When you are editing first-year journalism students'
stories, you occasionally get some bad feedback.
Some staffers can be pretty stubborn and not like what you have to say about their writing. This can sometimes make you want to be overly bossy or just ask these students to leave the major. I attended a session today called, “Wrangling Bad Habits out of your Eager but Inexperienced Staff.”
Some staffers can be pretty stubborn and not like what you have to say about their writing. This can sometimes make you want to be overly bossy or just ask these students to leave the major. I attended a session today called, “Wrangling Bad Habits out of your Eager but Inexperienced Staff.”
The
main thing I learned in this seminar was to “train and trust your staffers.”
This means that editors really shouldn’t think of themselves as teachers to
their staff, but more as coaches. A lot of staffers want to write about their
opinions right away and you have to find a way to tell them that they have to
put their opinions on a shelf for the time-being while they are trying to tell
a story.
Basically, a good editor should not be a jerk about this; they should sit down with their writers and coach them through making their story better and how to write objectively.
Basically, a good editor should not be a jerk about this; they should sit down with their writers and coach them through making their story better and how to write objectively.
Some of
the pitfalls first-year journalism students will make are using too few sources
or wrong sources. Some will make promises they can’t keep, (such as promising
to show the source the story beforehand). They will procrastinate; use weak
leads and awkward quotes or too many quotes. The solution to this is to be
diplomatic with the writer.
Mollie Carter '14 | Online/Campus Co-Editor
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