{"id":5788,"date":"2017-09-13T22:42:02","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T03:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/?p=5788"},"modified":"2017-09-17T10:58:19","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T15:58:19","slug":"crash-course-9-free-downloads-that-can-help-your-publication-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/crash-course-9-free-downloads-that-can-help-your-publication-today\/","title":{"rendered":"9 free downloads that can help your publication today"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the start of a new school year \u2014 and that means it\u2019s time to rev up your newsroom. To help you do this, we\u2019ve compiled a huge variety of resources that we hope will make your goals more achievable. You can read the full list on our <\/span><\/i>Info Hub<\/span><\/i><\/a>, or catch the highlights every couple of weeks on the <\/span><\/i>blog<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Last time, we talked about <\/span><\/i>resources to help you be a better digital journalist<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We all love free stuff \u2014 especially when it helps us do better work. This week, we\u2019re featuring nine free PDFs that are jam-packed with journalism advice from our award-winning advisors. They\u2019ll help you with everything from interviewing to improving your organization\u2019s public image. <\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s plenty more where these came from. Visit the <\/span>Info Hub<\/span><\/a> to see all the free downloads we have to offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Have anything to add? Let us know on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

Recruiting, maintaining and motivating your staff<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re looking to beef up your staff this year, <\/span>this slideshow<\/span><\/a> from ACP Executive Director Laura Widmer is an excellent place to start. She offers tips for finding stellar staffers and motivating students to do their best. <\/span><\/p>\n

Improving your public image<\/h3>\n

We all know media gets a bad rap. Some of that is unavoidable \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t try to change people\u2019s minds. Taking the time to connect with your audience will improve your on-campus relations (and help you recruit a wider range of staffers!). <\/span>This document<\/span><\/a> offers 10 practical tips for how you can improve your publication\u2019s image.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interviewing and newsgathering<\/h3>\n

This is an excellent primer <\/span><\/a>on how to nail an interview with a source \u2014 and it\u2019s worth reading in-depth, whether you\u2019re looking to brush up on your skills or you\u2019re just trying to avoid crashing and burning during your first interview. You can also send this to new reporters or use it as inspiration for interview training.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you still need more interviewing wisdom (because who doesn\u2019t?), we\u2019ve got <\/span>another (very) detailed presentation<\/span><\/a> that will offer perspective on interviews, things to look out for and even what kinds of quotes are best to use. <\/span><\/p>\n

Design inspiration<\/h3>\n

Stuck in a design rut? Spark some inspiration with these slideshows featuring phenomenal <\/span>newspaper<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>yearbook<\/span><\/a> page designs. They\u2019re creative, interesting and out-of-the-box \u2014 you\u2019re sure to get a few fresh ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evaluating staff members<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re struggling to keep your staff accountable, regular performance evaluations can help. Consider using <\/span>this rubric<\/span><\/a> to help you and your staff members identify areas of improvement. <\/span><\/p>\n

Writing better leads<\/h3>\n

There are a lot of bad leads out there \u2014 and we\u2019ve gathered 27 of the worst. <\/span>This PDF<\/span><\/a> will help you learn from others\u2019 mistakes and think about ways to write engaging, interesting leads. <\/span><\/p>\n

Managing legal issues when publishing online<\/h3>\n

Media law seems pretty intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. <\/span>This breakdown<\/span><\/a> of legal issues will help you navigate online publishing for your newspaper, broadcast, magazine or any other type of website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the start of a new school year \u2014 and that means it\u2019s time to rev up your newsroom. To help you do this, we\u2019ve compiled a huge variety of resources that we hope will make your goals more achievable. You can read the full list on our Info Hub, or catch the highlights every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[66,71,59,21,17,58],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5793,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788\/revisions\/5793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}