Sumpter speaks against journalism outsourcing

A UPI story that moved yesterday about the OCR's contract to outsource copy-editing to India had this from our own Dr. Sumpter:

With declining advertising revenues and readership, "I sympathize with publishers," Randall Sumpter, director of Texas A&M's Journalism Studies Program said in a statement.

But, Sumpter explained newspaper editing requires technical skills and knowledge of the newspaper's community. "That ability comes from living in the same city and having the same problems the readers have," Sumpter said.

The Register is one of several U.S. newspapers, including The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, that have moved some of their editing and layout work overseas, the statement said.

"Let's hope outsourcing news room operations to another continent never progresses beyond the experimental stage," Sumpter said.

Leschper '79: Now a VP at Anchorage Daily News

Lee Leschper '79 is the new vice president of advertising for the Anchorage Daily News. The News reports:

He is responsible for the newspaper's retail, classified and online advertising departments as well as marketing for the newspaper.
Leschper had been an advertising director and general manager for Morris Communications in Juneau since 2004, working with newspapers in Juneau, Anchorage, Kenai and Homer. With more than 30 years of experience in the newspaper industry, Leschper has been publisher, associate publisher, ad director and classified advertising manager for newspapers in a number of Texas markets.

FJSA mass e-mail went out, news is hopping!

I'm hearing from lots of you and hope to hear from more -- folks are sending me updates for the blog; watch for more here in upcoming days. Membership in the LinkedIn and Facebook groups is jumping (links to them are in the navigation bar atop this page) -- more than 20 new members just yesterday afternoon. I love it! Keep the news coming -- just e-mail it on in -- and please feel free to comment here or on the forum too (no registration required for either).

Frnka '97: APR in Houston is home from Rome

Laura Frnka, APR and Fightin’ Class of 1997 is a PR account supervisor for Pierpont Communications (www.piercom.com) based in Houston, Texas. Pierpont Communications is the largest independent PR agency in Houston with offices in Austin and Dallas. We service a variety of industries from telecom, to high-tech, hospitality and of course, energy.

Laura just returned from Rome, Italy – her first trip overseas. She accompanied one of her clients to attend EAGE – one of the largest oil and gas tradeshows in the world. Ciao, Aggies!

From the Batt: Carlin leaves legacy at A&M

Kenny Ryan has a good story in today's Batt about the journalism scholarship George Carlin created at Texas A&M. He talks to Bob Rogers, who was department head at the time:

Creating a scholarship is a far cry from the establishment-challenging Carlin seen on stage. Carlin established the scholarship without fanfare and away from attention.
"He didn't tell us he was doing it," Rogers said. "It was a real tribute on his part to somebody who had been helpful to him when he was young and unknown, and he didn't want to make a big deal about it, no publicity.
"It just appeared one day, he had come in and done his thing and gone before we even knew anything was happening."

(Katherine Coburn '09 won it this year.)

KXAN.com (NBC Austin) hiring Webdesk editor

Received today:

Kxan.com and thecwaustin.com are hiring!

New Media Journalist/Webdesk Editor

Applicants must be innovative, reader-focused and full of creativity. Daily newspaper and online experience in design and editing, along with a track record of accurate work, is a big plus.
Check out www.lintv.com or www.kxan.com to find out about the company and its benefits.

Position will:
- Ensure accurate and engaging copy
- Produce online graphics
- Edit video

- Degree in journalism preferred
- Daily newspaper or news site experience required
- Portfolio of live, working Web samples and/or print pages
- Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
- HTML, CSS, Flash and other relevant technology skills a big plus
- Written and verbal communication skills
- Understanding of design for content management systems, usability and accessibility practice and customer focus are essential

Applicants may apply by sending resume to Charlie Ray at charlie.ray@kxan.com

Charlie D. Ray
New Media Director
LIN Interactive Austin
KXAN.com | thecwaustin.com
(o) 512.703.5384 | (m) 512.567.9559
Charlie.Ray@kxan.com

Q&A with A&M's new journalism lecturer

Click on over here to read our Q&A with journalism veteran Dale Rice, who'll begin teaching classes this fall at A&M.

He has some great plans for his first two classes -- students tackling all the types of stories a GA reporter would find familiar, and others establishing political blogs during what should be, oh I don't know, a fairly interesting fall election season. He also talks about the importance of journalism education in the changing industry.

Dale (who's currently the American-Statesman's dining critic) is even kind enough to dish some tips on good eats in the Bryan/College Station area.

Moghe '07 wins CNN-SAJA broadcast scholarship

In the press release announcing its 2008 journalism awards and scholarship winners, the South Asian Journalists Association says:

Sonia Moghe, who graduated from Texas A&M University in Spring 2007, will begin her Masters of Science program at Columbia University this fall. She is winner of the second CNN-SAJA Scholarship for Broadcast Journalism ($2,000).

Congratulations, Sonia!

A&M's 2008-09 journalism scholarship winners

Here are the winners who have already been selected for Texas A&M's 2008-09 scholarships for students enrolled in the journalism minor. Congratulations!

Amanda Casanova '10, $500, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Katherine Coburn '09, $1,000, Monroe/Carlin scholarship
Angela DeLeon '09, $2,000, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Melissa Elam '09, $500, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Kimberly Huebner '09, $1,250, Bob Rogers scholarship
Christina Jacobson '09, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Brigette Landes-Vann '08, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Lindsay Lewis '09, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Lauren Lucas '09, $1,000, Sue and Willard Clark scholarship
Scott McLaughlin '09, $500, Kyle D. Tilton scholarship
Kacie McMahon '10, $1,000, Kyle D. Tilton scholarship

Deadline for next year will likely be in April again -- mark your calendars!

A forecast of how collapse may reinvent journalism

Via Common Sense Journalism: This 2006 piece from the proprietor of newspaperdeathwatch.com is still well worth reading for several reasons, including its positive spirit despite the gloomy-sounding verbiage, but also its comparison of newspaper economics and successful Web ventures; its breakdown of how the medium has shaped the writing:

Once a story was in print, it was permanent. This necessitated an almost obsessive attention to detail and fact-checking. All facts had to be assembled before the story was written. ... Structure was critical. Because stories were cut from the bottom, newspapers invented the “inverted pyramid” style of writing, in which more important information was placed higher in the story. Good information was omitted because there wasn’t enough space.
... Of course, all that is irrelevant online, and the new journalism will be based on an entirely different set of assumptions. Any report may be quickly and easily updated and corrected. Search engine results and referral links are the principal drivers of readership. Layout is almost irrelevant to a Web site.

... and its description of exactly what our business might look like AFTER it turns upside-down:

This will be nothing less than a complete rebirth of journalism around the concept that information is plentiful and cheap. Instead of 1,500 print newspapers, there will be perhaps five to 10 national “super-papers” and many thousands of regional and special interest community news sites.

FJSA sets Fall Reception date: Oct. 11

That's the K-State game, for those of you caught without your football calendar. We've got the MSC Stark Galleries, the same classy venue as last year. Kickoff is currently slated for 1 p.m. but yeah, you know it'll change, so watch this space and FJSA.com. The reception may be held before the game, giving us a reason to get to campus before parking goes insane and then stroll across to Kyle in a civilized fashion; or possibly we'll hold it after the game, in which case we can hang out in the air-conditioning and drink free bottled water for an hour or so while everybody else fights traffic.

Seriously: Please plan to come if you can. Last year we actually had breaking news: Kathleen surprised us by announcing the Skip Leabo scholarship, and associate dean Pamela Matthews told us about faculty changes, the new Student Reporter program and other news.

This year, there are rumblings of a Battalion staffers reunion that same weekend... holler if you have interest or ideas for same. (Is there still a Batt staff photo framed on the wall at Duddley's?)

The main event will be the induction of another great Aggie journalist into the FJSA Hall of Honor. Again, watch this space and FJSA.com for more as we get closer.

Guaranteed to happen: catching up with comrades and meeting current students. Also, the Batt is now close by in the MSC, and if you're a grizzled vet of the RDMC dungeon, you owe it to yourself to see the cool space they have now.

Much thanks to FJSA's Natalie Holladay and Student Media's Dell Bomnskie for making the arrangements possible. (Natalie is humoring me by checking into the possibility of cheese cubes this year... e-mail me to vote for cheese if you share my cheese obsession!)

From the Batt: Ol' Sarge cartoon's creator dies

Excellent story by Kenny Ryan in Tuesday's Batt on Pete Tumlinson '42, who created the caricature of Ol' Sarge as Aggies today know it. Tumlinson, a former Marvel Comics artist, passed away in Calvert last week, it says.

In 1938 Tumlinson identified the character in a comic as an ex-con from Brooklyn who was considered "too tough" for Alcatraz, and sentenced to A&M. The character was named "Magarkin" later and turned into an upperclassman in the Corps who frequently appeared with his freshman buddy "Fish Blotto."

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Friday night lights: Waco 10 hiring sports reporter

Roberto Farías has info on another job posting up at the J-Studies Web site: KWTX in Waco is looking for a sports photographer/video/reporter. High school sports is a major thing in this gig, they say, plus some college coverage and other chances to report including fill-in anchor opportunities. They ask for a video resume. Thanks for sending this, Roberto!