People vs. prestige

A few weeks ago, I went to my professor for advice on fixing up my resume (which I will be mailing out very, very soon since this whole not-having-a-job-lined-up thing isn't working for me very well). He handed me the resume of one of his former students (who had an internship with the Washington Post) as a guide and then told me that I shouldn't apply for any newspapers over 100,000 circulation.

Whoa. Hold it. First of all, my professor hands me an intimidating resume. Then he places a limit on my abilities. What the heck do I do now?

Needless to say, I was feeling a little lost and incapable when I left his office that day. It was time for me to reevaluate what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and to determine if I had the drive and the skills to follow through with my decisions.

First, the resume. At first glance, the girl's work experience took up the entire first page of her resume with multiple internships. And at the very top - copy editing intern with the Washington Post. I'm thinking, is this what every graduating senior's resume looks like? Because if so, then I'm totally not up to par.

It wasn't until I got home and examined the resume that I realized that she only had experience with a total of two or three newspapers but had held a few positions at each paper. With four newspaper internships already under my belt, that made me feel a whole lot better. But then there was the question of big, prestigious newspapers versus community papers (which is ultimately what this post is about). Which do employers value more?

When I thought about my professor's second comment - don't try for internships at papers with circulation over 100K - I drew the conclusion that the size of the newspaper matters in some aspects, if not all.

That's when I realized that I don't want a big, prestigious newspaper on my resume.

I love community journalism. It's how I started; it's how I'll finish. It's people and it's communication and it's family and it's hands-on. It's what I know. It's what I do.

The experience that I've had at small and metro-sized papers has been so much richer than what I would've gotten at a big newspaper. Yeah, if I'd worked for the NYT, I'd get the prestige of the paper embedded in my title. But I wouldn't be getting anything else, except maybe coffee (ha!).

I wouldn't get to contribute to the lives of citizens through my writing. I wouldn't get to interview a new person every day. I wouldn't get calls from readers who want to talk about what I wrote and share their stories. I wouldn't feel the pressure and responsibility of being residents' only source of local news. I wouldn't experience crunch-time at the end of the day or one-on-one conversations with the editors.

I wouldn't get what I want.

So I'm not taking offense at my professor's advice. I think he knows what I want and where my skills lie. He knows that there's a paper out there somewhere with my name on it and he's going to keep pushing me until I get there.

Localization, parte dos

I went camping at Unicoi State Park last night, and it was amazing. The weather was beautiful - cool and crisp. We slept in "squirrels' nests" (a.k.a. tree houses!) and hiked a few trails in the morning. It was a much welcomed haven of relaxation and self-introspection.

The adventure was made extra special by the company I kept. We spent the trip talking about literature, inner thoughts, society - a refreshing retreat from some of the petty things that I get caught up in around campus.

One of the things we discussed over coffee in a nearby mountain town was the future of language throughout the world. We were split 50-50 - two of the belief that due to the spreading of globalization, the whole world will one day speak basically the same language. And two of us believed that language would do just the opposite - it would become very localized so that individual areas would speak with their own individual vocabularies.

While I first embraced the idea of localization as a positive impact on newspapers, I've come to realize that localization will have a similar impact worldwide and in many aspects of society. We were all star-struck by globalization at first. Being able to conduct business and relationships on an international level is a very thrilling concept and can add excitement to an otherwise monotonous life.

However, now it's losing its appeal. It's become too costly and inefficient to maintain a high volume of global businesses and relationships. It's like the expansion that's been happening for decades is slowing to a stop, and pretty soon we'll start receding back into our local centers - back into our small towns and our daily newspapers and our farmers' markets.

Though people crave innovation, you can't underestimate the power of community.

Hyperlocal, an international movement

Another revamp! This thing's starting to look pretty damn sharp if I do say so myself.

Also, I was talking to a Norwegian journalist yesterday (how often do you get to say that?!) about changes in the industry here in America versus across the pond. He mentioned a newspaper in a small town in Finland (I think) that has launched an online site devoted specifically to local history.

He said it's a branch of the newspaper's web site, and the paper is slowly going back in time and cataloging the town's history. It's apparently a huge hit. People have the option to comment on whether they were at a certain event or what significant things happened to them during a specific time period. They're encouraged to share their family lineage - if grandma helped stock the food bank during a crisis or if great-grandpa served in war. It helps bring pride to the town, and it's probably a big boost in ad sales for the paper, too....

I found this interesting because it sounds to me like there's an international focus on the localization of information. All over the world, newspapers aren't zeroed in on the big picture anymore. Of course, "big picture" news needs to be and will still be covered, especially through sources like the AP, the NYT, CNN and a handful of others. But ultimately, local news is where it's at - even in Finland!