Category: Journalism

The Nieman Lab released today some predictions for what the media industry will look like in 2015. (Predictions will be added through the end of the week.) Thoughts I had about several of them: The year of the reader My favorite line in this is, "The only thing we should be chasing in 2015 is news." I agree with The Washington Post's Cory Haik; data show that people — especially my millennial generation — are consuming news like never before on mobile, and it's on news organizations to make this experience as easy and enjoyable for them as possible. Subscription models for not only media outlets, but also video-based entertainment companies such as Netflix and HBO Go have proven that people will still pay for something they find valuable. Or, to play off…

I experienced sexism in journalism before I even entered the field. I walked into my high school counselor's office during the spring of my junior year. This was the big appointment, I had been told — the one concerning senior year, my college choices and, therefore, the "rest of my life." I'd met this woman perhaps twice previously, but I expected my ever-expanding list of extracurriculars and my grades — all A's in almost entirely honors/gifted and Advanced Placement courses, with the exception of a B-plus in one semester of Honors Algebra II with the school's notoriously difficult math teacher — to give her an idea of the schools I was applying to (i.e., top schools, some in the Ivy League). "So, Kathryn," she said as she glanced over my…

A reaction I got the other night upon telling someone I was interning on the copy desk: "Oh, you're a copy editor? But you don't seem angry or bitter." Not quite the reaction I was hoping for. But I get (OK, I can maybe sort of begin to understand) why he said that. I don't want to make up excuses for people who seem "angry" or "bitter." And maybe I've even come off as that sometimes, though I'm certainly neither — I just take my job seriously and get in "the zone." (It took a full 30 seconds for someone standing in front of me to get my attention today. Being in "the zone" can be rough.) So here are five possible (note: possible) reasons why copy editors seem so…

I've blogged a lot this semester about reporting, but I haven't spent much time talking about editing (which I have done, though not as much as I would've liked). This semester, I was in Journalism 4400, a beginning news editing course. I picked up some additional Associated Press style tips, sharpened my headline-writing skills and looked for holes in stories. This plus copy editing a few Journalism 2100 papers helped in the grand scheme of things, of course, but I think another experience has helped me become a better editor: my time as a tutor at the Writing Center. For four hours a week, I sit in the Student Success Center and read work others have written. I might read work sitting next to the student or on my computer…

It all started with Nancy Drew. After I learned how to read (at age 2, beginning with mall store signs — my mom jokes I've always been a shopper), I devoured books like they were chocolate cake. I read a little bit of everything — Dr. Seuss, the "Arthur" series, even world atlases — but my world changed in Pre-K when I discovered Carolyn Keene's series. Nancy was strong, independent and smart. Incredibly smart. And she combined that intelligence with her curiosity to become an incredible detective. Nancy was my first strong female role model. I couldn't get enough of the original novels, the takeoffs or (later) the computer games. She pieced together clues to solve mysteries, all the while getting to experience cool things and help wonderful people. But perhaps…