~ I learned a long time ago that you can't dwell on mistakes. Each day is a new chance to try something new, learn from your mistakes and be ready for new headaches or hurdles. New day, new newspaper. I like to try and bring that same philosophy into digital media and social media.
~ Transparency: Because we're able to make those mistakes, we shouldn't just cover them up and pretend they didn't happen. We need to tell people that we did make a mistake and promise to do more in the future. This also means that we tell our readers why and how certain stories are reported and constructed.
~ Words matter (and you have to choose them wisely). Ten years ago, most newspaper articles were predominantly image-less. We reserved photos and art for things that we call centerpieces, arguably the largest module on the page, and often the largest photo. So the words you picked for the headlines, drop heads and first couple of graphs determined whether someone will continue reading the story. So we have to pick the right words.
~ Writing headlines to spec (size, length, depth) is a little trick I learned back with the News-Gazette. I really learned it very early on, but the N-G's copy editing system allowed you to write a headline in a box that reflected the space on the page. It helped with poetry writing, and it's a skill that I still utilize with web headlines.
~ The smell of the pressroom. There's really nothing like walking into a wall of ink and cleaner. I've had the benefit of working with a press since college, and it'll be hard to leave that. I may have to make friends at the Juneau Empire to get in and hang out with the press.
~ Seeing the next day's newspaper about six hours before anyone else. Because you're designing or copyediting, you can actually hold the newspaper in your hands, fresh off the press. My fingers have been smudged with fresh ink more time than not.
~ Yelling stop the presses! Sometimes it's because we've screwed up super bad and need to fix it. SOMETIMES, it's because you are breaking huge news, which is one of the most gratifying moments in print journalism.
~ A mastery of words: Between teaching people that you don't really evacuate people (Thank you, The Wire) and the difference between androgynous/erogenous zones, or how many L's are in cancel, canceled and cancellation. Also learning Associated Press style (despite useless to the layman) and Webster's New World Collegiate is amazingly awesome for entertaining your young co-workers at the bar.
~ The amazingly weird (and often dark) sense of humor of journalists (most notably, copy editors). We deal with extremely depressing information on a day-to-day basis. One has to develop a sick sense of humor just to keep from wallowing in depression.
~ The amazing array of people who I've met over the years. Honestly, I've met people who were history majors, trivia contest winners, sports nuts, etc. It's a field that draws a certain personality, but the paths in which arrive are completely different. Each new personality brings a different perspective, and having different ideas floating around really helps the industry grow.
(11th ... ~ While the industry continues to grow and adapt to the technology, much of the way things are done have changed, but the end result is the basically the same from 10 years ago. In the face of huge technological shifts, in the end our product is great stories, accurate reportage, and community engagement. Maybe it's the same for most other journalism industries, but I feel it rings no truer for print.)
~ Transparency: Because we're able to make those mistakes, we shouldn't just cover them up and pretend they didn't happen. We need to tell people that we did make a mistake and promise to do more in the future. This also means that we tell our readers why and how certain stories are reported and constructed.
~ Words matter (and you have to choose them wisely). Ten years ago, most newspaper articles were predominantly image-less. We reserved photos and art for things that we call centerpieces, arguably the largest module on the page, and often the largest photo. So the words you picked for the headlines, drop heads and first couple of graphs determined whether someone will continue reading the story. So we have to pick the right words.
~ Writing headlines to spec (size, length, depth) is a little trick I learned back with the News-Gazette. I really learned it very early on, but the N-G's copy editing system allowed you to write a headline in a box that reflected the space on the page. It helped with poetry writing, and it's a skill that I still utilize with web headlines.
~ The smell of the pressroom. There's really nothing like walking into a wall of ink and cleaner. I've had the benefit of working with a press since college, and it'll be hard to leave that. I may have to make friends at the Juneau Empire to get in and hang out with the press.
~ Seeing the next day's newspaper about six hours before anyone else. Because you're designing or copyediting, you can actually hold the newspaper in your hands, fresh off the press. My fingers have been smudged with fresh ink more time than not.
~ Yelling stop the presses! Sometimes it's because we've screwed up super bad and need to fix it. SOMETIMES, it's because you are breaking huge news, which is one of the most gratifying moments in print journalism.
~ A mastery of words: Between teaching people that you don't really evacuate people (Thank you, The Wire) and the difference between androgynous/erogenous zones, or how many L's are in cancel, canceled and cancellation. Also learning Associated Press style (despite useless to the layman) and Webster's New World Collegiate is amazingly awesome for entertaining your young co-workers at the bar.
~ The amazingly weird (and often dark) sense of humor of journalists (most notably, copy editors). We deal with extremely depressing information on a day-to-day basis. One has to develop a sick sense of humor just to keep from wallowing in depression.
~ The amazing array of people who I've met over the years. Honestly, I've met people who were history majors, trivia contest winners, sports nuts, etc. It's a field that draws a certain personality, but the paths in which arrive are completely different. Each new personality brings a different perspective, and having different ideas floating around really helps the industry grow.
(11th ... ~ While the industry continues to grow and adapt to the technology, much of the way things are done have changed, but the end result is the basically the same from 10 years ago. In the face of huge technological shifts, in the end our product is great stories, accurate reportage, and community engagement. Maybe it's the same for most other journalism industries, but I feel it rings no truer for print.)
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