May 4 critique — farewell spring semster!

Sparkly awesomeness…

… our coverage of the missing student by Nick and Heidi! This is an important story that our staff began working on the day it happened (thanks to a tip by Marcy). The hours Nick and Heidi spent trailing the police and searchers paid off in a big way in their story. We have details, description and sources that no other news organization had. We should be very proud of our dogged efforts chasing down this information!

But it isn’t only the reporting that shines here. The design of the story is very newsy and captures the somber mood of the case. Heidi does a wonderful job capturing the visual representation of the search. Good instincts and execution, Miss Heidi!  I also love that we had Gerald’s picture and description prominently packaged with the photos. It gets important information out front. Great job, Robin!

I also want to applaud Nick, our photo crew, online crew and Michael for staying on the story today — resisting the urge to take a victory lap and enjoy a much-deserved rest. This story will continue to unfold, even as our paper-paper editions cease. Following up online is crucial here, which our editors understand. Our news instincts were sharp in this case and the results are amazing!

Our readers will find the best, most thorough information on this case in the Indiana Statesman today. It’s what makes people pick up our paper and turn to our Web site. It builds our credibility with readers and drives home the fact that we are the best source for information on our campus. This is our turf, and we can cover it better than any other media. Fantastic job, everyone! Let’s stay on this story until it’s resolved.

… our profile of Jacob and Josh Garcia by Nick and Phillip! This feature does a wonderful job relating the personalities, struggles and mode of communication for these brothers. The news peg of Jacob being inducted into a marshal arts hall of fame seems minor compared to the daily obstacles he and Josh overcome. Getting the minister and karate instructor to relate their feelings about Jacob adds so much to the story! This is the kind of profile people will remember! Excellent job!

… Cole, Amanda and Nathan’s Cirque story! The photos add a wonderful visual *pop* to this story! But Cole also does a good job describing the really unique and captivating acts of the circus. It’s difficult to represent abstract performance in print, but these three do a nice job of it!

… strong photos on sports by Ben and Chris! Very sharp, action-packed shots. Way to go, men!

… two delightful farewell columns (*wistful sigh*) from Michelle and Sadie and Cindy! Special props to Michelle for working the word, “academicians” into her column. Props to Sadie for finding parallels to Justice Souter; I never saw the resemblance, but I see it now! We are going to miss these stalwart journalists, as they go out into the world with their educations, opinions and Statesman memories. Be sure to make them feel wistful and weepy when you see them around this week… We’ll miss you, ladies! You’re both sparkly awesome!

… a wonderfully readable grads section! I love Andrew’s story on Roger Schmelzer, which doesn’t get bogged down with boring details, but keeps a sharp focus on his interesting life. I also liked the fun first-person pieces by Sadie and Cindy. Aliya’s story on the Hines Medal winners is also  fantastic and descriptive (and humbling). Good effort, gang!

Light a fire under…

… photo context. Our photo of Jacob Garcia crops out the person  holding him, giving him support to stand. We had a more representative shot of this that we didn’t choose. When we cut out such important photo context, we lead the reader to believe they are seeing something that didn’t really happen. We shouldn’t mislead readers this way.