About the Site

Hey there, and welcome to PressPass! My name is Ruthie Kelly and I am a journalism student at San Diego State University. I created PressPass as a resource for other students and citizen journalists — “newbies” who, like me, are trying to learn a craft that can’t be taught in school alone.

Journalism is a trade, like woodworking or sculpting. It’s very possible to teach yourself everything you need to know — but instruction is also very helpful, and can help you learn how to perform your craft “right” faster. Like any trade, there are many things that must be learned through experience. Ultimately, the only way to master any trade and become any kind of craftsman is to learn by doing.

That’s what PressPass is about: learning the craft of journalism and growing into becoming a professional journalist. It’s a process I am working on myself, and I want to share what I’m learning as I learn it. Especially because a lot of the tips and tricks you pick up as you go are things you’re expected to figure out for yourself.

Journalism is largely merit-based. So you should know that even if you’ve never formally gone to “j-school,” you can learn to be a professional journalist if you give yourself the time, seek out the resources, and properly nurture and develop your skills!

That’s the reason I’m doing this: I want to help my fellow student and citizen journalists to learn and grow, to develop as professionals, and most importantly to share a lot of the techniques, tips, and tricks that they don’t teach you in school…as well as emphasizing a few of the ones journalism schools do teach.

About the Content

While PressPass covers virtually anything that can be useful to student and citizen journalists, there are a few regularly recurring categories:

• Monday and Wednesday: “Tips & Tricks,” which are quick tidbits of advice, on everything from interviewing, to information gathering, to writing, to stories ideas, and beyond
• Tuesday: “Listmania!,” which is PressPass’ best original content — lists! Lists of equipment to buy, lists of web sites to check, lists of what to do to start a beat…lots and lots of lists!
• Thursday: “Internships, Etc.,” which features a list of regularly recurring internships, programs, competitions, fellowships, graduate schools, and other programs to improve your experience and journalism skills
• Friday: A “Weekly Reader” of news stories, columns, or blogs I have been reading this week, that you should check out too

I will also be posting in the following categories as material becomes available:

• Expert Advice: quotes, interviews, and videos from expert reporters, editors, writers, and professors
• Hot-Button Issues: features current “hot-button” issues and trends in journalism and media, such as ethical dilemmas, the decline of newspapers, the “wall” between editorial and advertising, the use of new technology as a reporting tool, errors and retractions, non-profit journalism, and more
• Sources & Resources: suggestions for readers to look for sources and resources for their stories and investigations. It focuses on online resources, but will also include places to look for information offline

And of course there will be the occasional update or announcement, video clips, and possibly some syndicated content from other sites via RSS feeds. I always welcome link suggestions and feedback, so feel free to pass some on if I miss something!

You may have noticed that the photos I use to illustrate my stories, both within the site and on the front page, are not always related (or are not related very directly) to the content. This is because I enjoy featuring more artistic and conceptual shots, and I want to avoid repeating images. All images are used with permission, either because I obtained it directly from the photographer, or because the image has been released to the public domain or are available under a Creative Commons license. My favorite sources of public domain and non-commercial images are the Stock Exchange and Flickr, and I usually do any edits needed using Pixlr. Most of the photos used with permission are from photographers at The Daily Aztec, and are attributed and linked to as necessary.

About the Author

Here’s a little bit more about me:

• Began writing as a freshman for my campus newspaper, The Daily Aztec (been there for 4+ years now, took one year off)
• Served for one year as the State of Mind (aka, the opinion section) Editor at The Daily Azte, and am a Managing Editor for this Spring 2010 semester… I will be the Editor in Chief in the 2010-2011 school year
• Taken classes in journalism, rhetoric and writing studies, and political science, including classes on argumentation, persuasion, women in media, writing and reporting, principles of journalism, public affairs news reporting, online writing and design, editing for print media, writing opinion/reviews/criticism, and campaigns and elections
• Intermediate to advanced experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver, 10+ years of experience hand-coding HTML and CSS, as well as instruction in Soundslides, Audacity and iMovie
• Borderline obsessive use of Google Apps, WordPress, and other web-based software and freeware, especially for organizing and extending reporting projects
• Working as a writing tutor for SDSU’s Rhetoric and Writing Studies Department
• Working as a tutor/teacher for The Princeton Review for the SAT, which has taught me some great things about the process of teaching (and grammar and writing!)
• Worked at the SDSU Library as a student assistant, processing current periodicals and microforms from around the world
• Interned at a literary agency and a search company as a content manager and editor
• Enrolled in the semester-long program at the Washington Center for Politics & Journalism for the Fall 2009, during which I also interned at CongressDaily, covering the Senate and the House (Capitol Hill)

All of these experiences have given me insights that I have used to be a better journalist, writer, and editor. My goal is to become a political reporter, and ultimately I’d like to have my own political column. I am also very interested in getting more journalism and civics instruction into high schools, and I’d like to help supervise a high school newspaper one day. In addition to that, my upcoming position as the Editor in Chief of one of the few college newspapers in the country that a) pays its employees an hourly wage, and b) is entirely advertising supported and does not accept funding from the school, I will have a lot to say on the subject of content and revenue management. So a lot of my tips and insights will come from that perspective, and from the perspective of reporting on government — but a lot of that can (and will!) translate to other niches of reporting (business, science & health, etc.). Feel free to adapt and share your own take!

You can learn more about me by visiting my personal web site.