Journalism: Lauryn Hill

21 01 2011

She came. She sang. She killed it.

Lauryn Hill showed out in Chicago last night, er, early this morning. She brought her instrument – those pipes that are so full of promise. She sang Doo Wop, Killing Me Softly and everything else. The band was on point. The base player was really on point. The backup singers were lovely. The crowd was thick. And, she came on at 11:52 p.m. Showtime was listed as 11 p.m., so 11:52 was really good timing. She went on for nearly two hours.

The only downside is that the House of Blues is standing only – no seats. But as long as your wore your sneakers, you were straight. I still feel sorry for the ladies in stilettos. As for me and my house? We wore Adidas.


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Journalism: Time Management…

15 01 2011

My mentee asked me to dredge up a few ideas on how to deal with working weekends. These are all ideas I used while covering scads of stuff for The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe and the St. Pete Times. This post is pretty much for younger journalists, so if you’ve come here for newlywed or Senegal stuff, just scroll down.

Time management 101 for younger journos.

1. If you have to cover meetings, take extra notes. Those extra notes will become stories for next week or even tomorrow. And you won’t have to call anyone back to get fresh quotes because you already wrote them down.

2. Stay late for each meeting. (Unless you’re on deadline, that is) Get quotes from the people who stay behind. This way it eliminates you needing to call them tomorrow for comment.

3. Use slow  Saturdays and Sundays to dig up enterprise stories. Have coffee with your sources. Attend neighborhood events. If you hang out during regular “fun times” you will definitely “happen upon” a story. Plus, it gets you away from your desk on a weekend.

4. When you can, prepare to stay at work as long as necessary. If you have somewhere to be, say, a wedding, then you need to talk with all editors at least a week in advance. Tell them you want to finish your work early. Then, to be on the safe side, write an extra story with all those extra notes that you took. Turn that story in and tell your editor: “I did this just in case you needed more content. No big deal if you don’t need it.”

5. Use your sick days. If you are tired of being at work, if you are weepy, if you have cramps, if you have a migraine… Just call in sick. Stay home. Watch tv. You’ll feel better later. You will not lose your job because you have a menstrual cycle. And, your guy bosses will not want to discuss it with you.

6. Schedule your hair appointments and your gym appointments for either early in the day or late at night. As  a Black woman, I got my hair done at 8 a.m. on Saturdays before I reported in for my 1 p.m. shift. It never worked for me to try to get hair services after work, because usually someone got murdered on the day of my hair appointment.

7. Pack a few apples or  sandwiches. Leave them in your car in a cooler. You don’t always have time to go to McDs to grab a sandwich. You’ll be happier knowing that an apple awaits.

8. If you live in a cold weather climate and it’s winter, stop by the grocery store between assignments. Leave your milk and whatnot in the car. Take it out when you get home. This saves time on a separate grocery store trip.

9. Your life does belong to your newsroom. That’s just how it is in the beginning. And no, it doesn’t really get much better unless you switch to features or gardening. Editors have it hard too. But it’s ok because we all love the thrill of the chase and the thrill of the story. However, when you tire of always being on call or when you begin to have your own family, you will likely make different decisions. No matter what you do, it’ll always work out. So don’t worry about it too much.


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Journalism: Encyclopedia Adrienne…

15 01 2011

Someone called me today to ask me how to get their book published by Random House.

Seeing as how I was awaiting a call from a source, the question took me quite off guard. Plus, I’m not a career counselor nor am I the Encyclopedia Britannica. I mean, I know a little sumthin sumthin about book publishing, but what I do know? I found it on Google. I also read a lot,nd I interview a lot of authors,  so I’m familiar with how many authors got their first big break.

And yet I’m not a career counselor, nor am I a publishing guru, so I told the lady that she might want to search Google for that info. Or she might want to call Random House and ask them.

She says to me: “Can you give me their phone number?”

Says I: “Er. No. I don’t have it handy. But Google it.”

Says she: “Well, that’s why I called you!”

Says I: “I understand, and I’m sorry I can’t help you. Random House is a company that is listed in 4-1-1, so try that. Good luck in all your endeavors.”

This is one of many random conversations I’ve had with people who seem unable to use their own power to push their own dreams. In this lady’s case, she already wrote and self-published a book with one of those pay-as-you-go publishers. If you already did all that work, then why not go the extra step and figure out how to get that book in the right hands? The library and the internet are full of books/charts/graphics/Q&As on how to get your book published.

There are writer’s workshops and conventions and 1-800 numbers. There are even magazines dedicated to writing. I’m sure that a quick stop to Barnes & Nobles would fix her whole situation. But is it my job to tell a total stranger what to do? And in so doing, am I then opening myself up for future phone calls from this person?

She asks me a few more questions. I give her a few more “I don’t knows.”

Then I say: “I have no expertise in that arena. Perhaps you should hire an attorney, or find an agent to help you with that.”

Says the lady: “Well, can you help me find an agent?”

Says I: “No. I don’t know any agents. But you could probably Google book agents and find an article that could tell you how to find one.”

Says she: “Well, can you do that for me? And tell me?”

Says I: “No. I can’t. If you don’t have the internet, you could go to your local library or your local city council hall or something, and ask them for help using the internet. Though, if you already used a self-publisher, it would appear that you did find them on the internet already…”

Says she: “I did.”

Says I: “Well what are you waiting for?  Find some help, get published in a big way and then hit me back when you get the big book deal.  I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this conversation short. Oh, look at the time.”

This behavior also indicates that she (and all the others) probably aren’t ready to publish a book/open a restaurant/write a thesis/start a business anyway.

Research – your OWN research – is key.

 


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Journalism: Getting your travel tools together for 2011…

2 01 2011

I’m taking this Twitter and Facebook conversation back to the blog. At issue is the best way for journalists to write stories and edit photos while outside of the office.

Most of us have a variety of computers and gadgets intended to help us do our jobs. I have a Macbook Pro, a Toshiba netbook, an oldschool Gateway, several digital voice recorders, a Canon Rebel, a Canon point and shoot, a Flip cam and all kinds of batteries and converters for different countries.

I mostly use my computer to access Microsoft Word or WordPress and to write stories. I also send images via email. And, I download a lot of PDFs from my work email, so that I can edit the stories that my writers turn in and so that I can view final layout of pages. For all this word and photo-driven work, I prefer to use Macs. But after several unfortunate incidents going through airport security, I decided to try traveling with a computer that’s a lot less expensive than a Mac.

Enter the netbook.

Several of my reporter friends swear by their netbooks. As a supplement to their Macs – which they all keep at home – the netbook lets them use Microsoft Office and the internet – pretty much the two things that any reporter needs to do their job. I enjoy my netbook too, even though it’s not as intuitive as a Mac. But, for only $400, what do you expect? It gets the job done and, if TSA drops it or shoots it, it won’t hurt my feelings as much.

That said, I can’t wait for Steve Jobs to come out with an iPad that functions more like a netbook. Something that has a keyboard, Microsoft office and the internet. For my purposes, I could care less about apps. That’s why I have a Droid cell phone. I don’t need apps on my mini computer that I use for work. This next gen iPad would probably look a lot like a netbook, but would run with the Mac OS and come pre-installed with Word, iPhoto and Safari. It would have six or seven USB ports, it would have a battery life It would fit inside your purse. It could be perfect!

Until then, I will continue to use my netbook for traveling and my Macbook Pro for work that I do at home.

As a sidenote, the carry bags created for netbooks are really, really nice and perfect for writers on the go. The bags are teeny tiny and can hold a notebook, digital voice recorder, extra battery, point and shoot camera, flip camera, small makeup bag, keys, cellphone and your netbook. It’s well-cushioned and will protect against drops, shoves and thunderstorms. It’s nondescript, so it won’t attract attention in a foreign country. I’m rocking a gray Targus netbook bag that also functions as a purse when I’m out on assignment and have to carry everything all day.

I used this Targus bag while I was in Senegal. No one realized an actual computer was in it, so I was able to write just about anywhere – even inside government buildings. I realize that a lot of fashionistas like to put their netbook or laptop inside of a Gucci bag or large Coach. I think that’s fine and very cute, but for serious travel, I don’t recommend using a fashion bag as a computer bag. The fashion bag makes you a mark for thieves. Far better to just roll with a book bag or an over-the-shoulder messenger bag.

As far as digital voice recorders, I use Olympus exclusively. I have one recorder with 18 hours of memory and I have another with 36 hours of memory. I also always download my interview to my computer and save the interview in the “cloud” before I go through airport security. I do the same with the Flipcam, but I don’t often travel with that device.

I love that Gmail and Microsoft Office 10 allow you to save to the “cloud.” This means that you don’t really have to carry external drives and if you lose your flash drive? No big deal because you have backed up your info in the cloud. Now, though I enjoy the cloud, I would not upload extremely sensitive information to this area.Use your best judgment when it comes to storing sensitive recordings and notes in the “cloud.”

I also carry my camera in a camera bag that looks like a book bag and doubles as a purse when need be. The bag has lots of compartments, is extremely padded and again, is nondescript. No one knows an expensive camera is in this bag because it looks like a regular book bag. Granted, I can’t carry too many lenses, but for a day trip, this type of bag is perfect. However, it qualifies as a carry-on per TSA standards… So when boarding the airplane, I will put both the camera bag and the netbook bag into a small roll-on suitcase. That way, I can still carry my purse (a necessary evil), an extra pair of shoes, another outfit, toiletries and not surpass the two-bag carry-on limit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on travel solutions for working journalists.


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Journalism: Working Weekends or the time management dilemma….

23 11 2010

Working your weekends and through your days off: We all do it. It’s now the way of the world.

But I was recently talking with some friends who have decided to stop working on their days off. Interestingly, their reasons have nothing to do with their bosses or with work expectations.

It turns out that they each started working weekends to try to catch up on extra work. They are not required to log on at all hours of the night, but they do anyway. Their bosses appreciate the extra stick-to-it-ness.

The problem comes in, I’m told, when the other people they are working with don’t respect their weekend time. There is a writer, for example, who regularly tells sources that he is available to conduct interviews on Sunday afternoons if they aren’t available during the week. He doesn’t mind doing an hour or so of work on Sunday if it helps him get ahead for Monday. But for the last month of Sundays the sources were late for the interviews. In one instance a source asked if he could take a break and come back and finish the interview four hours later. The writer, of course, said no. He could plan to set aside time at 2 p.m. but he couldn’t plan to set aside time at 6, 7 or 8… Sunday night was not his time to be on standby, he said.

Another friend was practically begged by a source to attend a Sunday night concert. She didn’t want to go, as she had family obligations, but she changed plans, hired a babysitter and went to the concert so that she could say hello to the artist, meet the manager, etc. Well, upon arrival, will call didn’t have her tickets, her parking pass was nonexistent and the manager didn’t answer her phone calls. After having spent an hour to get there, she waited around for a half hour hoping that the manager would check his email or answer the call. He didn’t, so she left. She was trying to do something extra for her source, to go that extra mile, but she wasn’t willing to wait around on her only day off.

Both of these journalists told me that these situations make them rethink agreeing to work on off days. Why should they put in the time and the energy when frequently, the people on the other end are no shows?

Perhaps the solution is to simply stop working on off days unless you’re doing something that only involves depending on yourself. Otherwise, enjoy the time off. Sleep. Eat. Drink. Hang with family. Be Merry. And when the work week rolls around again, make a pact with yourself to try to schedule interviews during the physical work day. Or, at the very least, establish a 15 minute rule for late comers… If a person is more than 15 minutes late to a scheduled meeting, then keep it moving and try again during the regular work week.


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Journalism: Odd requests…

21 11 2010

I’m on a listserv with several hundred journalists. One of the writers there posted an email, looking for help finding the press offices of several elected officials. She needed this information because she had just accepted a freelance assignment about an upcoming election. She said, in her email, that she has never covered politics before and didn’t want to tell the assigning editor that she had no contacts, so could the 1,000 people on this listserv please help her report and write her story.

Huh?!?!?!

She also signed this post with her name.

Bless her heart. It’s great to ask for help, but not a good idea to broadcast to a cast of a thousand competitors that you know not how to even do basic research for an assignment. Not to mention the fact that it’s pretty easy to Google electoral candidates…


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Journalism: $40,000 for the rest of your life?

8 05 2010

I am in contact with a person who is lamenting her life as a journalist and wondering why she, at 65, never earned more than $40,000 for her whole life. She first made $40 K when she was 32, she says, and she’s never earned more since then.

This lady sent out a flustered email about her situation. Part of the email also lambasted a local news organization for offering what they deemed “competitive” salaries that start around $35,000.

This same lady also said that it’s ok for 35 year olds to make 10 cents a word, but she refuses to do that. She’s also upset that this news org pays so “low.” Meanwhile, she can’t earn any money and she’s ending out emails to everyone, complaining about why this $35,000 salary is a problem.

Here is what one person thought about her rant: “I can feel her frustration and seething, but I’m not sure where she’s
 going with “if I were still 32 or 35.” I never wrote for anybody for
 10 cents a word…ever. And having topped out at $40k..20 years ago 
and never making that much since? Wtf have you been doing all that
 time? I know if I couldn’t find a job for that long that would pay me
 decently, I’d just find some other shit to do. The hell if I’m
 starving to be a journalist.”

A few thoughts about this:

1. It’s your fault if you earned $40K 30 years ago and never rose above that salary. At some point you needed to change jobs or move to a different city or something.
2. Journalism shouldn’t trump putting food on your table. If the j-job isn’t paying, then it’s time to go do something else.
3. Twenty years is long enough to get some new skills to help you find a new, higher paying job or to train yourself for a career switch.
4. People who consistently work 30+ years for the coal mines, the school district and most other jobs earn more than $40 K over the course of their life. I know plenty of teachers earning $90K because they’ve been doing it so damn long. If journalism isn’t paying, perhaps you should’ve become a high school teacher 20 years ago. That way, you would already be on that $75 K a year by now, plus excellent vacation and a pension.
5. A $35,000 salary aint bad for a recent college grad or for someone who is out of work. Don’t shoot the messenger.
6. I do agree that journalism should pay more, and I do understand the frustration about the current state of the media.
7. However, complaining about entry level jobs that, from the jump, pay most of what you earned for your whole career isn’t going to help your situation. And, if you’re going to send out emails, why not send out emails with your resume attached and a message that touts your skills?

I hear from a lot of older (their term, not mine) writers who claim that they can’t get a job or keep a job because younger writers are “taking” everything. I think that’s BS. Why? Because no one told you to stay in some far-as-hell Chicago suburb your whole life and work for the west bumblebee gazette in a town, population 75, that’s nearly 150 miles away, where they only pay $12,000 a year to reporters because the cost of living is so low in the hinterlands.

If you wanted to make the big money, you should’ve gone to the city, for starters. And then, moved! Reporters who earn the most are the ones who, every few years, change cities. Every move is at least $5,000 additional in salary. Move to the east coast and you significantly boost your salary because of the cost of living differences. Stay on the east coast for a few years and then go back south or to the Midwest where you can keep your salary and live in an area with a lower cost of living.

A career in journalism isn’t just about writing and covering the news. It’s about covering your own ass when it comes to living and living well. Rather than complain day in and day out about what you don’t have, why not figure out a way to get it? Forty years in one profession and nary a raise?!?!?! Puh-leeze. Someone who accepts that is probably not a good journalist to begin with. And that, dear friends, might be the real problem here….


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Journalism: Complaining about what you don’t have…

24 04 2010

I know a person who is upset that she can’t get a job.

She calls herself an older journalist. (She’s only 45.) She says that she doesn’t know SEO, blogs, social media or any of the other “new fangled” things out there. She says that she is being discriminated against by hiring managers who only want young people on their team. She says that no one her age understands social media and it’s not fair that she is being discriminated against. She says she can’t get a job because she doesn’t have SEO experience but how is she to get SEO experience without a job?

She acts as if this is a huge conundrum, but I say bah humbug.

You can be poor, broke and complaining if you want. But if you need skills and you lack skills, said skills won’t come to you by virtue of you complaining about them. There are classes, websites, fellowships and courses on new media. Many of these courses can be had for free if you show the need. There are people who mentor, there are colleges who offer tutors, there are ways to get what you need if you really want it.

I also didn’t think that 45 was old….

Times are tough for journalists. Absolutely. But just like I have been taking radio editing classes at my local NPR station, so can she. If you want to be a backpack journalist, then time to brush up on those skills. There is no excuse not to.


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Journalism: Heckling Sun-Times owner James Tyree at a business awards dinner?

24 04 2010

James Tyree is a very rich man who just purchased the Chicago Sun-Times.

He was also the profiled speaker last night at the Peter Lisagor (Journalism) Awards in Chicago. The event was held in the old-school swanky Union League Club on West Jackson and was hosted by the Chicago Headline Club, which is the Chi-town chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. I’m a newly installed member of the Board of Directors for the Headline Club, so I was excited to be at my first Lisagor awards dinner.

Just before we got our chicken and asparagus, Tyree started talking. The topic? Why he bought the Sun-Times, thanking the “thousands” who helped pull the extensive deal together and saying that we all need to be innovative in finding a new business model of survival in journalism.

It was interesting, actually. then some dude in the back of the ballroom starts booing. (!)

Whoa. So Tyree got South Side on him (!) and says (I’m paraphrasing here): do you want to ask me something directly? Because i don’t mind stopping my speech to answer your question.

The booer said nada.

Speech went on.

But the heckler kept heckling every four minutes or so.

It was very rude, disruptive and frankly, he should’ve been removed from the room. And frankly, I know some folk don’t like Tyree, but hell, if he hadn’t bought the Sun Times newspaper group, the majority of folks in that room wouldn’t have been in that room to receive their many, many awards.

I was at a table full of folk who work for the Daily Southtown, which is a local South Side and suburban newspaper. It’s also owned by the Sun-Times Media Group. The group I was sitting with? They were mortified at the booing. But Tyree handled it with style. Up until last night I didn’t know much about this man’s character. But now? I’m a fan. Anyone who doesn’t get ruffled by a heckler, doesn’t lash out, doesn’t cop an attitude, but calmly asks you “what is your problem? let me help you solve it” gets an A-plus in my book.


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Journalism: How to pitch a magazine

5 04 2010

Actually I’m going to throw you here:

To the advice listed on this excellent blog I would only add that just because you can write an essay or finish a college paper does not mean you have the same skill set as a professional journalist/writer. I talk to many, many younger writers who are upset that GQ or Ladies Home Journal didn’t accept their pitch to “write a personal essay about what I feel it is that the world needs to know in order to have stick-to-it ness and how to be a go-getter.”

Huh?!?

What was that supposed to mean? The pitch itself is usually the problem. And, unless you are already an established writer, penning a personal essay for a magazine is a long shot. You have to break in at the front of the book. So get to reading the mags you want to write for and then pitch short, REPORTED stories for the FOB. If you don’t know what a reported story is, then either find out or stick to fiction. ;)

- Adrienne Samuels Gibbs


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