Profiles in Mass Communication AN INSIDER’S VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY by Nicholas Khow
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A TESTAMENT to how much the journalism industry has changed in the past fifteen years, Dave Braunger has managed to work at only one newspaper since 1997 after graduating college. Today, hiring someone at a well-established publication months after getting their college degree is considered somewhat uncommon. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, Minnesota’s largest newspaper, labels Dave as a “web content designer”. Does this sound like an ambiguous job description? Braunger somewhat agrees, defining himself as more of a “problem solver” than a designer. OBTAINING A DEGREE in graphic design and a minor in journalism at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, Dave confesses he was not initially interested in the idea of working at a newspaper. But after his experience at UW Eau Claire’s The Spectator, he decided the atmosphere was a good fit. He discovered satisfaction in the stress, the constantly changing nature of the newspaper industry, and working with incredibly talented and intelligent peers. Once leaving college, Braunger interned at the Star Tribune for a summer, and then back-
Braunger at work.
packed through Europe for three months. Upon his return, a job in the online department at the Star Tribune opened up. He applied for it, and has been at the newspaper ever since. One of the factors Dave considers advantageous to entering the journalism workforce is a background in multiple areas. He believes having studied both graphic design and journalism in college was the only reason he could work at a large newspaper right away. Since becoming employed at the Tribune, Braunger has won two Regional Emmys and multiple epPY awards.
WHEN asked to describe what he does on a daily basis, Dave lets out a chuckle. With the assertion that the purest part of what he does is design, Braunger goes on to say that a lot of his job is problem solving. Although design is an integral part of what he does, a majority of his work entails figuring out how to get produced content from the newsroom onto the website. Examples of this include news story summaries, headline spills, drawing photos into a gallery and so on. He works on elements like video players, photo gallery players, sound applications
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