I checked my e-mail and saw with panic Read more...]]>

Waitressing tables by day at a Greek restaurant in Virginia, I submitted my application for the UPIU internship posted on journalismjobs.com (a hot job/internship search site). Several days later, Harumi Gondo e-mailed me back with one line: “Please check the first and last paragraph of your cover letter.”

I checked my e-mail and saw with panic that although I wrote in my first paragraph that I wanted to intern at UPIU, I had failed to edit out the part about my wanting to “join the dynamic team at Village Voice Media” in my last paragraph.

Despite my embarrassment, I wrote back, apologizing for my oversight. Two days later, she emailed me asking, “Are you available for an interview?”

[Harumi: "While I normally would have taken Anna out of the running for the position for that slip, her courteous reply and her solid reporting experience (and a push from UPIU Senior Mentor Krista Kapralos, kept her on my list. Make sure you double-check your cover letters! When applying to journalism jobs you are e-mailing copy editors and grammar and spelling freaks!"]

I’ve been interning at UPIU for nearly two months as the community engagement manager. Although learning about inverted pyramids and nut grafs is helpful for every journalist, four years in James Madison University’s classrooms did not prepare me for my current job. I was an editor for several student-run publications, but still did not have much experience with Web journalism or social media.

Although I was hired to do traditional reporting, my job description very quickly changed and in addition to reporting I now help facilitate virtual conversation among UPIU staff, UPIU users and the rest of the online community. I correspond with j-students around the world, constantly update Facebook and twitter, read a million online articles and research ways for UPIU to become the best resource for aspiring journalists.

I’m tailoring myself to be the best journalist and community engagement manager and I’m committed to being flexible with my fluid job description.

[Harumi: I've worked with a lot of interns, but Anna is a keeper! She is remarkable because when obstacles come up she doesn't give up, but digs down her heels and keeps moving forward. Change is hard, but I've been impressed with Anna's strength and determination.]

I’m gaining skills I didn’t learn as an undergraduate. I encourage you to evolve your journalism skills to adapt to the changing industry.

Now, according to my job description, I’ll ask you to post, tweet, bookmark, stumble upon, digg, link and/or share this!

I landed a week ago and was immediately shuffled into full-time language classes. Between memorizing German verb conjugations and perfecting my order of kuchen and kaffee at Read more...]]>

Hi, UPIUers! It’s Krista, your senior mentor, and I’m writing from Frankfurt, Germany, where I’ll be reporting until early October through a fellowship from the International Center for Journalists.

I landed a week ago and was immediately shuffled into full-time language classes. Between memorizing German verb conjugations and perfecting my order of kuchen and kaffee at cafes, I’ve been hunting high and low for stories.

Hunting for stories, you might ask? In a foreign country, where I butcher the language more than speak it?

That’s right – and I’m finding stories everywhere. In fact, visiting new places is one of the best times to sniff around for a good yarn (an American term for a compelling story) or two. While there’s nothing like knowing the local culture and sources inside and out, being in a new place means that everything is fresh. What might be taken for granted by a local could be a surprise to you.

For example, I discovered shortly before traveling here that church members are assessed a special tax by the government. The government collects the money and, according to my sources, turns it over to the church. The idea is to guarantee that state-recognized churches have enough gold in their coffers to pay clergy and hire janitors. To get on the tax list, all you have to do is be baptized into one of the churches, even if you were baptized as a baby. To get out of the tax, you must formally apply at a courthouse that you no longer wish to benefit from anything the church offers

When I asked Germans about this, they said, “Naturlich!” That’s the German word for, “Of course! Why is this even a point of conversation?”

But for an American unused to such a tax, it raises questions. What happens when a flood of people leave the Catholic church in protest over the pedophilia scandal? What about mosques? Are they allowed to collect a similar tax through the government?

Certainly, many Germans report on these issues. But as an outsider, the questions jump out and grab me.

A few questions to ask yourself when you’re in a new place, even if you’re on a school break at the beach or on vacation to another country with your family:

1. What’s different here? (Example: All the homes are equipped with solar panels. Is there a city law requiring them? How do homeowners feel about this?)
2. What’s the same as in your hometown? (There’s an Outback Steakhouse in the city’s downtown. When you visited last two years ago, that area was filled with restaurants serving local cuisine. What changes does that indicate?)
3. What if…? (Example: Those European cathedrals are gigantic! What if a bell breaks? Who has to climb 150 meters up to fix it? Would that person make a good profile subject?)

Be curious! You’re an out-of-towner; that means you have free license to ask away. When you stop to find out how much it costs to ride the local bus, why not take an extra moment to find out whether the buses are electric? Did you just eat a delicious dinner of fresh local fish? Who caught that fish? How has his or her business changed over the past few years?

Once you get started, there’s no end to the questions you could ask. Don’t be shy. In most cases, people are proud of their regions and countries, and are pleased to speak with you. I plan to share more about my experiences as a foreign correspondent here in Germany in the coming weeks. Watch this space to find out where my curiosity takes me.

Do you plan to travel soon? What sorts of stories might you find there? Let us know below!

Amy Dalton, a junior at Young Harris College, found it extremely hard to wake up before noon on Thursday.  Even still, she woke from her summer slumber for a one-day training session with UPIU staff in preparation for her student newspaper duties in the fall.

After the early-morning pitch session and lecture about Web writing, seven Read more...]]>

Amy Dalton, a junior at Young Harris College, found it extremely hard to wake up before noon on Thursday.  Even still, she woke from her summer slumber for a one-day training session with UPIU staff in preparation for her student newspaper duties in the fall.

After the early-morning pitch session and lecture about Web writing, seven YHC students hit the streets to tackle their individual assignments utilizing “shoeleather” journalism. The students had five hours to do their reporting and for some this was their first reporting experience.

“I was impressed with the quick turn-around because I knew that this was the first reporting experience for one or two of them,” UPIU International Coordinator Harumi Gondo said. “4 p.m. was supposed to be their deadline, but it became a feedback sessions because they filed their stories so quickly.”

UPDATE:  The students received real-time feedback via online video chat on their stories from the UPIU team. Senior mentor Tom Ramstack gave students advice on story organization and interviewing difficult sources. Dalton had problems getting information from a PR representative for her story on the Goergia “texting while driving” law.

“I tried to just keep asking the question until he answered it,” Dalton said. “And I tried to call other people that would possibly have the same information but they didn’t get back to me, so I had to call AAA, which I thought was just as good.”

Be persistent yet cordial when pursuing sources, and don’t alienate them or damage a new organization’s reputation, Ramstack advised.

“I have talked to my students about this program as a ‘crash course in (new) journalism,’” wrote YHC professor Nick Bowman in an e-mail. “I like that my students are working on a one-day turnaround for their stories from conception to final edits; this really gets them used to how things work in the ‘real world.’”

Two YHC students, freshman Ethan Burch and junior Callie Stevens, became involved with the program to learn more about online journalism and found the program informative and helpful.

Dalton agreed. “I got involved in the program to learn more about Internet news writing, to network and hopefully add this to my résumé,” said the media communications major from Augusta, Ga.

The UPIU team will also be working with YHC journalism classes in the fall.

http://www.slideshare.net/hgondo/writing-for-the-web-4908812

When a photo gallery from China of a biodegradable urn burial ceremony came in it had one vague cutline for all 16 photos.

We knew our viewers would want an explanation as vivid as the gallery and so we turned to UPIU’s unique network of users and contacted several Chinese j-students.

We Read more...]]>

[Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI]

When a photo gallery from China of a biodegradable urn burial ceremony came in it had one vague cutline for all 16 photos.

We knew our viewers would want an explanation as vivid as the gallery and so we turned to UPIU’s unique network of users and contacted several Chinese j-students.

We e-mailed them the photo gallery and captions and asked them to track down more info on the photo essay. Xixi Quan, a journalism student from Peking University in Beijing, China, agreed to tackle the assignment.

Xixi shared with us the steps she took to get the story (we edited the e-mail a bit for brevity and clarity).

“At first, I thought the guys in the photo were soldiers so I asked someone from the military. None of them knew anything about a funeral like this in the military. I was disheartened but I looked again at the e-mail Anna sent me, and keyed in on the word degradable instead of military.

I went online and found a news story. I contacted a reporter I knew and he gave me details through e-mail. ^_^”

Good job, Xixi!

Would you be interested in joining in on the fun? Sign up here for UPIU and join our team of mentored aspiring journalists.

Background: Raised in India, attended j-school there, then attended j-school in the U.S. before getting a job at a local U.S. newspaper. Now, she writes for The Indian Express based  in New Delhi.

Chinki Sinha

Cross-cultural challenges: “(In the U.S.) it was difficult for me to understand the culture and its subtleties. But that I resolved Read more...]]>

Name: Chinki Sinha

Background: Raised in India, attended j-school there, then attended j-school in the U.S. before getting a job at a local U.S. newspaper. Now, she writes for The Indian Express based  in New Delhi.

Chinki Sinha

Cross-cultural challenges: “(In the U.S.) it was difficult for me to understand the culture and its subtleties. But that I resolved by being observant and talking to people. Yet another challenge was getting used to the newspaper industry in the United States, where a lot of focus is on community and local news… In India, newspapers have regional bureaus but they are mostly national newspapers.”

Building sources, gaining trust: “People (in the U.S.) were willing to talk and town board meetings were open to the public. Public officials were available. In India, it is entirely different. Here, you cultivate sources in the departments you cover so they can tip you off.”

Back to India: “After working in the States for around two years, I decided to move back (to India) because I felt local news was not something I could latch onto for the rest of my life. I wanted to travel, write on poverty, hunger, people and social policies in our country…I am glad I got a job and my editors let me travel extensively. I have learned a lot in the process, from keeping deadlines by filing stories from a crowded shop in a rural market because they had a generator and we could plug our laptops in, to understanding how to make way through closed communities that are unwilling to talk.”

Working hard: “Given the intense competition in India among daily newspapers, a reporter is expected to beat all others when it comes to news reporting… a reporter is expected to think of innovative ways to do a story, and to file investigative reports every week.”

Breaking stereotypes: “Most U.S. journalists based in India as foreign correspondents don’t get the country and write misleading, stereotypical reports. When you decide to be a journalist, you must set aside the prejudices and be open to the society and its quirks.”

What U.S. journalists can learn from Indian journalists: “(They) can learn about cultivating sources…and how to stay on top of the news and to get a larger perspective on news.”

Accuracy and creativity: “In the U.S., we checked the names from the phone book to make sure we were spelling them correctly. Here, we are trying to focus more on such accuracy… A lot of my (Indian) friends feel that a reporter’s job is to collect information…So often, the news reports are straight copies without much imagination or creativity fused into them. I have always felt that a journalist needs to be a storyteller and for that we all must learn to write well…It is how you package it and how you tell the story that will ultimately set us apart and make us stay in the game.”

Read Chinki’s recent story, Baby Boom Town, here.

Read a story, by UPIU writer Arwa Sultanali, about journalism in India here.

Sound intimidating? Scary? Hard? That might be true. But those tips for finding great stories are among 20 offered by 2009 Pulitzer Prize feature winner Lane DeGregory, who reports for the St. Petersburg Times. (Read the rest here)

I’m going to Read more...]]>

Talk to strangers. Make freaky friends. Ignore important people. Give everyone your phone number. Work holidays.

Sound intimidating? Scary? Hard? That might be true. But those tips for finding great stories are among 20 offered by 2009 Pulitzer Prize feature winner Lane DeGregory, who reports for the St. Petersburg Times. (Read the rest here)

I’m going to add another tip: READ. A LOT.

The very best news stories can send chills down your spine, force laughter to bubble up through the deepest part of your gut, and send you for a box of tissues to mop up your tears. They’re as good as novels, and better than whatever is playing at the local movie theater. The best news stories burn images into your head – images that never go away.

The bad news: Writing is hard work.

The good news: Good writing is a skill that can be learned. And one of the most effective ways to learn is to study. If you’re an aspiring news writer, you should be on a constant look-out for the best stories. Notice similarities. How do writers develop characters? What do they quote? What do they paraphrase? How is the story structured?

Take notes. When you discover techniques that work, incorporate them into your own stories.

Here’s one of the best in recent memory to get you started. Lane DeGregory earned the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for this piece, a haunting tale of a forgotten little girl.

PLANT CITY — The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child’s face in the window.

A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.

Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard.

The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost.

The child stared into the square of sunlight, then slipped away.

Months went by. The face never reappeared. (Read more here)

More sources for good stories:

Nieman Storyboard

Longform

Where do you go to find good news writing? Tell us! Leave a comment below.

Keep looking until you find them. That’s what UPIU writer Rajneesh Bhandari had to do when he accepted a UPIU assignment to write about autism in Nepal. When he first called a few autism centers, he had no luck.

Photo by Read more...]]>

What should you do when you can’t find the people you’re supposed to write about?

Keep looking until you find them. That’s what UPIU writer Rajneesh Bhandari had to do when he accepted a UPIU assignment to write about autism in Nepal. When he first called a few autism centers, he had no luck.

Photo by Rajneesh Bhandari

“’They used to stay here a year ago,’ ‘This is not their number,’ ‘I don’t know much about them,’ were the general answers I got,” said Rajneesh, who is studying journalism at Nepal’s  Tribhuwan University.

But he didn’t give up.

“I finally got one care center that was working,” he said.

Rajneesh set an appointment to visit the center. When he arrived, he found a group of autistic children working on art projects. The center provided Rajneesh with anecdotes for his story.

Over the course of nearly two weeks, Rajneesh scrambled to find out more about autism, but there was little he could verify.

Rajneesh Bhandari

“The saddest part is there is no official data that tells how many children in Nepal are living with autism,” he said. “Parents were hopeful that they will be able to network with other children (with) autism and support them.”

Rajneesh found that Nepalese parents aren’t satisfied with the government’s current lack of services for their autistic children. They told him they want to make the government more aware of the growing rate of autism.

Rajneesh usually writes about politics, poverty and war. It was a challenge for him to write about autism, a disease that many countries around the world don’t even recognize. But now, Rajneesh has a new area of expertise to add to his list of topics he can cover.

Read Rajneesh’s story here.

Are you interested in writing about autism in your country? Contact Anna Young, UPIU’s Community Manager, to find out more. You can read her story about autism in the U.S. here.

It’s easy to throw words onto a computer screen without much thought of what you’re trying to achieve, but that’s probably not the most effective way to write the news.

Before you begin writing, ask Read more...]]>

If you can’t answer that question before you begin typing, you need to do some more thinking, and probably some more reporting.

It’s easy to throw words onto a computer screen without much thought of what you’re trying to achieve, but that’s probably not the most effective way to write the news.

Before you begin writing, ask yourself: “What is the goal of this story?”

Do you want to:

• Inform readers about a new museum scheduled to open?
• Show why a specific person is important to your local area?
• Bring to light the questionable accounting practices of a public official?
• Explain a new or quirky phenomenon taking place in your area?

There are different types of news stories to fulfill each of those goals. Here’s a sampling of the most common types of news stories:

• Basic news (informative): Announces basic information, such as a change in bus fare, election results, or a crime report.
• Investigative: An in-depth look at a topic that uncovers information that was hidden or not easy to find. An investigation could reveal the financial problems of a political candidate, a secret military policy or environmental contamination caused by a local business. In the U.S., investigation stories often make use of documents found through Freedom of Information Act requests.
• Enterprise: An in-depth look at a single topic. An enterprise story might show how farmers are struggling under a federal policy that was designed to help them, or the challenges AIDS patients face when they search for jobs. Enterprise stories often include some investigative elements.
• Feature: Soft news that often shows how culture is changing. A feature could highlight a local gardener who is transforming a neighborhood’s backyards, the recent boom in cupcake shops, or a cultural event.  Features often have anecdotal leads.
• Trend: Are more people than ever struggling to have children? Are hotels building mini-rooms, with all the comforts of home including houseplants and pets, for businesspeople who don’t have time to commute home each night? Are all the local teenage boys playing the same video game? Each situation is an example of a trend story. A trend story can be serious or light, sad, funny or downright quirky, but it always shows a cultural shift.
• Profile: The man who has played his saxophone on the street corner each night for 45 years. The young politician who promises to bring big changes. The volunteer who travels around town to rescue cats stuck in trees. Each person would make a great profile subject. Profiles usually involve shadowing the subject, and interviewing additional sources. If the subject is a controversial character, the profile should reflect that.
• News obituary: No, this isn’t like the obituaries that families pay for. When someone of local, national or international importance dies, a reporter often writes a news obituary. This is similar to a profile, but for a person who is deceased. News obituaries do not gloss over controversy. If a national or international person has died, a local news obituary examines local angles. (For example, if a former president dies, a reporter might interview the local man who once acted as that president’s personal chef.)
• Column: An opinion piece, sometimes first person. The best columnists focus solely on writing opinion that is reflective of the day’s news, and rarely move between news writing and column writing.

Once you decide the type of story that is most appropriate to your topic, think about the type of reporting you need to conduct. Do you need to talk to public officials? Do you need to find average people to interview? Where should you go to get your information? The reporters with the most successful stories think carefully through each question before they begin reporting.

Three weeks later, I had an article titled “‘Roadmaps of Progress’ or Roadblocks to Success?” that highlights young adults Read more...]]>

I’m Anna, the UPIU intern. When I started out here this summer, Senior Mentor Krista Kapralos and International Coordinator Harumi Gondo said they wanted me to write an article on autism.  “OK,” I thought, “What about autism?”

Three weeks later, I had an article titled “‘Roadmaps of Progress’ or Roadblocks to Success?” that highlights young adults with autism.

How did I go from a one-word assignment to a 1,500-word article? Read the steps below to find out.

1.)  Audience:  I had to narrow down the topic of autism to appeal to the primary readership of UPIU.com, which is college-aged people in their 20s.
I asked, “What do young adults want to know about autism and why should they care?”

2.)  Research: I started researching autism and how it affects young adults.
I asked, “What are the most pressing issues young adults with autism are facing?”

3.)  Topic: Through my research, I discovered that one of the most pressing issues young adults with autism face is their struggle to transition into adulthood.
I asked, “Is this an interesting topic for UPIU?”

4.)  Sources: After determining that this was a good story for UPIU, I made a list of about 20 possible sources. In my list, I had government officials, school administrators, nonprofit employees, autism experts and families of autistic young adults.
I asked, “Even if I don’t use all of these sources, does this list include all possible angles of my story?”

5.)  Facts: I tracked down facts and statistics from federal government reports and agencies as well as nonprofit organizations and other advocacy groups.
I asked, “where is the best information I can find to include in my story to give it depth and credibility?”

6.)  Reporting: I spent a solid week on the phone and out of the office speaking with sources, compiling information and composing an outline. The outline was crucial in helping me organize all of my information into a coherent storyline.  Then, I reviewed the outline with Krista and set a deadline for my article.
I asked, “What information is missing from my reporting?”

7.) Shoeleather: I didn’t sit at my desk and send e-mails for all of my information, which is often called “armchair journalism.” Instead, I spoke directly to my sources, found a newsworthy event that brought life to my story and attended it in person. This direct, traditional style of reporting is called “shoe-leather journalism.” With my notepad and pen, a digital voice recorder and a camera, I attended the Project SEARCH graduation ceremony where two autistic students had completed the program that helped them learn skills needed to get competitive jobs.
I asked, “Is this the event that is going to make my general story on autism newsworthy?”

8.) Follow-up: I followed up after the graduation ceremony in two ways. First, I interviewed a family I met at the ceremony by going to their home and getting additional information, photos  and audio. Second, I interviewed many of my sources a second time, getting more information straight from the source on everything relevant to this program and event.
I asked, “Do I have all the information I need?”

9.)  Write: After transcribing 10 pages of interviews with 20-plus sources and organizing pages upon pages of research, I spent about three days narrowing down my information, writing, editing and rewriting my article.
I asked, “Will others be informed and entertained by my story?”

10.)  Fact-check: Krista and I thoroughly edited and fact-checked my story several times. I sent a source list to Krista that included names and titles of sources and the sources of all my facts.
I asked, “Am I being as credible and clear with my reporting and writing as I can?”

11.) Finish: I took Krista’s edits and suggestions seriously and after several draft versions, I finally finished the three-week project of researching, reporting and writing about autism.