While the printed page has been the dominant medium in scholastic journalism, online publishing has started to take off. But keep in mind: It’s always about people.

1. Print, Pixels & People
Ideas for today’s
student journalist
Logan Aimone, MJE, executive director
National Scholastic Press Association

2. Print
What’s working?
Print, Pixels & People

3. Print
• For generations, the printed page has been
the dominant medium in scholastic
journalism.
• Although it has faced challenges from
broadcast media, it remains the most
common, widespread and portable form of
mass media.
Print, Pixels & People

4. Print: Benefits
• It’s pretty inexpensive.
• It’s relatively easy to produce in a basic
form.
• It’s portable.
Print, Pixels & People

5. Print
What’s not working?
Print, Pixels & People

6. Print: Drawbacks
• It’s more expensive than it used to be
• It’s not easy to teach the skills necessary to
produce quality.
• It’s hard to get people to pick it up and read
it.
Print, Pixels & People

7. Pixels
What’s new?
Print, Pixels & People

8. Pixels
• While the printed page has been the
dominant medium in scholastic
journalism, online publishing has started
to take off.
• More student newspapers — and even
magazines and yearbooks — are turning to
the Web for a variety of reasons.
Print, Pixels & People

9. Pixels: Benefits
• The Internet allows for instant publishing
of content rather than the infrequent
publication of print.
• Compared to the expense of printing an
edition of the newspaper, a Web site is
dramatically less expensive — maybe even
free.
Print, Pixels & People

10. Pixels: Benefits
• Online tools allow a media staff to combine
multiple media to deliver content in the
most appropriate format: text, audio,
images or video.
• Online networks like MySpace, Facebook,
Delicious and Twitter allow users to build a
community and to customize and share
content.
Print, Pixels & People

11. Pixels
What’s not working?
Print, Pixels & People

12. Pixels: Drawbacks
• Students and advisers may not have the
necessary skills beyond the basics of
uploading text.
• It’s easy to get caught up in the behind-
the-scenes system administration.
• Technology limitations: cost, availability,
time to produce.
Print, Pixels & People

13. People
What’s it all about?
Print, Pixels & People

14. People
• Ultimately, it’s the content that matters.
• You have to be in a position to deliver the
content in the most appropriate format and
platform.
Print, Pixels & People

15. Putting it
together
What does today’s
student journalist
need to think about?
Print, Pixels & People

16. Convergence!
• The term convergence means a “coming
together” — and that’s what you have
available to you today.
• Members of Generation Y (that’s you!) are
comfortable with and operating in a
converged media environment.
Print, Pixels & People

17. Social Media
• Because teens are comfortable in this
environment, you need to shift your focus
to take advantage of where your readers/
viewers are.
• Engage your readers in a way that helps
them (they get news) and helps you (you
get tips for more news).
Print, Pixels & People

18. Social Media
• Do you have any idea how big of an impact
social media are having on every aspect of
our lives?
• Let’s watch a short video and see…
Print, Pixels & People

19. Social Media
• A few highlights from the video:
• Nearly all of you (96%) are on a social
network.
• That’s the #1 Web activity.
• More than 300 million people are on
Facebook.
• Fastest-growing segment is women 55-65
(that’s your mom or grandma!).
Print, Pixels & People

20. Social Media
• More highlights from the video:
• 80% of Twitter use is by mobile device.
• That’s instant discussion, good or bad.
• Studies show Wikipedia is more accurate
than Encyclopedia Brittanica.
• But that’s not an excuse for using it as
your sole source.
Print, Pixels & People

21. Social Media
• More highlights from the video:
• 78% of people trust peer
recommendations. Only 14% trust ads.
• 25% of Americans watched a short video
in the last month on their phone.
Print, Pixels & People

22. 13 Things you
should be doing
Improving your operation
in 2009-2010
Print, Pixels & People

23. 1. Be excellent
• It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say
it anyway: Strive for excellence.
• Excellence isn’t settling for pretty good.
• Good enough is not good enough.
• Set goals to improve with each edition or
deadline.
Print, Pixels & People

24. 2. Get out there
• You can’t really get a story unless you get
out and talk to people. In person.
• Yes, in person!
• You can always tell the difference when a
writer has observed and interviewed in
person.
• E-mail or chat interviews fill a need, but
they are not as effective as being there.
Print, Pixels & People

25. 3. Find stories
• Establish a solid beat system in place to
gather the routine news.
• Expect that each beat will yield some briefs
and longer stories.
• Demand enterprise from reporters (editors,
too). That means digging around to find
something newsworthy and writing it in a
compelling, interesting and useful way.
Print, Pixels & People

26. 4. Show us
• Probably the most widely read (and most
liked) stories are those that tell interesting
stories about people.
• Your school and community are full of
these stories.
• Localize national issues with the stories of
people around you.
Print, Pixels & People

27. 5. Get a Web site
• There’s really no excuse today for not
having at least a basic Web site
• Basic: You could post a PDF version of the
printed paper.
• Advanced: You could update news
throughout the school day.
• An online presence opens up a new
universe of multimedia opportunities.
Print, Pixels & People

28. 6. Get social
• MySpace and Facebook accounts are free.
• You can use the pages to interact with your
readers not just by posting links to stories
but by getting tips from them.
• Ask them to let you know about events
occuring outside the school (or at school
but not known).
• Let them submit photos, letters, etc., to
you through these pages.
Print, Pixels & People

29. 7. Start Tweeting
• Twitter is a free “microblogging” site that
works in 140-character messages.
• As you gather “followers” you will be able
to pass along messages to a wide group of
people. That means instantly informing
your followers when news happens (sports
scores, lockdown, free burritos at
Chipotle).
• Use hashtags (#word) to label and search.
Print, Pixels & People

30. 8. Get Delicious
• Delicious.com is a social bookmarking site
that is, guess what, free.
• You can post links there that will be useful
to others.
• The links can be labeled and sorted in a
number of ways.
• This is a way to enhance content beyond
the printed page.
• You can also see what others bookmarked.
Print, Pixels & People

31. 9. Do multimedia
• With a Web site, not only can you update
news and information as frequently as you
want, you can improve the content.
• The newspaper can showcase one or two
images from an event. Online, you can
have dozens — with audio and captions.
• Yearbook staffs can promote the book
through “sneak peeks” or extras that are
posted online.
Print, Pixels & People

32. 10. Be the #1 source
• Be serious about being the top information
source for all things about your school.
• If someone wants to know a fact, score,
date, record, time or whatever — be the
place they turn for that information.
• Own sports stats, especially JV and lower
squads.
• Scoop the local paper. Doesn’t it feel good
when that happens?
Print, Pixels & People

33. 11. Do fewer…
• Horoscopes and advice columns
• Superficial columns (carpe diem,
senioritis, slow drivers, etc.) that could be
in any year
• Double-truck stories on “hot topics” that
aren’t tied to a news event. Make sure you
have a news peg if you’re committing that
much space.
Print, Pixels & People

34. 12. Follow the law
• Obey copyright.
• Only use “fair use” images or get
permission.
• Use copyright-free music unless you pay
a royalty.
• Saying it’s “for education” doesn’t let you
off the hook.
• Know privacy rules.
• Know your rights. In Kansas you have
Print, Pixels & People
more!

35. 13. Remember…
• Your role on campus is to inform and
enlighten your audience.
• You have a responsibility — an obligation,
even — to take that seriously and to do it
well.
• Your audience needs you to tell them the
things no one else will tell them.
Print, Pixels & People

36. Summary
Time to wake up if you
have been sleeping!
Print, Pixels & People

37. Print
Keep doing it.
• It’s perfect for long stories.
• People can pick it up and take it with
them.
• It’s permanent. (You can’t tape a Web page
in your scrapbook.)
Print, Pixels & People

38. Pixels
Get more digital.
• It’s instant.
• You build a community.
• Readers expect you to be online.
• If you don’t someone else will.
Print, Pixels & People

39. People
It’s always about them.
• Whether in print or online, it’s the story
that matters most.
• Find the platform that is most appropriate.
• Converge multiple platforms to
experiment.
• Be excellent.
Print, Pixels & People

40. Thanks!
Twitter: @NSPA
Facebook:
National Scholastic
Press Association
Any questions?
Print, Pixels & People