by Taylor Krentz
T
hey ’ re
back ! T he 2012 NEWSPA conference was the first year to feature on-site newspaper critiques as part of the spring conference, and the critiques were so popular that they will be back in 2013. Vincent Filak, an associate professor of journalism at UW-Oshkosh, will again hold the critiques. Filak is also the faculty adviser of the award winning Advance-Titan, UW-Oshkosh’s weekly student newspaper. Only schools that pre-register and pay a $25 fee can attend one of the eight 20-minute critiques. To pre-register, go to http://www.uwosh.edu/journalism/newspa. Click on the “on-site newspaper critique” link under News. Participating schools must submit three copies of their school newspaper for the critique. Filak reviews the first copy, looking over every small detail, marking suggestions and making notes on what should be changed. With the second copy, Filak looks over the newspaper in its entirety. This includes design, layout and pictures. Filak also writes a three to four page typed critique that the schools can take with them. The written critique explains the markings so that the schools can remember what should be changed. Filak uses the third copy during the actual on-site critique, going over the
NEWSPA 2013
On-site critiques continue for 2013
newspapers and explaining his thoughts as to what he marked on the other copies. Filak also holds a question and answer session as part of the critique. He said he hopes that students will ask specific journalistic questions that may not have been answered during the critique. Filak also notes that it is important for students to hear advice from someone other than their adviser. According to Filak, an adviser could be giving the same advice, but hearing it from a professional journalist who has done more than 250 newspaper critiques in the past two years gives the advice more validity. Some mistakes most student newspapers seem to make every year, he said. One common writing mistake is inserting the writer’s own opinion into an article. Another common mistake is including dead art, or art for the sake of art, as Filak puts it. Many student newspapers use photos that don’t offer any additional value to an article; they just use the photo because it seems like the right thing to do. The most important question that Filak asks students is to explain the reasoning behind a journalistic choice. Filak said being able to provide a reasonable, logical and legitimate reason for choosing a font, photo or even a topic for a story is more important than most students realize.
NEWSPA
April 17, 2013 Reeve Memorial Union Registration begins 7:30 a.m.
uwosh.edu/journalism/newspa 05