Editing, Leadership and Team building
My favorite part of being on staff is building connections with all of the other members. As an incoming Print Editor-in-Chief, I knew that forming those connections would be difficult through a virtual learning format. Our publication has been virtual since March 13, 2020. In fact, most aspects of my role as Print EIC have shifted and evolved this year to fit our circumstances. Early on, we decided that we would only be publishing our magazine online. Now, instead of double-checking page measurements before going to press or staying after school with section editors to go over layouts, I was faced with the uncharted territory of leading a virtual staff. Luckily, I didn't have to do this alone. The rest of the staff and I worked together to redesign our approach to reporting and publishing, utilizing new multimedia elements and working to redesign major portions of our magazine.
Organization
In order to prioritize organization and efficiency, our staff uses a website called Trello. Here, we are able to track every single story that is set to be published for each specific issue cycle. These Trello boards are also used as a form of communication between staff writers, editors, and advisors. Using Trello really facilitates our ability to track which stage in the editing process the story is in. To gain an in-depth understanding of how we utilize Trello, keep scrolling! I will be using our December 2020 Trello Board as an example.
Track the Editing
Through Trello, each story goes through various different stages before finally being published on our website. Each story is added as a 'card' on Trello and is then moved through various sections of the editing process. Below are the different sections the stories go through during the editing process. Hover over each image to learn more.
Every story starts off in the 'In Progress' section. Our section editors are in charge of creating a card for each story that they will be editing. As Editor-in-Chief, I go through each board to make sure all stories are on track. Once a writer is finished with a story, they attach the google doc to the card and move it to the next section.
Once the article is ready for review, the card is then moved to the 'Ready to be edited' section. Editors are in charge of checking this section and editing stories as soon as they are moved to this section. As Editor-in-Chief, I make sure that all section editors are keeping tabs on this section of our editing process.
Once a section editor has edited the story, and believes it's ready to be published, they then move the card to the 'Ready for Review by Ms. Chavira.' This is when our adviser then looks over the story and provides feedback. At this point, the editor and writer are in constant communication, working to polish the story.
After the story is viewed by our adviser, if she has any concerns or edits for the story, she will then move it to the 'Not Approved' section. At this point, the editor will act as a liaison between our adviser and the writer. The editor mentors the writer and helps them make the story stronger so that it's ready for publishing.
Once the story has been approved by both the designated editor and our adviser, the story can then be moved to the 'Ready to be Published' section. At this point, it is up to the editor to publish the story on the website.
After the story has been published on our website, it is then moved to the 'Needs Social Media' section. We include this section to ensure that every article we post is promoted on our social media accounts. Our social media editor consistently checks this section and is in charge of posting them.
Once the story has been published on our website and posted on our social media accoutns, the story's card is then moved to the 'Has Been Posted on Social Media' section and the editing process on the story is finished!
Each article is labeled based on the section it's in.
As Editor-in-Chief, I am in charge of editing all of the stories categorized under news. I also often have to deal with most breaking news stories. Keep scrolling to view how I went about editing a news story about mental health during distance learning for the October issue of our magazine.
The Editing Process
To jumpstart Jessica's reporting, I wrote out a few pointers, including who she should be prioritizing in interviews.
During the brainstorming session for our October issue, which was the first issue of the 2020-21 school year, our goal as a staff was to diversify our coverage despite the limitations that distance learning posed. We had been reporting through a virtual learning format since March of the previous school year and were having difficulties coming up with new ways to cover the impacts of distance learning.
While brainstorming, our new staff writer Jessica pitched a story that would focus on the mental health impacts of distance learning on DPMHS students. This would offer a fresh perspective for our coronavirus coverage and would explore a very relevant issue for our audience.
The first step to the creation of this article was to add a card for it on Trello. In order to guide her reporting in the right direction, I added a description of what the main focus of the story should be, as shown in the image on the left.
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Now... time for the actual Editing
I was able to work closely with Jessica on this story, which was featured in the November 2020 issue of our magazine. The first draft of this article provided interesting insight from a variety of students in different grade levels, which I definitely applauded her for. I was especially impressed that Jessica was able to get in contact with a freshman, whom she has never met in person before. The main issue that I found with the story was the lack of a credible expert source in the story, which is why I suggested that she interview our school psychologist. This will help develop the story further and will allow Jessica to include more concrete information. Another aspect of the story that I told her to work on was the wordiness of the story. Certain parts of the story came off as confusing because of her word choice. I gave her suggestions on how to reword certain parts of the story but also made sure to give her space to implement her own ideas. Below is a pdf of the first draft of Jessica's story. Hover over each number to view the comments I made and you can click on the image to enlarge it.
Next up... text on the page
Once the story has been approved by the writer, editor and our advisor, the article is ready to be added to its respective magazine spread. To ensure that the writer is involved in every aspect of the editing process, we always make sure that every story in our magazine is copy-edited by the staff member who wrote it. The writer is given an opportunity to give edits on the text placement, copy and headline to ensure that their writing isn't misinterpreted by the editor.
Once the article was finished, I emailed Jessica a pdf copy of the page that contained her story. She looked over it and emailed me back with opinions on the headline. I decided to apply her suggestion, which helped the spread be more concise.
Click here to view the finalized magazine spread.
Our Rotation Schedule
As Managing editor during my junior year, one of my responsibilities was to manage our staff's rotation schedule. As a staff, our members work to create the magazine, website and yearbook. Although editors are designated to work on one of our three publications, our staff writers work on all three. To ensure that the content needed is produced for each publication, we divide our staff writers into three groups and each group is designated to work on one publication. Each group is rotated between publications to make sure that each staff writer has exposure to the multiple journalistic avenues offered through our program. Staff writers are rotated between each publication every three weeks. Below is a spreadsheet that I was in charge of updating and sending out to the entire staff every time the rotation changes.
The three rotations for staff writers during a normal in-person school year are Photography, News/Magazine, and Yearbook.
Photography: In charge of taking all of the photos for the website, magazine and Yearbook.
News/Magazine: Write stories for both the website and magazine
Yearbook: They work on articles and Q&A's for the yearbook, as well as photography when necessary.
This is an example of a rotation schedule change email I would send out to the entire staff every three weeks.
Leadership
A new style guide
I began my role as Print Editor-in-Chief in a very abnormal way. Instead of meeting with editors in person over the summer to prepare for the upcoming volume of our magazine, all of the preparation had to be done virtually because of the coronavirus. For some of our staff, this school year was their first year as an editor, meaning that they had never laid out a page before or even used Adobe InDesign. Additionally, since our class only met 2-3 times a week, we often didn't have enough class time to go over InDesign step-by-step.
The 2019-20 school year was the first time we produced a magazine. As Managing Editor, I played a prominent role in this transition from newspaper to a news magazine. A lot of our issues last year stemmed from a lack of consistency throughout our pages. Fonts and sizes for our captions, headlines, and folios often varied. I decided to tackle this issue as Editor-in-Chief by creating an all-encompassing style guide to ensure that all editors are on the same page and to have a solid document to go back to while working remotely.
By creating this style guide, I was able to clarify concretely what fonts and sizes we use as well as provide instructions on certain uniform stylistic elements of our magazine, such as how to create pull quotes. This style guide facilitated consistency across all magazine pages and provided new editors a document to refer to with directions if needed.
Here, I highlight the page numbers for each section and other text styles.
Here, I detail how to create our folios.
In this page, I continue explaining the steps to create pull quotes.
Here, I highlight the page numbers for each section and other text styles.
This an email that I sent to the section editors regarding the style guide and directing them on how to create the first magazine of the school year.
Along with the style guide, I also sent the editors on staff a sample template of our magazine. I created this to offer the staff guidance on how these stylistic elements should look on their page. I also specified the size of the captions and headlines. Click the photo to enlarge it.
Click on the arrows to look through the style guide.
Class Presentations
As a student-led publication, our editors and adviser often use presentations to guide the rest of the staff members. While attending the Spring 2019 JEA/NSPA National Journalism Convention in Anaheim, California, I attended a presentation by Shari Adwers about headlines. I then decided to adopt part of that presentation into my own to present to the rest of the class. Please feel free to scroll through the slides.