Chronicler of journalism lectures shutters
Jane C. Timm
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
Bullpen, a web magazine run by the journalism department, was discontinued this semester largely because of a lack of popularity and the time constraints of its staff.
The site published profiles of over 75 major journalists, entertainers, panels and writers.
The online publication, which was written and edited by graduate and undergraduate journalism students, ran for two years and covered the department's "Brown Bag" series of lectures on journalism topics.
Anne Noyes, last semester's co-managing editor, said the project was too time-consuming.
"For each story that was posted, we would go through at least two drafts, sometime three, four - even five," Noyes said.
Bullpen's advisor and journalism professor Mark Dery shut the project down because of "the rack of warring obligations" that consumed his time, including a book he is working on for the Yale American Icon series about the "dark side of Santa Claus."
"Unfortunately, despite the tears and toil of some immensely talented editors and writers, it simply wasn't a sustainable experiment," Dery said.
Bullpen was intended to give students experience in magazine writing and to document talks by journalism and cultural icons like Noam Chomsky, Brian Williams, George Clooney and Helen Thomas.
Despite the "Backgrounders," profiles written in advance and handed out to the lecturer's audience to promote the website, Bullpen's staff was doubtful of its popularity. Bullpen relied on flyers and word of mouth to advertise to readers, as well as to attract staff writers.
"The other thing that was on our mind was, 'Is anybody reading this?' " Noyes said. "We didn't have any proof that people were actually going to the website."
Bullpen had an average of 100 unique page hits a day during the spring semester of 2007, said Todd Grimason, journalism department web administrator. Though the site is no longer active, it still garnered more than 4,500 unique page hits between July 3 and Sept. 3.
Although Bullpen didn't last, Brian Childs - a student at the Graduate School of Arts and Science - said writing for Bullpen was a positive experience.
"[Dery] was really stringent with what he let get published," said Childs, who will graduate this December. "I probably would have done more [if it wasn't discontinued.]"
Jane C. Timm is a contributing writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
The site published profiles of over 75 major journalists, entertainers, panels and writers.
The online publication, which was written and edited by graduate and undergraduate journalism students, ran for two years and covered the department's "Brown Bag" series of lectures on journalism topics.
Anne Noyes, last semester's co-managing editor, said the project was too time-consuming.
"For each story that was posted, we would go through at least two drafts, sometime three, four - even five," Noyes said.
Bullpen's advisor and journalism professor Mark Dery shut the project down because of "the rack of warring obligations" that consumed his time, including a book he is working on for the Yale American Icon series about the "dark side of Santa Claus."
"Unfortunately, despite the tears and toil of some immensely talented editors and writers, it simply wasn't a sustainable experiment," Dery said.
Bullpen was intended to give students experience in magazine writing and to document talks by journalism and cultural icons like Noam Chomsky, Brian Williams, George Clooney and Helen Thomas.
Despite the "Backgrounders," profiles written in advance and handed out to the lecturer's audience to promote the website, Bullpen's staff was doubtful of its popularity. Bullpen relied on flyers and word of mouth to advertise to readers, as well as to attract staff writers.
"The other thing that was on our mind was, 'Is anybody reading this?' " Noyes said. "We didn't have any proof that people were actually going to the website."
Bullpen had an average of 100 unique page hits a day during the spring semester of 2007, said Todd Grimason, journalism department web administrator. Though the site is no longer active, it still garnered more than 4,500 unique page hits between July 3 and Sept. 3.
Although Bullpen didn't last, Brian Childs - a student at the Graduate School of Arts and Science - said writing for Bullpen was a positive experience.
"[Dery] was really stringent with what he let get published," said Childs, who will graduate this December. "I probably would have done more [if it wasn't discontinued.]"
Jane C. Timm is a contributing writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
E.J.
posted 9/13/07 @ 3:43 PM EST
Noam Chomsky, Brian Williams, George Clooney and Helen Thomas.
Now there's an ideologically diverse group of "icons."
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