Whatever happened to the Sunday story? It took up two pages of text, ran with tons of art and evoked emotion in its readers. Readers could get up with a lazy cup of coffee and have something to talk and think about for the rest of the day.
This article online at American Journalism Review laments the end of long-form stories in an eloquent, if not elongated way. Of course, what would you expect from a story of the demise of magazine journalism printed in the newspaper?
One thing I have had to get used to working at the H&N is this idea of multiple entry points. It's not a new concept to me, but I always considered subheads, breakout boxes and compelling cutlines to be entry points. I also thought of it in a digital sense, where links within the story can lead readers to more information. It has been hard adjusting to writing the same story in four pieces. And with a small news hole day after day, it seems like its wasting space to put in so many different headlines.
But that's the way it's done here. It almost seems to me that online might be the new place for long-form journalism. I am tempted to write two stories, one that is cohesive that could appear online, the other that is pieced out for the print edition. I'm not trying to create more work for myself, but when stories appear online, sometimes they don't all get there. Then our online readers are less informed, ask questions that the stories answered, and think the newspaper has failed in some way.
I plan to mull it over some more before attempting to submit two versions of my stories. I think online stories that jump give readers a break, give sales reps a space to put ads and give editors a gauge of how much of longer stories are being consumed. Do people ever get to the last page? I know when a story is written well enough, I sure do.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Where have you been?
While I don't think I ever had any regular readers, it occurs to me that continuing to keep this blog is the only way I'll ever get any. Should someone stumble on this industry blog, they aren't likely to stay long if the last post is a year old. And it is.
Today I'll simply update what has happened in the past year in my journalism career and then I'll make a wholehearted attempt to be a regular blogger on the topic. Some may argue that the market has been cornered, but I think it will help keep me fresh in ideas.
After graduating college and joining the reporting team at The Register Guard as an intern with the Snowden program through the University of Oregon, I was fortunate enough to land a position with a small regional newspaper, Herald and News, located in sunny Klamath Falls.
At the H&N, I write about city government and agriculture primarily. I have carved myself a niche within environmental issues reporting and housing, two topic areas that both lacked a dedicated reporter and are vitally important to knowing what exactly is going on in this area. I feel that environmental issues and agriculture in the region go hand-in-hand, and are a natural fit. Housing interests me as I am one of those who would like to become a first-time homebuyer with all the advantages that possibly could bring.
Also, housing often drives a community's economy, and here is no different. Having experienced a short-lived boom in housing, there are many half-built subdivisions that lost steam and left behind a eerie grouping of roads and power lines leading to perhaps a single house, or two. Their neighbors have addresses, just no homes or mailboxes.
At the H&N I've been given tons of freedom to pursue the stories I want to do, am completely trusted to write about what's important in the city's government decisions and dealings and am encouraged to shoot videos whenever I wish, or take my own photographs. That last part is necessary because the newspaper employs just one photographer, and he works just two days out of the five in my work week.
I'm pleased here, although the job market afterward looks mighty tough. I'm glad to not be looking right now. Furloughs, an industry standard, have reduced my salary by more than $1,000, and for a starting reporter, that hurts. A lot. But I am gaining experience and hopefully will be granted the entertainment blog I proposed several months ago. I can't help but make connections in the community when I am out because I anticipate getting it someday.
I'll get back to the discussion of the journalism industry in the next post, and I won't wait an entire year to make it.
Today I'll simply update what has happened in the past year in my journalism career and then I'll make a wholehearted attempt to be a regular blogger on the topic. Some may argue that the market has been cornered, but I think it will help keep me fresh in ideas.
After graduating college and joining the reporting team at The Register Guard as an intern with the Snowden program through the University of Oregon, I was fortunate enough to land a position with a small regional newspaper, Herald and News, located in sunny Klamath Falls.
At the H&N, I write about city government and agriculture primarily. I have carved myself a niche within environmental issues reporting and housing, two topic areas that both lacked a dedicated reporter and are vitally important to knowing what exactly is going on in this area. I feel that environmental issues and agriculture in the region go hand-in-hand, and are a natural fit. Housing interests me as I am one of those who would like to become a first-time homebuyer with all the advantages that possibly could bring.
Also, housing often drives a community's economy, and here is no different. Having experienced a short-lived boom in housing, there are many half-built subdivisions that lost steam and left behind a eerie grouping of roads and power lines leading to perhaps a single house, or two. Their neighbors have addresses, just no homes or mailboxes.
At the H&N I've been given tons of freedom to pursue the stories I want to do, am completely trusted to write about what's important in the city's government decisions and dealings and am encouraged to shoot videos whenever I wish, or take my own photographs. That last part is necessary because the newspaper employs just one photographer, and he works just two days out of the five in my work week.
I'm pleased here, although the job market afterward looks mighty tough. I'm glad to not be looking right now. Furloughs, an industry standard, have reduced my salary by more than $1,000, and for a starting reporter, that hurts. A lot. But I am gaining experience and hopefully will be granted the entertainment blog I proposed several months ago. I can't help but make connections in the community when I am out because I anticipate getting it someday.
I'll get back to the discussion of the journalism industry in the next post, and I won't wait an entire year to make it.
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