That's what student newspapers are for. After all, you can learn only so much by reading textbooks about writing articles.
But here's something else that helps young journalists: Getting interviewed by older journalists.
Since Karla Bowsher took over as editor of the University Press this summer, she's been quoted in two Top 100 daily newspapers, an alternative weekly, and a public radio station. So what did she learn?
I got to see the differences – from the other side of the fence – between a student intern at the SPLC, a just-graduated intern at the SunSentinel, a Palm Beach Post reporter who's brand-new to the higher-ed beat, and a seasoned higher-ed reporter from the SunSentinel. I was able to easily see what each had learned and how they'd developed as reporters from one step of their careers to the next.
But most importantly, Karla learned about "saying things I later cringed over – and thereby learning that I can't talk to a reporter like I talk to other people."
She's done much better lately. Just last week, Bowsher was named one of the "CMM 10" by College Media Matters, the official blog of the Associated Collegiate Press. (ACP is the nation's largest college media organization.)
The CMM 10 "is a spotlighting of the 10 individuals who have mattered most to college media over the past academic year." See how Karla did in her spotlight here.
TOMORROW: Guess who's coming to campus?
