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SUMMER 2012
Page 18A
CSPA
Continued from page 6A
the use of multimedia. When new
trends emerge and changes are
needed, with the online PDF setup, updates are easily added.
“We thought a complete overhaul of our critiques would give
our members updated standards
against which to compare their
efforts. It’s always the CSPA’s goal
to watch keenly what the student
media do, adjust our standards to
follow the lead of the best of them,
and challenge the rest to catch
up,” said Edmund Sullivan, association executive director. “With
the many challenges facing all
media today as we navigate the
choppy seas of print and pixels,
it’s more important than ever to
have realistic standards to aim
for. We believe our new critiques
will provide them.”
NEWSPAPERS
With many student newspapers at both schools and colleges
combining print with an online
presence or going completely
online, new critique formats were
needed.
The print only critique
recognizes the copy and design
changes in newspapers today.
Three new criteria sections were
included: Essentials, Verbal and
Visual.
Essentials refer to all of the
information that makes the newspaper reader-friendly and the
coverage it contains. The masthead needs the publication name,
school name, complete address,
date of publication, volume and
issue numbers and website, if
applicable. Page One should have
teasers and an issue index.
An expanded staff box with a
brief statement of the publication’s editorial policy, editors’
names and positions, distribution
process, number of copies printed,
a condensed mission statement,
scholastic press affiliations, policies for letters to the editor, guest
columns, advertising, by-lines
and corrections is needed.
Any content (photos, art, infographics) taken from the Internet
or other source must be properly
credited. Permission to reproduce
must be obtained and the credit
should read “Reproduced by permission of _______.”
Verbal section acknowledges
that traditional, alternative
and varied copy formats may be
used throughout the newspaper.
Whichever style is used, good
reporting, substantive quotes and
correct style and mechanics are
critical.
Visual section looks for complementary design, photography
and typography that give flow to
each page as well as the entire
paper. Readability is key.
The second, new hybrid newspaper critique is for schools where
the print and online editions are
blended, some items are in both,
while others are in only one format.
For its Essentials category, all
the masthead and staff box data
requirements are the same as for
print; but in the online edition,
the home page needs an easy to
navigate menu to major sections
of the website as well as Contact
Us and Site map links.
An About Us page should give
a brief history of the publication
and link to the staff box. For photographer, artist, videographer
and writer credits, in the online,
the credit must link to a brief bio
of the staffer, his or her contact
info and links to all previous
work.
The online edition will feature a “breaking news” link on
the front page menu as well as
instant polls with past polls
archived.
For the interactive elements of
Essentials, each article requires
buttons to facilitate sharing
through email, print, PDF, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Readers
need to be able to find the “Most
Viewed,” Most Emailed,” etc. for
each section of the paper.
In Verbal, the chief difference
is that blogs and tweets are integrated, especially with breaking
news, and that there are a minimum of three links, internal and/
or external included in each story.
The Visual aspect of the
hybrid newspaper emphasizes
design, typography and photography for print. For online
the added criteria include slide
shows, news videos, podcasts,
audio and etags used creatively to
complement story content.
All multimedia must display
strong sound and video quality
while all original multim YXB