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| Gerri Berendzen, left, and Lisa McLendon offered examples of what copy desks at
small papers can accomplish if they're well-organized. |
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Small papers,
big ambitions
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Versatility, good planning and improvisation
are among
the keys to making the most
of limited resources.
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| ''SMALL PAPERS: DOING MORE WITH LESS,'' presented by Gerri Berendzen, Quincy Herald-Whig,
and Lisa McLendon, Denton Record-Chronicle |
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By Kate Karp
Newspapers
far smaller than The New York Times have the same mission of publishing “all the
news that’s fit to print.” And they have the additional task of laying in all the
news that fits.
The smaller the publication, the greater are the number of tasks needed to get the
paper on the doorstep the day following deadline. Editors deal with limited personnel,
overdiversification of duties, lack of funds to hire additional help and the sensation
of invisible fists clutching their stomach linings. According to Gerri Berendzen
and Lisa McLendon, cooperation among the staff members of small papers is the key
to resolving the issues and running a smooth operation.
“We don’t have enough people,” said McLendon, the news editor at the Denton Record-Chronicle
in Texas. “[Our question is] how we can get work done on time, and have the paper
look nice as well?”
At their Friday afternoon ACES conference workshop session, “Small Papers: Doing
More for Less,” McLendon and Berendzen, the copy desk supervisor at the Quincy Herald-Whig
in Illinois, shared their experience in making a small staff produce at its highest
level.
“I work for a paper where the copy editor is king,” Berendzen said. At a small paper,
a copy editor may also be a designer, a reporter, a photographer, an assigning editor,
a feature writer, a theater reviewer and an athlete who hops back and forth between
rim and slot functions. The presenters cited the keys to successfully managing a
small paper: planning, setting priorities, staffing, communication and training.
Planning the daily or weekly budget ensures that multitasking doesn’t get out of
hand and overtake the staff. Planning meetings should occur at least weekly and must
involve the copy editors, who can give input on stories and design. Participants
can look at story ideas and decide which should run that issue and which can be set
for another day.
McLendon said that copy editors must stress the importance of meeting deadlines to
reporters and designers in order to present effective and clean copy. Advance planning
helps editors see if too many stories are planned for one edition. The presenters
cited an exceptional example of forward planning as related by Heather Johnson, copy
desk chief at the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota.
“When it looked as if the pope was about to die, Heather said that they got most
of the section done a year in advance,” Berendzen said. The paper’s staff began looking
at clips, set and revised timelines, added local stories and photos, and assigned
a copy editor to regularly update the section. When the pope died in April, they
plugged in a wire story and then got the rest of the section out.
Completing important stories and getting artwork in advance gives copy editors more
time to work on the material and manage the quality, the presenters said.
“We used to get big projects at the last minute and would hear from reporters later
that we missed the message,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “Having copy editors in
the planning process cuts down on that.”
“And don’t sweat the small stuff,” Berendzen said. “You’re not going to report on
every fish fry.”
One of the more creative challenges of getting the paper out on time is choosing
the right workers for different jobs, and taking care that too many people are not
doing too many scattered things. McLendon suggested changing hours or days off among
the staff. A number of participants said that their papers successfully tried out
staggered shifts and shorter workweeks. Tim Yagle of the Marin-Independent Journal
said that each desk does its own editing, and then pools the copy among the desks
for slot editing.
“Put people at what they’re good at,” Berendzen said. “Sometimes you can also use
someone good at something to train other workers.”
In-house training, said the presenters, is a natural direction for a paper with a
small number of employees, each of whom has a special talent. Outside training is
more dependent on the availability of time and funding, but Berendzen and McLendon
advised the participants to grab it where and when they could, citing ACES as an
obvious example.
Berendzen offers training bytes through online courses, such as those by Adobe for
Photoshop and Acrobat, that can be taken when time is available. In-house style and
design guides will prevent reinventing the wheel.
“Tell them that you can do a lot better job with these books — and wouldn’t the paper
look better?” Berendzen advised the audience.
“We’re all in the business of communication, so let’s communicate,” McLendon said.
Communication between the copy desk and reporters, sales, graphic artists and other
newspapers in the publishing family is the most essential element of success in meeting
deadlines and putting out a good paper. If a reporter needs more time with a story,
there must be a means with which he and the copy editor can contact each other. If
a special graphic is needed for a story, a working relationship with the advertising
or production department serves the copy editor well.
Sometimes good communication is boosted by the luck of the draw. Dora Muhammed of
Chicago’s Final Call said her paper employs a printer who will do last-minute changes
when the staff is scrambling for them.
If the staff is stretched to the snapping point, there are people in the community
who are talented and willing to volunteer for the glory of seeing their name on the
last line of the masthead. College interns will exchange writing copy and rewriting
press releases for college credit or work hours, and may even learn something at
the job. Retirees on a pension or intelligent, educated individuals looking to change
careers may be willing and able to work at a low-level salary. Think outside the
box, said McLendon, for solutions for personnel on a shoestring budget.
“You can do great things with a small staff, if you’re willing,” Berendzen added.
Kate Karp is assistant editor of the Seal Beach Sun, a small-circulation weekly
in Southern California. |
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