May2008

UpfrontUpfrontTAJE

P.O. Box 5554Austin, TX

78763-5554taje.org

Texas Association of Journalism Educators May 2008

See ‘Benito’ on page 8

As a sophomore, Alex Benito wasn’t sure he wanted to continue in his high school journalism program. His brother, Marcelino, was named National High School Journalist of the Year that year, and Alex wasn’t sure he could live up to his brother’s accomplishments.

“My statement to him was, I did not expect him to be journalist of the year but to just give 100 per-cent to the program and do his best,” Cy Falls adviser Lisa Van Etta said. “I was expecting noth-ing more from him than I would any other staff member.”

What Van Etta got was an-other award-winning editor. Alex was named National Journalist of the Year at the JEA/NSPA convention in Ana-heim April 20.

“Winning this award has finally got rid of this anxiety to always be better than my brother,” Alex said. “I wanted to win not to match the accom-plishments of my brother but to prove to myself that I was capable of anything I put my mind to.”

Marcelino referred to Alex as “the complete package,” someone who had the skill sets to do great journalism.

“In my mind, Alex was never in my shadow,” Marcelino said. “What’s great about Alex is he has a wonderful, amazing, unique personality that’s all his own. I’m sure people made him feel like he had to break free of my shadow, but in reality, all he had to do was stand up taller and believe.”

Marcelino accompanied Alex to the awards ceremony in Anaheim and admitted he was nervous for his brother.

“I really wanted this so badly for him,” Mar-celino said. “I knew the competition was incred-

ibly tough. You’re up against the top student journalists in the country. I feel Alex stood out because he exemplified what we’re trying to be at the college level, a multi-platform journalist. He was probably one of the most rounded win-ners JEA had seen.”

Alex’s portfolio was forwarded to the national committee after he was named Texas High School

Journalist of the Year.“I t was during the

[school] announcements when they announced my name as the [Texas] win-ner,” Alex said. “At first, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then all my classmates started cheer-ing and congratulating me. I was ecstatic, but the feeling didn’t last too long considering I had to take a test immediately following the announcements. As you can imagine, I didn’t do too well on that test.”

Alex was the first edi-tor-in-chief of the school’s new online newspaper, Wingspan Online.

“The online newspaper was basically a one-man

show, ‘The Alex Benito Show,’ with guest ap-pearances by the newspaper and yearbook staff members contributing a few stories and photos when needed,” Van Etta said. “He takes his position as editor very seriously and continu-ously strives to perfect the paper’s appeal to its readership.”

Because his father is a journalist, Alex has been around journalism his entire life.

“I basically grew up knowing what it takes to be a journalist,” Alex said. “I would always watch him work almost to the next day, typing

Cypress Falls High senior follows in brother’s footsteps to become National High School Journalist of the Year

Stepping out of the shadowLori Herbst

President972-539-1591, ext. 141

[email protected]

Sheryl FloydPresident-Elect512-594-0500

[email protected]

Lisa Van EttaSecretary

[email protected]

Cindy BerryTreasurer

940-627-6495cindy.berry@

decatur.esc11.net

Susan DuncanState Director

903-295-5031, ext. 265

[email protected]

Pat GathrightConvention Director

210-325-7793pgathright@

yahoo.com

Brenda SlattonAssistant

Convention Director210-442-0300, ext. 350

[email protected]

Sue JettAssistant

Convention Director210-442-0800, ext. 262

[email protected]

Peggy MillerPast President281-498-8110,

ext. 2460Peggy.Miller@

aliefisd.net

Rhonda MooreExecutive Director

[email protected]

The online newspaper was basically a one-man show, ‘The Alex Benito Show,’ with guest appearances by the newspaper and yearbook staff members contributing a few stories and photos when needed.

Lisa Van Etta

Cypress Falls adviser

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2 Texas Association of Journalism Educators May 2008

From the President

Lori HerbstMarcus High School

TAJE President

“Your house has just burned down, destroying everything you own….”

“Your team has just lost the biggest game of the year…”

“You have just been diagnosed with a debilitating disease…”

“HOW DO YOU FEEL?”Those scenarios and that ques-

tion—along with other questions like it—are the main reason I ultimately abandoned my original noble goal of being a professional journalist. I could never quite navigate the tenuous and blurry line between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy; I always erred on the side of privacy.

I found it difficult—no, for me, im-possible—to intrude on someone’s grief, to publicly expose something he or she found shameful, to question someone’s integrity in print. People’s raw emo-tion just felt so…personal, and inter-viewing them about those emotions was at best awkward and at worst, well, destructive—to me or to them I never clarified in my own mind.

So I decided to teach fledging jour-nalists. Instead of succumbing to the “evils” inherent in what I conveniently labeled a nega-tive and sensationalistic media, I decided to raise generations of ethical, caring, compassionate young journal-ists who could restore the profession to the ideal I had embraced. And as a sideline reward, I figured I would never have to deal with those ethical decisions from which I was fleeing.

How naïve. Karma caught up with

me, and I was dealt a group of stu-dents each year whose vision forces them to push the envelope, to explore those tough issues and to tell the sto-ries of people who have gone through a variety of difficult events.

My newspaper staff covers the per-ils of random stu-dent drug testing, gay bashing, the ef-fects of divorce, just to name a few. Even in yearbook, my stu-dents always want to tackle the “deep” issues—grief, ad-diction, risk-taking, for example—and I had expected yearbook to be bright and sunshiny with only positive

content. No such luck.

So I’m right b a c k w h e re I started some 25-plus years ago, facing the tough issues and try-ing to maneuver around the idea that some stories will hurt some people’s feelings. Some stories will make some peo-ple angry. Some stories will cause embarrassment and even poten-tial damage. How do I advise my students when they broach these

story ideas?As high school publications advis-

ers, we are in a particularly delicate situation. Not only are we dealing with students and their individual rights to privacy, we are dealing with their parents and with other “con-cerned” community members, many of whom believe their ideas about what should be printed trump the

publication staffs’ ideas and even the First Amendment. The ripple effects are extensive.

For example, in this issue of the newspaper, we are running a series of stories about students who have cho-sen different paths when dealing with

sex—one who abstains, one who indulges (for lack of a better word), and one who regrets having

indulged. They have all willingly gone on the record.

But what about Mom and Dad? Is their privacy also being invaded by their daughter’s decision? And will the young woman—girl, really—re-gret her decision to go public? At 16, can she really understand the possible repercussions, no matter how clearly our reporter has gone over them?

Turns out, there is no one right answer. That darned gray area again. Turns out, the answer my students choose emerges from the thinking, the pondering, the debating, the playing of devil’s advocate.

The bottom line is something it took me a while to learn. When ap-proached responsibly, these stories will do good in the world. Not only can they educate and inform, they can help to create that very compassion I was so concerned with in college.

If a reader can identify with one of our sources, can feel empathy for someone going through a tough time, can experience what it is like to pay the price for a certain decision, then maybe that reader will grow. Maybe that reader will become a better, stronger, more caring person. Maybe that reader will make a better decision than he or she would have otherwise.

Basically, I have learned a lot about making ethical choices from my stu-

Not only are we deal-ing with students and their individual rights to privacy, we are dealing with their parents and with other “concerned” community members, many of whom believe their ideas about what should be printed trump the publication staffs’ ideas and even the First Amendment.

“

“Ask no evil Ethical questions follow

journalists of all ages

See ‘Ethical’ on page 8

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May 2008 Texas Association of Journalism Educators 3

State Director’s Report

Susan DuncanPine Tree High SchoolTAJE State Director

Need more money? Aren’t we all looking to keep our publications in the black?

With book sales down and ad-vertising slim in many areas of the state, staffs must find other kinds of revenue to augment their decreasing funds.

As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am such a pack rat, and because of that, I have been saving fund-raiser ideas for several years. If you are on the JEA listserv, you may have seen some of these in the past, but I thought a condensed list might be of use as we begin plan-ning for next year. So, here’s a list of Susan’s choices for most promis-ing/interesting fundraisers:

Cow patty raffle – Create a grid on a board or large piece of paper to create 1,000 squares. Number the squares and sell them for $2 each. Get a rancher to let you use a piece of pastureland. On a ¼ acre plot, replicate your grid on the land us-ing lime salt. The rancher then lets a cow into the field. Wherever the cow leaves a patty, that person gets a free yearbook and $250. If the patty plops into more than one square, divide the money and give each of the students a free book. For rural areas, this would be lots of fun. Can’t you see all the kids hanging over the fence with cameras waiting for the winning plop?

Cookies for all – This is a fund-raiser of sorts that is open to the entire student body. Kids can earn free or reduced cost yearbooks by selling tubs of cookie dough around

the holidays. Every student in the school is welcome to participate. Selling just a few tubs gets money off-- $5 off, $10 off, $15 off, $20 off and free. The money needs to be collected up front before the cookie dough is ordered.

Photos – Take photos with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or your

school’s mascot, or take pictures of kids dressed in Halloween costumes. You can in-vest in a background so they look profes-sional.

Pi Day (3.14) – Bake and deliver homemade pies for a minimum $10 donation on March 14.

Decals or T-shirts – Talk to the principal of your campus or several campus principals (depending on the size of your district) to get per-mission to sell window decals and T-shirts on their campuses. Set up an order form that is distributed to all the schools. Figure in a $5 profit on all the items. It takes some organiza-tion, but get a parent involved to help place the order. When the shirts come in, bag them and put a copy of the order form on the bags, sort the bags by campus and then deliver.

Sell subscriptions – During reg-istration, sell subscriptions to the newspaper for $25. Even with paying for bulk postage, you should still make a good profit. Don’t forget to al-low time for labeling and sorting the papers by zip code before mailing.

Buddy photos – Take photos of friends. Consider charging $30 for two people and $5 for each additional

person. Frames cost an additional $10 each. Post a cheap copy so that stu-dents can see the photos. This would also work for random friend photos taken around campus. Post them, print them and rake in the profit.

Events – Talent show, air guitar show, powderpuff football game, Guitar Hero competition, Battle of the Bands, chili cookoff, steak dinner and silent auction.

Products – Coffee shop on cam-pus, sausage biscuit mornings, school store for school supplies.

The possibilities are endless, and if you can get staffs excited and administrators willing, fundraisers can even be fun. Offer a product or service that people need, and watch the bank account grow.

Fundraisers help to stretch budget for publications

Susan’s choices for most promising/interesting fundraisers:• Cow Patty Raffle• Cookies for all• Photos•Pi Day•Decals or T-Shirts• Sell subscriptions•Buddy Photos• Events• Products

El PasoOdessa/Midland

Lubbock

Amarillo

Wichita Falls

DallasFt Worth

WacoTyler

Beaumont

Houston

Corpus Christi

Brownsville

Austin

San Antonio

I

II III

IVV VI

VII


Regional representatives plan workshops for next yearSeven regional work-

shops are planned for members in August and September.

Workshops will include lunch, and participants will receive a certificate for in-service credit. For more information, contact your regional representative. The representatives and their e-mail addresses are as follows:Region I

Laura SmithCanyon HS1701 23rd St.Canyon [email protected]

Region IIMary Beth LeeSH Rider HS4611 CypressWichita Falls 76310940.720.3019 - School940-232-1589 - [email protected]

Region IIIMikyela Tedder

Lindale HSP.O. Box 370Lindale 75771903.882.6138 - School903.534.5495 - [email protected]

Region IVPat MonroeBurges HS7800 EdgemereEl Paso 79925

915.780.1100ext. 6203 - School915.822.2513 - [email protected]

Region V Christine Keyser-Fanick John Paul Stevens HS 600 N. Ellison Dr. San Antonio 78251 210.397.6450 - School 210.681.6819 - Home

ATPI to host summer workshop for advisers July 16-19The ATPI Summer Workshop for

Instructors will be held July 16-19 at Texas A&M Univer-sity in Commerce.

The $225 registration fee covers the workshop, all lunches, dinner on Wednes-day and Friday evenings and other fun items. Teach-ers who have attended the Summer Workshop in the past who bring one new person with them this year can register both individuals for $175 each.

All workshop participants will re-

ceive a certificate for hours earned. Participants can stay

at the University Inn in Commerce, less than five minutes from the campus. The hotel has free wireless Internet access to all of the rooms. The rate at the University Inn is $53.99/night (single or double) plus 7 percent city tax. Make sure to bring a state sales tax exemption

form in order not to pay the 6 percent state tax.

Rooms must be reserved by June

27 with a credit card. Contact the Uni-versity Inn at 1-903-886-3165 to make reservations.

The classes to be offered include Adobe Photoshop Intermediate, Convergence Made Simple, Funtog-raphy: Holgas, Dianas, Toy Cameras and How I Found My Soul Again, Visual Communication, and Where Do I Start. For more information, including full class descriptions, go to atpi.org.

Workshop supporters include Olympus America (John Knaur), the Photo Imaging Education Association and Stan Godwin Photography.

ckeyserfanick@ sbcglobal.net

Region VILaura NegriAlief Kerr HS8150 Howell Sugarland Rd.Houston 77083281.983.8484 ext. 267- School832.379.9924 - Homelaura.k.negri @[email protected]

Region VIIJanet SimpsonCalallen HS4001 Wildcat Dr.Corpus Christi 78410361.242.5649 - School361.877.7387 - [email protected].

tx.usRegional representatives

will meet with the Execu-tive Board in June. Mem-bers with questions or con-cerns for the Board should contact their regional repre-sentative byMay 31.


Clip contest winners announced

Certificates for clip con-test winners were mailed to schools in February.

A complete list of win-ners can be found on the TAJE Web site at taje.org.

The 2008 Fall Fiesta convention will be held Oct. 25-27 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Anto-nio.

Hotel information can be found online at taje.org.

Speaker forms are also on the Web site. Members are urged to sign up to present a session at the convention.

Dates set for 2008 Fall Fiesta convention

Time to renew membership

Invoices for TAJE membership for the 2008-09 school year have been mailed.

Members should check the invoice to see when their membership expires. Those who do not need to renew TAJE member-ship this year may use the invoice to join JEA, ATPI or SIPA.

Members who need to join JEA may do so through TAJE. TAJE receives a rebate from JEA for each member who joins JEA through TAJE.

I’m about to wind up this year and get ready for my 34th year of teaching journal-ism, and—call me crazy—but I am ready to toss out every production schedule, every job description for staffers, every procedure I’ve ever used and start over. Why?

I’ve got the urge to converge. Yearbook staff? Gone. Newspaper staff?

History. Web staff? See ya later. Photo staff? Bye bye. Video staff? Out the door.

Yet every staffer is still on board and is now a vi-tal part of the new Travis Media Team, and each one will learn to “do it all” before they leave the journalism program.

Each student will be responsible for one or more beats (how tradi-tional can we get?) and will cover his/her beats from start to finish. Stu-dents will visit their con-tacts weekly, put their events in a futures book, blog about the events, research and write more in-depth stories, come up with sidebars, take pictures, write captions, record video and create yearbook spreads. They will know their beats inside and out and won’t be scrambling for material to fill yearbook pages at the last moment. They will pull from the resources they have already gathered. Hopefully this next year, but definitely within the next couple of years, we will also incorporate a DVD supplement into the program using their materials.

“Convergent media” is the new reality of American journalism. It is a marriage of video, print and the Internet, and it makes use of resources and technology that were unheard of as recently as 10 years ago—so-cial networking sites, blogs, podcasting, iTunes, iPods, PDAs, cell phones, DVDs.

More and more, Americans are turning to non-traditional sources to get their infor-mation, and the challenge is for journal-ists to continue providing a professional product with accurate information when there is so much unfiltered data available to the public.

A recent Pew Center survey says 55 percent of the American public get its news online. They may get it from other

sources as well, but 55 percent of them turn to the Internet at least part of the time. Some may be going to sites run by traditional me-dia, such as CNN.com or NYTimes.com or CBSNews.com. Some are go-ing to independent blogs or political blogs to get another perspective. This activity has caused all news media to revamp their ap-proach to telling the story.

Network and local news stations have Web sites.

Newspapers and magazines have Web sites. All incorporate videos, interactive polls and reader feedback capability. They make use of social networking sites to promote stories and events. They have developed software to allow people to get their news on their cell phones, PDAs and even iPods.

So today’s journalist must be savvy enough to recognize which venue would be best for telling a particular story. Maybe several venues should be used. Perhaps one aspect of the story would best be shown through a visual approach, such as a video package. Maybe another portion

A journalist who can handle it all is very valuable to the news organization. Of course, many, if not all, journalists will specialize at some point, but if they know the process, how it works and what works best for which element, they will be the editors of the future.

““

The urge to convergeNew media finds ways to attract audiences

See ‘Convergence’ on page 9


Signature of TAJE member nominating

Purpose: To recognize individuals/staffs whose initial risk-taking efforts and subsequent experiences (whether wholly successful or not) to expand the scope and capabil-ity of Texas scholastic journalism benefit others who follow their lead.

Eligibility: Those who endeavor to “push the envelope” of conventional scholastic journalism to new venues or methods.

Entries must be postmarked no later than June 15, 2008.Mail nomination forms to:Rhonda MooreTAJEP.O. Box 5554Austin, TX 78763-5554

Name of Nominee:

School:

Please explain this individual’s contributions to the field of journalism on a separate sheet of paper. Include examples of how he/she has helped to improve scholastic journalism in Texas and how these improvements have benefitted others. Attach this form and send both to the TAJE address.

Trailblazer Award Nomination Form


Signature of TAJE member nominating

Purpose: To note outstanding contributions to scholastic journalism by persons/organizations not directly involved in the daily instructional process (i.e., outside the classroom).

Eligibility: Those whose instruction, service and/or assistance, financial sponsorship or personal dedication and advocacy toward the betterment of scholastic journalism in Texas deserves recognition.

Entries must be postmarked no later than June 15, 2008.Mail nomination forms to:Rhonda MooreTAJEP.O. Box 5554Austin, TX 78763-5554

Name of Nominee:

Business/Organization:

Please explain the contributions of this individual/organization to scholastic journalism on a separate sheet of paper. Attach this form and send both to the TAJE address.

Friend of Journalism Award Nomination Form


TAJE presented the following scholarships at the ILPC convention in Austin April 20:

Alex BenitoCypress Falls HS

$1,500 Bill Taylor Memorial

Scholarship

Lisa Winston Cypress Falls HS

$1,000 Bobby Hawthorne

Scholarship

Michelle WardMarcus HS

$1,000 Jim Davidson Memorial

Scholarship

Chris Hunt Westlake HS

$1,000 DeWitt C. Reddick

Memorial Scholarship

Hillary Kunz Westlake HS

$1,000 Julia JeffressMemorial

Scholarship

Summer workshop scholarships:Courtney GarzaLeticia Vazquez

Sheila BuenrostroAlief Hastings HS

Amy Hillberry

Flower Mound Marcus HS

Will RitchieGregory Uribe

Mansfield Legacy HS

TAJE scholarships presented in April

away only to make the next deadline. I guess my interest in journalism was something that formed watching my dad work over the past years. I like to think journalism is simply in my blood.”

In his four years of high school, Alex went from an inexperienced photographer as a freshman to a pro-fessional photographer shooting for a wire service.

“I always thought Marcelino’s work to be very impressive and couldn’t imagine there could be much better out there,” said Fatima Ramon, managing director of EFE Photo Ser-vices, North America and Caribbean. “I’m pleased to admit I was very wrong. Alejandro’s improvement over time has been extraordinary. His product is selling. He provides a keen, new eye in the execution of his photography. His pictures uncannily tell the story of whatever even he happens to cover.”

dents—perhaps more than they have ever learned from me. Yes, there are journalists out there who just want to make a name for themselves. And yes, there are publications that just want sales and scoops. But those aren’t my journalists.

Mine are the ones who want to tell people’s stories. Mine are the ones who care about those people’s stories but don’t let that compassion blur their ultimate goal of keeping the public informed and educated. Sometimes my students suffer from telling those stories, but as long as they have the goal of adding some-

thing positive to the world, they are succeeding.

It is interesting to watch them dancing around those same lines that I did in college. It’s interesting to watch them suffering through a particularly difficult decision—to print or not to print. And it is incredibly reward-ing to watch them thinking deeply, contemplating consequences for their sources, and coming to decisions based on “the greater good.” I’m so proud that I have had a small part in their growth in these areas.

But please don’t ever let them witness a disaster and ask, “How do you feel?”

Alex said taking photographs is his favorite part of journalism.

“I consider myself a photographer above all else,” he said. “My favorite part of journalism is probably being able to tell a story through both my pictures and my stories.”

Van Etta agrees photography is Alex’s strength.

“Alex’s personality shows in his photos,” she said. “When viewing his photos, one sees the intense, serious side of Alex as he captures the pain and agony on an injured player’s face. Yet his contagious laughter and unique humor can clearly be seen in his candid feature shots of students and friends. ‘Sweet photos,’ as Alex refers to them.”

Van Etta said two years ago she wanted to find a way to clone Mar-celino, but now she knows better.

“I didn’t get a clone,” she said. “I got an original Alex Benito. I have learned that an original is always bet-ter than a copy or clone.”

Continued from page 1


Benito receives national, state awards as top journalist

Ethical questions can teach students to have compassion


of the story, dealing with dull, bor-ing statistics, could be brought to life through an interactive infographic. Still another part of the story works best in print.

A journalist who can handle it all is very valuable to the news organi-zation. Of course, many, if not all, journalists will specialize at some point, but if they know the process, how it works and what works best for which element, they will be the editors of the future.

Many colleges are already produc-ing convergent journalists to meet this need in the industry.

And we in high schools can strengthen our programs and make them more valuable to the students and the schools by doing the same thing.

This approach makes a great deal of sense to me. How many of us have the problem of a newspaper staffer having to be enrolled in the yearbook class because there is a conflict with another class? How many of us expe-rience down time on one publication’s class time, and while it would be a great time to work on another publica-tion, we don’t have the right students in the room? How many students enroll in one class and see what the other publication is doing and wish out loud that they could have signed up for both classes?

With a convergent approach, it really doesn’t matter if they enroll in newspaper or yearbook. Depending on how many things you want to con-verge, even broadcast journalism can be included. If the broadcast journal-ism class is producing a daily show, it might not work as well, but other students can do video projects for that class to use. In my own situation,, the morning news team is moving to the technology department, but we will

keep a broadcast component in the journalism department.

The students will each learn to use Web resources, video and still cameras. They will all write and edit for print, Web and video. They will design for newspaper and yearbook. They will learn, practice and take away with them skills that will work in so many different fields, not just journalism. Most importantly, they will have many opportunities for criticial decision-making not only on what to cover, but how best to cover it and what aspects of the story would be covered best by which specific approach.

Down time will definitely be re-duced. Students will stay busy mak-ing sure that their beats are covered thoroughly.

The teacher’s life should be easier, especially if he or she has dealt with having multiple publications at the same time. Instructional time will be geared toward all students at the same time. When you decide it’s time to teach yearbook layout, everyone will be focused on that, not on 100 other things.

Convergent media will cause us to focus on the process rather than the product. If the process is done correctly, the product will take care of itself.

I have to credit Jake Palenski of NCompass Media with getting me so fired up over this. During one staff development day in February, I went to a meeting of journalism teach-ers, very down and ready to seek a transfer or look for another job out of district. I was tired from having the equivalent of 10 preps. I had one class with newspaper, broadcast, Journal-ism I and photojournalism all at the same time. I was frustrated. I was focusing on the product, and there were too many products at one time to focus on.

Jake asked us what we’d like for him to talk about. I had taken his convergent media class one summer at the ATPI teachers’ workshop, and I was interested in the concept but not so sure how to implement it.

He just happened to have a con-vergent media presentation on his computer, and he took us through it, and by the end of the presenta-tion, my mind was going 90 miles a minute looking at why this approach would work for my school. I haven’t looked back.

For now, the current course names will be used, but it doesn’t matter which the students enroll in. TEKS are closely related enough that we can meet them all for all three production classes. We plan to keep photojour-nalism and Journalism I separate because they are basic skills classes, not production classes. If the concept works well and enough schools take this approach, it might be worth it to propose a convergent media class to TEA in the future.

Jake’s presentation is online at taje.org in a new section called, aptly enough, “Convergent Media.” There are also some other resources and ideas for implementing new technol-ogy and media into our programs, and more will be added soon.

The students will have

many opportunities for

criticial decision-

making not only on what

to cover, but how best to

cover it.

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Convergence media gives staffers chance to be well-rounded journalists


News & Politics

May2008