Anyone have any experience with asking your boss for a title change? Does title really matter all that much if it doesn’t mean a change in job responsibilities? (Or pay.) Why are we always trying to label and re-label ourselves? *shakes head*

I’ve been an associate editor for almost four years now and I’m worried that I’m going to be stuck with this title for too long. It’s not a bad title or anything…I’m just thinking about the future. If I apply for a senior editor position somewhere else in a few years and I’m still an associate editor, will they take me seriously?

Hey everyone. Now, I’m going to guess here, but I’m pretty sure everyone who reads this blog is on at least one social networking site.

I’m not exacty average, but I’m on plenty. Those include: Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter, ColourLovers, LastFm, Wired Journalists, Flickr, FriendFeed and LinkedIn.

My question to the community is this: how much information do you share on your social pages? Do you use your real name? Do you use the pages only for personal use (non-work) and make them private to everyone else. Do you use the pages for both personal and work.

In my situation, and as most recently the Orange County Register’s tech reporter, I share quite a bit about myself online as a way of being up front about who I am. I use the pages for both personal and work connections. The thing I am sure about is to never post anything that would show my beliefs in anything work-related (such as politics).

I thought of this question when council members who I have covered in the past tried to add me as friends on Facebook. I denied those requests, because it just seemed strange, but then again I’ve added people I covered in the tech and Disney fields as friends.

Please share what you all do online.

Should we be completely disheartened by AngryJournalist.com? Someone responding to my Gen J column on burnout sent me the link to site and it has more than 5,000 POSTS, from people angry about co-workers stealing their food (“I’m pissed because money is tight and some *sshole in the building ate my yogurt”) to complaints about layoffs.

Its founder Kiyoshi Martinez was a newspaper reporter before chucking it and going over to the “dark side” (a.k.a. public relations). Good for him, but does he have to get journalists together to say what everyone already knows? Don’t get me wrong here—by no means am I one of those shiny, happy people that think nothing’s wrong with the industry. I guess I’m bringing this all up because I’d like to know how others deal with negativity in the workplace. Talk amongst yourselves.

How to apply for journalism jobs is something we were all supposed to learn in journalism school.

Here’s my idea for the new place resumes and clips have in the journalism future:

Figure out what you want. Send messages to people you trust and respect online, via e-mail or by phone. Talk with them about what you want and be sure to listen to their advice on what you should look for, when you should look for it and what you should learn next. Be sure to ask them about your strengths and weaknesses. The main key is to listen.

Prepare your resume and clips. My best idea is that any 21st century candidate should have an online and paper resume/clip book. Here’s a link to my site. The site can be anything from one page of quick information about you with links to your past articles, to a more layered approach like my site. Here’s some ideas on how to make it happen:

• Sign up for LinkedIn.com — it’s a social networking site that focuses on your resume, recommendations and people you know. Update your print resume, then have it double and triple-checked for style, spelling and grammar and then put your resume on LinkedIn. Add people you know and ask people you trust to write reccomendations about you. Be sure to add a photo (a good quality, color photo of you) or else you’ll look kinda lame. A good idea is to have a friend who’s into photography, or a fellow journalist, take the photo. Try to have the photo look as professional as possible.
• Sign up for WordPress.com, a free blogging site. Ask a friend, teach yourself or read tutorials online about how to use the site. Add links under the blogroll section to your social networking sites (editors know you have them, so you better just send them straight to your pages), add a link to your LinkedIn resume, add your resume information as a “page” and then add stories or videos or content you’ve produced as blog posts. Then, pick from one of the many themes and customize your site with photos you’ve taken. As an aside, I made my site with my Mac computer using iWeb. I’d suggest generally using WordPress.com — because it’s free and works from any computer on which you have the Internet.
• Have trusted family, friends and colleagues look at the site and offer feedback. Check, double check and triple check style and spelling.

Look for jobs online. A great site to get started is journalismjobs.com. Also, check the sites of any local media organizations for other links to jobs or job databases. Also, keep in contact with friends at other media organizations so that you can find out early on when jobs are open.

Research that job online. Read the organization’s Web site, learn about its community, see what the current or past reporters did who had the now open position and see what experience applicants should have for that job.

Apply in the real and virtual worlds. Of course, be sure to follow any application instructions provided in the job listing. But, my idea is that you should send an e-mail to the hiring person or editor that contains a brief cover letter-like introduction about you and why you want the job. Include in that e-mail a link to your online resume and say that a paper-version of your resume and clips is in the mail.

There it is, my little guide to applying for jobs in the 21st century. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions in comments.

I attended the 2008 Ted Scripps Leadership Institute last weekend and I must say that it was completely re-energizing! It’s nice to know that there are other chapters out there, large and small, that have the same issues (recruiting members, retaining members, etc.) Some of the cool people I met?

Hilary Reeves, associate editor for the Business Examiner in Tacoma, Wash., who gave me some great programming ideas.

Ricardo Sandoval, assistant city editor for The Sacramento Bee, who shares my love of jazz music.

Elizabeth Hansen, a communications professor at Eastern Kentucky University. She’s going to send some students my way next summer for my magazine’s internship program.

Alice Walton, a reporter for City News Service in Southern California, with whom I shared a room and reminisced about living in Chicago.

Meeting all of these great people and the other Scripps participants reminds me of why I continue to be involved in SPJ. If you ever have the opportunity to attend this leadership retreat, don’t pass it up!

My newspaper will be covering the June elections. We plan to update the amount of money each candidate has raised, the names of people who’ve filed their intent to run, and information about measures on the June ballot that will affect the city I cover.

This will be my first year reporting on elections. Does anyone have tips for me?

What kinds of things will you be covering for the June elections? What’s the most frustrating thing about covering politics? The most fun?

If you don’t normally cover politics, will you be integrating the elections into your regular beat?

I’ll be updating as I learn, and as the November elections get closer! I hope you all are registered to vote!

Surely many of you have heard of Mayhill Fowler’s exploits, but if you haven’t, check out Howard Kurtz’s wrapup of the whole affair:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060900373.html

Now that you’re back, I was wondering what you thought of all this?

Being young journalists, we were mostly taught by baby boomers who worked during the old school days. I remember I was taught how to dummy pages on hard copy, even though I fully knew that Quark or InDesign would cover all that for me.

So I was wondering what your opinions are on “citizen journalism,” a concept apparently being advocated by Arianna Huffington as well as Gannett Co. with their new online expansion into community sites. Did you think it was fair for Fowler to ask President Clinton about the “hatchet job” in Vanity Fair without even identifying herself or the media she represents?

Does it serve the public interest by ensuring that public officials and the like are held accountable for every word they say, even as an aside? Or does it contribute to the shrill volume of information being thrown out into the ether every day? Can it misinform? What are the dangers of untrained people doing what you and I have gone to school for and honed over several years?

I suppose the question can be looked at when framed in another occupation outside of our own.

Let’s say your home is burning. The alarm has rung, and you know the firefighters are well on their way. The entire single-family dwelling is engulfed in flames, you’re outsideand you’re faced with a choice. Do you grab a garden hose or a bucket of water, and attempt to douse the flames yourself? Of course, you could lessen the damage but at the same time your lack of training could endanger yourself and others, as well as the already burning home.

Or do you wait around for the firefighters? By the time the trained professionals arrive at the scene to fight the fire, the damage could’ve already been done.

What should we do people? Do we trade in our press passes for garden hoses?

Like everyone who has been following the election season, I wanted to know where in the world Obama and Clinton were.

So I was watching CNN, and Candy Crowley was parked in front of Clinton’s Washington home, assuming it was the meeting place. Of course, we all know that lead was bunk.

But either way, there wasn’t much of actual “reporting” going on. It was Candy, standing outside Clinton’s home. And the conversation that occurred between her and Anderson Cooper really struck me. Cooper asked whether Candy got a sense of whether there will be some kind of announcement from either candidate.

Now, clearly neither candidate would say anything, even if they were there at the home. Instead, Candy chewed the cud on her own expectations, based on her experience and what she sees.

What I realized was that this would be a conversation my editor and I would be having in a similar situation. My editor would ask me a question like, “So Gene, how long do you think you’ll be there? Do you think they’ll say anything” if I were to stake out a private meeting between politicians or policymakers. And I’d simply respond, “Y’know what, I really don’t think so. They might send out a paper release or something but that’s about it.”

And here was a version of that same conversation, repackaged and presented as news product on national television.

I mean, I can’t imagine some of my darker conversations with my editors being broadcasted for national consumption. I might have Sen. Joe Lieberman trying to censor me at my paper. :-p

Call me cynical or old fashioned, but do we really want this to be part of new journalism? Between that exchange of Candy and Anderson, we learned absolutely nothing factual, except for the fact that nothing is happening. In an age of the 24/7 news cycle, I’m becoming increasingly wary of what is passing off as news these days, and the presidential election has only highlighted my concern.

My competitor here in Hawaii feels it worthy to update their online news segments with, “No traffic incidents as of 8 a.m.” or something similar. Now I’m all for online integration, but at what point do we say when something is just too much useless information? Maybe this blog itself is too much useless information? I don’t know. You tell me.

As journalists we have to stay accountable. And part of that is having our contact information printed on each online story, and in each publication.

This is necessary and helpful in getting sources and feedback from the community. However, not everyone who calls will be relevant or nice.

Just last week, I got about four phone calls from people who didn’t live in my community but still were angry about a topic I had written about – barking dogs. I got phone calls from people all over the county (of which I cover just a small part) complaining about their neighbor’s dog and the noise it creates.

When this kind of thing happens, there really isn’t much I can do to help. They don’t live in my coverage area and don’t have a problem that I can solve. I don’t work for animal control, nor do I wish to. But what I’ve learned is that the caller doesn’t really want me to solve the problem. They know the number to animal control (and have probably exhausted the buttons making those calls). The call has nothing to do with me as a journalist.

What they do want is to be heard. They just want to vent and share their frustrations with someone who will nod and say, “That’s terrible.”

So, instead of trying to explain to them that I am an impartial observer who can’t solve their problems, I keep my mouth shut and let them talk. While they are yelling or complaining I can type, add to my To Do list, and get other bits of work done.

It’s a win-win for everyone. And maybe we’ll gain a loyal reader or two!

How do you react to angry phone calls and messages?

And no, it isn’t smoking. I just quit that Friday. ^_^

I’ve got a bad habit of not writing things down. Yes, I write notes when I report. But when it comes to getting “organizezed,” I never write down anything. I never write down important dates or appointments for interviews. I never write down story ideas I have budgeted in my head.

And I never write down an outline of the stories I write. All I ever do for stories is write the entire thing out in my head as I head back to my desk, whether it be a long walk or a drive.

I find that it does make me operate much quicker on deadline. But it’s dangerous that I never write down things, and I was only reminded of this after reading the previous posts on using Excel spreadsheets. I can’t even write a note on a scrap of paper, how can I even think about using spreadsheets to organize myself?

I’m grateful that I’m reminded of my bad habits. Like my smoking, it was encouragement for me to quit whenever I saw people fanning away my second hand. Do you all have any bad journalistic habits you’d like to drop?