Advisory Board Members April 15, 2008 Notes from Dec. 5, 2007

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1 Technician Advisry Bard Page Technician Advisry Bard Advisry Bard Members April 15, 2008 Ntes frm Dec. 5, 2007 MEMBERS Patrick Clarke, designer, 96 Studis; frmer Technician managing editr, patrick@96studis.cm Ben McNeely, reprter, Cncrd Independent Tribune, frmer Technician managing editr, bmcneely@independenttribune.cm Jse Picart, vice prvst fr diversity and African-American affairs, jse_picart@ncsu.edu Anna Rzewnicki, directr f cmmunicatins, Cllege f Management, anna_rzewnicki@ncsu.edu Andrew Williams, freshman, electrical engineering, anwilli5@ncsu.edu Spencer Williams, freshman, electrical engineering, sewill10@ncsu.edu Nancy Wykle, managing editr, Durham Herald-Sun, nwykle@heraldsun.cm APRIL 15, 2008 Present: Patrick Clarke, Ben McNeely; Andrew Williams; Spencer Williams; Nancy Wykle; Jsh Harrell, Technician editr; Saja Hindi, managing editr; Bradley Wilsn, adviser We started the meeting lking ver the Technician s declining incme this semester and hw the average incme per issue cntinues t decline. We talked briefly abut ptential ramificatins f that. Then we discussed the imprvement in the number f surces per issue (imprving) and the percentage f the time the staff has made deadline (nt imprving) and hw these tw things have an impact n the quality f the paper. Then we talked abut retentin. Patrick said the fcus shuld be n hw t get peple up in the ffice befre 5 p.m. The expectatin fr peple jining Student Media shuld be that they re in the ffice befre 5 p.m., nt late hurs. The quality f the paper n a day-t-day basis is reflected in what time peple get ut f here. Sure, have a little fun. But at 9 p.m., stp gfing ff and fcus n getting paper ut. Cnsiderable discussin f crss editing, having flks wh are bred because there aren t stries t lk at r pages t design being anther set f eyes n a page r a stry. Patrick asked if the designers were cpy editing. Jsh said the experienced nes were. The new nes are struggling just t get the pages designed. Patrick said he wuld cme in t the ffice at 2 p.m. r 2:30 p.m. t fcus with flks n the frnt page f the next day s paper, lking ver stry ptins, etc. The first deadline was 7:45 p.m. fr page 1. Push writers t hit deadline targets. Ben said n ne shuld be turning in stries after 7 p.m., unless it s a late event. That gives yu time t fix it and wrk n it befre yu have t mve n. If it s t late t make the next day s paper, retl fr a day later. Yu ve gtta hit deadline.

2 Technician Advisry Bard Page 2 Nancy emphasized that writing is a prcess. Being late is cmpletely unfair t their clleagues. It drives me up the wall when peple are late. It s really incnsiderate and rude, quite frankly. They need t understand expectatins frm the beginning. Patrick suggested that when new peple jin staff that they shuld have them cme up in the evening and just witness the entire prcess. Ben said reprts shuld cme in the ffice and write stries, especially when they re wrking n them arund 5 p.m. There is s much dwn time during the day. Mve budget meeting t 3 p.m. YES. It wuld aid cnsiderably in retentin effrts. Game stries are ften late. Just run a brief recap in paper. Maybe run a pht, which can be transmitted frm lcatin befre the game is ver, with sme alt cpy with results. The rest can g nline. Sprts fans like stats. Sprts is the easiest sectin t predict. Jsh said they culd get game stries psted nline right after the game and culd use mre alt cpy, abslutely. Mre quick reads. Ben said the sprts page needs t be ne, self-cntained sprts page. Cntain it t just the back page. Then use page 7 fr features. Idea f having a business page was very well received. Nancy said they t were seeing the demise f the classifieds sectin. Cnsider the use f calendars and ther similar material that prvides useful infrmatin abut events n campus. During budget meeting, editrs need t be advcates fr readers. Sectin editrs shuld advcate fr the stries that will be the mst infrmative, entertaining and useful fr the frnt page. She said they plan the centerpiece stries fr the frnt page smetimes a mnth in advance. Andrew said he enjys the behind-the-scenes lk at sprts. He wants stries that enrich the experience with the team, nt just recap. He als said he gets frustrated with the reprductin quality f the puzzles frm time t time. Spencer said peple need t see the Web site. We need t d a better jb f prmting the Technician Web site. Patrick said peple like the instant gratificatin f the nline material. Ben said we shuld market and prmte the Web independent f the paper. D mre Web exclusives. Patrick suggested running Web lgs in the paper t refer peple t nline material. Publish audi f interviews nline. Excerpts. Jsh said they were ding mre with blgs, audi and slideshws and that we learned a lt this week ding a slideshw a day during Ag Awareness Week. Nw there is fcus n where t take nline presence. Fcus shuld be what is the best way t tell the stry. Mving t a discussin abut science and tech, Ben said it shuld be at the frefrnt f the paper. Schl in China. Specialized pages. D mre. Centennial Campus. S many great stries ver there. Maybe set up an engineering blg. Get beat writers t regularly cver CALS and

3 Technician Advisry Bard Page 3 Engineering. Find ut, What are yu ding that s cl? Get beat persn t have a beer with a dean r smething t establish a psitive wrking relatinship n a regular basis. Patrick said the staff shuld g where the ppulatin is. CALS. Hw great wuld it be t have an editrial bard meeting with a rep frm varius clleges. Get them t buy in t the paper. But Nancy said t be cautius abut bringing visitrs t budget meetings. Make sure the expectatins are clear. They ll be intimidated by vcabulary, etc. Andrew said he enjyed it when there was smething different in the paper. He liked reading abut stuff ging n in different clleges. He encuraged staff t dig deeper fr interesting stries. Surces: Fcus n quality f surces. Get better surces. Dn t just get peple n the street that dn t knw anything. Use the NCSU experts list. Ask the peple n the list fr the names f students with expertise in varius areas. Make cnnectins with flks. Use news services. Yes, they have an agenda. Yes, they push stuff. N, yu dn t need t make them happy, but they can serve as a resurce fr yu. Establish a rapprt with handlers f varius fficials, including schedulers, receptinists, and secretaries. Play plitics. Nancy said she nticed a pretty gd breadth f cverage in the paper. She nticed, fr example, in SG stry n Lck Whiteside that it wasn t clear what he did t get impeached. Make it clear t the reader. Definitely needed wrk with cpy editrs. Spencer said he liked what he was reading abut plitics. He said he liked the randm stries t. Andrew said ne f the science and tech stries abut different types f bttled water std ut. Engineers are partial t this kind f stuff. He d like t see mre tech articles. He als suggested using resurces like stumbleupn.cm t increase Web presence f the paper. Ben said the electin was ging t be a rare pprtunity. He liked the cverage except stry abut Michelle Obama. He wanted t knw what she said and that wasn t in stry. DEC. 5, 2007 Present: Patrick Clarke, Ben McNeely; Jse Picart; Anna Rzewnicki; Andrew Williams; Nancy Wykle; Jsh Harrell, Technician editr; Saja Hindi, news editr; Clark Lenard, sprts editr; Maggie Luckad, features editr; Bradley Wilsn, adviser The meeting began at 7:05 p.m. Jse Picart began by saying hw much he enjys the paper. I think it s a fabulus paper, he said. It said the writing was great, he liked the layut and that they appear cvered things readers were interested in. He said he wished the paper had mre diversity n its pages. Anna Rzewnicki, wh said she had been the editr f a small newspaper in rural Nebraska, said that as a cmmunicatins directr, she ften spent time lking t find mentins f students frm her cllege in the paper. She appreciated the identificatin f students by name, grade

4 Technician Advisry Bard Page 4 and majr. It gives readers understanding f the surce s backgrund. It s helped me as a reader. She said she really liked the pull ut bxes, sidebars, details, etc. On ne early issue, she said she was cnfused by an In the Knw that nly had ne item. Made mre sense when there were multiple shrt-reads in that area. She liked page 2 and said it s imprtant t categrize items. She said she thinks it s gd t use faculty as expert surces. Hwever, if she gets phne calls at 5 p.m. lking fr an expert surce, they may nt be easy t find. The faculty aren t always sitting arund at 5 p.m., she said. It s imprtant t plan ahead. She als stressed hw imprtant it is t call back t get qutes clarified. She acknwledged that newspapers d nt, ever, send a stry t a surce t be read befre publicatin, hwever, a reprter shuld be gd enugh t knw when they dn t understand smething and shuld call back t verify infrmatin. It helps the paper s credibility. Knw hw t interview. Knw hw t take ntes. Faculty may nt want t talk t the media because they ve been burned. Technician reprters shuld help the experience with the media be a credible ne. Crp phts a little better. Make sure cartns are readable. Gd balance f stries with stries n greater cmmunity, schl stries, etc. Sme phrasing was a little strange with sme f the writing. Ben McNeely said, Y all have great ideas. The energy is there. The talent is there. Yu need t wrk n executin. He stressed that the paper just desn t quite have plish, especially in the little things, and sme big things. He cited as an example the childcare stry n page 1, a stry he said fell shrt. He said the headline, which mentined administrative apathy was clse t being libelus. The stry never prves it. The issue was students with children and lack f access t effective childcare. The stry never said hw many students were affected, hw many single parents have children and lacked credible surces. Have students had prblems? CORRECTION: Brad Miller is actually a U.S. Cngressman, nt a N.C. Rep. Brad Miller as reprter in the stry (and still inaccurate nline). A stry like this culd lead t actin. It s cmpelling. Pht desn t fit the stry. Patrick Clarke said the pht desn t fully identify the student. Ben said a mre cmpelling sht wuld have been t fllw a wman with kids arund. He suggested that childcare shuld have been the tpic fr fcused rather than hmecming, PR fluff. Patrick said the whle cncept f pr executin is a recurring theme. He cited as an example the Science & Tech piece n Talking Turkey. He said that due t timeliness, that shuld have been page 1. The staff shuld spend time questining cntent and placement during prductin, withut getting s cnsumed in prductin. Ben said the writing and reprting needs t get back t a fcus n basics, namely develping relatinships with University, clleges and Student Gvernment. Get actual face time with peple.

5 Technician Advisry Bard Page 5 Saja said they are trying t start using beats next semester. Ben suggested the staff shuld push beats, develp a rapprt with yur surces. Anna said this wuld als help reprters develp knwledge. Ben said it wuld help reprters gain an understanding f the plitics n campus. He said reprters have t have the cntext. He acknwledged that reprters have t spend time n AP style, etc., but yu must spend time n getting things in cntext. Reprting is the key. Patrick suggested starting with the basics f reprting. Yu have the talent t d the writing. Develp yur writing style. Gd t see fewer bylines frm tp editrs. Ben said it is imprtant fr tp sectin editrs t be prepared when the big stries cme dwn t write them but that it s gd t train yunger reprters. The discussin turned t discussin f the incident n campus when an apparent nse was fund in a building n campus in a bathrm stall. Andrew said he definitely read abut it, and that anything he knew abut it he gt frm the Technician. The newspaper he said did a gd jb f presenting the facts. He felt like he had a gd understanding f the issue. Nancy Wykle said the nse feature page was very effective. It was a pwerful page that cmmunicated instantly the issues and hw shcking they were. It was handled well withut being ver the tp. Jse said the hatred Fcused was well written with balanced viewpints. It was gd t nte that University plicies are nt separate frm law. Nancy said the Technician is really a gd paper. She said shw knws hw demanding prducing such a prduct is n the time f students. She said she really enjys the Ftball Fridays. Quick and easy. Really inviting. Gd fr hard cre and casual fans. Headlines need wrk acrss the bard. Odd phrasing. Bigger headlines. We re in the business f selling papers and getting peple t read ur stuff. I fund a lt f pictures f white guys. Gd stry selectin, everything frm features t news t meetings. It gets a little lighter inside. Sme phts are t static. Yu try a lt f stuff that is exciting. At least yu re trying it. Bring is ging t end up killing ur business. Yu d have a challenge in dealing with multiple elements n a page (page 1, 10/29/07). Take sme time t mess arund with pages. It takes sme experience. She said editing was pretty clear. Yu handle a lt f cpy. She als liked the nuggets thrughut.

6 Technician Advisry Bard Page 6 Resurces: Testy Cpy Editrs and News Page Designer Web sites. Ben acknwledged that peple are spending less and less time with newspapers. Spencer said he enjys the paper, but there is nly a certain amunt f cld, hard facts he can handle. He said he liked the d it yurself features. They were cst effective and interesting. He als nted that he didn t live n campus and had t drive 35 minutes t get t campus s he appreciated the infrmatin n what is ging n in the area. Anna asked hw the nline editin was dne. Laura said it s basically a dump f the print editing dne in the evening. Spencer suggested publicizing nline subscriptins. Anna then asked if the staff gets feedback frm students. Laura said that they dn t get as much feedback n cverage as they d like, but d a get a lt f feedback daily n cmmentary in clumns and editrials. Jsh said there are respnses t clumns n a daily basis. Jse said he wuld like t see mre in terms f diversity and diversity activities n campus. It s smething yu have t be really aggressive with, and need t have cnnectins with thse cmmunities. Fr example, he asked if the Technician had anyne cvering the Kwanza celebratin dwnstairs tnight. Several hundred peple dressed up and celebrating Kwanza. These kinds f events are ging n quite ften. He invited students t check ut the Diversity@NC State Web site. He said there were nice stries and nice phts in the paper, but that the staff culd put sme emphasis n frming relatinships. Ben said staff members need t get ut f the building. Walk the bricks. G in. Talk t peple. Anna suggested ding persn n the street -type articles. It gives yung reprters practice talking t peple. Ben said it s critical t train peple t be gd reprters. Train them t be jurnalists. Patrick said in the spring semester, histrically, the staff will prduce its best wrk. Right after the MLK hliday in the spring, there are 6-8 weeks f cntinuus publicatin. The staff shuld have its best cmplete papers. Start wrrying abut the paper as a cmplete package. Nit pick. Strive fr the next level in writing/design. Fcus n alternative stry frms. Cmmunicate stries in nn-traditinal frmats. Refine breakut infrmatin. Find a better way t cmmunicate stry in print and n the Web. Nancy cited her experience at the Virginian Pilt where there is a big emphasis n alternative stry frms. Every stry ver 6 has t have sme frm f break ut. Reprters knew that was part f the expectatins. Page designers gt infrmatin tgether. At the Herald-Sun, she said that was part f emphasis, having a pint f entry fr every stry. She said smetimes the nrmal newsrm hierarchy gets shrt-circuited with the reprter and designer wrking directly tgether. It s helpful t have a cnversatin with cpy editrs and designers.

7 Technician Advisry Bard Page 7 At the end, each persn was asked t give the ne thing they wuld advise the staff t fcus n r ne cmment. Nancy: Beat structure Jse: I enjy reading it. I dn t always agree. I knw the sacrifices yu make. Anna: Beat system... Get t knw yur surces and the cntent yu re cvering. Spencer: Gd jb catching my attentin. It s fun t find smething I didn t expect. Andrew: Wide variety. It all relates t things arund here. The mre it relates t NCSU, the better. I d like t hear hw all the sprts teams are ding, nt just ftball and basketball. Patrick: Have a little mre fun up here. Set lfty gals fr yur first issue in January. Ben: Reprting. Yu are here t infrm. The mre yu reprt, the mre yu have face time ut there. The meeting ended at 8:35 p.m.

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY VIRTIUAL WRITING CENTER

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY VIRTIUAL WRITING CENTER IDENTIFYING AUDIENCE AND PURPOSE As yu mve further int yur research, it can be helpful t step back and name the purpse and audience yu think yur writing will serve. The prcess belw will help yu sift thrugh