the oklahoma publisher, december 2010 slow · pdf fileuniversity of central oklahoma...
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10 THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, DECEMBER 2010
Slow down, remember and think before writing Clark's Critique
BY TERRY CLARK, Journalism Professor, University of Central Oklahoma
"The years creep slowly by, Lorena. The snow is on the grass again." Those haunting words from a soldier in the Civil War describe life for any veterans in war zones and for their loved ones who wait for their return.
But not in our hectic, accelerating jour-nalism world. The years fly by, gaining speed and complexity with each new piece of technology that puts more demands on us. Yes, we can do more now in shorter bits of time, but increased quality does not seem to be a product of increased sophistication, and certainly not of the hurry-up demand of instantaneous journal-ism that bypasses editing and planning and thought.
We need solid journalism more than ever in the face of all the challenges to our profession and country. We can have all the zippiest techno stuff in the world and still not have a quality newspaper. It will always be about content.
So let's slow down a minute and take stock. Take this year-end test. One rule —don't use a computer. Get a blank sheet of paper or a legal pad, and a pen. See, you've immediately slowed down — essen-tial for thinking.
The late Shelby Foote, author of the multi-volume history of The Civil War who provided insights in Ken Burn's docu-mentary on it, wrote all his books with a fountain pen. He said that handwriting made him slow down and carefully value and choose his words. Good advice for all journalists.
So, slow down, breathe and list each of the past 12 months vertically on the left side of the page. Take a sip of coffee or other refreshment.
Think back — what was your main story or effort or accomplishment this month? Jot it down, briefly beside December. Then go back month by month and try to remember, and do the same thing, until you reach January. (Hint — publishing without power?)
Now turn the page over, put 2011 at the top of the page, and relist the months.
What are you goals for the new year? I hope they're about stories in your com-munity that you've wanted to write and
haven't had time for or have forgotten. Go ahead, list them, at least one a month.
(Hint: make sure there are stories about WWII veterans. Chances are they won't be here this time next year. If you don't plan to do them, you'll never get to again.)
Sample suggestions: January — the old-est member of the chamber of commerce or the Civil Rights movement. February — ?. You get the idea.
My wish for you and Oklahoma and America is that next year will be better than this. I hope you have a Happy New Year, and, oh yes, a Merry Christmas.
LOOKIN'EM OVER: I wonder how long it will be before whatever passes for Oklahoma newspapers and "media" in the future ignore the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, or the attacks of 9/11.
I'd estimate about 50 years, perhaps even less as time and change speeds up and younger people lose memory of those events.
Why? Because a large number of Okla-homa newspapers ignored Dec. 7, the attack on Pearl Harbor, this 69th year after the event.
Yes, a journalist could argue — short-sightedly — that the event is no longer newsworthy or relevant. That ought to bother us even more than just not mention-ing it, given what happened on 9/11.
I found only 11 daily papers put it on page one. A couple of those were AP wire stories, which is better than no coverage at all. Ignoring Pearl Harbor is ignoring the interest of a huge number of readers.
Editors who overlooked the day also missed a terrific opportunity to feature that dying breed of Americans — WWII vets.
But there were some great examples of local coverage.
Manny Gamallo of the Tulsa World interviewed a survivor of the U.S.S. Ari-zona. David Laughlin of The Duncan Banner told the story of a Pearl Harbor survivor in Rush Springs. I saw strong local stories in The Norman Transcript, the Stillwater NewsPress and the Shaw-nee News-Star.
My favorite was by Jeff Mullin of the Enid News & Eagle. Headline was "In an instant."
Here's Jeff's lead: "Henry L. Deeds, a 22-year-old farm
boy from Garber, was a long way from home as he stood waiting in the chow line
for his breakfast at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the prospects of a lazy day off stretching out before him.
"But his plans changed in an instant..."
Best headline this month is from the Claremore Daily Progress: "Best gift ever!" Zack Stoycoff photographed and told the story of a soldier's surprise return to the classroom to surprise his children, including a big spread inside.
Here's his captivating lead: "Jason Wiroll's 10-year-old face stopped in time.
"Moments later, he clasped his hands around his father's back and buried his head into his shoulder.
"Charles Wiroll, who had just returned from a year in Iraq, gift-wrapped himself in his camouflage uniform and a match-ing Santa hat for a surprise homecoming at Jason's Sequoyah Elementary School classroom Friday."
Second place goes The Norman Tran-script's Michael Kinney who wrote about the son of OU women's basketball coach
Sherry Coale. Head: "Chip of the Coale block."
Third place, tie to The Countywide & Sun, on a head that makes you have to read the story:
"New Mayor May Face
Red Glow Of Defeat," and to the Claremore Daily Progress
again, on a Joy Hampton story about a youth services charity that might have to close because of a lack of funds: "Out in the cold?"
Community services takes front page in the Edmond Sun. James Coburn features a local charity, the Hope Center, which helps women, as part of a Good Samaritan fund drive. Head: "Mothers, families find HOPE in Edmond." Here's his compelling lead:
"Sarah Nelson is not afraid to ask for help as an expectant mother with a 14-month-old son to feed, she said. She is one of about 70 women helped this year
Continued on Page 11
The Edmond Sun and Claremore Daily Progress focus on various aspects of family during the holidays.
OPA STAFF DIRECTORY
ADMINISTRATION
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CREATIVE SERVICES
JENNIFER GILLILAND, Creative Services Director [email protected] • (405) 499-0028
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COMPUTER ADVICE
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GENERAL INQUIRIES
(405) 499-0020 • Fax (405) 499-0048 Toll-Free in Oklahoma: 1-888-815-2672
LEND US YOUR ERRS. We in the industry take it upon ourselves to recognize notable achievements through
various sorts of awards. One such award is OPA's annual Grand Blooper Award. In order to ensure that the Grand Blooper Award goes to someone truly deserving, we beg your cooperation by sending us the year's best bloopers. They can be your own, or those of someone you admire. Thank you for helping us to assign credit where it's doo.
Send a tearsheet or photocopy to: GRAND BLOOPER AWARD
c/o Oklahoma Press Association 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499 or fax to (405) 499-0048
GRAND BLOOPER AWARD
11 THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, DECEMBER 2010
That InterWeb Thing by KEITH BURGIN, OPA STAFF
Well, we're two weeks from a new year. Time to look back at my previous year of columns and reflect — or as my dad used to say, "What were you thinking?"
For 2011, here are my top five recom-mendations for newspapers with websites.
Don't excuse slow or non-existent web-site display ad sales. If your print clients aren't buying, try approaching small busi-nesses that might not have the budget for a print ad. It can be a foot in the door, at any rate.
Obviously website ads don't gener-ate the type of revenue print ads do, so they can't be the focus of your business. They're a viable source of income, none-theless.
No, don't step over a dollar to pick up a dime but while you're down there getting the dollar, get the dime, too.
Get on Facebook and stay there. If you want to improve your website traffic and
Clark's Critique Continued from Page 10 with prenatal care at the HOPE Center Women's Clinic.
"The clinic has provided prenatal care since 1990. The women are educated...."
More good storytelling: M.J. Brickey of The Hartshorne Sun wrote about a bridge named after a 96-year-old local conserva-tionist. Head: "Dedicated to Doc." Tim Schnoebelen of The Mooreland Leader featured the coming retirement of a county commissioner after 22 years.
How to grab attention for a bond issue? Headline on Tomi Lorah's Elgin school bond story in the Comanche County Chronicle: "A Call for Help."
Ideas you could localize: Derek Man-ning of The Elk Citian tells the story of older people who will be "alone for the holidays." Kirby Broaddus of the Weath-erford Daily News tackles the subject of the high cost of college textbooks: "Are books worth the cost?" (My editorial opin-ion — "No.")
And the Marietta Monitor featured air photos of an 80-year-old resident going skydiving for his birthday. Head: "No turn-ing back."
exposure, it's more important than ever to utilize social media. Microsoft's search engine, Bing, partnered with Yahoo and Facebook last year and heavily weights Facebook's results.
That means if people are talking about your newspaper or your stories on Face-book, you get not only the traffic from the conversation but both Bing and Yahoo are going to notice.
By itself, Bing is no match for Google but together with Yahoo and Facebook, it's a player. I also note that Reuters is floating rumors about an AOL/Yahoo merger down the road. The story is built on unnamed sources at this point, but worth consider-ing.
Create a few "web only" promotions and cross-promote with your print product. Here's an example: create a PDF coupon for a local business and upload it to your website. The coupon should be worth the trouble to download — something people will like. A free mauling at the zoo (or the airport for that matter) is a dubious draw.
Make sure the coupon is only acces-sible by typing a specific page address into a Web browser. Then let everyone know they can only get that "special download address" in the print edition of the paper. There are tons of ways to cross-promote.
Market a stand-alone PDF copy of your newspaper on your website. Call it whatever you like (e-edition, etc.) but tar-get folks who read the paper on a laptop, Netbook, iPad, etc.
Those people appreciate the conve-nience and will pay for it if they feel the price is appropriate. If you're already
creating PDFs for the printer, it shouldn't take but a few minutes to make a version for subscribers.
Newspapers that see success with this idea often offer a three-tiered subscription structure like "print only," "PDF only" and a package deal. Your mileage may vary.
Don't forget to reduce the file size of your PDF-version in Acrobat for easy Web download.
Engage in discussion. Since the early days of newspaper, editorial opinion and commentary have been the staple of com-munity discussion.
Many a barbershop tete-a-tete started at the point of some newspaper editor's pen. Often, the newspaper was gracious enough to allow a "letter to the editor" giving another point of view.
The Internet is a perfect place to carry on and, indeed, expand this tradition. Though each method comes with its own list of maintenance duties, forums, com-ment features, e-mail submissions and the Facebook discussion features offer a wealth of opportunity to engage and re-engage readers. Readers of digital opinion love to feel as though they have input.
I'll toss in one more thing — share. The biggest gains in online success and profit-ability come when ideas and discoveries are traded between friends. There is no more valuable commodity and no more powerful tool than information.
Happy holidays. Here's hoping 2011 finds you on a broadband connection chas-ing stories running on 2400 baud dial-up modems.
Website recommendations for 2011