Three easy tips for social media

On “Social Media” Tuesday, the Class of 2014 learned valuable tips and advice on what a journalist’s involvement should be in social media as journalism continues to evolve and move toward a more digital-oriented field.

Here are my four biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s classes with Sports Illustrated writer Richard Deitsch and Director of Community Outreach at The Columbia Missourian Joy Mayer:

1. Report first, tweet later

In the morning session with Richard Deitsch, he stressed the importance of prioritizing your assignment. He added that at times journalists get so caught up in tweeting to their followers that they miss out on crucial aspects of the game that could help their game story. Deitsch said that as a reporter at the event, you should only be tweeting what people can’t see.

2. The four principles

During the afternoon session with Joy Mayer, she gave students four principles that she believes students should adopt when it comes to interacting with readership through social media.

The first principle is to be apart of the conversation, which means understanding the topic that you are reporting on and being able to extend the dialogue when necessary.

The second principle was to know who you’re talking to and invite them to know you. Mayer emphasized that sometimes journalists don’t tell readers about themselves, making them appear less human. She added that if readers know the reporters, they tend to trust them know and read their articles.

The third principle was to listen and respond when people talk. Mayer said it is valuable to participate in reader commentary and that complete avoidance of interaction could make readers less trustworthy. One of the main points pushed within this principle was to own any mistakes and be transparent and up front about those mistakes.

The fourth and final principle was to invite other people to play with you. Mayer said that reporters gain trust from readers when they are more visible to whoever is reading them.

3. When asking a question, get to the point

When speaking with Richard Deitsch, students had the opportunity to ask him questions. One student took extra time to get to his question, adding context instead of getting straight to the point. Deitsch stressed after the question was asked, that as a journalist and reporter people lose respect for you if you are not succinct and specific when you ask questions. He added the best questions are short and the best details are achieved through why, how, or what rooted questions.

_ Sean Hurd

Recognizing diversity or the lack thereof

On Tuesday, we made a trip to KOMU, the University of Missouri TV station and NBC affiliate.

Overall, it was an informative and fun trip, but there was one block of the show that made me uncomfortable.

There was a segment on a group that was trying to organize enough funds so the children of people in jail could visit their parents.

Throughout the tour, we heard about diversity, but in this piece I watched the complete opposite. There were three African-Americans advocating for the organization and one white Republican who spoke against it.

My issue is that African-Americans are not the only people who are incarcerated.

The person who did the reporting didn’t recognize this flaw, which I thought was the fundamental problem with the video. With this kind of story, I think there should have been a conversation about the kind of people and shots they were going to use. Someone should have reviewed that and caught it before it aired.

After watching the video, I felt like it promoted stereotypes about African-Americans that, for the majority, are not true.

I was happy someone else recognized this and spoke up about the issue as well. To me that’s a positive sign when someone with power in the situation can put themselves in the place of the viewers and say, ‘"What we did was insensitive or it needs to done differently so it doesn’t offend people.’"

That’s why programs such as the Sports Journalism Institute and the Association for Women in Sports Media exist. They are preparing minorities and women to sit at the table, so when a situation like this comes up, someone is there to say, ‘"let’s rethink this," or "how might this affect our audience?"

The more diversity you have at the table the better it is for all of us and our industry. 

_ Rhiannon Walker

Getting the most out of social media

I have discovered in my years of working with the student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, that it can be difficult to promote yourself on social media. 

I use most social media platforms for personal and professional reasons, but sometimes it feels like it's futile to use them for journalism.

Tuesday was social media day for the Sports Journalism Institute, and I took away a couple great tips that I want to implement in the future.

One of our first speakers was Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch. During a conference call he allowed us to ask him any questions we had about social media.

I asked if he had any advice on how to balance beat reporting and using social media while on assignment. He offered up a great rule: "What can I tweet out that you can't see on TV." 

I think this is important. It's easy during games to get into play-by-play tweets, which I am guilty of. People often use two devices when watching games, so it's important for journalists to tweet juicy nuggets that only we know.

Another session I enjoyed was with Joy Mayer, a professor at the University of Missouri who also is the director of community outreach for The Columbia Missourian. Mayer said there are four principles for what it means to be social: be part of the conversation, know what you're talking about and invite them to know you, when people talk, listen and respond and invite other people to play with you. 
We talked a lot about how to engage readers through sharing stories, asking for headlines and how to connect with your audience.

_ Alexandria Valdez

Feeling sick? You must be on deadline

Palms are sweaty.

Knees weak.

Arms are heavy.

No, this isn’t Eminem getting ready to rap in front a large crowd, feeling like he’s about to throw up because he’s so nervous. This is what it feels like to write on a tight deadline.

On Monday, the 2014 SJI class was lucky enough to have Malcolm Moran talk with us about writing on deadline. He spoke about the importance of running copy and even more so about the importance of preparation before an event. 

Moran explained things that I have never really thought about before. 

When I covered the Colorado State football team for The Rocky Mountain Collegian, I remember a few times when I would get so overwhelmed after a game ended that I would get too nervous to even begin writing. It wasn’t because I forgot how to write, though it felt like it at the time, but because I couldn’t think of what to write or where to begin. Instead, I would just stare at the screen while time was tick, tick, ticking away.

I was underprepared. 

That shouldn’t happen because that’s something I can control. I can learn facts before the game that will help me write the story, look up any information that might be useful in a story, think of storylines before the game begins and write everything down so I’m not frantically searching for facts.

Doing this allows writers to be more creative and, ultimately, write a better story. Malcolm said he even arrives to a game sometimes four hours in advance just to check out how he can get to the press box quickly instead of waiting on an elevator.

It’s all the little steps we can take in preparing ourselves that will allow us to be better writers, and Malcolm’s lecture was a very valuable one for me.

So here I go it’s my shot.

This may be the only opportunity that I got.

_ Katie O'Keefe

Keeping up with social journalism

COLUMBIA, Mo. _ At The Daily of the University of Washington, the UW's student newspaper, we have a policy on staff members commenting on stories: Don't do it. 

I think The Daily started the policy after a few writers got into arguments with commenters. After that, no writers were allowed to comment on their own stories or any stories on our website. The Missourian's Joy Mayer would not approve of that policy.

Mayer, The Missourian's director of community outreach, talked to the 2014 Sports Journalism Institute class Tuesday about being social with our audience, whether it's in the comments, out in the community or on social media. It was a perspective that I had little experience with, but one that I think is valuable. 

I appreciated how The Missourian used social journalism to help create a more diverse and interesting product for their publication by embedding tweets and photos from fans directly to their website. I think allowing readers to produce some work for a paper is an easy and effective way to engage the community, and it also gives journalists an idea of what matters to people outside of the newsroom.

The Daily sends out information, encourages comments and responses, but rarely responds to the comments. If The Daily does respond, it does so through emails or in-person meetings. We start the discussion, but we also kill it prematurely. 

So of Mayer’s four points on engaging in social journalism, the principle of talking, listening and responding is one I have found can be very difficult to obey. Sometimes responding to old stories can seem like an insignificant thing, because by that time, you’re likely working on a new story. But responding to comments and keeping the discussion going after publication is an important and necessary piece to establishing a relationship with the community you serve.

_ Thuc Nhi Nguyen

Column writing for a new era

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As a current Marquette student, I was really happy when Bryan Burwell of the St. Louis Dispatch name-dropped Charles Pierce as a model for column writing. 

Pierce writes for Grantland.com and Esquire magazine. Over the past two years, I’ve spent some time trying to find my voice in column writing and looking up to Grantland writers as a model for the new-era style of writing. 

Whether it's linking a Youtube video or .gif file to add an emotion or context to the text, Grantland is taking advantage of the digital platform in new ways.

“Don’t forget the pure craft of pure writing to get caught up in a video or .gif,” Burwell said. “There are different ways to attack what we’re trying to do. (Grantland) relishes the new approach to doing our job and different ways of doing stories.”

Burwell emphasized sharing a story that has not been told. Upon discovering that story, do not just report what happens but include the "why’’ component.

He also underscored the importance of reading the work of writers outside of sports. Another reason why I love Grantland is because it provides incredible depth into arts and entertainment as well. 

I’ve always enjoyed reading Rembert Browne and Bill Simmons on Grantland. Burwell definitely helped open my eyes to some things I should look for to grow as a columnist.

_ Christopher Chavez

Broadcast dance

COLUMBIA, Mo. — I have a newfound appreciation for broadcast journalists.

The Sports Journalism Institute class made the trek out to KOMU, the local NBC station, to observe a newscast Tuesday. There, I entered a world filled with what seemed like endless cameras and monitors _ a world mostly foreign to my print-focused self.

During the newscast, producers juggled different shots and called out different signals as robotic cameras wheeled around the floor. It happened so fast, but everyone seemed to know what they were doing. Kent Collins, chairman of radio-television journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism, explained how important it is to match the script with the visuals and get a variety of shots.

As a magazine writing major, I often forget how much goes into a broadcast. Not only do I appreciate this form of journalism more now, but the session also got me thinking of ways I can incorporate visuals into my writing.

So I might not ever use camera robots, but I can at least use what they and the rest of KOMU taught me.

— Annie Dankelson