Development Day

Today is Development Day.

D-Day, as it is affectionately called, happens a few times a year. It's essentially a day of workshops related to journalism, new media, ethics, and whatnot.

I'm sure other papers have staff development days, but what I think is interesting (and sort of endears me to this place) is that staffers are required to take a certain number of credits per year. That's right; each workshop - whether it's "Copyright Law" or "Makin' Online Maps" - is assigned a point value. Staffers have to acquire 15 development credits before the end of the year. As an intern, I don't stay around long enough to have a requirement, but I think it's cute. There's one more D-Day in July, I think.

I'm not too crazy about today's course offerings - classes on headlines and developing interview questions don't interest me, but I am attending one in which current staffers are speaking on a panel about their side projects. Side projects being things like books, web sites, and other lucrative measures that compensate for being a journalist.

Anyway, I wonder what attendance is going to be like today given the fact that everyone thinks they're getting fired.

(Oh, and to clarify because I've been asked: my internship isn't in jeopardy or anything. I'm cheap labor, and they like that.)