within the first hour of arriving for my first day of work, I was sent head first into a story by myself. This rapid motion, even for a weekly, never seemed to cease.
And I loved it.
The best part of my internship was the everyday challenge. Each day I’d come into the office and I’d have instructions waiting on my desk. The job never got monotonous or boring. Each day, it was a surprise, who I would be meeting next or who would be my next interviewee victim.
With such excitement everyday, I cannot remember a day I sincerely dreaded a workday. But I did dread the 40-minute commute to work and 40 minute drive home. The drive was easily the worst part of my internship this summer. After wearing out every CD I owe, pumping too much gas and still yet to find a morning radio show I like, I am excited to go back to walking five minutes to class and work every day.
Being from the county just next door, I never realized how much I didn’t know about my neighbor. I learned the vast differences and everything that I had been missing out on from the amazing people to the amazing family owned restaurants. I learned how to talk to all different types of people in all different types of scenarios. I learned how to design pages using InDesign and how a weekly functions. The most important thing I learned is maintaining relationships with your sources. If you say you’ll send them a picture, send them a picture. If you say you’ll follow up, follow up with them. So many times those sources are at other events or helping me find my next story.
Those same sources are the ones sending me thank you cards and e-mails I after stories I’ve written. For years I had been told that journalism is a “thank-less” career, but in Union County, I was spoiled enough to be put on a pedestal for the job that I do. The kindness of the people of the county and the city of Morganfield is something I’ll remember fondly.
I discovered this kindness in a hard way one scorching hot day in June. I was sent to Uniontown’s Magistrate, Jerri Floyd, to do a story on an ordinance the city was considering passing. I talked to Jerri for only a few minutes when he told me he had some residents that would be good for me to talk to. I followed him in my car while he drove to the neighbor’s house. When we arrived to talk to the sources, I left my keys in the ignition and locked my car. I locked my car WITH my keys inside.
The realization hit me right as I was shaking hands with the former mayor and his wife. I finished the interview in one piece, but as soon as I was out the door, I told the man I arrived with, “Yeah… my keys are in there and my doors are locked.” It cost me embarrassment, 40 dollars and a sunburn. But good ol’ Jerri knew exactly who to call and made the key retrieval a painless process. At every city council meeting since Jerri is sure to slip in my stupidity into conversation.
Through all the frustrations and smiles after being thrown head first, sink or swim, into my hopeful future career, I have loved every second. I am extremely thankful for the internship opportunity and looking forward to my next adventure in this strange newspaper world in which we live.
Why hello there, Union County.
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on June 3, 2010
What my planner looked like my first 3 days of my internship
If you want to find me this summer, you are going to have to look.
Most consider where I live, Webster County or outside of the small town of Dixon, Ky. to be “in the boondocks.” (Don’t bother looking on a map if you don’t know where that is, because it won’t be on there.) But outside of Webster, even further into the country, about 15 miles Northwest, you’ll hit a town called Morganfield.
And sure enough, that’s where I’ll be.
Last winter in the midst of a hunt for a summer internship, I received an e-mail from the editor of the Union County Advocate, Carrie Dillard, requesting me for an interview. After a few phonecalls, a trip to Union County and some conversation about where I wanted to spend my summer, I accepted the job.
Sure its roughly a 35 minute drive for me everyday, a smaller community newspaper, but I’ve never been more sure this is where I need to be.
My first day of work, I was sent to the Feed Mill Restaurant to cover a story on the Red Hat Ladies. The next I interviewed a pastor and his wife at First United Methodist Church. Then that Saturday night, I was thrown head first into Union County High School’s graduation. All in three days. All too much fun. All amazing experience for a hungry little intern.
I was especially nervous about my first day of work at the Advocate. Why?
Because when I got the job, I was told I would be doing it all. I would be reporting, writing, taking pictures, designing, working in an office and whatever else we all stumbled across together. And so far, I’ve been doing just that.
Another hurdle I feared was saying goodbye to sports writing and hello to news writing. Something I feared I would hate, but surprisingly I have loved it.
Like the Kentucky New Era, this newspaper is a real paper. Its real people trying to make real money. Its a paper that people read cover to cover. And what I’m discovering slowly is that this is a paper that is a huge part of the community.
While I know most of my journalism classmates at Western Kentucky University frowned on the thought of interning at a weekly newspaper, I know that this weekly has been a perfect fit for me. I’m learning what community journalism is all about. I’m learning how to find the soul of a place, how to understand people and how to tell stories.
I believe internships are more much than simply a summer job. To me, internships are a way to connect you to other people in the business that maybe you wouldn’t have known. Internships are a way to get that real hands-on experience. You learn if this is for you, or maybe another path is more suitable. You learn if you can handle it.
Yesterday, I celebrated my bylines with friends and family and read over my stories at least ten times to myself.
Its good to know that I’m right where I need to be.
Keep up with how I’m doing at the Advocate by clicking here.
My Balancing Act
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts on September 9, 2009
It’s time for you to prove,
Within your ruby shoes,
You deserve a smile with no regret,
Look at you kicking off your shoes,
Dancing for the world to see,
Now open up and see, And go be free and fly away…
I probably do not know what I am getting myself into honestly. This whole college experience journalism thing? Yeah, who was I kidding?
I thought for a few minutes there I had this whole college thing down. Freshmen year was knocked out of the park and my summer living on my own in Bowling Green was a complete success. I had figured out where the bathrooms are in all the buildings on campus, found the quickest way to master the hill from my residence hall to TCCW, and even seemed to say, “Meal Plan” with such confidence I appeared to be saying it for years.
But I guess it serves me right for thinking I had it all figured out. And how intelligent am I for thinking 15 hours of classes and working part-time at the university was just not enough?
Now here I am working to perfect that amazing balancing act I have going with class/work, (all on my head of course), putting my fancy journalism major to good use as I freelance for the Kentucky New Era and work as the newest College Heights Herald’s sports general assignment reporter.
With my fancy voice recorder in hand, pen working furiously, questions buzzing in my head, I have never done anything more exciting than the work of a journalist. From the few stories I have been involved with thus far in my brief career, I can say I have learned more from those experiences than from hours and hours in a classroom. Suddenly this whole journalism thing I have been studying for the past year has become a beautiful and real thing to me. Beautiful. Yes. Real. YES. But I refuse to sugarcoat this for you, because honestly I feel like as I am seeking truth and answers to my many questions about the industry, you are probably on the same scavenger hunt.
I’ll give it to you straight: Its not easy. Deadlines are a constant. If you think you have some time, well you are wrong. If you think an interview will go smoothly when you are crunched for time, well you are wrong. You always need more information. You always could have done more research. Each day, I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. I feel like I have everything to learn and no one is just going to pass out the answers to the test. But maybe that’s the process. Maybe its better to start out brand new, so that you can dig deeper and seek a little harder. Maybe everyone has to start at the bottom to make reaching the peak so breathtaking.
While what I do know is little, what I have learned in the past few weeks speaks volumes. This experience I am gaining right now is vital after the next few years of college pass. I am so thankful to be surrounded by amazing people, who will go to many vast places in this huge world and will inspire me to do the same. My high stress level is worth every minute.
I do not have everything figured out. Fifty years from now, I probably still will not have it all figured out. But I have never have I anticipated the small discoveries along the way more.
Hi Journalism career, my name is Emily.
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on May 3, 2009
So I have this plan. My plan is not carved in stone, nor an outline of what to come complete with Roman numerals, A’s, B’s, C’s and 1’s, 2’s, 3’s. This outline allows for ample ounces of Wite Out and crossed-out words. And the wonderful thing is that these revisions are encouraged. What is this s
cheme up Emily’s sleeve, you ask? Oh just my future career plan…
I want to be involved in journalism. Period. The end. Any aspect. I’ll take it any or all. Every part I feel is vital. I have never been more thrilled to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb.
My plan is one that changes as the industry changes as well. The online epidemic will continue to spread allowing my job at a print newspaper to tap into my technological skills, become a dedicated member of Twitter, and keep my Word Press blogging account going strong. Long ago I would have said my career plan was to get a job as a print journalist. Now a days, my future title can have quite a few more bi-lines: Photojournalist, Broadcaster, PR, Web Designer.
Once upon a time long LONG ago, I thought working for a newspaper was only about writing your chosen story. Not about taking your turn at writing the obituaries or learning about HTML. How young and stupid I once was? (Don’t answer that.)
I Have to Confess Something…
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on April 2, 2009
So I have to confess something… Umm… well today, I cheated. And honestly, I am not really sorry.
Cheating, huh? Emily Patton cheats? You thought I was better than that, didn’t you?
Well let me explain…
I don’t know about you, but I have been raised to associate “cheating” with a negative connotation. Emily, don’t cheat on a test. Miss Patton, don’t you dare cut off that last quarter of a mile from your run, that’s cheating! To me, reading the newspaper, as illegal and wrong as it sounds, well its not necessarily a bad thing, is it?
According to an article by Jack Shafer, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy” — well this is “cheating.”
The definition of democracy from Dictionary.com is, “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”
This government is designed for me, exercised by me, or by the elected representatives in our democratic system. Yet I, myself, do not know all the Supreme Court Justices by name, nor do I know what role Joe Biden played in politics before he became our Vice President. But I pick up the newspaper or visit Google News each day, in an attempt to become better informed.
From the article, Jack Shafer’s article, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy”
The only group that holds a consistently high opinion of newspapers is newspaper people. They’re the ones who do the bragging about how newspapers enrich democracy by uncovering pollution, malfeasance in office, abuses of power, and unsafe consumer goods.
The insistence on coupling newspapering to democracy irritates me not just because it overstates the quality and urgency of most of the work done by newspapers but because it inflates the capacity of newspapers to make us better citizens, wiser voters, and more enlightened taxpayers. I love news on newsprint, believe me, I do. But I hate seeing newspapers reduced to a compulsory cheat sheet for democracy. All this lovey-dovey about how essential newspapers are to civic life and the political process makes me nostalgic for the days, not all that long ago, when everybody hated them.
To access this article, click here.
I do not know what your average day is like. I do not know how it begins. Maybe you hit the snooze button six times in the morning before stumbling into Personal Health class appearing half-drunk. This is one possibility. Maybe you have a full-time job that continues nine to five each day, but not before making your children peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as they load the school bus.
I do not know if you grab a newspaper while on your lunch breaks, or if pick up the College Heights Herald when you enter the Downing University Center. I do not know if you turn on CNN to hear the latest on our brave American troops fighting for us on enemy lines. I do not know who you voted for in the last election, or why in the heck you voted for that guy…
As a college student, believe it or not, I go to class. I go to class A LOT. My average day begins at eight in the morning and continues through the two classes in the morning, the ten minute lunch break to chat with a friend, the brisk almost 5K sprint up The Hill, (no exaggeration needed), to arrive to my secretary student-worker job, depart for brief dinner, attend a journalism lecture, and end the day with a night class.
The day is full. And yours is probably too. Jack Shafer tells us, don’t you dare try to know a little bit about the democracy you live in by reading the newspaper when you have a few minutes to yourself, oh no. That’s just a disgrace. That’s “cheating.”
And sure, I am one of those full-fledged “newspaper people.” Go ahead, give me the stink-eye, and talk behind my back about why I am pro- an informed society. Just answer this for me: How can a society function without the news, or without that additional check and balance on government? Well good ol’ Jack, covered that too.
More from Jack Shafer’s article, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy”
When the conversation turns to democracy, I turn to Adrian Monck, who rejects the idea that newspapers play an irreplaceable role in the institution’s well-being. Indeed, American democracy survived its first century without much in the way of the investigative and accountability journalism we associate with newspapers. That kind of journalism didn’t start to spread until the end of the 19th century.
The question is, why would we let our democracy deteriorate back to a time when it was not as good as it could be? Why be second best if you have the ability to be number one? Why live in falsehood? Why not investigate? Why not dig deeper? Why not uncover the truth? (And here my journalistic side screams out again with the many questions.)
I could spend forever defending the dynamics of journalism, what it does for you and what it will always do for you, but I will keep this short and sweet.
Journalism answers the simple questions. Yes, you need to pack that umbrella today. Yes, we knew you had work early the morning, but the Packers did win in overtime. No, don’t worry about taking that street today, take the detour and miss the traffic jam.
And journalism answers the even harder questions. No, you probably should not vote for John McCain if this is where you stand on the energy crisis. Yes, that is what was going on behind closed doors with the Louisville Police Department. Yes, this is a safe environment to send your child to school.
Journalism will always be needed.
We are always going to be in the dark on some things. There is no way to “know it all.” But now never before has more information been out there for the taking. So if you have a few minutes to yourself, pick up that newspaper. Newspapers may not be “essential for democracy.” But they are essential for you. And you are the vital, (the water, the food, the oxygen, the shelter) component of democracy.
So just this once, steal a glance at that cheat-sheet. And if you get caught, don’t say you are sorry…
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