12A/13A
FALL 2014
black
Going out and getting the story
'LJLWDO6NLOOV:RUNVKRSKHOSVEXLOGFRQÀGHQFHDQG
VNLOOVWRPDNHVWXGHQWV·RZQYRLFHVKHDUG
By Chris Parker
I
about reading chapters and taking tests. Journalism is about going out and getting that story,”
Kennedy says.
She asks students what really concerns them,
what have they seen or heard that they want to
explore.
“This is an opportunity to develop your voice,”
she says.
Students taking the workshop learned to effectively use electronics to help them use those
voices to tell the story.
“More and more, the expectation is that students
will have video skills. We’re seeing more students
turning in their work electronically. These skills are
not optional. We’re so much more a visual society,”
Madison says.
Digital skills may help students get to the next
educational rung.
“Colleges are incorporating digital technology into their curriculums and are expecting their
students to arrive ready to use these tools,” Lazaro
says. “By learning video basics, these students
now have an edge when applying for scholarships
or internships, or when working on school assignments or personal projects.”
In addition to digital skills, the project teaches
JYP[PJHS[OPURPUNHUKOV^[VZPM[V\[MHJ[MYVTÄJ[PVU
“We are Googling things at every age all day
long. Many people, especially young people, don’t
know if what they are getting is a good journalism source. They need to ask, ‘does it have an
agenda?’ That’s one of the fundamental skills the
^VYRZOVW[LHJOLZ·OV^[VKPɈLYLU[PH[LIL[^LLU
spin and neutrality,” Madison says. “There is so
much noise out there. Everybody’s got something
they think is viable.”
Those skills will extend beyond news stories.
And it’s not only the students who are learning.
“By turning the workshop into digestible, character-driven video modules, we’ve created what
we see as a promising and compelling alternative
to traditional teacher-education training programs
that lack the ability to engage or inspire,” Lazaro
says. “Although we came to this project as journalists, this teaching module carries the potential to
be expanded to subject areas beyond just journalism.”
Visit the Digital Skills Workshop at digitalskills.
uoregon.edu/index.html.
JCampers ask:
¶:K\VKRXOGZHJRLQWRMRXUQDOLVP"·
By Linda Shockley
T
Director’s
Chair
QVIPU[OLÄLSK[OL`Z[\KPLK
he Asian American
Diversity is still a pressing
Journalists Association
issue for the industry. Minorihas been running JCamp, a
ties were particularly hard-hit
stellar multicultural summer
in the downturn.
journalism program for high
Downsizing continues
school students, since 2001.
apace. Market pressures to
Neal Justin of the Minneapmake more money across
olis Star Tribune, Josh F. du
media coupled with techLac of the Washington Post,
nological innovations have
and Mark Angeles of The
led to the belief that fewer
Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.,
people can do more in less
co-founded the camp. Justin
time.
ran it in Boston along with
A New York editor recently
Clea Benson of Bloomberg
said digital advancements
News and Lorene Yue of
pile on new tasks to checkCrain’s Chicago Business.
lists for journal \