Want to try Storify? Check out one student’s work

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

Have you tried Storify? The innovative storytelling tool lets you collect online bits and pieces and puzzle them together in a timeline that reveals how news is reported via social media and traditional news outlets.

Sound confusing? It’s not. In fact, Storify timelines are astonishingly intuitive and insightful.

Here’s one example, by Brandon Campbell, a public affairs student at Columbia College in Chicago. 

Brandon took a few minutes to tell UPIU how he put it together. Check it out:

UPIU: How did you determine your story topic, and did you select it with Storify in mind?

Brandon: I specifically chose my story topic with Storify in mind, as that was a requirement for a class assignment. Before I fired up Storify, I checked Google and Twitter to see what news items were popular. As a self-proclaimed nerd , I’m drawn to news stories that involve the hacker group known as Anonymous, so when I saw the headlines saying that Anonymous was threatening Mexico’s second-largest drug cartel I was compelled to write about it. What interested me most was that I’m used to reading about how Anonymous threatens benign entities like Facebook and Sony. Never have I heard of the worldwide network of hackers being so bold to a group as violent as the Zetas. Plus, once I started reading and saw that some folks were saying the entire thing was a hoax, I was hooked. All of the different angles made this story interesting. Continue reading →

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UPIU in Zimbabwe: One student finds success

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

We’re always thrilled when a student finds UPIU without having a professor introduce him or her to the site. To our delight, Marko Phiri’s story about green urban farming popped up one day, and we knew it was a solid piece of journalism.

Marko Phiri

Phiri is from Zimbabwe, where being a journalist is risky at best, and fatal at worst. (See recent reports from the Committee to Protect Journalists.) Phiri reported his UPI.com story in South Africa, but his next piece is from Zimbabwe, about the declining fishing industry. He’s one of two UPIU student reporters chosen for this round of our Freelance Reporting Contest. Once his story meets UPI.com standards and is published there, he’ll get $200.

He took a few minutes away from his reporting and writing to share with us a bit about where he’s from, and how he found his last story. Continue reading →

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Meet our reporting grant winner!

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

In September, we announced our first-ever $1,000 Reporting Grant, and competition was fierce. We received a slew of fantastic ideas from student journalists around the globe to cover environmental issues, terrorism, long-simmering border disputes and more.

Elena Roda

It was a tough choice, but ultimately Elena Roda’s pitch to travel to Golan Heights, a contested area wedged between Israel and Syria, won out. Elena told us, in a clear, concise pitch, that it’s not just the land that’s in dispute. Young people in the region are also grappling with a divided identity: They’re Syrian by heritage, yet their home has been under Israeli control for decades. As Syrians across the border struggle against an authoritarian regime, Golan Heights residents are emerging as activists, too.

Golan Heights is a mountainous plateau that is a geographic and symbolic divide. Elena plans to travel there for about a week to interview young people about what it’s like to live in an occupied land, and how they’re expressing solidarity with Syrian activists across the border.

(For more on the region, check out this New York Times story, and this story from Al Jazeera.)

We’ll hear much more from Elena as she continues to prepare for her trip and travels in the region. Until then, she’s given us a taste of her experience, and what she plans to find in Golan Heights. Continue reading →

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New media, old journalist

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Phil Rees

When I started in journalism things were very different.

In those days, a journalist was not involved in anything technical. In my case, I didn’t even use a typewriter.

UPI teletype machine. (UPI)

There were people around to facilitate me and complete all necessary technical tasks. I even read out my handwritten lines to a secretary (inevitably a woman) who typed up the script beautifully.

This was 1982 and I was working in the main BBC Television newsroom in west London. It is so long ago that mobile phones had not been invented, let alone office computers.

There was an inverted, intellectual pride in being technically incompetent. I could direct a cameraman but couldn’t turn on a camera. I could judge a good edit but had no idea how to work an edit suite. I was the “creative artist” – other people pressed buttons. Continue reading →

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What do our workshops look like?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

This!

Terry FitzPatrick meets with j-students at University of Memphis. (courtesy Carrie Brown-Smith.)

Krista Kapralos mentors students at University of Tampa. (courtesy Dan Reimold.)

We use Skype to stream directly into your classroom. We lead class discussions, hear story ideas and offer feedback. We love video conferencing technology!

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Earn $200 and in-depth mentoring!

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

Hey, UPIU! It’s time for another Freelance Reporting Contest! Here’s the scoop: Pitch a solid story (text, video, audio, photo – whatever your specialty!) on a topic we choose, and you could win intensive mentoring from one of UPIU’s professional journalists, a UPI.com byline, and a $200 paycheck.

Want to apply? Here are the details:

Global food supply has been a major topic in the news lately. Nearly a million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia, and people everywhere are paying more for food now than they did just a few years ago. Agricultural production is a major concern for the United Nations, and consumers in wealthy countries complain that they can’t find meat and produce that isn’t chemically enhanced.

So, what’s the story about food and agriculture in your area? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Food supply and politics go hand in hand. Some analysts argue that stable democracies aren’t at risk of famine, regardless of vagaries in the soil. Is there a newsworthy political agenda or event that’s affecting food production, supply or prices in your area?
  • Pesticides, growth hormones, artificial colors: It’s all part of a modern-era meal, at least for people in the wealthiest areas of the world. Are there new regulations in your area that have farmers using chemicals more than ever? Conversely, is there a newsworthy movement in your area to ensure that food is free from chemicals?
  • People who grow and prepare their own food in traditional ways are in the minority. Whether they’re fishing for an ever-dwindling supply of seafood or fighting against development to keep their farmland free from damaging run-off and other pollution, small farmers and fishermen are struggling. Is there a story to be told in your area about a way of life that’s losing out to modernity, or a rebirth of traditional food production methods?

Once you have your story idea, write it up in about two clear paragraphs. Tell us what the story is, and why readers around the world should care. Tell us who you’ll talk to, and how you’ll produce it. Will you include any photos? Will this be a video story?

Up to three story ideas will be chosen. If your story idea is among them, you’ll hear from a UPIU mentor who will provide in-depth support throughout your reporting and production process. Your mentor will ask you to do some pre-reporting, then create a story outline. Once your story is completed and meets approval of UPIU mentors, we’ll send it over to UPI.com. Editors there will decide whether to publish it on UPI.com.

If UPI.com accepts your story, we’ll send you $200.

As you prepare your story idea, keep in mind a few important details:

  • You must have be a journalism student and have a UPIU account to be eligible for this contest. Professional journalists and people without UPIU accounts are not eligible.
  • If we discover that you have a conflict of interest regarding your story, we’ll discontinue your intensive mentoring, even if you’ve already started working. A conflict of interest exists when a reporter has a personal investment in a story. For example, if you’re writing about a farmer who pays you to help out every weekend, that’s a conflict of interest. If you write about a company at which a close friend or relative is an employee, that could be a conflict of interest. If you’re not sure, ask us BEFORE you start reporting.
  • If you miss a deadline (see deadline details below,) we won’t submit your story to UPI.com, and you won’t earn a byline or $200. If you think you’ll be too busy to meet the deadlines, don’t apply.
  • We’ll ask the students whose story ideas are selected to give us their contact information, including cell phone numbers and email addresses. If you don’t provide working contact information, we won’t be able to provide you with mentoring.
  • As always, plagiarism is unacceptable. If we discover plagiarized material in your story, you’ll no longer be eligible for UPIU mentoring. If you have questions about our plagiarism policy, please contact us.

Important dates:

  • Story ideas are due by 12 p.m. EST on Fri., Oct. 21. Email story ideas to UPIU Senior Mentor and Regional Director Krista Kapralos at kkapralos@upi.com.
  • Students whose ideas are selected will be notified on or before Wed., Oct. 26, and will be required to immediately provide their mentors with appropriate contact information.
  • Preliminary story outlines will be due to mentors by Wed., Nov. 2.
  • Story drafts will be due to mentors by Wed., Nov. 9.
  • Final stories will be submitted to UPI.com on Wed., Nov. 16. Students who do not complete their stories by this date will not be eligible for a UPI.com byline or the $200 paycheck.

Good luck!

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What makes a good sound bite?

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

“Seeing – and hearing – is believing.”

So says Terry FitzPatrick, one of UPIU’s multimedia mentors. It’s not enough, he says, to just get the facts of the story. Broadcast journalists must “find sources that are willing to talk directly on-microphone or on-camera.”

And that can be tough. Want some tips, radio and video journos? For more from Terry, read on… Continue reading →

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Twitter tips for j-students

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Sara Jackson

Twitter has become a rich source of up-to-the-minute news, and a veritable feeding ground for journalists trolling for new sources. Consider that Osama bin Laden’s death broke not at NYT.com or CNN.com, but on Twitter.

But it’s an evolving medium that journalism students should treat with care. Its instantly public nature and difficult-to-parse provenance mean that journalists must treat tweets with the same skepticism they do unverified information from a source.

To that end, I offer two critical rules for journalism students using Twitter: Be skeptical, and be careful. Continue reading →

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$1,000 could be yours!

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

It’s almost time – just one week to the Sept. 26 deadline to pitch a story for our $1,000 reporting grant. Check out all the details, and good luck!

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Getting the right information: How to FOIA

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Krista Kapralos

Hey, j-students: Ever heard of FOIA? If you live in the U.S., you should know all about it.

The Freedom of Information Act is what guarantees our right to public information. Curious about how much your town’s mayor earns each year? Trying to write a story about welfare benefits, but you’re not sure how much your state spends on food stamps each  year? Want to compare how much the federal government is spending on abstinence-focused education vs. condom distribution in Africa?

You can find out all that, and more, thanks to FOIA. And if you’re serious about watchdog journalism, it pays off to nail down a few basic FOIA skills now, while you’re still in school. By the time you get your first newsroom internship or job, you should know how to file a FOIA request, and details about how the process works in your state.

To get started, check out the Student Press Law Center’s FOIA primer. And if you’re ready to put FOIA to use, try this handy online FOIA letter generator.

But first, take a look at our FOIA tips, built from real-life experiences in the trenches of journalism.

Be clear on your state’s FOIA guidelines. Public offices have a certain amount of time during which they’re required to respond to your request, but that might not apply if you don’t request a specific document. For example, let’s say your city is building a new public pool and you want to know how long it will take. You could submit a request with a simple question: “When will the pool be completed?” Or, you could ask for the document outlining the plan for the pool’s construction. In some states, the FOIA clock won’t start until you ask for a specific document. Continue reading →

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