Q: How do you balance getting the news out there fast enough with having

the time to make sure it's accurate? -Janice

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A: It's difficult. Our policy is that you don't put it out there if it's not

confirmed. We don't risk our credibility and having misinformation

out there over timeliness. We are timely, but we're timely and

accurate. There are ways to present to the public and source

it and say "reports say ..." and that a crew is on the way. We

decide whether or not to go with the story but at that moment

we're already sending a news crew to that site to make sure

something is or isn't happening. We have nothing to lose if we

send a crew and nothing's happening, but we do have

something to lose if we don't send a crew and something is happening.​



Q: What type of internships do you provide? -Shanice
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A: We have marketing, news and web reporting internships. I graduated from UT in 2008 and I was a web intern at KXAN. The next semester I did the reporting internship. I wanted to get my foot in the door because reporting internships are hard to come by. Once they knew me and my work ethic, I got that spot. From there it happened that people were leaving web positions and they knew I could do the job, so I just stayed there. My position is really indicative of where the market's going these days. Everything is geared toward the digital space and the online world. If something's happening, where do people go to get it? Online. You always have your phone with you and that's where the digital place comes in handy. One of our interns now on the web desk came from one of Robert's classes and she went to Washington D.C. to do one of her internships. The knowledge you get in an internship is valuable because you can only learn so much from a textbook. You learn so much more when you're immersed in a newsroom. Internships could make or break your life. 

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Q: Where is editing in all this when you have to get it up fast? -Janice
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A: That would be me. I'm everybody. It's me and a cohort that look over the reporter's stories, copy edit and put it up online. When you're writing breaking news, you're your own copy editor. You've got to make sure that what you're putting out there is accurate and you're putting it out there just like you would with anybody else's story. You have to make sure you're going by the same guidelines and standards that you would with any other story. Just because you have that power doesn't mean you get to abuse it. We have to be on our A game when we're copy editing our own stories because it's our masterpiece. While we do stress that you be accurate and credible, the internet is so fluid and dynamic that if you misspell a word, the world's not going to end. You go into the system, edit it and save it, and then when you refresh the page it's fixed. It's a delicate balance to make sure you've got everything covered.

Q: Do you have any more successful people that went to UT? -Shanice
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Quigley: I've had people go off to Guam, the Dallas Morning News, Politico, Texas Tribune. The majority of my students are going to non-traditional journalism entities like Texas Instruments or Dell. Now you only need a server to be a publisher. These companies have created newsrooms in their marketing departments. Communicators are in demand. When you go to college make sure you make good connections with your professors.
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Jackie: Our career services help you while you're still a student to find a job and place you. They're pretty high up there in the nation. They'll help you find a job. You have to be willing to find the resources.

Q: How much longer will newspapers be around? -Janice
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Quigley: A long time. There's a niche out there that really loves that. It's going to change. It may not be the number one revenue source. I think they're still be around because they serve a purpose. The Statesman has decided to have an investigative team that works on long-term projects which ends up in the print version and they make sure they go full-force on breaking news on the web. They pull back from doing the quick story and making a big deal about it in print. There are many online-only publications. Just because you go online doesn't mean they will make money and there's still a business model problem. For over 100 years, newspapers charged by being the only game in town where you can put up ads and get to everyone in town but now you can put ads on Google or Facebook and reach your target audience. The journalism side of what we do is more exciting than it ever has been, so hopefully soon we'll figure out how to pay for people with a lot of skills to get us good stories.
Jackie: My supervisor came from the Fort Worth Star Telegram and he's been in this position for about 2 years. He's an old newspaper reporter and he loves to feel the newspaper, even though he reads online, there's something ot him and do others about having that paper out in front of you. It's nostalgic but some people just love the newspaper and it's a part of their routine. The Statesman is going toward the tablet just like a lot of other newspapers. 

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Q: Do you have plans 5 years from now concerning what you want your career to look like? -Janice
A: I want to be a full-blown reporter rather than just digital. I think I'm already a step ahead of the typical reporter but I'll do more hard news than just viral videos. I'm not sure where my position will be in 5 years because it's changed so much just in the past 6 months. The only thing I can see is change and I'm excited to see what it'll end up being in 5 years.

Q: Will tv news look the same? -Janice
A: TV audiences are the same as newspaper audiences. If it's working for them it's going to continue to work. I don't think those traditional television models will change anytime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if traditional anchors and the nightly news do more with the digital side while still maintaining the traditional model. You can't ignore this big beast called the internet.

 

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