Chapter 6 first part
Chapter 6 Responsibility of the College Press
The responsibility of the student editor
The responsibility of the editor is to those who support you and pay for the results of your production page 199
There is a delicate balance between view and news in the paper. The news is more important than your opinion. You are just reporting the news, not your take on the news. Page 200
A freedom to print what you think is the truth is not freedom, but license- and licenses aren’t handed out to everyone. Page 200
The student editor must bear a responsibility to his University.
When writing editorials, editors must be careful not to be misinterpreted. You must write with the weight of some experience. Page 201
As an editor, your responsibility is to your fellow students. As a student, your responsibility is to the establishment (the school).
On Politics: Leave it to the people who have had experience in politics. Anyone can have an angry irrational thought. It needs to be backed up with fact.
On Religion: If you feel something needs to be said, attempt to use it in another medium. The topic of religion and targeting a specific religion are two different things. It is dishonest to blatantly use your position to offend people. You should be courteous.
On Sex: if you are using sex in your columns to produce an uproar or reaction then you are displaying immaturity.
On Administration: you must be backed by the student body in order to print an editorial that questions the administration. Not just print something because they aren’t doing what you want.
It’s better to resign then to submit to the likes of the Student Government concerning content, layout and length.
An editor also has a responsibility to himself p205
A staff should develop within itself with advice from past editors.
A Staff should have “staff empathy” which means that they all know what everyone is thinking.
A staff must have pride in its work. Positive reinforcement is always a good thing.
Primary is the belief that the newspaper is beyond an activity. Page 207
BINGO. It’s more than a work study job, more than just a paycheck. I think we need to instill this in our staff members this year. Getting away from the “club” aspect will help us do this.
An editor needs to be a reporter, a copyeditor, a columnist, a student, a deskman and perhaps news editor. P 208
Well, I haven’t done all of these things, but we have a small staff and there is no way I could’ve done them all before taking my position.
The newspaper staff members should be aware of a professional attitude that results from an appreciation of newspaperman in the field. I wonder if we can visit the SP times….
The Editor achieves staff empathy by directing the policy of the paper, by trusting the editors he has appointed to their jobs, but insuring that the staff regenerates itself with new reporters, by meeting with other campus leaders on problems they care to discuss, by writing forcefully and well, by maintaining an understanding with the faculty advisor who is advising not censoring and seeking and gaining admittance to the news and policy sources of the University page 210 This is really good. I feel like I need to take more time in the beginning of the year to bring the staff together and explain my expectations, not in an overbearing way, but in a “taking pride in our work” kind of way. What do you think?
The editor must have “been around”. The editor should maintain conversation with administrators.
The biggest fault of an editor is to be unwilling to discuss a matter directly and forwardly with an administrator for fear that they will ask you not to print it or alter the story.
The editor must be willing to state honestly what he feels. P210
Being able to discuss business face to face and then expressing opinion justly in the newspaper is the obligation and most difficult task of the editor of a college newspaper.
An editor should be a good enough thinker and a responsible enough person that if he is confronted with the fact that alters his opinion or denies him a story, he can accept the attitude that it is part of professional journalism. P211
The editor must be a person who can also judge other writers for their ability to handle material in good taste. P 212 I am working on this….
The university must provide every opportunity possible for students to evaluate their own work and to assume responsibility for what is printed. P213
It’s a good policy that no one should read the article, outside if the newspaper staff before it is printed.
posted by Krista @ 5:53 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Krista,
It's difficult to keep your opinion out of the news, isn't it? I know whenever I was asked to write a story about alleged child or animal abuse, I had to struggle quite a bit to make sure my story was fair and balanced. But we have to remain impartial -- which is why I am usually quick to mark "editorializing" on any news story that has a connotation that shows favoritism for one "side" of the story over the other.
Something else we should address at the paper is keeping even the possibility of something thinking we might write a "slanted" story out of the paper. At my college, for instance, anyone who served on student government wasn't allowed to go NEAR the news section (although they could write sports or entertainment). Likewise, from now on we need to keep you off stories about the dorms -- you're an RA, and you could be perceived as having a "view" about residential life. Someone impartial needs to write those stories.
Much of the rest of your blog just seems to be random points -- valid, but not much to respond to -- but allow me to address something you mentioned about the newspaper job being more than something the students do for work study. I wholeheartedly agree. It's not that I don't think that the students who hold the jobs for work study don't always do a good job -- we have student editors who do a fine job -- but if they aren't interested in learning more about journalistic writing, editing, and layout, they will eventually need to find new jobs. We just can't chance having people on staff who think writing for the newspaper is "just a job" -- it has too many repercussions for us.
The practicum has been put in place to help find students who are truly interested in journalism, and who are willing to make at least a year commitment to the newspaper to learn how to write, edit, do layout, and get better as a staff. While I haven't mandated that our staff take the practicum this year, I can say I am of the strong mind that those students who do choose to take the practicum will, in the (perhaps not too distant) future, get priority for the paid editing jobs. It might not be a popular stance with some of our staff, but we have to stop some of the bigger mistakes in writing and layout that we continue to suffer from. The practicum will teach our staff how to avoid those mistakes. (Which is why I truly hope you sign up.)
D.
HI Danita. I agree with the practicum, but I am not sure i can do it because of my schedule. I already have 5 classes...which in order to add a 6th, i have to pay more. I also agree with the keeping me off Dorm stories. Its hard to be impartial. Also, i am struggling with the staffers who are on staff this year and don't do the practicum. Next year, if we require it and the seasoned staffers don't want to go for it, are we not rehiring them? We would lose a good editor to a freshman who wants to take it? I guess thats where its hard to seperate the friends from coworkers....
Hi krista,
I'm requiring that people who take the practicum to take a journalism class with Fred first before getting to me, unless they come to me for permission (i.e. they've already journalistic experience via the Triton or elsewhere).
But yes, after this year, and possibly after this semester, people who have taken/are in the practicum will get precedence in paid jobs at the Triton ... if there are jobs left after practicum students choose, we can keep people on, but they won't stay just because they need work/study money.
It's not all my decision, but I support it -- we can't keep people on staff who aren't dedicated enough to journalism to not want to take the practicum and learn from each other via a class. And it's nothing personal -- I like everyone on our staff -- but we continue to have issues that primarily come from lack of training and education, and the practicum is there, in part, to circumvent that.
See you on the blog tomorrow,
D.
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