Stephanie Doctrow | Nov. 16, 2011
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| Photo by Nick Demille |
| Christie Griffin, left, listens as Chandra Czape Turner offers advice during the Speaker Series panel discussion Tuesday evening. The panel featured four alumni who now edit magazines. |
The four magazine editors who spoke to a crowd packed into the Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium Tuesday evening shared a common history of making the leap to publishing. But they also said they relied on their training at the School of Journalism, their persistence in networking with people in the industry, and their willingness to start on the bottom rung to achieve their goals of working in magazines.
Alumni Christie Griffin, BAJ’04, digital director of Fitness magazine; Colin Kearns, BAJ’04, senior editor at Field & Stream; Chad Millman, BA’93, editor-in-chief of ESPN The Magazine; and Chandra Czape Turner, BAJ’96, editor of Parents, discussed their careers as part of the school’s Speaker Series of guest lecturers. Journalism lecturer Nancy Comiskey, who teaches magazine editing and is a freelance magazine writer, moderated the panel.
Most of the discussion focused on advice for students looking to break into the magazine industry. Even though magazines still are adapting to the digital era, the speakers said plenty of unpaid internship opportunities are available for those brave enough to relocate to New York City.
More jobs for magazine websites are out there for those with Web and video editing experience, even though magazine staffs are smaller than ever. Kearns said Field & Stream has had staff cutbacks for the last three years, but the magazine just hired three online editors this year.
“But you have to go where the jobs are,” said Millman, who had had an internship with Sports Illustrated and spent spring break of his senior year in New York, tracking down job leads.
When you do make content, either for a job interview or to pitch stories, be familiar with the magazine’s voice and content, Millman said. Show that you’ve read the magazine, know what has been published, understand the audience.
Turner said even cover letters should reflect this familiarity. Applicants should create a tailored letter that shows they know the publication, the awards it has won, the stories it has covered.
“Write about something you read in the magazine and how it moved you, and talk about how you can contribute to the magazine,” she said. “But don’t make it all about you.”
And if you’re serious about working for a national magazine based in NYC, you need to make the move. Candidates who live in the city have a better chance of getting hired because they can start immediately, according to the speakers.
Kearns’ story of his first look at his first apartment, located through Craigslist, sparked laughter as he described the one-bedroom loft with no walls he would have shared with a woman and her many cats.
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| Photo by Nick Demille |
| Field & Stream editor Colin Kearns' story about his first apartment in New York had the audience laughing. He had interned with the magazine after his junior year. |
“What pushed me to do it is, if I don’t go now, I’ll never go,” she said.
One asset she had was Turner’s name. Griffin met Turner when Turner came to campus to talk to classes about Ed2010, an organization she founded in 1998, shortly after arriving in New York, to help people who want to break into magazines network and learn about jobs and internships.
“I stalked her,” Griffin joked, describing her communication with Turner, which did end up in an internship for Griffin.
Internships, paid or unpaid, during college or after graduation, are critical, Turner said, as a way to build skills and to make connections. All had internships themselves and now are in positions to grant them.
Kearns was an American Society of Magazine Editors internship winner who worked at Field & Stream between his junior and senior years. He approached the people he knew at the magazine when he was ready to graduate and was hired. Griffin had applied for but didn’t get an ASME internship, but found her way to one through a connection she made based on her gymnastics experience.
“I was so glad I included that little job I’d had with a gymnastics newsletter on my resume,” she said.
Student media plays a part in preparation, too. The panelists encouraged students to learn “on the job” by working at campus publications. Turner said she came to IU solely to work at the Indiana Daily Student, which she’d heard was a top college newspaper.
Such work also may prepare students for the constant change in the publishing industry. All publications have websites, with Griffin’s work dedicated solely to the magazine’s online presence.
Turner urged students to learn all they can about mobile apps and tablet design, areas where need is high and people with such skills are scarce. The combination of journalism skills and technology abilities are in demand, she said.
Junior Claire Ronner said after the program that learning as much technology as possible before graduation is her new goal.
“It was great, and really insightful,” she said of the talk. “It was good to hear from people in the industry who were in our shoes not that long ago.”
Junior Allison Berry was inspired to pack her bags.
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| Photo by Nick Demille |
| Chad Millman, editor of ESPN The Magazine, talked about the importance of internships during the talk, which drew a capacity crowd to the Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium. |
Berry, who introduced the panelists, is president of Ed2010’s IU campus chapter, Ed at IU, which co-sponsored the event. Its members had dinner with the speakers before the panel event.
Earlier in the day, Millman visited students at the National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI and Kearns visited Comiskey’s 812 The Magazine of Southern Indiana class. The alumni also had dinner with other groups of students before the panel.
The School of Journalism Speaker Series brings to campus top journalists and media figures each semester for talks that are free and open to the public. This year, three of the four events featured alumni in honor of the centennial celebration of journalism at IU.
