HEY EVERYONE: AS YOU KNOW, THE EDITORS AND I RETURNED TO NYC AFTER A COMPLETE SHUTDOWN IN THE CITY. I HAVE CROSSED OUT EVERYTHING THAT DID NOT HAPPEN, AND CHANGES TO OUR SCHEDULE.
Hey editors! As you know, some of the staff will be attending a conference in New York but our publication must publish. EIC Natalie Lu will be in town handling production on Thursday. If you are attending the NY conference, you must have all your content ready for publishing by Tuesday, March 10.
Even if you are not enrolled in the editor's training due to a conflict in schedule, you must come to production as soon as your class that conflicts ends.
We will get more on track with schedules, procedures, etc.when we return from our last conference which takes place on March 19. Some of you are attending that conference so if you are an editor, you must arrange to come in on Tuesday, March 17 to complete your sections. Ferry will be running production on Thursday, March 19 because Natalie will be attending the conference.
Everyone should now be on Slack. If you are a staffer working under an editor for a specific project, you will receive an invite to join a channel.
The
two journalism conferences will have us all a bit behind. We will be going full force starting WEEK 5 and will have a full workshop on editor training that day. We will get organized, define all the editor's roles, and create weekly schedules and weekly content deadlines.
JACC WAS CANCELLED!!!
We also need to have regular weekly pitch meetings and bi-monthly editorial board meetings. MOVING ONLINE. WILL SEND INSTRUCTIONS
Our first editorial board meeting will take place on Thursday, March 26 at 3 pm. It is mandatory that all editors attend.
For now, all of you should be thinking of pitches and ideas for content for your sections.
The way it works:
Thursday productions are to complete ALL content and have it ready to be published for the following week. The exception to this rule is breaking news, but all other news should be prepared and ready.
Pitches are made for the following week(s) at least one week in advance, but all editors should be keeping a calendar of local news events, A&E, sports, etc.
Make sure you bring your AP Stylebook to class every week. You must have one to be an editor.
Please take a look at Slack and become familiar with it so you can add to our discussion about how we want to use it for your staff communication: https://slack.com/is
It is very important that everyone come to OUR ONLINEclass prepared to work on the publications, whether it be editing work that needs to go up for the week, meeting with graphic designers, artists, and photographers. It is also important that you all are prepared at least one-two weeks in advance with stories going up on your publications. INSTRUCTIONS COMING...
We will be setting a schedule with deadlines for all publications that editors will be expected to adhere to. Deadlines are sacred in journalism.
This course grade is based on your weekly work as editors.
QUALITIES OF A GOOD EDITOR
1. Understand business etiquette. They call, text or email about the writer's questions, story problems in a timely fashion, and communicate on slack when questions are asked.
2. Are organized. They keep track of multiple writers working on multiple stories for multiple issues without constantly acting like the world’s about to end.
3. Have a solid grasp of their publication. They understand their audience, their approach to the subject or their particular department. As a result, they can explain why a pitch is or isn’t a good fit, and if it’s the latter, make suggestions for changes that would bring it on target.
4. Suggest sources. If they can’t share specific names, they can recommend types of sources to tap. If needed, they make themselves available for brainstorming sessions.
5. Have solid self esteem. They don’t feel the need to put their hands all over a writer's copy if it’s good enough as is.
6. Are prudent copywriters. Whatever work they do to a writer's copy makes it even better.
7. Aren’t raging egotists. They relate to writers as equals, not underlings.
8. Don’t change their minds (without a really good reason). They don’t ask for a different angle for a story after it’s in and done. The only exception would be if circumstances have changed — something’s happened in the news that needs to be included, for example — that warrants a change in direction.
9. Follow through. They follow through with promises made- contacting graphic designers, photographers, and getting edits and input back to the writer within 24 hours.
10. Show appreciation. They say thank you, acknowledge when you’ve done a good job, share their praise in public, and give you assignments
11. Collaborate! Get along well with others. Collaboration is key to any successful newsroom. Don't bring your baggage and drama to the newsroom, and let bygones be bygones. No grudges. Express your frustrations with your adviser and/or EIC, let it be addressed, and then move on.
12. Meet deadlines. Editors meet all deadlines, and make sure their staff members understand that not meeting deadlines is unacceptable.
