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inspiration and potential

Andy, 11/1/2005, 11:11:31 PM

I feel sometimes that there is a lack of enthusiasm in my staff. They're all perfectly competent writers (mostly), and all seem to want to be on the staff, despite the trials and tough spots. There are stories out there that deserve good writing and coverage, and I feel like many aren't getting written due to anxiety about whatever the topic is (be it mine or the staff's) and important stories that are written seem to be done so with little care. I guess my question to any who wants to answer is, how do I get my staff to care?

Responses

sp, 11/4/2005, 9:45:30 PM
You can't make people passionate about journalism, but you can do your best to make the class interesting and fun and hope that it catches on.

Like, try to find the most entertaining way of teaching something instead of just the easiest, and try to plan group activities so that the class becomes more close-knit. If people enjoy being in that class, it'll lead to more enthusiasm about it, which can be the difference between doing a so-so job and going the extra mile to get something done.

Charlotte, 11/9/2005, 3:45:57 PM
Bribery always works. So do shiny certificates. My staff does an internal awards thing every issue called Best of the Best - we vote on each others' work and pick out the best news story, the best feature etc. and give the winner a big shiny piece of paper. It doesn't inspire us overmuch because we're used to it, but you could try.

Also, I'd look up some great stories, especially features, on the internet - show them to your class and do the whole everyone-has-this-type-of-a-story spiel. Also, are you allowing any kind of writing into the paper, or are you sticking mostly to traditional journalism - quote-transition, etc.? The only time I've ever seen anyone really, truly excited about writing a feature story for me (I'm the features editor in my staff) was when I told them they could write it in a style that was less like classic high school journalism and more like that of Tom French, who recently won the Pulitzer - he's got a book out you might buy for your classroom and read a few selections. I know it inspired our staff when we heard him speak in San Antonio.