A helpful and friendly newsroom
The Press & Sun-Bulletin is great.
When I first got here, Steve Spero, assistant managing editor-online, told me what to expect in the newsroom. He said to imagine when cartoon characters get into a fight and a dust cloud forms; then one of the characters steps out of the cloud and talks to the audience. He said that I was the audience and the newsroom was the dust cloud. Any time I needed help, I could ask someone to step out and talk to me. The newsroom doesn’t seem quite like a dust cloud. It’s more like a semi-opaque fog that thins and thickens depending on the gravity and urgency of stories, and often characters appear out of it whether I ask for them or not.
I haven’t met a reporter or editor who wasn’t helpful, and usually editors ask me if I can do stories rather than tell me to do them. We have teams that consist of an editor and two to five reporters. I’m on Metro Editor Doug Schneider’s team. We meet weekly and discuss what we’re working on and get and give feedback. This keeps us all involved with each other’s stories as they develop. The people here are interesting and very good at what they do. I can count on two things each day: a good story in the paper and a good laugh in the newsroom. I’ve made a few rookie mistakes, but my editors have been helpful and constructive -- never condescending.
The first weeks I was here, I wasn’t used to doing stories in a day and I’d often stay in the newsroom until 7 p.m., even though I got off at 6. A few copy editors teased me about working too hard and said that they never saw me leave my desk. I told them, “I don’t work too hard; I’m just a little slow.” Immediately, Steve Spero popped his head up and said, “But you’re good.” I’ve been moving straight up since then.
When I first got here, Steve Spero, assistant managing editor-online, told me what to expect in the newsroom. He said to imagine when cartoon characters get into a fight and a dust cloud forms; then one of the characters steps out of the cloud and talks to the audience. He said that I was the audience and the newsroom was the dust cloud. Any time I needed help, I could ask someone to step out and talk to me. The newsroom doesn’t seem quite like a dust cloud. It’s more like a semi-opaque fog that thins and thickens depending on the gravity and urgency of stories, and often characters appear out of it whether I ask for them or not.
I haven’t met a reporter or editor who wasn’t helpful, and usually editors ask me if I can do stories rather than tell me to do them. We have teams that consist of an editor and two to five reporters. I’m on Metro Editor Doug Schneider’s team. We meet weekly and discuss what we’re working on and get and give feedback. This keeps us all involved with each other’s stories as they develop. The people here are interesting and very good at what they do. I can count on two things each day: a good story in the paper and a good laugh in the newsroom. I’ve made a few rookie mistakes, but my editors have been helpful and constructive -- never condescending.
The first weeks I was here, I wasn’t used to doing stories in a day and I’d often stay in the newsroom until 7 p.m., even though I got off at 6. A few copy editors teased me about working too hard and said that they never saw me leave my desk. I told them, “I don’t work too hard; I’m just a little slow.” Immediately, Steve Spero popped his head up and said, “But you’re good.” I’ve been moving straight up since then.
-- David Lipscomb, University of Maryland, Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.
posted by Chips Quinn Scholars at 2:19 PM
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