My subject is Mike Thoele, a retired reporter and editor who has owned weekly newspapers in Oregon, written several books, and taught as an adjunct in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Most recently, he filled in as interim publisher of the Oregon Daily Emerald, from September 2010 to February 2011, during which time I had the pleasure of working with him as the paper’s editor in chief. Although we differ in age by 50 years, my experience working with him has taught me a lot about doing daily journalism and what makes a compelling story. The qualities of good journalism don’t change much over time, even with shifting media and technology, and he has adapted to it all. He sat down with me to talk about how changing technology and media have affected his life as a student and professional journalist.

As a college journalist, Mike Thoele watched hot type being set to print newspapers, when the word “slug” meant a piece of lead. Fifty years later, Thoele teaches student journalists who have plugged in to the digital age, when “slug” has lost the connotation of its printing press roots.

He’s seen the brunt of the transition from primitive print to digital, but it hasn’t affected his view of quality journalism.

“There are some things I’ve been able to do in a journalism lifetime I would have never been able to do with the old technology,” Thoele said.

From an early age Mike Thoele, now a semi-retired journalist at age 70, remembers routines built around print media and spending time with his family and papers from Chicago and St. Louis every Sunday in his small hometown of Effingham, Ill.

Thoele went on to a career as a community and off-the-beaten-path reporter and editor for newspapers and has continued his love with this particular medium his entire life.

For Thoele, newspapers have been a constant in his life, but what’s changed for him in his nearly 40-year journalism career has been the technology that produces journalism.

When Thoele was the editor of his campus weekly from 1962 to 1963 at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., the paper was printed using a Goss flatbed press. A linotype machine organized pieces of metal type line by line. A print shop worker would position those lines in a steel form and lock it up around the edges so the type wouldn’t fall out. The forms got transported to the bed of the press, which went back and forth beneath a roller to print the paper.

Even though this happened 50 years ago, his college experience sounds similar to today.

“I spotted an error, so I hurried it back to the print shop. They went to the linotype and made the correction and we had a beer,” Thoele said. “And we had another beer, and they started the press but had forgotten to put the stops back, so all the pieces went flying to the ground, and they spent the rest of the night sorting it out — line by line.”

It was at the Register-Guard where Thoele experienced the majority of technological changes that would influence how he reported — everything from the typewriter to the teletype to the computer.

When he started there in 1969, he worked as a telecommuter back when “tele” referred to the “teletype,” a cross between a typewriter and a telegraph that Thoele used to transmit stories from his bureau in Junction City to the main bureau in Eugene.

He would write stories on a typewriter and the retype it into the teletype when he was ready to send it.

Thoele kept the teletype in his kitchen, and it required a special code to connect with the other Register-Guard bureaus — typically the letters EE.

“What I didn’t know was the Cottage Grove guy and the Florence guy played chess over the teletype,” Thoele said. “And one night — crash, boom, bim, bam — ‘Take that you bastard.’ It was several months before I found out ‘EEN3’ was part of a chess move.”

Technology and the generation gap came to a head at the Register-Guard during his time there, but just as Thoele has over the years, even the most old-school copy editor in the newsroom became a technology convert.

“Everyone thought computers would be the death of him, but it didn’t happen with any of those old guys,” Thoele said. “They adapted.”

As early as 1976, the Register-Guard had a first-generation computer terminal, and by 1993 when he left the paper work research and write a book, the computers were pretty state-of-the-art for that time.

Today, Thoele only occasionally uses his cell phone and doesn’t use his Facebook much, but he does use email and the Internet a lot to conduct business and read the news.

He sees the Internet and Google as being particularly essential for modern journalism and welcomes the ability to organize information coherently to better tell stories.

Even with these technological changes, he says they were always an advantage to journalism and reporting.

“If there were some of them that weren’t for the better, I can’t think of them,” Thoele said.

Thoele has seen a lot more different kinds of technology than I have, but we’re similar in that we grew up with newspapers. And we’ve both had to adapt to incoming technologies and constantly reexamine how we report and edit. I used to be a print person through and through, but online and interactive media opportunities made me change my mind. I certainly read more online news and use social media more frequently, but the technology has made me think more critically about how I consume and produce media. The Internet has shaped my generation, much as the newspaper shaped Thoele’s. If there’s a constant through all of these changes, it’s that good storytelling and good journalism does not falter with the changes in technology. Processes may change, but the fundamentals of journalism’s mission to convey information to the public and to tell stories remains at the heart of what I’ve learned as a student journalist and what Mike Thoele has helped instill in his students.

Ben & Katie put fliers in Emeralds outside McKenzie Hall, and Students United put stamps on the front page of the paper.

A green "Students United" stamp was found on Emerald newspapers in several racks around the Erb Memorial Union on March 28, 2011. | Photo by Ivar Vong

Both make it seem as though the Emerald supports one slate over another, and it undermines our credibility and our independence when rogue members of campaigns act contrary to the rules.

Our publisher, Ryan Frank, took care of the initial communication with both campaign managers. And I’m happy to say that both campaign managers were promptly apologetic and understanding of how such practices might compromise the Emerald as an independent publication. They also said the slates weren’t immediately aware of what happened.

The e-mails between Frank and Ben & Katie campaign manager Ben Bowman and Students United campaign manager Ben Ordonez are below. Both Bowman and Ordonez have authorized their reproduction here.

Ryan Frank’s original message to both campaign managers

“We are happy to see that you feel the Emerald is an efficient way to reach University students. However, we do not allow any third party, whether it is Bank of America or an ASUO campaign, to insert [its name into our product] or [material in our distribution boxes].

There are two ways to make it into the pages of the Oregon Daily Emerald: Through the editorial news content or through buying advertising space …”

Ben Bowman response (Ben & Katie)

“Thank you for the notification. Our campaign did not condone these actions – it sounds like one of the volunteers from our kick-off party was uninformed about the elections rules. Apologies for any inconveniences and we will be re-informing our volunteers about elections rules to ensure no more violations occur.”

Ben Ordonez response (Students United)

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I do not exactly know how this happened, and it most certainly was not authorized by me … I will speak to our candidates tonight and make sure that none of them engages in this action in the future. We certainly do appreciate the journalistic integrity of the Oregon Daily Emerald and its yearly coverage of the ASUO Elections.”

As an independent student publication almost as old as the University, the Emerald is subject to no University control, and the content is solely the product of students writing about and for other students.

Here are a few things we guarantee our independence means for election season:

• The Emerald’s news coverage will explain the issues at stake for students in this election and provide them the information and facts they need to make an informed decision, without opinion or bias.

• The Editorial Board, composed of six members of the newsroom, before endorsing a slate on the opinion page, will speak with the primary winners in interviews held separately than those with our ASUO beat reporter.

Even though we’re student journalists, we take our jobs seriously and adhere to the standards of professional journalism. And during ASUO campaign season, it’s our job to provide unbiased coverage of candidates on our news pages, and we expect that same professionalism and respect from the ASUO candidates.

In Oregon, it’s my finals week, and next week is spring break. But instead of going somewhere warm and sunny to let my mind wander, I decided to immerse myself in the familiar world of words. Instead of taking a hiatus from learning, we’re all here to bask in it. That’s the thing about copy editors. We thrive on learning, and we seek it out. That’s why I became a copy editor. There’s no better job for the otherwise subversive nerd who wants an outlet for creativity and problem solving. Editors notice things in their organizations, whether it’s a newsroom or somewhere else, and through our learning, we strive for improvement and progress. I’m honored to be among such amazing people in such a rewarding profession.

To switch tracks, I want to talk about an important topic that affects everyone: college basketball. March Madness is in the air, but thankfully, bracketology doesn’t have an entry in the AP Stylebook. We’re safe for now. All rivalries aside, I love the Kansas State Wildcats, my hometown team. So I want to tell you a story that proves the world needs copy editors and that no one is impervious to error. In January, a new name joined the K-State basketball team, but the same players were out on the court. Shane Southwell, for one game, was identified on his jersey as Shane Souhtwell, an embarrassing transposition that made it quickly onto Charles Apple’s blog of hilarious mistakes on the ACES website. I couldn’t believe my favorite team had made such an egregious error, but instead of despairing, I felt optimistic. At least there are still jobs for those of us who want to learn for a lifetime.

As a journalism student, soon to be out in the real world, my professors and ACES have helped me cultivate that love of learning and realize it’s part of who I am. I’ve been lucky enough to work with two copy editing gurus, Doug Ward of the University of Kansas and John Russial of the University of Oregon. They’re both here tonight, and I’d like to recognize them. They both encouraged me to get involved in ACES, and they both encouraged me to learn all I could and to take charge of my editing education. And not so surprising for two academics in the copy editing community, they used to work together at the Philadelphia Inquirer before going into teaching in vastly different parts of the country. I appreciate everything they’ve done for me and all the inspiration they’ve given me in my quest to become a copy editor. And I especially appreciate everything ACES does and will continue to do for the new generation of copy editors.

The annual American Copy Editors Society convention begins Thursday in downtown, but right now, I’m hanging out with former Oregon Daily Emerald multimedia and photo editor Dave Martinez in Surprise, Ariz., where he’s got a job as a photographer for the Daily News-Sun.

Yesterday, I got to follow Dave on assignment to a Community Conversation with Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs. The photo tip originally said there would be a Tea Party rally because people have been upset about Scruggs’ deal to keep the Phoenix Coyotes arena, but there was only one guy with a sign that read “Scruggs plus city council equals total financial insanity.” The leader of the Glendale Tea Party Patriots also attended the talk, and I noticed her shaking her head at one point during talk about the budget.

Still, the conversation was interesting for a few reasons: 1) Scruggs had all members of the media (two from the Daily News-Sun and three from the Arizona Republic out of 60 total people) identify themselves before the meeting started; 2) Scruggs had all members of the audience identify themselves, where they lived in Glendale and how long they had been here; 3) Scruggs explained the city budget’s specifics but never actually went into detail about what it meant for taxpayers.

Scruggs certainly wants to portray herself as the people’s mayor, someone who cares about the interest of everyday citizens. But because she didn’t explain the implications for taxpayers, that signaled to me the importance of these five members of the media in analyzing what that means for people. It’s one thing to be open and transparent, which Scruggs seems to be, but it’s another to tell citizens how their city government might affect them.

Here’s the Daily News-Sun’s story that came out of the meeting, as well as Dave’s photo. The headline reads “Glendale residents speak in support of Coyotes deal,” but keep in mind that most of the people at this meeting have been longtime supporters of Scruggs. And actually, at the beginning of the meeting, Scruggs specifically said the purpose of the meeting was not solely to talk about the Coyotes, but that’s what it turned out to be in the news.

Another exciting thing happening here in the valley: Surprise! My hometown Kansas City Royals are in the midst of spring training. I’m hoping to get to a game tonight or tomorrow night.

In other news, here’s what I’ve been doing all morning: Comparing front page coverage between wee liberal Oregon and ye old conservative Arizona. The big news today is the probably imminent Japanese nuclear power plant meltdown, and honestly, there’s not a ton of difference between the two states, just between the bigger and smaller cities.

Today’s Front Pages: Oregon vs. Arizona

The Oregonian
Center story: Fear mounts of nuclear eruption

Eugene Register-Guard
Center story: Crisis in Japan — Nuclear troubles escalate

Salem Statesman Journal
Center story: Watching Japan’s disaster, State senator warns, Oregon’s not ready

(Phoenix) Arizona Republic
Center story: Catastrophe in Japan — Meltdown looms as efforts halted (Similar to the Oregonian, the Republic writes a trend story about people buying sodium iodide pills and not a Q & A.)

(Tucson) Arizona Daily Star
Center story: Nuclear workers retreat

Bottom line: All newspapers have been cautious in saying that the radiation will not at some point pose a threat to the United States. The Oregon newspapers, though, do tend to talk more about implications for Oregon residents and seem to be less worried about the effects on the United States. Most papers used AP or other wire service content, except for the Oregonian and the Republic, which both have stories about sodium iodide pills and the effect on residents. The Statesman Journal had an almost entirely local angle for the story, which was a cool way to take it.

But now I’m going to venture outside and take a look around Surprise. I’ll keep you updated throughout the conference when it starts tomorrow.

Editor’s note: I have a particular affinity for the delivery crew after I shadowed my roommate, Chris Pollard, on his early-morning route last April. I rode a Raleigh mountain bike, while he hauled about 100 pounds of papers in the reclined trihauler. We had opposite schedules: I would end my day around 2 a.m. after leaving the newsroom, and he would start his at 5 a.m. This ode to the delivery crew is the  first in a series of features about each of the Oregon Daily Emerald’s student-staffed departments.

Each weekday morning, the delivery staff picks up papers from the EMU loading dock. The Emerald's custom-made Tri-hauler was the last piece needed to make delivery all human-powered in 2009. | Photo by Kathy Carbone

Four students deliver the Emerald each weekday morning to 77 locations on- and off-campus in two hours, all by bike.

Biking down East 13th Avenue at 6 a.m., it seems impossible that in just two hours the tranquility of campus will dissolve into a frenzy of bikes and pedestrians.

But long before campus wakes, the Oregon Daily Emerald’s all-bicycle delivery team distributes the paper the same way it gets produced — by students. Working from about 6 to 8 a.m. most weekdays isn’t for everyone, but it’s how the Emerald delivery crew starts its day.

“Riding a bike 15 minutes after waking up is like a big cup of caffeine for me,” delivery crew-member Kyle Scott said. “Surprisingly, it has never drained me of energy for the rest of the day.”  

A four-person crew has the daunting task of biking around town each weekday morning to deliver 6,000 copies of the Emerald to 77 locations on- and off-campus — all with human power and all in two hours.

As Emerald business manager and distribution coordinator, Kathy Carbone’s goal is to make sure readers get the paper each morning.

Emerald Business Manager Kathy Carbone has worked at the Emerald for almost 20 years and coordinates the student delivery staff, as well as helping make minor repairs to bikes. Carbone had the idea to make the delivery fleet green, but she said her students made it possible. | Photo by Nora Simon

“Getting the paper out by 7:45, when people are coming to work, makes a big difference,” Carbone said. “If people don’t pick it up as part of their morning routine, perhaps they just don’t get back to it during the day.”

Eight University students — Herson Duarte, Richard Griscom, Nick Olson, Nick Rice, Kyle Scott, Cameron Vranizan and Madyson Zetterberg — split the week’s 20 routes, with four routes each morning. Two are on campus, one downtown and one over the river via Franklin Boulevard.

Carbone said avid bikers, or those training for a long bike ride, are most likely to want to deliver the paper and are dedicated to getting the job done in the two hours allotted.

“What else is going to motivate you to get up in the cold, in the dark at 6 o’clock in the morning unless you love biking,” Carbone said.

And she’s had some pretty interesting people take this job since delivery moved completely to bike in 2009.

One student who was preparing to bike to South America helped jumpstart the all-bike delivery, but instead of carrying children like his trailer was designed for, the trailer carted newspapers.

She also had a couple with their own trailer who delivered during spring and summer 2008.

And a computer science graduate student used the job to jumpstart his research. It motivated him to get up each morning and go to the library at 8 a.m. after he was done delivering the paper.

The Emerald’s bicycle delivery and the UO Bike Program practically grew up together, as the Emerald was the Bike Program’s pilot program for providing maintenance and service to campus departments.

Carbone began partnering with the UO Bike Program in 2008 when she started the bike delivery program, and she said the program’s support has been incredible.

The Emerald pays $250 per term for maintenance to its custom Tri-Hauler, built with a waterproof metal box specially built for holding newspapers, and its three other bikes and trailers, as well as emergency roadside assistance.

Dave Villalobos, UO Outdoor Program trip facility manager, said he would like to see more campus departments take advantage of the Bike Program.

“We want to grow and advocate and support as many programs and organizations on campus as want to transfer and work more from a bicycle standpoint or bicycle delivery or whatever it is,” Villalobos said.

That relationship with the Bike Program has greatly helped the Emerald delivery crew’s next endeavor: replacing its outdated trailers with three Xtracycle FreeRadicals.

The other three trailers the delivery staff uses make it difficult to get papers out in the two-hour time frame, as they often tip over. | Photo by Kathy Carbone

The Emerald’s current trailers prove problematic for the delivery staff because they flip easily, break down easily and greatly slow down the early-morning process.

“The trailers kept tipping over and breaking down, and they became more expensive to repair than what they’re actually worth,” Carbone said.

With the Xtracycle, there would be no trailer behind the bike, and the papers would be transported in custom-built, waterproof aluminum containers, which would make delivery less cumbersome in the rain.

With three Xtracycle FreeRadicals, the Emerald delivery staff will have a better experience every morning. | Courtesy of Xtracycle

The Outdoor Program helped negotiate wholesale pricing to bring the total cost of the project from $4,100 to $2,600 and brought in support from local businesses.

Eddie Out in Junction City will make the custom aluminum boxes, and Arriving by Bike will provide the Xtracycle kits. The Bike Program will donate the three delivery bikes.

“We decided it would be nice to provide an opportunity for a local shop to support this,” Villalobos said. “So instead of going to the company Xtracycle, we thought we would provide some revenue for a local shop and bolster that relationship.”

The Emerald has been delivered completely by bike since 2009. Carbone had the idea to go green, and when a student in 2007 made that possible by providing his own trailer, she went for it.

In 2008, bike delivery started with three cheap build-your-own trailers. One person still drove while the Emerald waited for its custom Tri-Hauler, which cost $2,100 and took the Center for Appropriate Transport six months to build.

Carbone says bike delivery actually works better than driving.

“It’s sustainable, it saves money, and it’s actually more efficient,” Carbone said.

Aside from the rain and early hours, those dedicated enough to deliver the Emerald make it part of their day.

“The main reason I enjoy this job is because I get paid to exercise routinely,” Scott said. “I like that it wakes me up and makes me feel productive very early. And the sunrise from the Autzen Footbridge is a great bonus on clear mornings.”

editor@dailyemerald.com

This week, I want to expand on some topics I touched on last time about community journalism and being a student journalist, particularly in the context of presenting news for print versus the Web.

My first source of inspiration is a letter from The Dallas Morning News’ publisher to his staff on Oct. 1 about the newspaper’s place in an ever-changing media landscape. He provides a few recommendations of how newspapers will remain profitable, most notably:

1. Adapting to the newest technology and consumer demands for news distribution
2. Providing relevant and unique local content
3. Analyzing the news for a specific audience
4. Innovating how to monetize
5. Figuring out this mobile thing
6. Maintaining a sustainable base of journalists to do all this innovation and reporting

I agree wholeheartedly that this is where our focus should be. It’s important for student journalists to consider these issues because we’re the ones who are supposed to be experimenting and figuring out where everything is and might be going.

The most crucial things here are adapting to the newest forms of communication and creating a sustainable newsroom environment to be able to innovate. And that’s the crossroads we face right now at the Daily Emerald. As we’re trying to move forward with our online presence and our mobile sites, we’re facing difficulties because of our sheer lack of resources.

The DMN’s letter is quite similar to a Sept. 17 Student Newspaper Survival guide blog post by Rachel Kanigel, “College newspaper or college media organization?” that says college newspapers have to begin thinking about how their audiences consume media and cater to that by:

1. Publishing content to the website first
2. Posting website content every day
3. Using a combination of visuals and text — any and all media – to tell stories
4. Using social media to increase awareness of new content

For the past two years, the Emerald has been doing all of these things, but especially this year I’ve been making it the forefront of my thinking. The website-first mantra has been one of the biggest changes in our copy flow.

For the first time this year, we’ve starting writing Web headlines before print headlines and posting content to the website before it hits the print page. By making small changes like this to our process, I’m hoping to get the idea across that the Web is different than print both in presentation and how readers consume information. I’m not sure how many college papers do it this way, but with a staff of one news copy editor, one sports copy editor and one copy chief per night, it’s taking  some stress off the desk, for sure.

The Student Newspaper Survival Guide blog basically sums up everything I’ve been trying to articulate about why it’s crucial for the Daily Emerald to differentiate between our print paper and online edition.

But there’s one thing missing. The post doesn’t touch on how college journalists are being taught about writing and journalism in their formal educations. There is a sort of rift between formal schools of journalism and college newspapers, between the theoretical and the practical — a divide has been fairly visible at the University of Oregon.

I don’t want to open this can of worms just yet, and I don’t want to discount the formal journalism education we receive. But I do want student journalists to think critically about their dual roles as students in formal journalism schools and members of college news organizations.

Because we’re not just newspaper journalists anymore. And until we figure out how to best deliver news and information to our audiences, we will be in a constant struggle to keep both our readers and our relevancy.

It’s the last first day of the school year at the University of Oregon.

It’s the first day of my last year as a college student.

It’s also the first day of my newest endeavor: blogging.

I decided to keep an editor’s blog because I care deeply about student journalism, and I want to be part of the discussion and debate about student journalism issues. I care about how college newspapers teach journalists and how they serve their communities.

I’ll blog about everything, from college newspapers to journalism education to my experiences as editor in chief of the Daily Emerald, every Monday.

Because it’s the first day of daily, I want to talk about why college newspapers are still more popular in print than online with students. My inspiration is from this article: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=136&aid=190619.

Here are some things I’ve noticed about print pick-up at Oregon.

1. Students pick up the paper to read in between class.
2. Reading the paper is often part of a morning routine.
3. Catchy designs appeal to readers.
4. Athletics coverage guarantees a high pick-up rate.
5. Students often pick it up just for the sudoku and crossword.

These five observations lead me to one conclusion: The print product still appeals because of its immediacy on campus. It’s everywhere. You can’t go onto campus every day without seeing it. Also, it’s free, and free is a big thing with college students.

And even though students are adept with social media and mobile devices, if there’s nothing different online than in print, why go online?

It seems that college journalism is in a bubble: While daily metropolitan newspapers continue to lose money, college newspapers have a niche audience that still drives print advertising. It’s less than it was in the 1990s, but it’s still there. And because college papers have this semi-luxury, online has been less of a priority, often for money reasons.

Just because students aren’t using the website as much doesn’t mean college papers shouldn’t have good ones. After all, part of our job as student journalists is to learn about all aspects of the industry — including producing and putting content on a website.

But more crucial than having a nice looking, user-friendly website is having content differing enough from the print product to make students go there, even if they’ve already seen the print edition.

That’s just part of what we’re doing at the Emerald this year.

We want students to read the print product, so we’re making it more visually appealing and thinking about how visuals can tell stories, too.

We want students to read the online edition, so we’re producing more and different content that doesn’t exist in the print paper.

And because we want students to read both, we’re explaining why campus issues matter.

As I said before, it’s a day of firsts.

And it’s day one of what (I hope) is the new face of the Daily Emerald.