How to Develop a Journalism Club

[Matt Anderson]

Good Afternoon All,

 

I have just decided I would like to participate more at my school district and the idea jumped into my mind that it might be fun to develop a jounalism club at my district. The idea arose because of a recent speaker we had (Shawn Harper) and I saw there was no mention of the speaker on our home page. That got me to thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to give our students an outlet to express their views of what the news in the school is?

 

I know there are definately some risks involved. Publishing of improper or obscene information etc etc.

 

My idea, in its infancy is as follows:

 

The club will manage a news webpage with reporters reporting on important student news in the community and school. One student will be appointed the editor and will conveine with the group on a weekly basis to look at the schedule of events for that week and assign stories. Stories will then be submitted to the editor and an assistant editor to edit for grammar and content etc and will then be submitted to the Chief (advisor or me) for final approval for publication.

 

The question/s is/are. Have any of you been involved in a journalism club or class that is similar and what advice can you give me?

 

I know we have a very creative group of students at my school and I think I could get a number of students involved. I assume it would start very small with possibly 1-2 to begin with and hopefully grow. The idea is to allow the students to be as independent as possible while still controlling the content for appropriateness.

 

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and advice.

 

Matt Anderson

IT Director

http://techchucker.wordpress.com

[Brian Moskalik]

We have students involved in journalism within Lourdes. They don't do online publishing, beyond posting their finished print copy in PDF format. I've provided them with a machine and software to assist with this process, but beyond that, I don't know any of their processes, etc.

You can see their current work here: http://www.rochestercatholic.k12.mn.us/LHS/eagle/Pages/default.aspx

If interested, I can see if they would be willing to give you some advice.