By Jessica Schaecher University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tyler Ellyson, editor for the Columbus Telegram, has had to make some big changes from the time he was in college. With only 10 years under his belt, Ellyson has seen the newsroom adapt in ways he never thought it would, due in most part to social media. As editor of the Columbus Telegram, Ellyson does tasks from all ends of the spectrum. From fact checking and editing stories to sometimes having to write his own pieces, Ellyson still finds himself always willing to learn new things. Ellyson, 32, grew up in Laurel, Nebraska, a town of about 1,000 people. After attending Wayne State College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism, Ellyson worked at several small weekly newspapers before finding his home in Columbus. After about one year, Ellyson found himself in the editor’s chair, where he helped his staff adapt to a more online approach. “The difference between when I came here was there wasn’t a whole lot of emphasis on online social media. It kind of still hurts us a little bit now that they didn’t get on board with some of it early on. We sort of lost that initially,” Ellyson said during an hour-long interview in his office. The Columbus Telegram did in fact have a Facebook page when Ellyson started, but staff posted about once every two weeks. Now, the paper's Facebook has frequent posts. The 24/7 news cycle has also changed things. The newspaper also was slow to embrace Twitter, he said. Logistical issues involving missing passwords when he took over made the transition harder, he said. “The immediacy is definitely one of the biggest differences I’ve seen. It’s interesting to see the difference between back then and now. Back then they had specific deadlines, and now we need stories in about 15 to 20 minutes,” said Ellyson. Even though news comes and goes so fast nowadays, the Columbus Telegram still hasn’t fully adapted. Ellyson believes that the town isn’t big enough to have a constant online presence. “The 24-hour news thing is not so big here because we aren’t so big. We don’t necessarily have to be thinking on our feet all the time,” he said. “That’s why we don’t have people who are scheduled to work overnight.” The Columbus Telegram may only be making small changes in social media, but the change is big for many of Ellyson’s older reporters. With the change in social media, there has also been a change in the size of newsrooms. Ellyson’s team hasn’t had to make huge cuts, due to its size, but several staff members are having to take on various jobs. “Now one person has to do what three people used to do, and it’s obviously going to be more difficult to have accuracy,” Ellyson said. One of the most astounding changes Ellyson has had to deal with is how much information online pages like Facebook and Twitter should have on them. Being a smaller newspaper, the Columbus Telegram doesn’t always have constant stories, so putting them out online can hurt the print publication. “There’s a fine line on how much you give away on social (media). You can’t put too much on your Facebook post because if I give you everything, people can just read it there, and the printed story would be irrelevant,” Ellyson said. Although several big changes are still being made, Ellyson believes keeping the traditional projects and stories in the Columbus Telegram is important. He has begun a series of stories relating to mental health. All of the mental health facilities in Columbus have closed, and Ellyson wants to get people to see the seriousness of the problem. He said he planned to talk to county attorneys, state lawmakers and families whose loved ones suffer from the disease. It’s going to take coordinating and publicizing, but Ellyson believes the change in social media will help the story reach a larger audience. “Mental health is a huge issue right now across the state, and being able to do a three-to-five story piece while posting a few online will hopefully bring out the seriousness of the issue to the larger cities in Nebraska,” he said.
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By Karissa Schmidt University of Nebraska-Lincoln Like many young students, Joe Hermitt grew up not knowing what he wanted to do. But after taking a job at his uncle’s weekly newspaper cleaning the printing press, Hermitt eventually went from cleaning to press to working the press. And with encouragement from his uncle, he decided to try out photography. “On a whim, I kind of enrolled in a class, a photography class at my local community college,” Joe Hermitt, a photographer for The Patriot-News said in a phone interview. "And I had never taken a picture before, so I was like 20, and I loved it.” But after mentoring from a professor at a photography school, The Antonelli Institute in Pennsylvania, Hermitt jumpstarted his photography career by going out and taking photos every chance he could. Hermitt, 51, gained most of his experience from checking the newspaper and attending sporting events as if he were working for an actual newspaper. Hermitt started working for The Patriot-News in 1997 as a general assignment photographer. In 2000, he became the photographer covering the Penn State football team. While he takes other assignments occasionally, most of his time is spent with the team.
Not many people knew where the Penn State football team practiced, but Hermitt knew the location and was able to find a tree to climb and get photos from over a fence. He was up in the tree only for a few minutes before someone threatened to call the police. “I got photos of Joe, and the assistant coach Mike McQueary who was a huge part of the case, together before the practice,” Hermitt said. “That picture ran like all over the world.” Hermitt was working the night the Board of Trustees met and fired Paterno, outraging some fans. Hermitt recalls the reports of riots downtown and had to make a decision. “Everybody ran downtown,” Hermitt said. “Fortunately, there was another photographer up here and I said to him, ‘You go downtown. I’m going to Paterno’s house.’” Hermitt rushed to the Paterno's quaint suburban neighborhood. Around 10:30 p.m., he stood outside the Paterno’s house where about a dozen Penn State students sat around the yard, almost like a vigil. “Someone came up and went up to the door, knocked on the door and left a bouquet of flowers there. And sure enough, about 30 seconds later, Paterno’s wife answered the door, picked up the flowers--she's in her bathrobe and she's crying. She has the flowers. And that was a pretty emotional photo,” Hermitt said. As Hermitt stood out on the sidewalk with the students and a few TV stations, Paterno came out and talked to the students. Paterno, standing outside in his pajamas, unlike his usual attire of a shirt and tie, assured the students to not worry about him or start trouble. “He turns around and he's walking in, going into the house, and one of the students says ‘We are.’ He turns around and he pumps his fist in the air and says ‘Penn State’ and walks into the house,” Hermitt said. “And that’s the last photo I ever took of Joe Paterno. In his pajamas, in bedroom slippers, probably 11:30 at night after he had been fired. It’s just surreal.” Yet, that defining moment in the Penn State scandal was only a portion of Hermitt’s career. Throughout Hermitt’s work with The Patriot-News, he has not only discovered his love of photography, but also experienced changes in newspapers. “Things are just always changing,” Hermitt said. “It’s a fluid process now … it’s a constant evolution, and I think you really need to embrace it, be a person who is willing to embrace change, rather than resist it because it’s just constantly changing.” With his experience in the field, Hermitt believes that if media is the career path you wish to take, you should devote yourself to the career and accept that there will be long, hard days with assignments. “If you got a passion, feel like you're confident,” Hermitt said. “If people have told you that you got what it takes to actually do it, you know, don't give up.” By Bailey Hurley University of Nebraska-Lincoln If you would have told Nicole Johnson 10 years ago that one day she would be a successful crime and safety reporter investigating new stories every day, she wouldn’t have believed you. “Reporting isn’t something I planned for my life, it’s more something I fell into,” the 26-year-old said in a phone interview. Johnson spent part of high school at the FAIR School, a fine arts high school in Minnesota. From there she moved to Fargo, North Dakota, starting her studies in health communication at North Dakota State University. And after being exposed to the campus TV station, Bison Information Network, she added a major in broadcast journalism. While anchoring, producing and reporting for the campus TV station, Johnson also worked part time at one of the Fargo TV stations, WDAY-TV, as a news room assistant. There she edited and published online content and did odd jobs for reporters and producers. After a year with WDAY and having just graduated, Johnson said she felt like she was ready to be in front of a camera. She pitched her ideas to one TV station news director in Fargo, but he didn't hire her. “So I called the news director at the competing station across town and said I wanted a job,” Johnson said, referring to Valley News Live, where she now works. “He loved my go-getter attitude, called me back a little bit later and asked when I could come in and sign the papers.” Johnson graduated in May 2013 and shortly after started her reporting career at Valley News Live, a Fargo news source that includes TV stations. Johnson said she made it a goal to have a story lead one of the newscasts each night. Her videography and reporting helped earn her a promotion to the crime and safety beat less than a year later. “Everybody has a story and I think it’s really important to give people that platform,” she said. She has made it a point to cover Fargo's opioid drug problem. “It’s important to me to give everyone a voice,” she said. “Even those who are no longer with us. I need to dig and find a way to tell it because their story matters and it could help someone else.” Fargo is also a close-knit community, so all news is big news, she said. In March 2016, Johnson covered the fatal shooting of a Fargo police officer, which still affects the community. “It’s hard when something like that happens and everyone is counting on you to tell them what’s going on,” she said. “I was hurting, too. Those officers are my friends. But you have to put on a brave face.” Johnson said having to tell those hard stories are what make the job difficult. She also said not being able to tell a story is tough. “If I’m not passionate about a story I was assigned or people won’t talk with me or time just isn’t on my side, that's when being a reporter is less enjoyable,” she said. Although her title is the crime and safety reporter, Johnson is technically a multimedia journalist. She said she wears many hats because she does more than just interviews and live shots. “I edit my own videos, voice overs and VOSOTS,” she said. “And I edit my script and other reporters’ scripts because that becomes the closed captioning and I edit a lot of the content that goes online and onto our app.” She said editing is important even in television because even when their viewers can’t watch, they still expect to read what’s going on and for it to be accurate and make sense. Johnson is hunting for a new job in market bigger than Fargo. Johnson is looking for a station in warmer climate that offers more investigative reporting opportunities. Over the years, she said she has found a passion in in-depth reporting and more long-form stories. “I’ve grown and learned a lot here in my four years, but I’m ready for more,” she said. Johnson’s advice to all journalists is to work hard and stay humble. “Never stop learning,” she said. “Learn from your coworkers, your friends and the people you interview. Always strive to be better than yesterday.” Michael Dixon University of Nebraska-Lincoln In the last year, few people — if any — had the privilege of attending Super Bowl LI, the College Football Playoff, MLB Postseason, NBA playoffs, Stanley Cup Playoffs, NCAA Women’s Final Four, various college football and basketball games and a few motor sports in between all of it. Associated Press sportswriter Stephen Hawkins got paid to do all of it. That’s the life of a wire service sportswriter based out of a large market like Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. “Working for a newspaper, you will generally tailor your writing (and) reporting to a specific team (or) audience,” said Hawkins, 49. “Working for the wire service, not only am I basically the beat writer for local teams, I am (also) providing the coverage for the opposing teams when they are in this market.” Wire services like the AP and Reuters seem complicated, but are relatively simple. The AP sends reporters to cover events in close proximity to its nearly 200 bureaus worldwide, and those reporters write short- and long-form stories tailored for news outlets across the world. Any AP subscriber can then use those stories for its own purpose. So there’s a good chance you’ve read some of Hawkins’ work, you probably just don’t know it. He’s provided comprehensive coverage of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers along with local colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth market for close to 20 years. Any sports-related story from the area that shows up in the newspapers of places like Grand Island, Nebraska, or Elko, Nevada, probably comes from Hawkins or his colleague, Schuyler Dixon. “The job with the AP is still at its core the same — be fast, accurate and clear in reporting the news,” Hawkins said. “Covering sports in a major market with multiple professional and college teams, auto racing and golf and venues hosting numerous championship events, there can be any number of different events/sports in the same week.” As one can imagine, the job of a sportswriter is far from glamorous. “There are a lot of days and nights spent in press boxes, clubhouses and arenas,” Hawkins said. “(There are) a lot of irregular hours. Away from the games/events, the cell phone and email are constant companions. As my wife has often said, it's the doctor’s hours without the doctor’s pay. And even more so now with the ever-increasing speed and avenues in which information is distributed.” Hawkins’ career began when he was still in junior high, first as a staffer of his school newspaper and then as the editor of the paper. He then got paid to cover the local Little League All-Star tournaments for the local newspaper in his hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi. That’s when he really felt a passion for the industry. “(The Little League games) really hooked me, knowing that I could get paid for watching and writing about sporting events,” Hawkins said. “I figured I wouldn’t have a career past high school as an athlete, but being a sports journalist would allow me to be around the games.” After Hawkins graduated from Ole Miss, where he worked as a sports information director and helped the AP cover Ole Miss basketball as a stringer, he immediately went to work for the Associated Press. He began as an intern, but then took a job in Jackson, Mississippi, to cover both news and sports with a little bit of broadcast writing, too. He moved to Texas in 1999, and has covered sports in the Metroplex ever since. While the job title has been the same, the job itself continues to fluctuate. “No longer does game coverage entail only going to the locker room afterward to get some quotes and put in a written story,” Hawkins said. “With social media, there is that immediate distribution of what is happening in real time.” The technological revolution now impacts just about every facet of journalism. And that includes what the writers and editors at the AP -- an organization that now uses robots to write minor league baseball stories -- have to do. “Now, when planning feature stories and game coverage, along with pregame and postgame availabilities, there has to be thought into what kind of video and even audio packages can be incorporated with the written story for online presentations,” Hawkins said. “When a notebook used to be enough for the postgame availabilities, often the smartphone is used to take video of the players or coaches talking.” Even for a vet like Hawkins, that means learning the ins and outs of anything that can help collect and distribute stories. “(I am) constantly (learning). I don’t think that ever ends because so much changes in the industry. And a lot of times it’s just trying to keep up with the different forms of social media and such, and the many different ways that athletes and even teams can reach out to their audiences in a way to try to control their message.” By Bruce Claussen University of Nebraska-Lincoln Omar Majzoub never quite knew what he wanted to do. He always had a love for sports, but didn’t know where that would lead for a career. When he was a 10th grader in high school, he found a passion for journalism. Majzoub then pondered how sports and journalism could be combined for a job and later left his hometown of Houston to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he majored in journalism and had a minor in sports management. Before graduating from college, Majzoub had several internships. “When I was in college, I worked for scout.com covering SMU athletics and that led me to a job at the Dallas Morning News. I covered Dallas local sports and was an interning editor,” Majzoub, 24, said in a phone interview. He also wrote for the university’s campus newspaper, the SMU Daily News. After graduating from SMU in 2014, he landed a yearlong internship with the National Football League’s Houston Texans. His internship was not exactly journalism, but he gained a new interest in that field when he interned. “I interned for media relations, which was the other side of the coin, but really liked it. It was very hard work, but I realized it was something I wanted to do. I still used my writing skills, but it was a little bit different than writing for a major newspaper,” said Majzoub. After a successful internship, Majzoub accepted a position as communications coordinator for the Texans. Some of Majzoub’s jobs as communications coordinator, include writing press releases, mass mailing and media schedules. “My favorite part about working in sports is that everyone is a part of the team. Every member is valued. If I don’t do my part, my department can’t function. I like to compare it to the game Jenga, where if one part gets pulled it can all come down,” he said. But, Majzoub said the job is really a stepping stone for his ultimate goal. “In five years, I would love to be a manager of my own department for any team. In ten years, I would love to be a director of my own department and work closely with head management/coaches,” said Majzoub. Majzoub said editing hasn’t taken a backseat in his sports communication job. “I would say my ability to edit and catch mistakes is something I use every day,” he said. “I use editing skills every single day. It’s very important to take a step back and be accurate before first.” Majzoub credited the journalism editing courses at SMU for his skills today. He also said that media organizations at times feel the need to be first, rather than accurate, which is troubling. “You could be right 100 times, but it’s the one time you’re wrong that you’ll always remember. The bigger the story, the bigger emphasis on taking your time, the bigger the potential mistake,” said Majzoub. Majzoub said social media in daily life can be a challenge, but also be used for good. He recently posted on Twitter, “all thoughts and opinions are my own.” But he soon realized the representation of the Houston Texans doesn’t go away. He also said that companies have to adapt to the pros and cons of reaching millions of consumers at a single time. “The Houston Texans Twitter handle has 1.1 million followers. It is timely (and) relevant and social media has made the ability to get news out there direct and accurate,” said Majzoub. Reflecting on his short career, Majzoub said a recent college graduate can’t expect to get his or her dream job right out of college. But, he did have some advice. for college students interested in sports media relations. “Get your foot in the door, have a professional somewhere that can vouch for your work,” said Majzoub. He also said aspiring sports communications professionals may have to sacrifice some fun, social experiences for work obligations. “I remember missing out on events my senior year in college because of work. It was missing those fun times that later on my boss would notice my time and commitment,” said Majzoub. He said that starting at the bottom isn’t a bad thing. “Your first job won’t always be amazing, but you have to swallow your pride. If I put down my head and work, I can go anywhere. It’s all about sacrifice,” he said. Mackenzie Rouw University of Nebraska-Lincoln Starting out at the Yellow Pages in Madison, Wisconsin, Mike Vandermuss would have never expected to get so far in his marketing career. Vandermuss, who co-founded Omaha Marketing Solutions in 2011, said he got his position by asking questions and building trust. Omaha Marketing Solutions, which has seven employees in Omaha, works with businesses large and small, in every state. Vandermuss and his team provide direct mail publications, website design, website development and Search Engine Optimization services. Vandermuss works directly with businesses and oversees all of his team’s projects. That’s where editing comes into his day-to-day work. “Editing in this field is to do a lot of proofing and working with custom content writers,” Vandermuss said. “Editing their content is very important. It is especially critical to make sure there are no mistakes with our postcards, because once they go to print they’re final.” The company is just as diligent when it comes to editing its increasing online work. While the company does build custom Facebook pages and ads for a few clients, Vandermuss said he believes that media had ran its course. “We don’t do a whole lot with social media,” Vandermuss said. “But we have found that it’s an effective way to track what people are viewing and how long they’re on the website. We use this mainly for re-targeting.” Even though social media didn’t seem to have too much of an effect on his advertising company, Vandermuss believes the internet in general was pivotal for the industry. “Internet is super important,” Vandermuss said. “When I started out on Yellow Pages, it was completely unaffected by the internet. Online searches today have completely replaced it. That’s why we have SEO, to help businesses create a strong online presence.” While the quality of its online work and postcards are the main reason customers keep coming back, Omaha Marketing Solutions also has a strong commitment to its customers, Vandermuss said. “People will listen to you if they like you, but they will keep buying from you if they trust you,” Vandermuss said. “To gain this trust, you have to be honest when there’s mistakes and do exactly what you tell people you are going to do. There were people that didn’t buy from me for a year, but by coming back and staying persistent they felt valued and gave us a chance.” Once a company gains customer trust, it is just as crucial to be honest, even when it may not benefit the business, he said. Last year, the company mailed 30,000 postcards to the wrong list of households, which resulted in a loss of $15,000, Vandermuss said. “It was a tough situation, but I knew I had to call them and be honest about what had happened," Vandermuss said. "The company was appreciative of what we did and (it) made our relationship stronger." Omaha Marketing Solutions ended up designing that company’s website and campaign in return for the mix up. Vandermuss said he was taught to always put the customers’ needs above his. “In this field, you need have a good understanding of the client’s need,” Vandermuss said. “Everyone is going to have a custom plan that they need, so the more you learn about them and questions you ask the better your service will be for them. It’s also good to ask questions afterwards to figure out what you could’ve done better.” Vandermuss thought it was just as important to ask questions, even when he was working at Yellow Pages. He says it's helpful to find a mentor to answer all these questions. “I surrounded myself with the most important people in that office,” Vandermuss said. “I would ride with them, listen to them and ask them questions. This helped me get ahead by learning from their experiences and mistakes.” Despite the fact he didn’t go to college for marketing, he always knew that’s what he would end up doing. Vandermuss completed one year at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay doing general studies. “I can’t picture myself doing anything other than communications and business,” Vandermuss said. “I like dealing with people and the interaction aspect of sales. I’ve always said it’s never about working. If you love what you’re doing, then it will never feel like work.” By Amantha Dickman University of Nebraska-Lincoln At the beginning of each new workday, Michael Berens, 57, sets the goal of aiming to improve someone’s life. As an investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Berens has spent 33 years writing about criminal matters from attempts to make peace with members of the Taliban through the University of Nebraska-Omaha, to the Illinois State Police’s use of flawed population estimates to generate inaccurate crime rate reports for dozens of cities. Despite the varying subject possibilities, Berens keeps finding himself drawn back to investigating health care justice and potential reforms. “In my early career, I focused on criminal justice. All my projects revolved around criminal justice. At the Tribune they said they liked my project work, but they told me to try something outside of criminal justice, so I became very interested in healthcare justice,” said Berens, in a phone interview. “You have victims and bad guys, big pharmaceutical companies. There’s so much to report on. Nothing is off-limits, but I keep coming back. It’s a topic that is so rich and relevant to our lives. It impacts all of us.” Recently, Berens has focused on writing a new series called “Suffering in Secret” about the state health care system. In 2016, after a thorough investigation, Berens published multiple pieces detailing the flaws within the management of group homes for the disabled in the state of Illinois. Neglect and abuse noticeably became widespread because of a lack of resources and funding in Illinois, which struggles to maintain a stable financial ground, he said. Throughout the investigation, Berens uncovered 1,311 cases of documented harm to clients. At least 42 deaths were reported as resulting of abuse or neglect. In many of these cases, injuries and deaths were results of untrained staff members who failed to adequately supervise their clients. Furthermore, some of these group homes were assigned to investigate themselves, which led to mistreatment being ignored. In his fifth installment of the series, Berens calls for reforms to state health care policy, saying, “This is the moral test of government.” Many seem to agree that reforms are required to make the state health care system safer. “There already has been [change]. They’ve opened cases from our reporting and closed eight homes and are moving 45 people to other homes. New reforms and house hearings are next week. This has generated commentary from officials who agree with us,” said Berens in an interview in December 2016. It is this call for reforms and dedication that has won Berens many awards. Though he claims the awards are simply an acknowledgement of good writing, more goes into a story than just words. In 1995 and 2007, Berens was a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. In 2012, he finally won. Berens also won the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism in 2010, which honors any newspaper or journalist for investigative reporting of stories that concern the public at a national level and aims to reform public ills. The story that nominated him for the Worth Bingham Prize was a series called “Seniors for Sale.” Similar to “Suffering in Secret,” the story focused on how money and politics in the area overshadowed the proper care for elderly adults, leading to cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation in family homes. Berens’ work shares a common theme: it’s an attempt to fix social ills and create a community where all have a chance to live healthy and happy lives. The desire to make the ideal community a reality has driven Berens to pursue justice for those who seek it. His interest in seeking justice started early. As a college student, he pursued a degree in journalism at The Ohio State University. While there, he applied at two newspapers for the position of copy boy. The Columbus Dispatch hired him. “I started at the bottom. I set up the Christmas tree and got the mail,” said Berens. After a while, he got the break he needed to step foot into the world of journalism. “After working as a copy boy, there was a chance to become the police beat reporter. They gave me the job and I worked there for the next 13 years. They had a policy saying they needed five years experience and I was lucky. They broke that rule and hired me. For me to start off at a big place like that was a dream come true and rare,” said Berens. After those thirteen years, he transferred to the Chicago Tribune and then to The Seattle Times. In the end, he returned to the Chicago Tribune. “Even though I left, the Chicago Tribune wanted me back,” said Berens. “The Tribune offered a chance to do high-quality journalism. Where I was in Seattle, was the best paper in the country for investigative journalism. But it was getting smaller and smaller all the time. Chicago represented the kind of journalism I wanted to do: My goal is change.” By Kylie Kotouc University of Nebraska-Lincoln After 25 years in Los Angeles at Variety magazine, Kirstin Wilder found her heart is in the heartland. Wilder, 49, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumna, returned to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2016 after working what some journalists would call their dream job. Wilder grew up in Lincoln and attended Southeast High school. She went on to study journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Wilder’s journey in Hollywood began when she was just 24 years old. A job advertisement was posted in the Los Angeles Times for a copy editor and Wilder responded. Wilder said she got her first call back, in part, because she went to UNL. “The guy who was doing the interviews went the University of Missouri. My application stood out because I was from the Midwest. He saw I went to Lincoln so he knew kind of what he was getting by hiring me,” Wilder said. Out of over 100 applicants, Wilder got the job and began her career at Variety in 1992. She began as a copy editor, writing headlines and editing stories on the business of show business. She moved up in positions every few years. Wilder says her dedication and Midwest work ethic helped her land promotions. “I think that if you can stay true to who you are, can be honest and kind and polite ... that’s paid dividends to me over and over again,” she said. Wilder said she continued to get more and more responsibility because she was so reliable. “Truthfully, I don't think I'm the most amazing journalist there ever was. I'm just kinda rock solid and do what I say I'm going to do and follow through on it and that’s been huge for me,” Wilder said. At one point in her job, she was was in charge of Hollywood party coverage. Wilder said it was one of the most fun jobs in her time at Variety. She attended award shows and red carpets and met celebrities such as George Clooney, Kerry Washington, Tina Fey and Tom Cruise. Wilder continued to work her way to the top at Variety. Her last promotion was in November of 2015 when she became international editor. She traveled more and worked around the clock to meet deadlines around the world. After eight exhausting months, she found work elsewhere. “For me that last promotion was just one to many,” Wilder said. “Hollywood is a hard place to be.” At that time, UNL's Alumni Association was looking for a new director of publications. The previous director of publications, who held the position for 45 years, was retiring. Wilder started receiving messages from old college friends asking her if she saw the position was open. Wilder applied on a whim. Shortly after, Wilder was offered the position. “This job is fun too,” Wilder said. Now, Wilder is editor-in-chief of Nebraska Magazine, a magazine for Nebraska alumni, which comes out quarterly. “It’s is nice to be back here and do journalism about something I’m passionate about,” Wilder said. She decided one of her first tasks would be revamping the design of the magazine. Wilder is also adjusting to the change in audience from a broad Hollywood audience to a more personal one in Nebraska, where her family, friends and alumnae community are her readers. Wilder’s advice to all journalism students is to say yes. “It is really important to do everything and to try everything,” Wilder said. Wilder loves being back in Lincoln, where she lives close to her sister and can visit her mom whenever she wants. She is also spending more time with her husband and daughters. And, driving here is easier. “I also love that there is relatively no traffic to speak of versus the mind-blowing traffic jams I would sit in daily on the freeways of Los Angeles,” Wilder said. By Zoe Norris University of Nebraska-Lincoln Megan Smith has found that getting experience in multiple areas of journalism will help you in the long run. Smith is a 27-year-old multimedia journalist from Orlando, Florida. Smith works as video journalist at the Omaha World-Herald. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 2012 with a degree in journalism, and a focus in photography. She started off her career in journalism with multiple internships and landed a job at The Jackson Sun, which is in Jackson, Tennessee. Smith got to try a little bit of everything at The Jackson Sun. The paper was small, so she learned a lot. She tried her hand in writing, photography, video journalism, sports and breaking news. She also worked on some personal projects at the same time. While she was on the staff at The Jackson Sun, Smith worked on one of the most interesting stories of her career. Every year, The Jackson Sun does a Brighter Christmas fundraiser. The Brighter Christmas fundraiser helps local families in need. In 2014, Smith worked on a Brighter Christmas story that covered a mom who had cancer and was given only ten months to live. Smith took the photos and video for the story. In the interview, the mom said how much she loved country singer Martina McBride and wanted to meet her. The Jackson Sun reached out to McBride and made it happen. Smith found that it is not all about breaking the big stories, but about the ones that make you feel good. Smith made the jump to the Omaha World-Herald after working at The Jackson Sun. She started working at the Omaha World-Herald in August 2015. She said she wanted to work at the Omaha World-Herald because it has a good reputation and a good staff. “I could focus on projects and put a lot more thought and effort into an assignment here,” Smith said. Smith said every day at the Omaha World-Herald is different. She is on a flex schedule in the fall and on-call most of the time. During the fall, she works on football stories and videos for Husker football games, which takes up a large part of her day. Using social media plays a big role in her job and everyday life, she said. “I use social media every day. Even if I am not working, I will still tweet the biggest story that day,” Smith said, in a phone interview. Smith said she is part of the “new generation of journalism," meaning tweeting and getting articles and photos online takes precedent over print. Smith uses her personal social media accounts such as Twitter to tweet news from the Omaha World-Herald and retweet articles from other news outlets. Smith works on personal projects when she has the time. She has her own website, blog and multiple social media accounts. She often posts her work on social media. Smith said she learned valuable journalism skills, such as reporting, while working at a smaller newspaper. She said the journalism skills she got at The Jackson Sun got her to where she is today. By Nicole Hilder University of Nebraska-Lincoln Omaha native Dan Sullivan, 65, has seen the journalism world change during his time at the Omaha World-Herald. Sullivan earned his Journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1973. He then attended Creighton University and earned his law degree in 1977. He started as a copy editor in 1976 and has worked his way up to book editor. His other past positions include news editor, night sports editor, sports assignment editor, deputy business editor and national editor. Out of the seven different positions he’s held at the World-Herald, book editor is his favorite. “I would say my job might be the envy for a lot of people in the newsroom,” Sullivan said, “but they don’t realize how much goes into it.” The World-Herald publishes books about Nebraska football, Creighton basketball and other topics. For all the books Sullivan works on, he uses the World-Herald’s archives and library system. “Going through them is probably the best part of my job,” he said. “Seeing how things were viewed at the time they actually happened as opposed to how they’re viewed decades later, it’s kind of interesting.” Sullivan’s favorite project he’s worked on is At War at Home: The Cold War. Over 200 veterans sent in items to put in the book. The book wasn’t a good seller, Sullivan said. Many people didn’t care about what veterans of that era had to say because they thought the United States lost those wars, he said. However, it was a success for Sullivan. He gained more understanding about the war, which didn’t totally make sense to him at the time it was happening. “It was a really rewarding experience,” Sullivan said. During the making of Devaney: Birth of a Dynasty, reporter Henry Cordes interviewed former players and coaches. “In the background, I was doing research, reading a lot of newspapers about (Devaney’s) ten years coaching,” Sullivan said. Sullivan works with reporters as they write their books and edits once they're finished. Newsroom staff members write, edit and proof the books on top of their normal work. It’s becoming more difficult for Sullivan to find people to help with book projects because the World-Herald staff is shrinking. “It’s been hard to replace editors because everyone has given up on the field,” Sullivan said. However, Sullivan thinks editing jobs are still going to be needed, but not in the traditional way. I think it’s going to continue to be a good job in the sense that you’re going to be needed,” he said. “But I’m not sure who you’re going to work for, what the pay is going to be.” Now, if someone wants to tell a story, they can just produce it themselves. “You really see that in politics now,” Sullivan said. Sullivan attributes this year’s presidential election as the kick starter of a critical change in independent journalism. “It’s been a long time coming, but this is a pivotal point,” he said. “What I see happening on the broad scale of journalism is that no one really wants anymore to have an independent source of news.” Editors will start editing things more to the way people want it to be told. They’ll start shaping facts and presenting facts to how people want to read them, he said. Like newspapers, the book industry isn’t doing well. “I think the general public thinks ‘I can write this great book and get it published and be a famous author,’” Sullivan said. “That world doesn’t really exist anymore.” New authors self-publish through companies such as Amazon, market their book, gain a following on social media and then a book publisher picks up their book. It’s difficult to say what the future of editing in the newspaper world is, but there will continue to be editing jobs, he said. Some World-Herald employees, these days, leave to pursue a career in public relations or advertising. “People who did that 20 or 30 years ago would be sell outs. They’d be cursed,” Sullivan said. Now with the uncertainty of the industry, some journalists' move away from print is understandable. Easy access to the internet allows for easy publication. Because companies aren’t seeking out newspapers and TV anymore, they write and distribute stories on their own. More companies are now expanding their public relations and marketing teams because of increased use of social media platforms and self-publishing. However, this does not mean editing isn’t important, Sullivan said. “In terms of editing, that’s still going to be a job but you’re not going to be an independent editor,” Sullivan said. “Those jobs are going to be very rare.” |
A note about the content: This site showcases the final projects of University of Nebraska-Lincoln editing students. Each semester, students pick a journalist or communications professional to profile. This is their work.
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