SPJ Austin Jobs Board

I'm trying to make some changes to my class schedule. Has anyone taken "editorial column writing"? Do you know anything about Professor Olasky?

I'm getting bored of talking to myself! Please feel free to post anything, any time. It doesn't necessarily have to fit the "official description" of the blog either...

Here's a nice tutorial of how to post, in case you don't already know.

I noticed a new comment on this old post. It might be important for some people.

The report is in! Those of us who graduate in December or May have a good chance of getting a good paying job.

The Cox Center, a research unit at the University of Georgia, released their annual survey on Journalism and Mass Communications. I think you'll be most interested in the Summary of 2004 Graduate Survey Results. Don't have time to read? Here are my favorite excerpts.

For the first time since 2000, the percentage of journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients who had at least one job offer on graduation increased over a year earlier, as did the average number of job offers graduates had.

Salaries earned by journalism and mass communication bachelor’s degree recipients increased markedly in 2004, with the median standing at $27,800. In current dollars, the salary earned by the 2004 graduates is the highest ever received, surpassing the old top salary of $26,988 earned by 2000 graduates.

One in five of the graduates with a job is writing and editing for the web and about one in 20 is designing and building web pages.

My laptop died right at the beginning of the Q&A, so if anyone has anything to add about any part of the speech, feel free.

So much for technology, right?

LBJ Auditorium was packed Wednesday night to hear New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd speak about journalism in a democratic society. People standing and sitting in the back were asked to leave several times due to fire codes. The event started late as organizers worked to accommodate the overflow of people.

At about 6:30, the audience started clapping, trying to get the speech started. At 6:50, Dowd finally took the stage. She dawned her "Tina Fey" glasses to start.

Some notable quotes:
"If it weren't for print journalism, what would bloggers have to blog about. I say the more the merrier."

"I'm an optimist about the future of journalism. It's not the form; it's the function. It's the message."

She talked a bit about the Bush administration's attempts to kill any form of checks and balances before accepting the first Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lecture in Journalism award.

The Q&A followed.

"I tend not to read blogs because they offer so much competition. ... Now everyone in the country has an opinion, and I'm afraid they'll have my opinion before it gets published."

"I can't even reach Joe Six-Pack in my own family."

Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd will discuss the role of journalism in a democratic society and her perspective on recent events that have shaken the journalism industry on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the LBJ Auditorium.

Dowd is a winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, became a columnist on The New York Times op-ed page in 1995 after having served as a correspondent in the paper's Washington bureau since 1986. She has covered four presidential campaigns and served as White House correspondent.

Some fellow SPJ members and I are attending the event, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to check out a laptop and blog the event.

The Austin Chronicle had a really good Q&A with her. She talked about blogging, "the incestuous nature of insider reporting, Judy "Miss Run Amok" Miller, and the nanny presidency."

John Kelso at the Austin American-Statesman also had some commentary on her book "Are Men Necessary?"

I'm thinking of dropping a class and taking RTF 317, Narrative Strategies. Does anyone know anything about the class?

I just registered for Paula Poindexter's class, Leadership, management and the media. Has anyone taken the class? Does anyone know anything about Dr. Poindexter?

I just found out that Dick Guerrin, the main attorney for Rep. Tom DeLay, teaches a class on Fridays in the UT Law school.

It would be a great story to sit in on his class one day, report on what kind of teacher he is, and then interview a few of his students to see what they think about him. I wonder if he ever mentions the DeLay case in class?

So, I'm pretty pissed about UT shuttles recently. Seems like this year the service hasn't been too great. Buses that are always late are my biggest concern.

I worked on stories last year about the problematic negotiations between shuttle drivers and their employer, ATC/Vancom of Texas. Capital Metro contracted that company to run the UT shuttles.

But in a bidding session around the beginning of summer, ATC/Vancom lost a bid for the shuttles. Now a different company is in charge--First Transit.

I'd really like to see a story about how First Transit is doing during their first year of running the UT shuttles. I'm not too happy with them, and I bet there are other students like me.

I don't have time to write this story, but I'd really like someone to investigate! Any takers?

Here we go: only time will tell if this works or not.

This blog will hopefully serve journalism students (and especially SPJ members) at UT-Austin. We can post information about SPJ events and event planning updates. We could also use to blog to post story ideas...we've all had times when we don't know what to do for story assignments in class. Now the knowledge of the entire SPJ community can hopefully help a brotha or sista out! I also think it would be useful to post commentary about journalism professors and classes at UT, especially now because everyone is registering.

But overall, this blog can be anything the members want. You must be a member to post, but anyone can comment. If you're an SPJ member and want to post on this blog, email me at angelabgrant@gmail.com or email SPJ President Samantha Gallion at sgallion@gmail.com.