The Greening of Alex Parker

As promised several days ago, a wee update on what I've been doing at j-school, here at KU. Classes are in full swing. I'm taking an editing crash course, which is truly humbling. I consider myself a pretty good writer who is able to edit in a competent manner, but I know I'll be learning a lot in this course. To wit: we were assigned some readings on grammar. And gadnummit, if I haven't thought about parts of speech, gerunds, participles, etc. for years. Talk about a refresher course.

I'm also taking a writing for multimedia course. It's pretty cool so far. I was worried that it was going to be heavy on the PR writing -- after all, the textbook is entitled, "Strategic Writing: Writing for Public Relations, Marketing..." But it's light on that stuff, and tonight I'm writing a radio broadcast script.

The biggest and most exciting news is that I am a graduate assistant for Professor Simran Sethi, a visiting professional chair at KU. Professor Sethi is well-known for her work in environmental journalism; she's a reporter for TreeHugger.com, she's headed up the news desk for MTV India, interviewed Al Gore, and is soon to begin work as a correspondent with NBC News.

I'm going to be helping Professor Sethi in gathering materials for her course on Environmental Reporting; assisting in researching topics for a new book she is writing; compiling materials for her various speaking opportunities across the country, and researching topics for her class on multimedia reporting this semester.

It's an incredible opportunity to work with a smart journalist, and on topics that are incredibly pertinent, not only in journalism, but also in our everyday life. Woohoo!

A precarious start to a career?

There’s a huge kerfuffle in Santa Barbara you may have heard about. Long story short: The owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, Wendy McCaw, is essentially steering the editorial side to encompass her views, much to the disdain of a shrinking readership and staff.

But that’s not deterred one young reporter from jumping on board (fourth item). Tom Risen, the son of NYT’s James Risen, is the newest hire at the Santa Barbara News-Press. I met Tom on Halloween — he was Hunter S. Thompson, I was quail huntin’ Dick Cheney — and he seemed like a good guy. He is a Medill classmate of my friend, and newbie Tribune reporter Matt Lynch. I wish Tom the best, but wonder if that culture is the best place to begin a career. It seems to me that it would be beneficial to land in a newsroom that is not rife with conflict (tough to do these days, I know), one that could truly help a young reporter become the best he could be.

I hope Tom is able to grow as a journo, but I am afraid the distractions at the paper might be overwhelming. In any case, good luck Tom!

The top seven things I want to learn in j-school

I’m going to j-school to learn to be a journalist. Even though I majored in journalism in college, I’m certain that by getting an advanced degree and honing my skills and expanding my network, I am doing myself a favor. Here are the top 10 things I hope to learn over the course of the next two years.

1) Writing: I’m a pretty good writer. In fact, if I have one skill, that’s it. But I know I can be a better writer. And I’ve been slinging corporate key messages for so long, I think a good kick in the ass will be good for me.

2) Reporting: This seems obvious, but there’s a difference in compiling information and actually reporting a story. There’s more to it. I want to learn how to go deep into a story or situation and quickly identify the story. I can tell you who, what and where, but I want to know “why.”

3) Video/photo/Web: Since MT is apparently really hard for me to master, and the customer service reps don’t get back to me, I want to learn to create cool video, exciting phtos and real, interactive, effective Web sites. I’m pretty excited that I’ve been able to do some of that on another blog I keep for work, and I want to take it to the next level.

4) Interviewing: Another obvious one, but something I’ve struggled with for a while. When I spoke to people for my work with the Chi-Town Daily News, I asked some good questions, but it took me time to develop them. After thinking for a few minutes or rehashing notes, the smart questions came. But I want to ask them on a dime and not have to pause to digest information before my questions are the important ones that unlock the key to a story.

5) How to get (and keep) a job: It’s going to be tougher now, I think, than in almost any time before in journalism. And it’s going to be hard as heck to go where I want to go, which is, of course, Sweet Home Chicago. Joe Grimm had some good advice on his careers page at Poynter, courtesy of the Trib’s recruiter. I’ll keep it in mind and hope the wind blows me back, via Chicago.

6) Bravery: I’m not looking for the Silver Star here, but I want to get over the fear I sometimes have of talking to the man on the street. I covered a gay pride prom a while back and the one thing I really wanted to do was talk to a couple on a date. But I didn’t. I talked to a bunch of people, but I could have made a decent story great if I’d found the courage to mingle more. It just felt awkward disturbing people at their prom. I’m not that happy with the story (and I wrote that shitty headline…yech), but it’s a lesson to me that a story can always be improved by a little gumption. This will also help me to…

7) Take steps to be a foreign correspondent: I don’t know how the heck I’m going to do this, but it is totally fascinating to me. I don’t know if it’s something i’d want to do full-time, because frankly I don’t have the language skills to go anywhere other than an English speaking country, but I look at young reporters I admire and they’re totally doing it. Evan Osnos at the Tribune is in his early 30s and kicking ass reporting in China; my current fave reporter James Janega, also at the Trib, has written some incredible dispatches from Iraq; and the Washington Post and Fresno Bee both have 23 year old reporters covering the war. Except for the constant fear of death and abduction, I think that’s amazing.

More later. There may be more later…good news is that a new computer is on the way!

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