At Random
“Do you think Ann Arbor is overrated?” asks the Daily in their Random Student Interview. “Slightly,” their subject responds, citing issues of “safety and scenery.”
“Do you think Ann Arbor is overrated?” asks the Daily in their Random Student Interview. “Slightly,” their subject responds, citing issues of “safety and scenery.”
is there no supervision at that paper??? I mean who’s paying the good money to have that crap printed? Is that journalism?? OMFG
posted by Just a voice on February 5th, 2004 at 1:47 pmDude, calm down. They do the Random Student Interview all the time. It’s in the “weekend” special section that they put out on Thursdays, usually on page 2. (I think–it’s been a while since I touched a copy of the Daily.)
AFAIK, advertisers pay the good money to have this printed, just like they pay the money to have everything else printed.
If you define “journalism” as “polished reports on current events”, then no, this isn’t it. However, nobody ever said the Daily had to be all about those polished reports. They talk about sports and movies too, don’t they? Editorials? Annual Poetry Editions of the weekend section? Spoof editions? Do you want your paper to be completely dry and boring tripe?
posted by Murph on February 5th, 2004 at 3:45 pmMaybe it’s a good sign that we can ask ourselves tough questions like this. Recovery begins with admitting you have a problem.
posted by Nick on February 5th, 2004 at 5:14 pmThe random interview is better than the articles and editorials.
posted by Bob on February 5th, 2004 at 5:51 pmkerrytown isn’t the hip part of town dumbass. also, you’re gay.
posted by fred on February 5th, 2004 at 6:21 pmwho’s gay?
posted by sammy on February 5th, 2004 at 8:38 pmI think Rufus Wainwright is. And that home decorater guy on TV.
posted by Brandon on February 5th, 2004 at 9:39 pmokay, you made me chuckle!
posted by whoeever on February 5th, 2004 at 11:31 pmok, i guess that not only do they do that random student interview on a regular bases, but that its actually kinda popular.
I still think that its so far from journalism, but hey, why should there ever be a student paper that takes itself seriously.
Yes, that paper gets money from ads, I from what i hear thats the major $$ source, but I know that the paper isn’t independant either, so there should be some acountablity.
The reason why the Michigan Daily will always suck is that UM has no J-school, at least no a real one. The Journalism sucks, and there is NO photo-J school at all on campus.
posted by Just a Voice on February 6th, 2004 at 12:57 amwhich is why the daily relies on features like ‘random student interview’. i rather enjoy it; it seems to be one of the few opportunies the paper has to show it doesen’t take itself/ann arbor too seriously. i mean, the columnists don’t generally try for hilarity, although it is often achieved- e.
posted by Anonymous on February 6th, 2004 at 2:17 amThe random student interview is a feature in Weekend Magazine, which is a supplement to the real paper. It has its own editors and functions essentially like a separate magazine, only through the Daily framework.
posted by John Honkala on February 6th, 2004 at 5:34 amI have been one of the people who’s been critical of the Daily, but I think having something like a random interview is pretty much a non-issue. I agree that the Daily’s got problems, but I don’t think they’re related to having non-news stories. Heck, even the NYT has crossword puzzles, and the New Yorker has jokes.
posted by Anna on February 6th, 2004 at 8:53 amj-school <> good journalism
posted by tom on February 6th, 2004 at 10:44 amDid everyone forget that the Daily is a student newspaper? The journalism students need to cut their teeth on something. Do you expect to get a good haircut at a beauty school? Come on.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on February 6th, 2004 at 11:03 amI think U-M made a good decision when it eliminated the jounralism school. (U-M actually ahd the first class in jounralism in the country.) You learn to be a journalist by writing for a newspaper. Does anyone know if the Daily is actually independent of the University. I keep hearing different sotire sabout this.
posted by Lukcy Jackson on February 6th, 2004 at 2:55 pmFor the last time, there are no journalism students, UM has no journalism school. That’s why people at EMU tell me the Echo is better. (Is it actually?)
posted by Brandon on February 6th, 2004 at 3:00 pmSorry, Lucky, your post snuck in before mine. I’m pretty sure the Daily is independent for all practical purposes.
posted by Brandon on February 6th, 2004 at 3:02 pmThe daily is independent in its editorial decisions, but it is subsidized by the university — in that they are supplied with subsidized offices, equipment, internet connections, etc. There are others that can fill in details on exactly how much what they get from the University is worth in dollars, but I would bet that if the U cut them loose, they’d have a pretty hard time, ad revenue or not.
posted by Anna on February 6th, 2004 at 3:08 pm1) The Echo is not “better” per se. It suffers from crap writing, poor editing and a lot of filler. Honestly, it tends to look more like a good high school paper. But it wins awards (from the Society of Professional Journalists) on a pretty regular basis. And it has been getting better lately, at least in news coverage. The arts (or “Dimensions” section) is still crap. (Side note: When I first applied to write there, I had been doing freelance journalism professionally for a couple of years, with a focus on music. So I figured, y’know, what the hell, I should be an easy in. The page editor explained to me that the Dimensions section was for arts and entertainment, but was “different” than other pages, and liked to compare itself to the Snooze’s Connection section. The day after I applied, they ran a story on skunks around campus. Hard news.)
posted by js on February 6th, 2004 at 6:26 pm2) You become a journalist by working at a paper, yes. But you only rise to the quality of that paper if you don’t have outside instruction. That’s why the Daily always seems to be written without a stylebook.
3) In some ways, having a journalism program means that the Echo suffers. A lot of students don’t bother working for the Echo, since it’s easy to get a job at the Snooze if you’re in the EMU j-school. So instead of doing their time at the student paper, they just go pro and make their student mistakes to the tune of a real paycheck. Meaning that those who are left either don’t have the talent or the time to work at the Snooze.
js
I’ve said this before, but I’ve dropped out of journalism school before and I’m not convinced that it has any bearing on the quality of student or non-student journalism. The real point for most of the people I knew was to get connections, which is the most important thing in getting a journalism job. One of the classes was basically about how to use Google and calculate percents. The one class that was useful in the slightest was taught by this ex-Washington-Post reporter whose ethical standards were so stringent that he told us that accepting advance review copies of books was an ethics violation. Yes, I’m disillusioned with the whole thing, and that’s why I’m in a completely different field now.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 6th, 2004 at 7:25 pmI should say that connections are the most important thing in getting a journalism job at a major paper or magazine. Probably less true at the local level.
I remember when Jayson’s Blair’s girlfriend, who also worked at the Times, was trying to dissociate herself from him, and there were all these articles about how her mother was good friends with Howell Raines’ wife. The circumstances of his hiring, and affirmative action in general, were being heavily scrutinized, but what about her hiring? I’m sure there were plenty of 23-year-olds whose mothers weren’t connected to the Raines family who would have done a good job.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 6th, 2004 at 7:33 pmI had no idea there was no journalism school at the U. No wonder Ari Paul thought radio scanners were illegal, and to think I was ragging on them like they were bad journalists. whooops.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on February 6th, 2004 at 8:28 pmI’ve written art reviews, sundry pieces, and a calendar of events for the Observer for 5 years, and I never went to j-school. From AAIO’s comments, sounds like I didn’t miss much. I personally think the qualifications for being a journalist are nosiness, connections, skepticism, undying curiosity, independent thinking, brashness, and checking everything from as many viewpoints/information sources as possible. I owe my journalistic education to my boss, surely one of the most brilliant men in the city, John Hinchey. I seriously doubt that good-journalism can be taught in a class, but, of course, I’m biased due to my own experience.
posted by Laura on February 6th, 2004 at 9:52 pmIf it says anything more about the merits (or lack thereof) of j-school, I’ve never taken a single journalism course in my life, yet just before I moved here I was offered a job writing for the Orange County Weekly, which is a damn well-written weekly (owned by the Village Voice). I was offered this solely on freelance submissions, with no training at all.
posted by Nick on February 6th, 2004 at 11:42 pmI think that the random interview is one of the only consistantly good parts of the Daily. (As for the other, there seems to be ONE columnist over there who knows what the hell is going on AND has the ability to articulate.)
Anyone who’s ever read a lot of bad writing knows its harder to do funny well than it is to just write in a plain old “just the facts” style.
I’m totally guessing on this, but I’ve been assuming that the daily was a student organization, and as such
posted by Anonymous on February 8th, 2004 at 2:25 pma)its suckatude was being financed by my tuition.
b) I should haul my ass down to their office with a fist-full of articles that don’t suck.
The Daily is *not* a student organization per se. They receive no dollars directly from the University. However, they do receive subsidized office space and equipment. Everything else (printing costs, whatever they pay their ad people etc.) is paid for by advertising revenue.
posted by Anonymous on February 10th, 2004 at 10:27 amOn the Daily’s independence: I worked on the paper in the 80s, and served on student publications board in law school. The Daily was not subsidized then (the budget was based on ad revenues), and I would be surprised if that has changed. My understanding is that the building on Maynard was built in the late 20s and 30s w/Advertising revenue, and donated to the University (I assume to avoid property taxes). There’s an effort now to renovate the building, and I get fundraising letters all the time saying that they want to do it all without getting University money.
posted by Pete on February 10th, 2004 at 11:55 pm