Ryan Dorgan | March 2, 2011
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| Photo by Ryan Dorgan |
| Field & Stream editor Colin Kearns, BAJ'04, goes through last fall's 812 magazine page-by-page with students who this spring will create the second issue. He urged them to think of themselves as a staff, not a class. |
School of Journalism magazine students met with Kearns, BAJ’04, who works as senior editor for Field & Stream, during his visit to Ernie Pyle Hall Monday and Tuesday to hear his critiques and suggestions.
Early Monday, Kearns sat comfortably at the head of lecturer Nancy Comiskey’s morning class, chatting with incoming students about his flight from New York and favorite moments from the Oscars. The clock struck 11:15. Magazine time.
“I wish to God we’d had a magazine like this when I was an undergrad,” Kearns said. He would spend the next hour flipping through the student-produced 812 Magazine page-by-page with the class, critiquing the work of Comiskey’s fall semester students in hopes of inspiring and guiding her spring semester class to an even more outstanding product.
“Think of yourselves not just as a class, but as a magazine staff,” Comiskey told her students.
812 Magazine is the product of Comiskey’s J360: Creating an Indiana Magazine course. The entire magazine, from concept to production, is a collaborative effort of Comiskey’s students, who assume the roles of editors, writers, photographers and designers.
The magazine looks at southern Indiana living, and students have free rein to explore any and all story topics, Comiskey said.
“Especially when doing a regional magazine like this one, the writer really needs to be the authority on the issue,” Kearns told the class. “It needs to be, ‘These are the best, and here’s why.’”
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| Photo by Ryan Dorgan |
| Kearns also shared advice on reporting and story development with the staff at Inside Magazine while visiting campus Monday. |
“Overall, I was thrilled with the magazine. I thought it was really cool,” Kearns said. But a critique can’t be all praise.
Kearns then guided the class through what he considered to be the magazine’s weak points. He pointed out areas that may have been simple oversight.
“Every story should have a sidebar, at least one,” Kearns said. “It gives the story more dimension, it gives the designer some fun options, and it lets you tell a different part of the story that you won’t have to try to squeeze in elsewhere.
“But most importantly we need to ask ourselves, ‘What are we learning from the story?” he added.
He went on to praise the work of the class’s enterprising reporters, commending them on their interesting and unique story ideas.
“Having a cool idea is the sign of great reporting, but the story has to be a complete story. If the reporting doesn’t answer anything, scrap it.”
In another story, Kearns noticed some familiar hand tools, but without the names he was used to.
“When in doubt, if you don’t know what something is, just ask what it is,” he said.
Despite the longer, more feature-oriented style of magazine reporting, accuracy and other journalistic values remain of utmost importance, he said.
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| Photo by Ryan Dorgan |
| Kearns found much to praise in the 812 product, but also pointed out areas of improvement, such as need for more sidebars. |
“Any good magazine runs on the trust of its readers,” said Lotz, who was managing editor of the 812 product last fall. “He really stressed very precise fact-checking.”
And just like anything, Kearns said experience breeds perfection.
“The more you do it, the more fun it becomes and the better you get at it,” he said.
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