KSPA in spring 2011 will provide its first online news All-Kansas critique and ratings service, and in advance of that, the online standards and ratings book is ready and linked here.
The standards are based on current practices of professional and student online journalism sites, as well as those standards taught in multimedia reporting courses at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. The standards also mirror — to some extent — the national standards established last year by the National Scholastic Press Association.
The key areas for evaluation will be:
- Coverage and Content
- Writing and Editing
- Breaking News
- Interactivity and Multimedia
- Design and Navigation
The rubrics contained in the guidebook should help online staffs understand how they can cover their school better by using the immediacy of the web, writing specifically in a Web-friendly format, producing multimedia elements that complement written stories and designing a site that makes a user’s experience enjoyable and easy. The rubric does not require a staff to have a technically complicated site or to become master programmers. Our hope is that the rubric points schools to practice great journalism in an online environment.
An entry form for the All-Kansas web critique and ratings service will be ready by Feb. 1, 2011, and the final deadline for entry will be March 11, 2011. The cost will be $40.
Judges will be encouraged to review a website’s content on at least two dates during the evaluation period, which will begin on March 11 and end on April 11, 2011.
KSPA continues to work on reviewing its news magazine/newspaper standards and will unveil its broadcast news standards later this year. Both of those All-Kansas services have March 11, 2011, deadlines as well.
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