As the Fourth Estate, journalists play an important role in the democratic process by monitoring those in power and reporting their actions to the public. The information reported allows citizens to become actively involved in their democracy and makes the government more accountable to those they purport to serve. A key source of power at the … [Read more...]
Why Beats are Critical in College Newsrooms
When I was in college (Yes, they had colleges back then.), I covered a lifestyles beat that included everything from nightlife to campus Greek organizations. As a professional journalist, I mostly covered hard news beats based on geography, which meant writing about city and county governments, cops, courts, and fire. I occasionally covered a … [Read more...]
A Post You Don’t Want to Read and I Didn’t Want to Write
I've never been mad at Dan Reimold. He's never been anything but a courteous, gracious and professional friend to me. But he made me really angry Thursday night. I'd had a bad day. You know how life is; you have days when it seems like nothing goes right. I'd just gotten home from my son's football scrimmage and a late dinner, and I was ready to … [Read more...]
April Fools’ Editions Reconsidered
It's possible that I'm just a stick in the mud. I doubt it, but I guess it's possible. Regardless of why, I don't like joke April Fools' Day editions of student newspapers. In fact, I don't even like April Fools' Day jokes in the workplace. Maybe it's because I'm not funny. Perhaps I'm just entirely too serious about the collegiate media's … [Read more...]