Editing, Leadership, and Team Building.
EDITING: Suggesting comments in-person, not virtually.
When it comes to editing, our publication is 60 members in total. This means 60 different writing levels. As the editor-in-chief, I make it a priority to sit down and work with the writers as much as I can. Before editing the article, I read the article through once and make mental notes or write them at the bottom of the document. I then walk through the article with the writer.
I find that this editing method helps the writer see the mistakes -- AP style errors and transition errors like, "When asked about this ____ said this," -- they make. They prevent those errors when they write their next piece. I have noticed drastic improvements in students' writing and a clear-cut angle because of this method.
Sitting down and talking has prevented a lot of miscommunication amongst staff. Each and every one of our pieces goes through six edits so stories meet our publication standard -- being unbiased, concise, and informative.
Sometimes, I do have to resort to suggesting comments virtually due to breaking news coverage or not being able to find a time to meet with the writer.
I enjoyed reading the first draft of the article, but I wanted the writer to work on capturing Gabby Mayrend's voice, so much so that it would bleed through the pages. The writer and I went back to the starting point - which was interviews. I worked with her to come up with new, fruitful questions for her re-interviews with the sources. That way, we could fact-check information, and have more clarity and substance in this piece. I also talked to them about treating the interview as a conversation and the importance of asking follow-up questions. My ultimate goal is to help staff writers reach their full potential and motivate them to do their best. Two days before we went to press, I called the writer to finalize and lock the story.
Before
After
In the next article written by the student, I could immediately see an improvement in the fluidity and coherency of the piece and the quotes for their first draft.
COPY EDITING
These are copy edits for our last issue. We go through several rounds of copy edits on google drive, but my adviser and I always go through every physical copy of each page of every issue and make edits. It's the last cycle of copy edits. There's something about physically editing versus virtually editing them. We also do group copy edit sessions in both of our newspaper hours - fourth and sixth hour.
​
These are a from our last cycle of copy editing for issue 3 and issue 4
It's hard to stop copy-editing. I always am trying to look for something to be wrong. But at a point, you have to let go. It was tough learning that, but with journalism, I learned that perfection is giving our 100 percent to the stories we write and the designs we construct. I strive to produce and print an issue that I am not just proud of, but an issue my fellow editors and staff members are also proud of. Even in The New York Times, there's a mistake. As the last person who looks at pages and send to press, every issue is a learning experience. Yes, there were flaws, but we learned from them and that is what matters.
*I also copy-edited more than 20 spreads for last year's yearbook and continue to copy-edit, help re-design spreads and edit stories for this year's yearbook. We host in-school field trips to finish up the book and make edits.
Social Media EIC Sandra and I finish up exporting Isssue 3 pages, as we get ready to send to press. Photo by Sara-Beth Badalamente
(Builder)ship + Team Building
As the managing editor last year and editor-in-chief of The Emery this year, I always put the 60 members of our publication before myself. I don't have a permanent seat in class. Instead, I walk around checking in with everyone in the class. Last year, during my lunch period, I was able to attend the fourth-hour newspaper. I went every day to train new staffers and help build a community of storytellers and truthseekers.
Sometimes it is about story ideas, while other times it's about designs and what we are doing in class. I am inspired by everyone in the newspaper, from the ideas they have to the products they produce, I am learning something from them. At the end of the day, everyone has something to contribute, and I encourage their ideas and help with their story pitches. Outside of sharing and gaining knowledge, I work on creating deadlines, planning for the issue, researching, and conducting interviews for my stories.
Top photo: we were getting ready to pass out Issue 2 from 2019. Bottom left: I was copy-editing pages and discussing our plans for the next one. Bottom right: Former News editor Lydia and I were working on an article about a foreign student. Photo courtesy of Sara-Beth Badalamente
In the second semester of my freshman year, I was appointed copy editor. I was beyond excited and copy-edited several articles during the pandemic and even learned the basics of how to design pages. I still remember before COVID, Julie Heng, the previous EIC tells me, "Someday you're going to have to do all of this, you know that right?" as she edits a video.
​
If only my freshman self could look at how much I have grown and learned.
​
During the virtual school year (20-21), I was appointed the Opinion Editor. I would meet with students over zoom, and in breakout rooms to go over articles, while also paving my own path. This was the year when I took over the COVID-19 coverage reporting.
​
I am a builder
As managing editor, I helped create multiple deadline schedules for each of our issues last year. I found that splitting stories and designs into groups, allowed for a more productive in-print cycle. I even took lead over Issue 4 of 2022, training new writers, and designers and working with them during my lunch period. During each and every one of our production nights, I don't have a permanent seat. I run around and help everyone because "builder ship" is about putting people on staff first. This is always my philosophy and organization is also a part of it - by updating the slideshow with a daily agenda. This year we have a student teacher from the University of Michigan, so I communicate/(d) with my adviser and the student teacher, adding slides about deadlines while also reading a book - a plan our student teacher taught.
​
​
​
We would read the book for half of the time and work on deadlines for the rest of the time
As editor-in-chief, I have helped create a curriculum for the class and set deadlines for the semester from staffers learning how to write features to learn the basics of photography as we have assigned editors to conduct mini-lessons. I believe that this is vital for them since being section editors they have the stories first. So they address a lot of the issues they usually see and teach staffers how to write and angle stories.
​
​
​
​
I consistently emphasize expectations as an editor and a staff member. I also remind myself of the expectations of being an editor-in-chief. We also decided to do a human rights reporting unit. Two stories from that unit were published in our fourth issue. This schedule and activities made me realize the abundance of potential in newspapers from being a sports fanatic to being a god at using Adobe illustrator. This is especially with our group brainstorming sessions before every issue.
Our section editor teaching a lesson on feature writing.
After each issue is done, I send a thank you email to the staff writers that have contributed to the issue! Our issues could not have been produced without the efforts new and old staff have put in.
I noticed a huge discrepancy in the workload between the editorial board and section editors. I attended the editor camp at the JEA conference, in expectation of revising the staff manual.
I wrote up a proposal to indicate the issues within our publication. This is a huge building block as we are still working on a new staff manual, revising the old one. I will be guiding but also following underclassmen's lead. After all, their vision is the future.
My adviser and I decided it would be best to split our two newspaper classes and have each hour switch-off between print and online from our third issue. So while fourth hour designed issue3, while my co-EIC and I helped every step of the way -- since we are in sixth hour -- sixth hour focused on online. Having countless editor meetings (our recent one was the one above and I took this photo) and a diverse editorial group has been beneficial to the content we are producing. The key to any editorial group is communication. Our group and staff members, communicate through slack, a platform we implemented today.
This new platform, Trello, and our spreadsheets have helped us track progress on articles and staff. With Trello, it makes my job so much easier being able to navigate all of our members' stories.
​
I have also recruited and trained a new copy editor and web-managing editor this year. To create a healthy work culture, we have decided to communicate more with each other during meetings about roles and have fun conversations. It truly is a family at The Emery, a home, nevertheless.
I decided to create design group channels from Issues 3 and 4. This made it so there was clear communication with designers and writers for any issues. Having separate channels instead of typing in the general chat, we gained more attention from those involved in the issue.
