About the ASNE Reporter
BY MONICA HANDE
ASNE Reporter
An opportunity for college journalists to team up with professionals doesn't come along every day. But it does every year at the annual ASNE convention.
The ASNE Diversity Committee has a news lab during the week of the convention, through which students and professionals produce a 16- to 20-page daily newspaper, the ASNE Reporter. The project, which began in 1989, is one of several ASNE initiatives to increase diversity in newsroom staffing and news coverage. According to ASNE, the purpose of the project is to improve American journalism.
The ASNE Reporter is a rare and beneficial experience for participating students. Those involved get the opportunity to work side by side with experienced journalists in a temporary newsroom, complete with deadline pressures.
Sixteen to 18 students are selected each year to write stories, edit copy, shoot photographs, design pages and produce an online edition of the ASNE Reporter. Since the project began, about 150 students have participated.
Involvement in the ASNE Reporter "helps most students, and it helps the professionals," said Bobbi Bowman, ASNE's diversity director. The experience is a chance for students to get experience and to develop professional contacts, she said. It also gives students exposure to ASNE.
And professionals can benefit from the experience through the chance to try their hands at different responsibilities. For example, Ms. Bowman worked in the news lab one year as managing editor, thinking it was something she would be interested in. She said she enjoyed the opportunity and it encouraged her to take on future management responsibilities.
Most alumni have eventually become professional journalists, and some have even returned to the ASNE Reporter as mentors. Jennifer 8 Lee, a technology reporter at The New York Times, was a student online producer for the 1999 convention in San Francisco and has returned this year as the online professional editor.
"I've been given so many opportunities in journalism that I wanted to give back to the community," she said. "Having seen the ASNE Reporter from both sides of the equation, I can really appreciate the impact it has on student and professional journalists. I personally know so many students who used the ASNE Reporter as a jumping off point in their professional careers."
The ASNE Reporter begins with the efforts of Ms. Bowman, who, as the diversity director, acts as the publisher and is in charge of funding and staffing the project. After the editor is selected, Ms. Bowman works with him or her to recruit professional volunteers, and the editor selects students.
John X. Miller, the public editor of the Detroit Free Press, is leading the project this year -- his second year as the ASNE Reporter editor. Sixteen students were selected for the news lab out of about 35 applicants. Students were considered based on skills, experience and background. Seventeen professionals from newspapers and news organizations throughout the country have volunteered their time to participate in the project this year. Students from the Howard University Community News are responsible for advertising sales, and Gannett News Service is responsible for printing the newspaper.
Next year's news lab
WHEN: April 7-12, 2002
WHERE: The JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, D.C. Transportation and hotel costs may be covered for students who live outside of the Washington metropolitan area.
ELIGIBILITY: Applicants should be college juniors, seniors and graduate students majoring in journalism or a related field who are interested in working at a daily newspaper. Sophomores who have had previous experience working on campus newspapers or as interns at daily or weekly newspapers are also eligible. Minority students are especially encouraged to apply.
HOW TO APPLY: Each interested student must provide a completed application form, 500-word essay describing his or her interest in journalism and six samples of published writing, photography, headlines or design.
STIPEND: Students will receive a $200 stipend to cover food costs and other incidentals.
DEADLINE: Applications will be available on the ASNE Web site, www.asne.org, in October. Completed applications are due in mid-December. Students will be notified of acceptance by the end of January.
SEND APPLICATIONS TO: Bobbi Bowman, ASNE diversity director, 11690B Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1409.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact ASNE at the address above or call (703) 453-1126, or e-mail Ms. Bowman at bowmanb@asne.org.
