Both Bandera County papers have hit the streets and the net. What are your picks for the stories of the week and why?
Community Journalism is my passion, and I’m always interested to hear what other Bandera County residents think of the coverage of the two local papers.
Leave a comment below on this blog post, hit me up on Twitter @banderaoutlaw, e-mail James@team-outlaw.net, or call/text me at 830-688-1564.
I’m really enjoying what Jimmy Monroe, Emily King, and the Bulldog Times staff are putting out with their online edition. Lots of video content and the freshness that student journalism has to offer.
Multimedia is the future of journalism whether or not us ink-stained wretches are happy about it. I’ve always been a tech- and net-friendly guy, so I for one am excited about the new opportunities unfolding for delivering news and storytelling in new and important ways.
I’ve long advised the journalism classes at Bandera and Medina both on camera gear purchases, and have even given presentations to the Bandera class. It’s always great to see how students new to the game of journalism interpret and present their news.
I’m a journalism junkie and just finished watching the entire first season of The Paper on iTunes. If you want to see what high school journalism is like at the largest high school in the country, it’s a great documentary put on by MTV.
Some other favorite TV and movie interpretations of journalism include State of Play with Russel Crowe (which I rented recently over at Video Outlet), The Wire’s final season, and of course the old TV show Lou Grant.
The dead-tree newspapers of Bandera County have anything but multimedia or social media on their minds, so at this point, the Bulldog Times is leading the local path toward Journalism 2.0.
(Bulldog Cheerleader Senior Co-Captain Holly Garwood’s response to reporter Randi Thomas’ question about what the cheer team has learned “after a hard year” is priceless: “Our team has learned what not to do.” Love it!)
I just FTP’d this week’s Bulletin over to press, so the Wednesday paper should be rolling within the hour. BanderaBulletin.com is also updated and will post stories this evening after the paper hits the streets.
Tuesday mornings are when we do final proof reading and corrections before meeting our press deadline. Publisher Christina Ryrholm looks at all the pages on Monday night once they have been laid out and then again Tuesday morning to catch anything missed the first time around.
This morning time also gives us the opportunity to get in any late-breaking stories or information on stories already written. For example, an investigator with the Bandera County Sheriff’s Office brought in some updated information this morning on the benefit fund for Sergeant Gerald Johnson Jr. which we were able to get in.
You can read about the story over at MySanAntonio.com (although the comments section is better reading), the latest updates on Jerry at the Wives of the Shield web site, and I’ve reprinted some of the benefit information below for those who want to help out:
“Wives of The Shield, a support group for law enforcement wives, has set up an account at Bank of the Hills in Kerrville, under the name Wives of The Shield for the benefit of Jerry Johnson, to help with expenses. The Johnsons have one child.
Johnson can be visited at University Hospital in San Antonio. Blood may be donated at University Hospital’s third floor, contact Cindy Moreno. Donate in the name of Jerry Johnson and he receives a credit on his hospital bill.
For more information, visit www.wivesoftheshield.com.”