Based on Standards for Journalism Educators from the Journalism Education Association, this presentation addresses standards 1A.8 and 1A.9 and includes aspects of reporting, interviewing, writing and editing.
Be prepared to… select or suggest appropriate news sources for coverage. Share staff process for brainstorming stories. Discuss how editorial board and/or determine news value and prominence within the publication. Share how staff and adviser determine content treatments (visual formats for material).
You may be asked to… discuss how staff and student editors determine the vision, mission and goals of the publication. Share how staff participates in working toward the vision of the publication. How does staff create self-evaluation of coverage? How does staff determine reader satisfaction? What other methods does the publication use to evaluate the quality and quantity of coverage in the publication?
Be prepared to… share teaching methods and classroom/staff procedures for accountability regarding deadlines, etc. Explain procedures for obtaining, recording, and documenting sources. Discuss best material choices and how students are taught to determine which sources and what information is the most worthy of inclusion. Share process for publication’s evaluation on an issue-by-issue basis as well as a yearly (or other given period) basis.
This aspect of the exam may ask you to create visual treatments or to evaluate a given visual treatment for its effectiveness. Share process for selection of visual representation and design for various types of information. Share self-evaluation process for how material is treated visually.
You should be prepared to… demonstrate your knowledge of these types of stories. You may be asked to write a specific type of story lead or arrange facts in an appropriate order to use one of these stories. You may be asked to coach a writer who has missed the mark on an assignment, confusing these types.
You should be prepared to… explain how your staff uses these steps and how you coach writers when using these steps. Share teaching methods for writing and coaching editors to coach their peers. You may be asked to follow one or more of these steps in the demonstration portion.
You may be asked to… share procedures for information gathering and teaching reporters how to do this. Share procedures for coaching editors to coach their writers. Discuss standard policies and ethics regarding these topics.
You may be asked to write out how you would coach a writer or editor as they are going through these steps. Be prepared to share procedures and policies regarding these topics. You may be asked to provide advice to a new adviser on how to begin to implement these and the preceding steps.
Discuss how your publication has developed its voice while maintaining style rules. You may be asked to correct a story or portion that uses inappropriate voice, slang, jargon, etc. You may be asked to write a lead from information provided to you.
This portion may include samples of writing to which you will respond as a writing coach. It may also have you sharing ideas for how you would create an editing process or sharing the process you currently use to have students edit each other’s work. You may also be asked to explain the difference between editing and rewriting and describe how the processes are handled in your staff room.
The decisions made about designing for content are so important. Creating visual entry points, providing access to small bits of information instead of large overwhelming chunks, designing for content instead of forcing content into pre-designed templates are all concerns here. MJE candidates should have created some kind of process their staff use to determine design for content and should be prepared to share how that would work. CJE candidates should be prepared to design a basic yearbook/newspaper/web visual package with provided materials.