Are you a wired journalist?

Here's a challenge from journalism blogger Howard Owens, to make yourself a wired journalist in 2008 and possibly save your career. He's even offering a $100 Amazon gift certificate for a journalist who completes his 11 objectives. Even if you don't go for the moolah, this is a nice little test to see how much of this you're doing. I got six out of the 11, and some new ideas. Good stuff.

Winter newsletter

NINA's winter newsletter will be mailed to your newsrooms in early January, but it's available as a printable PDF file HERE right now for the low, low price of ... nothing.

In this issue: Messages from incoming president Sharon Boehlefeld and outgoing president Greg Rivara; a column by me about writing trend stories from a ground-level view; and other assorted useful bits of information.

'Our Hidden Poor'

If you haven't seen this already, take a look at the Chicago Tribune's recent project, "Our Hidden Poor." The individual stories from around Illinois are compelling, and there's also a terrific audio slideshow with b/w photojournalism by Kuni Takahashi. This is worth your time.

Any newspaper could come up with series like this. Think about people in your community whose stories could be tied together with a common thread. Maybe it's as simple as people who plow snow; or you could go broader, to public servants in various walks of life. Maybe it's kids working their first jobs; or retirees working for various reasons. Maybe it's people who end up at your area's homeless shelter.

Or, you do what the Tribune did: Identify a trend and then put faces on that trend. High gasoline prices, for instance. Show the effect on a variety of people and industries. Or slow home sales: find a range of people who are frustrated trying to sell their houses. Or, in an area where real-estate values have skyrocketed, find people who grew up there but now that they're on their own, can't afford to live there.

Endless possibilities here. The key is, these are ground-level stories about people, rather than just aerial views of trends.

Building a mojo kit

If your paper is thinking about inexpensive ways to get into multimedia reporting, here's a post from Bryan Murley at Eastern Illinois University. Bryan is talking about placing a mojo (mobile journalist) kit in the hands of each student in a class, but this could easily apply to newsrooms.

Bottom line: One complete kit can be assembled for less than $400. Bryan even provides links to each product.

Voter registration

With the earlier primary (Feb. 5) for Illinois this year, voter registration could get lost amid the holidays. The Illinois deadline is Tuesday, Jan. 8. Here's a link to the State Board of Elections site with all the information. It also has a downloadable registration form that people can fill out and turn in to their county clerk's office. Good stuff to share with your readers.

Ice Storm

The Dec. 14 installment of Al's Morning Meeting from The Poynter Institute gives some great ideas for covering snowstorms.
I've seen many, many people (me among them) outside this week in northern Illinois, taking photos of spectacular, ice-covered trees. Are any of your papers inviting readers to send you their photos? If so, post a comment below with a link to the online album.
Any other innovative, weather-related coverage worth noting?

ICPA Job Fair

TheIllinois College Press Association is planning its annual convention and job fair for Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, at the Chicago City Centre. This is a great opportunity for employers to find more than 100 of the state's top college journalists all in one room and available for 15-minute interviews.

If your new newspaper would like to consider sending an interviewer, click here for an invitation letter and a participation form.

Shaw buys DeKalb County papers

From today's Northwest Herald:
Privately owned Shaw Newspapers, owner of the Northwest Herald, announced Tuesday that it had bought the publications of Northern Illinois Publishing from publicly traded Lee Enterprises.
Shaw Newspapers, a 156-year-old, family-owned media company, acquired the Daily Chronicle, located in DeKalb; The MidWeek weekly; and affiliated publications.

Full story