Mojos Working

When Muddy Waters sang "Got My Mojo Workin'," he was bragging about an aphrodisiacal charm that entranced women. Nowadays working mojos are mobile journalists whose cars are mini-newsrooms with multi-tasking capabilities.

Mojos cover an event, shoot the pictures, write and send the story to the newspaper's webpage-often in less than hour. They are operatives in the survival-of-the-fittest race to produce more news with a local focus, more instant information, and more updates.

Mojos sound cool until you discover that they are mostly used to cover supermarket openings and pet fairs-events that advertisers once paid to publicize. Their stories may be news that you could use...if it's not beneath your interest. Remember Muddy's refrain, "Got my mojo workin', but it just don't work on you."

International Correspondent

When Justin Martin came to Cooke Hall a few years ago, he was a psych major with a craving to write and write some more.

Justin, a wiry, quietly intense guy, had the dedication of a long-distance runner. He burst through two journalism courses, became a columnist for the Campus Chronicle, got so hooked that he grabbed a master's in journalism at the University of Florida.

He parlayed that degree and a burning interest in the Middle East into a year's study in Jordan and pursuit of a doctorate in communications at UNCCH. Over the last two years, his dispatches from the Middle East have appeared in the Baltimore Sun and the (Greensboro) News & Record.

HPU's first international correspondent has only begun to run.

Daily Paper as Community Herald

Once upon a time, dailies in medium-sized cities strived to be the New York Times of their markets-the paper of record for local, state, national, and international news.

But, with the advent of CNN, ESPN, and the explosion of online sources, many news-seekers used the remote or the mouse to gain information, and dailies experienced a drop in subscribers and ad revenue that persists unto this day.

To counteract depressed sales and reach younger readers, hundreds of papers imitated the glitzy USA Today, which strived to be TV in print. Because only a hookah-smoking caterpillar can turn pulp into videotape (and for a limited time only), the experiment failed.

Now the model is the community newspaper. This restorative involves embracing local news, flirting with national events, and flashing a phony smile to the rest of the world. Papers are using magazine-like layouts and dazzling photography to resuscitate the broadsides that Ben Franklin once peddled in the streets of Philadelphia and you can still acquire in country stores.

Welcome to Your Herald. Pull up a rocker, warm your hands, read about the neighbors and, eventually, yourself.