College Media Advisers Blog

Between advisers eyeing March Madness nervously and attending a Knicks game (and figuring out the numbering system on the New York subway), it's been a busy day.

A few notes:

Design: I critiqued four newspapers today, and it was amazing how many students had not been exposed to Tim Harrower's excellent News Designers Handbook. Dominant art and heirarchical headlines seemed to be the biggest culprits. Lots of tabloids showed up in the critiques, and also in the exchange tables. These people are ahead of the game in what Mario Garcia calls the future of journalism layout: tabloids. Still, lots of need for design training. Going into the critique sessions, I wondered if I'd have enough to fill 30 minutes. At the end, I was wishing I had an hour!

CMA: There are plenty of opportunities to get involved. I haven't met a nicer group of people in 20 years of journalism. I came to the conference to just meet some people and get my face out there. I ended up participating in a panel on online newspapers, judging the online Apple Awards, delivering some AV equipment, and being set up for a presentation on plagiarism in Nashville, not to mention sitting in on the CMA advisory committee luncheon.

Presentations: I didn't see any today! But there were over 1,000 people here listening to pros and advisers give wise counsel on ways to perfect this craft. CMA conventions are definitely worthwhile. I'm amazed at the diversity of campuses represented. Everyone from community colleges to the largest dailies. There's something for everyone.

Now, on a lighter note, my condolences to everyone who had Florida over Manhattan in their brackets. :-)

I'm having problems posting images to any servers on the hotel internet connection. I'll try later to reload the Sulzberger photos.

10 a.m. is Tim Harrower's keynote. expect more after that.

Excerpts from Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s keynote Q&A session:

On the Jayson Blair scandal:

Two pressures were brought to bear on the times during those times:

We were no longer feeding the New York Times - once a day you took a snapshot of the world - at 9 p.m. We would stop the world, write it up and give it to everybody at 6 in the morning, and wait for the next snapshot. Those days are gone.

The other was 9/11:

"We were in hyperdrive and the newsroom and its journalists were being pushed very hard."

Sulzberger said the Times will still hire young journalists:

"Jayson Blair was an individual. He made individual choices. We will still take risks on people. We will still trust people. We will still work hard to bring in younger journalists to cover our world. We will continue our commitment to diversity.

On the pace of news:

One of the most fascinating things about being in the middle of a scandal or a big story is how fast things move now. it's very hard to get ahead of the story, in part driven by the web.

When Sulzberger was a reporter at the Raleigh Times:

Every story had a three-day cycle. first day you'd be covering the event, the second day the reaction to the event, and the third day, the 'thumbsucker'" which explained what the event meant. "Now, if you don't do that in the first day, you're not doing your job."

On his goals for the New York Times:

My master plan for the newspaper: to reach that knowledge audience around the world in every format that we can, with print being the dominant, but with television and the internet playing increasingly important and dynamic roles.

Advisers prepare for the convention
with an assembly line to stuff packets
for the estimated 1,200 students
who will attend the spring convention.

While many advisers and student press folk are gathered in New York, some are handling brush fires at home. This item appeared on the listserv today:

SGA president criticizes' newspaper's coverage

Student Body President Stefanos Arethas claims a memo he sent to the Student Media Board regarding content issues of The University Times was not an act of censorship, but a misunderstanding.

Displeased with the student newspaper’s editorial content, Arethas sent the Student Media Board a memo March 2 with suggested content changes. Arethas told the Student Media Board he hoped the problems would be fixed, before stating Article II, Section 3 of the Student Body Constitution, which gives him power to temporarily freeze funding of any branch within the Student Association.

Student Media Board only funds The University Times and has no influence over the newspaper’s content, other than the selection of Editor in chief.

Chad Smith, Editor in chief of The University Times, said Arethas’ memo threatens censorship, a violation of Constitutional rights and a means for Arethas to control editorial content in the newspaper.

I got downstairs and didn't make it out of the building before running into Jeff Breaux, convention publicity guru. He didn't recognize me in my "student" disguise. But I worked my way into the bag-stuffing headquarters and got introductions to a lot of names I'd seen on the listserv. Lawrence, Crouch, Spielberger, Levy, etc.

Now, REALLY, I am going to get something to eat with some advisers from the midwest. And then, I'll post some photos later tonight.

Well, I arrived safely. Expect blogging to begin later this evening with a couple of photos, perhaps. Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be part of a panel discussion on online newspapers at noon. Other than that, I expect to post some thoughts about Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.'s keynote, and assorted comings and goings.

Right now, I'm going to get something to eat and enjoy the St. Patrick's Day atmosphere.

If anyone is reading this and has requests, e-mail me at scmurley@mac.com and I'll see what I can do.