The magazine world is a funny business. It's as cantankerous as Mother Nature; destroying and rejuvenating at the same time. I cringed as DoubleTake magazine shuttered its doors (not completely, I hope). It was a fine magazine, over-reaching in the writing at times but the photography was always excellent. I saw it sputter to its last breath and felt that the glossies had finally won, killing off all that was good in the world. But as I said the magazine business is fickle and when one dies there is at least on other to take its place.

I have come across two very interesting magazine projects which may or may not fill DT's august shoes. One Story magazine delivers readers a single work of short fiction every three weeks. In today's NYTimes I read about Topic magazine, now located in editor David Haskell's apartment in Williamsburg, New York. Topic promises us a chance to experience the writing and photography of a diverse group of people.

As always here are links to their submission guidelines: One Story and Topic.

I just saw the teaser for the Jayson Blair interview on Dateline NBC. For those of us blessed to watch American television (I mean that with a pinch of sarcasm, of course), it runs tonight at 8 p.m. EST.

Jayson Blair is the outed New York Times journalist who fabricated a slew of stories. It could be an interesting hour with Mr. Blair, especially for those of us who are in the business of journalism. It's definitely an hour to reflect on what NOT to do. I can't imagine a photojournalist making up images (or manipulating them) for publication for as long as Blair did with his writing. The Gray Lady must have been asleep!

For those of you considering school again – why wouldn't you in this soft economy when interest rates for school loans have been the lowest in history? – think about Columbia University's School of Journalism. Now, I am an alumnus of Indiana University, but my friend Prof. Sreenath Srinivasan has been instrumental in designing and sculpting the new media program at Columbia's j-school and he is doing some very exciting things there and I urge you to check the program out.

Should I ever find an opportunity to go back to school and retool, Columbia would be my top choice. Plus, the new dean is thinking of revamping the course structure all together making it a two-year program. I always thought a one-year Masters program was plain wonky. By the time you got your feet on the ground, especially in Gotham city, it would be time to pack your bags and leave. Two years seems like just enough time to get things done and actually learn something.

Imagine that – two years to sink your teeth into things like online reporting, designing websites, creating interactive multimedia presentations. If it runs right, it could be down right empowering.

Via Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) in collaboration with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies is offering an e-learning class for writers. Here is the information:

REPORTING ACROSS CULTURES, WRITING ABOUT DIFFERENCES

This E-learning class is designed to help journalists in their coverage of different cultures, communities and individuals who are often missing or inaccurately portrayed in our news stories. Course runs April 5 to May 3, 2004. All participants must have an Internet connection and Internet explorer.

Sponsored by AAJA and News University, a project of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and funded by the Knight Foundation.

Deadline is March 1, 2004.

To apply online, go here.

Testimonials:

“The readings were excellent and I have put them in a binder and will refer back to them again and again. The instructor was excellent and gave me some good tips about reporting. The E-mail function on the site allowed me to interact with other reporters.”

“Having never taken an E-learning course before, I liked the fact that I could log on to the course whenever and wherever I wanted.”

About the Asian American Journalists Association

The Asian American Journalists Association is a national, non-profit educational association based in San Francisco with 2,000 members. Asian American journalists founded AAJA to encourage young Asian Pacific Americans to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of Asian Pacific Americans, and to increase the number of Asian/Pacific Americans and news managers in the industry. For more information, visit www.aaja.org or call 415-346-2051.

Via Mediabistro.com and Editor&Publisher

“When you say a story is going to be published, it raises it to a whole different level.”

I think NYU‘s journalism program has the right attitude. It recognizes that students in its program will have a tough time if they don't have any experience writing for newspapers in the real world. Even working for a student paper doesn't appear to be enough, not that is any less “real.”

Well, with Live Wire, NYU's news service, articles by student writers actually get played out in publications across the country. Apparently Columbia University and Northwestern University both have a student wire service similar to NYU's.

“Christy Slewinski, a specialty sections editor at the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel who subscribes to Live Wire, was especially interested in the option to offer story ideas and have students write them. “

Sure, you won't get paid for it, but it's all about having a clutch of clips when you graduate. It's one way to avoid becoming a statistic in a tough job market.

I wonder if something like this could be established for student photojournalists.