The future of newspapers is looking brighter, as college students compete for awards for their journalism - and choose newspapers over blogs.Well, there's the first lie straight off the bat.
Right. So, first off, this Herald survey only managed to talk to four of the 19 winners, even though 16 of them were right there. Secondly, the Herald is astonished by the following fact: people who write - unpaid - for newspapers tend to read newspapers from time to time. Or, at least, when a journalist from the newspaper that just gave them $1000 asks them if they read it they tend to say, "Yes". Startling.Macleans College Year 10 student James Coventry received one of 19 prizes - a Canon digital camera and $500 for his school - for his article on the benefits of the recession.
He was praised for regularly contributing written and visual work to the College Herald.
But he is exceptional in other ways, too: he does not have a blog, and flips through the newspaper every morning.
In fact, none of four award winners the Herald spoke to have a blog. All said they read a physical newspaper at least once a week.
The paper also benefited, as the students' work was highly regarded by readers....
"Some [submissions] I had to read three or four times because they were so poignant, written like I didn't think could be written any more," Ms Mihinui said.Yes, it's because they're so... poignant. Anyway, I don't want to bag the kids - I'm sure half their articles are better than this one.
Unitec and Canon were the sponsors of the pages - and the prizegiving - this year.And this article.
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"New Zealand Herald editor Tim Murphy told the students the wide reach of the Herald gave their work an audience far greater than personal or social online media...
ReplyDelete"Newspapers would prosper as "watering holes" - forums for the public and its ideas to mingle - despite dire predictions of their downfall, Mr Murphy said."
There's the Herald's vision - Your Views in broadsheet, delivered to your letterbox by Hyundai.
Success will be measured by survival, and by having wider reach than blogs. That's an interesting take on what it means for a newspaper to "prosper"...
The prizes suck now don't they...
ReplyDeleteI got published when I was at highschool and got a sweet $100
Perhaps the Herald spoke to the sixteen attendees and found only four who were blogless newspaper readers.
ReplyDeleteOther comments which made me laugh:
"The College Herald remains the section [for which] we get the most unsolicited praise." -Tim Murphy.
Oh, sure. Don't count the solicited praise.
"Some [submissions] I had to read three or four times because they were so poignant, written like I didn't think could be written any more," - College Herald editor Mata Mihinui
As a regular Herald reader, I was thinking that too.
The irony is that I had to read Mata Mihinui's quote three of four times to make sense of it... but then i discovered it was just really poignant
ReplyDeleteCheaper than properly paid writers...
ReplyDelete"The future of newspapers is looking brighter"
ReplyDelete... because four children said they read the Herald at least once a week.
This kind of hyperbole makes me want to scream. Basing an entire article on baseless supposition is the laziest, most ignorant and arrogant form of 'journalism' there is.
"But he is exceptional in other ways, too: he does not have a blog, and flips through the newspaper every morning."
Sorry, how does that make him exceptional? Does anyone own a dictionary any more?
"All said they read a physical newspaper at least once a week."
ReplyDeleteNo-one mentioned that the "physical newspaper" is actually Express and/or the Harbour City News, both of which seem to have a higher proportion of actual investigative journalism (even if it's almost exclusively about drains, footpaths, and cats) and entertaining articles about local events and happenings (albeit mainly those where the likelihood of seeing someone dressed in sequins is high).
"All said they read a physical newspaper at least once a week."
ReplyDelete"No-one mentioned that the "physical newspaper" is actually Express and/or the Harbour City News"
It's where these students will end up working anyway, so consider it homework :/
"The irony is that I had to read Mata Mihinui's quote three of four times to make sense of it... but then i discovered it was just really poignant"
ReplyDeleteLol'd...