Save the date for the next convention
March 1-3, 2013
2012 Convention Wrap-Up
March 2-4, 2012 • Columbia, S.C.
Everybody has a story.
We hear it so often in journalism circles that it has almost become a cliché. What we don’t always hear, however, is how the story teller fits into the picture.
What happens to the story itself relies on us. Whether the story will live on for posterity or die like yesterday’s headline depends on the messenger. The storyteller. The guy with the worn-down pencil, the disheveled notepad, the head full of html codes and open-ended questions.
Today’s stories rely on us – the journalists. That’s pretty frightening.
It can be scary to wear the hats of gatekeeper, watchdog and wordsmith all at once. Scarier still is the realization that journalism’s history has always been battle-filled – from courtroom battles for First Amendment rights to more literal battles as reporters write and soldiers fight, side by side in the Middle East. Truly it seems as if regardless of the number of hats they must wear, journalists today need a double dose of courage under each hat.
Courage.
Enter SIPA’s 2012 spring convention. A three-day booster shot immersed in scholastic journalism, centered around the Courage to Connect.
When your student officers – Matt, Emma, Morgan and I – were given the challenge of coming up with a theme for this year’s conference, we struggled to tie together journalism’s rich history with its ever-changing present and promising future, its proven print and broadcast platforms with newer networking venues.
We also wanted to help individual reporters affirm their connections with their own staffs and at the same time, with a larger circle of scholastic journalists across the South. And we wanted to recognize the importance of media convergence in a world of instant gratification.
But most of all, we wanted to voice the elephant in the newsroom – the fact that while those outside the newsroom door may or may not realize it, it takes great courage to be journalist.
Courage to break the story that administrators won’t like. Courage to place your work under public scrutiny. Courage to grow open ears, watchful eyes and thicker skin. Courage to send the story back again and again until it’s good enough. Courage to go beyond who-what-where-when-why-how and so-what journalism to reveal real world wonders.
Courage to know that the newsroom today is not the newsroom of yesterday and to rejoice in the new opportunities that brings. Courage to grow from reporter to journalist. Courage to be the storyteller who makes the story live on.
Whether your staff collaborates over a broadcast, a printed newsmagazine or newspaper, a yearbook, an online presence or any combination therein, joining us at the March convention promises to foster your Courage to Connect.
Every aspect of planning – including theme, speakers and curriculum choices – has been student-generated and has happened with you in mind. At this point, the only thing missing is your commitment to be there.
It may seem like a lifetime away, but the festivities are actually just around the corner. So connect with your inner courage-keeper and make sure your staff is represented.
For those who are truly courageous, consider running for a student office. There’s nothing like a little extra jolt of leadership to help connect you to the bigger picture behind SIPA: networking, an awareness of new age media, a chance to work side by side with the South’s most renown collection of educators in scholastic journalism.
Meanwhile, remember everybody truly does have a story, cliché or not. But those who tell the story best are the ones who have looked deep within and found the Courage to Connect.
See you March 2. Oh, and be sure to pack your courage.
- Lizzie Doyle, SIPA Student Vice President, Lee County HS (Leesburg, Ga.)
Contact the SIPA student officers directly by emailing sipaofficers@gmail.com |
