Education: On researching, writing and publishing columns
You, the Columnist By Dave Lieber Dallas Morning News columnist My kid brother visited recently and gasped when he saw my home office library. Hundreds of journalism books. Biographies of newspaper legends. Many columnist collections. “Get rid of them,” he said. “Why?” “Cause when you die it’s a pain to handle this. I had to…
By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp NSNC Media Director For those who’d prefer to listen to this article you can do so at this SoundCloud page HERE. Many in the industry have discussed both sides of this issue. Some refuse to write for free and ask others to do the same in hopes that they’ll enact change…
[Note: A 6:34 audio podcast of this column can be streamed or downloaded at this Soundcloud page.] By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp Most publications purchase columns for First North American Serial Rights. This means they get to publish it first and after an embargo period, usually specified in your contract, the writer is free to reprint…
By Mary Schmich Copyright © 2015 Mary Schmich When I arrived at the Chicago Tribune in 1985 to work in the features department, the features editor sat me down and asked me how I envisioned my newspaper future. “I’d like to write a column,” I chirped. She snorted. “Yeah,” she said, “you and everybody else.” And…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring 2004-06 President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Columnist downsizing feels like a solitary darkness, so news that our industry is turning a corner was sunlight on a cell window. Last June John Avlon, editor in chief of The Daily Beast, was a bringer of light. At the…
Speaker/columnist/author Dave Lieber of The Dallas Morning News presented the opening program at the 2013 NSNC conference bright and early Friday, June 28, 2013. Titled “Your Column Blows Me Away: Secrets of Amazing Storytelling,” this keynote hits many points about how to tell great storytelling columns. Dave discusses – with examples you can use –…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring 2004-06 President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Years ago, op-ed was associated only with political commentary. Today, op-ed can take invented directions on current affairs. For example, how pop culture is mirrored in politics is the unique viewpoint of columnist Joanna Weiss of The Boston Globe. “Putting…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring Past President National Society of Newspaper Columnists No matter what our specialty is, we can learn from columnists with a very different focus. Joel Brinkley, who also serves as the NSNC education chair, is one of only a handful of foreign affairs op-ed columnists in the United…
Attribution is the antidote to plagiarism you, the columnist By Dave Lieber www.YankeeCowboy.com Angry as all get out, as Texans like to say. That’s how I feel when I think about what happened in recent months to many of our NSNC colleagues. More than their words were stolen when their columns were plagiarized in separate…
By Suzette Martinez Standring NSNC Past President At writing conferences, creativity often gets short shrift in favor of growing one’s business. Supersize followers on Facebook and Twitter! Get readers a-gogging with vlogging and blogging! Strengthen your footing on the technology trail. Very helpful, yes, but when all is said and done, it is about our…
By Suzette Martinez Standring NSNC Past President Vlogging, blogging, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter – it’s all under the umbrella of social media and I’m dog paddling in the deluge. Recently, I attended the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop in Dayton, both as a presenter (Hypnotic Recall Fills the Creative Well), and as a seeker of information…
Columnists’ Academy By Mike Deupree NSNC Board Member Few things concern me as much as the position that news reporters should report “truth” and not just “facts.” In a philosophy class, there are any number of ways to define “truth,” but in journalism, “truth” has only one definition: It is someone’s interpretation of the…
Writers’ Academy Article previously published in Freelance Focus at PR Newswire, 3/21/2012 By Suzette Martinez Standring Maybe you write an informational or how-to column or blog based on a passionate interest. A popular column is an unbeatable platform for self-expression. Whether it’s about woodworking, social media, or pets, prepare your pitch to an…
By Suzette Martinez Standring Whether you write op-ed, humor, lifestyle or other columns, heartfelt expression is a goal. Relaxation unlocks creativity, and I use guided imagery exercises in my writing workshops to mine memories for sensory details and emotions. Self-hypnosis, meditation, guided imagery, and trance are all the same things, and the process is common…
you, the columnist By Dave Lieber Fort Worth Star-Telegram Are you familiar with Klout.com? The website says it rates your “online influence” on a scale of 1 to 100 “based on your ability to drive action in social networks. We process this data on a daily basis to give you an updated Klout score…
By Suzette Martinez Standring, NSNC past president Do you ever feel like you’re writing the same old, same old? I did, and I needed a new way to look at my work. So naturally, I went to jail. No, I wasn’t convicted of anything. Last fall I volunteered to teach a meditation and journaling program…
Some observations about journalism as an occupation were recently published by the Wall Street Journal. The statistics were based on 2010 U.S. Census statistics. The median annual salary for journalism majors is $50,000, per the latest data. This is about the same as majors in English, history, or communications. However, journalists have a 7 percent…
