EDITING
I realized my sophomore year that if I wanted to improve as a writer, I would have to learn how to edit, so, I spent the entirety of my summer learning AP style to prepare myself for junior year. The more stories I edited, the more quickly I realized mistakes, which also helped me avoid them in my own writing. Editing is an important fundamental skill needed in journalism, as it ensures that we publish quality work, meeting the high standards we have in place as a publication.
Pitching Stories
Anytime a staffer finds a story they'd like to write, I encourage them to fill out a Pitch Sheet for approval. As the editor-in-chief, when someone comes to me with a pitch, it is my job to either approve, deny, or redirect the staffer towards a more refined pitch.
When I first look at the sheet, I make sure the majority of it is filled out. If the sheet is legible, and includes enough information, the second step is to make sure the story hasn't been done before. If the story is new, relevant, and the staffer has enough information that shows their understanding of what they'll be writing, then I approve their pitch with my signature. While I've never had to deny a staffer's pitch, sometimes they'll come to me with an underdeveloped idea.
Early this school year, two reporters pitched me a story on the middle school's band, but the idea didn't go much further than that. So, I spent a few minutes talking to them about their story to help them pick a refined angle that would make sense for our audience. After explaining to them what I'm looking for, they changed their pitch to how skills learned from middle school band help prepare students for the high school level.
It's important to me that each staffer feels confident writing the stories they pitch, so I help them refine their ideas as much as possible, since that will set them up for success.
Reporter's Edits
After bringing the leadership staff together for recalibration, I found from my copy editors that stories getting to them weren't polished nor ready to be properly edited. Things like misspelled words and inconsistencies in LQTQ format were common and making their jobs more difficult than they had to be. Since it's my job to keep the entire staff on the right track, I created the Reporter's Story Checklist.
Now official part of our editing process, all staffers must have their checklist complete before sending their article to an editor. When a copy editor receives a story, their job is to make sure the article correlates with what's on the checklist.
If the staffer's article reflects with what's on the checklist, then the sheet gets the copy editor's signature of approval. If the article has common errors mentioned in the checklist, then it's the copy editor's job to give the story back to the reporter and explain the corrections they need to make.
All approved stories make it into the copy edit phase.
Copy Edit
The first official round of editing starts with our two copy editors, who each edit for their assigned half of the staff. After fully reading the story on Google Docs, editors go through their checklist to look at grammar, word choice, consistent/present angle, and the overall flow of the article.
Once the copy editors have left all their feedback, the story is sent back to the reporter for revisions. Depending on how the editor feels, the story will either be edited a second time or sent to the assistant editor for a final round of editing. When the article is ready for the final edit, copy editors sign the sheet, followed by the reporter's signature after they've finished revising.
"...I would make mistakes a lot in my writing, and I've been doing that for years. When I started to finally notice other people made those same mistakes, I was able to correct them, because looking at writing from a standpoint away from my own brain is a lot better for me, at least when noticing problems. ...We definitely help each other out, and it's really nice to get to help other students, work with them, and learn from them just as much as I teach them."
- Truman Hammond, Copy Editor
This is the feedback that one copy editor left on another staffers story.
Assistant Edit - Web
The second and final edit for stories starts with our assistant website editor, who also is responsible for publishing content once they deem it complete. On top of this responsibility, it's also the AWE's job to help the publication reach the Distinguished Site status through SNO, which I talk more about in the Web section.
When it comes to final editing stories, I found that I edit best and feel the most confident when I read over the story multiple times. Once I've fully read the story, I go back to the beginning and start leaving my edits, focusing primarily on grammar and structure. For the third read through, I focus on the flow of the story, looking for sentences that don't make sense or ideas the reporter needs to touch on more. At this point, I will send the story back to the reporter for them to revise.
When the reporter has revised their story, it's their job to put it on SNO, where I will take one final look before publishing it to our website. Once I complete the final edit checklist sheet, I like to leave written feedback on it, explaining what the writer did well and what they can improve on.
Being the AWE taught me the difference being an editor makes on your own writing, as I've been able to witness a huge leap in my growth from my sophomore to junior year. As I continue to utilize my editing skills in each production class, I'm positive I'll continue to improve as a writer while helping others do the same.
"You helped me fine tune my writing style in a way to make it more easily appealing for readers instead of just myself, because before that, I didn't write for the public. ...You were encouraging as well, and you helped everyone keep moving and keep going."
-Amy Ngo, Copy Editor
These are some examples of feedback I left for different stories. While it's important that I give staffers constructive feedback, it's just as valuable that they understand the things they've done well.
While I focus on leaving my feedback through comments, I sometimes will make suggestions when the changes are small.
Assistant Edit - Sports
New this school year, the sports editor is responsible for editing all coverage done on sports. Containing the main information each assistant edit checklist has, this sheet also highlights key aspects needed within sports stories.
Assistant Edit - Print
Much like the AWE, the assistant print editor is responsible for the final copy of both stories and spread layouts. Since stories are due sooner than spreads, the APE's first job is to edit all the written articles. Once stories are edited and ready to go, staffers are able to plug their stories into the spread draft so it can move on to the next phase.
When a spread is deemed complete by the reporter, it's then the APE's job to check the layout for style, spelling, and any other errors they can find. When the APE approves the spread, it's considered "ready for print" and waits to be submitted to the publisher.
While I've never been the APE, as EIC it's part of my job to do a once look over to make sure we haven't missed anything. Unlike publishing a story on our website, once something is printed there is no going back, so both the stories and spreads must be as error free as we can get them.
Article Extensions
Journalism is a very self-sufficient class, we pick our assignments, make our deadlines, and write articles on our schedule, but one thing I failed to realize is that new staffers struggle with this independence. After multiple Monday Morning Meetings, I watched as more members of my staff fell behind with their work, so, I decided to make specific deadlines for everyone. If a staffer misses their deadline, their job is to fill out an Extension sheet.
When the reporter writes their explanation for missing their deadline and how they plan to meet their next one, they'll hand the sheet to me for a new deadline and signature of approval. This sheet primarily helps me see where issues are arising, if it's a reporter with poor time management, or an editor with too much on their plate, it gives me the chance to help out where it's needed. At the same time, it'll hopefully get staffers thinking about their stories more, so in the future they can meet deadlines without struggle.
Each story gets its own deadline based on what type of article it is. For insistence, reporters will have more time to write a news story than they will for sports coverage.
Adviser Feedback
After an article gets published to our website, our adviser grades all of them, which she does with the Story Expectations & Rubric checklist. For grading purposes, stories are divided into two separate categories: Entrees and Appetizers. For stories to be considered an Entree, they must have at least 500 words and 3+ interviews, while for Appetizers, they only need a minimum of 250 words and 2+ interviews.
Once our adviser has completed the rubric, the story will get grade between 0-4. If a story gets a grade lower than a three, we'll typically talk to the reporter and have them revise their article until it's a three or above. Doing this helps us maintain a flow of strong writing, while showing our staffers what aspects make an article excellent.
Shared Drive
Since the majority of editing is done on Google Docs, our publication utilizes a shared Google Drive. Inside the drive is every story being published and worked on. Organized into sub folders, we separate stories by semester, type of article, and whether it's been published or not.
This separation helps our editors find what they're looking for quickly, minimizing the number of stories in one space at a time. Because I have access to all stories in the drive, it allows me to look them over to make sure our reporters are writing authentically. After our AI situation last year, I find it extremely important to check the revision history of stories.
These are the different folders we use to separate story types.
This is the inside of our opinion, review, and editorial folder.
Broadcast Editing
Joining the broadcast class, my experiences as an editor propelled me into the script editor position. Since the majority of the people in the class are new, the beginning of this semester was spent learning the processes and understanding the importance of scripts going through a round of edits.
Just like in journalism, I'm look for sentences that don't make sense when spoken while correcting grammar and spelling throughout the script. I stray away from making suggestions on Google Docs, since it allows reporters to fix their writing without thinking about it. Instead, I focus on leaving in-depth comments that tell them what is wrong and why.
These were some of the comments I left on a weather script that I received. When I'm leaving feedback, I try to be as clear as possible, so they understand why I'm suggesting a change.
After reading over a sports desk script, I noticed that the reporters forgot to add the dates and scores of past games. So, I left a reminder to add them in.
This is an email I received from one of our school counselors about information she wanted included in the broadcast.
Because of my role, people outside the class will send me emails about what they want to include in the broadcast, which I then add to its respective script.
A portion of my job is set aside to make sure staffers include all relevant information within their scripts. Specifically for sports desk scripts, I've notice that some games are included while others aren't. When we don't include specific details, it makes us seem dishonest as we aren't showing our audience the full picture.
Because the broadcast class had no staff handbook in place, it was our first semester final to create one. With my experience in script writing, I was tasked to complete an in-depth tutorial on how to write a script. After updating our journalism staff handbook each year, I had a good idea of what it should look like.
This year has been about finding structure as a publication, since much of what was done before did not resemble that of a true broadcast. With my experience from journalism, I have been helping model professionalism and sticking to AP style when writing scripts.
This is the section I completed for broadcast's new staff handbook.
Yearbook
With a new adviser and goal in mind, our yearbook program is in the process of adopting AP style. This year, I am the programs first-ever and only copy editor, which makes me responsible for looking over all things written. While the task is definitely daunting at times, it truly is a test to my abilities that I'm enjoying.
I was given this position because of my experience editing, but also since I'm the only person who knows how to write in AP style. Because of this, it has been my mission to help teach other staffers how to write journalistically, as the skill is important when it comes to writing articles.
While journalism and yearbook writing is very similar, the most notable change is the size in stories, since with the book we are limited with space. However, the editing process I use in all classes doesn't change. Leaving comments usually isn't enough when I'm editing stories, so I go over to the staffer during class and walk them through my edits.
Whether I'm editing stories or captions, I use a checklist sheet for guidance, which I helped created at the start of this school year. Since staffers are still learning how to write in AP Style, explaining to them why what they wrote was wrong and what they can do to fix it is important.
This story was not in the correct format when it was handed to me and was a little vague. So, I left multiple comments describing to the reporter what needed to be changed and why.
This is the sheet I use as a guide when I'm editing stories. When I have completed a story, I write my feedback in the provided space while signing sections I have approved as ready for the next step.
This is the sheet I use as a guide when I'm editing captions. When I have completed a story, I write my feedback in the provided space while signing sections I have approved as ready for the next step.
