Media Ride-Along Report

I spent a shift shadowing Marilyn Young, metro editor for the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, on March 11, 2008. While there, I also spoke with metro assigning editor Tim Heider, ombudsman Wayne Ezell, and features context editor John Timpe. 

 

Diary of a Shift—Marilyn Young, Metro Editor

            9:30 a.m. Arrive in the office and check e-mails

            9:45 a.m. Have a “maestro meeting” with online database editor and online photo editor to discuss the presentation of stories that will also appear in the coming week’s print editions

            10 a.m. Morning budget meeting with all editors to discuss next two days’ papers. Those attending include the art editor, library director, interim editor, content editor, and wire editor. Stories are added and struck from the budgets in everyone’s hands. The interim editor says he does not yet have a centerpiece story for the next day’s paper and asks for suggestions. Someone says they should localize a wire story about restaurants’ cutting corners because of the economic recession. Another editor suggests making a story about the retirement of a veteran cold case cop into the centerpiece. The ombudsman says a business section headline was inaccurate in the previous day’s paper. He also says readers responded really well when the lifestyle section ran sample questions from the FCAT to test readers’ intelligence. The online editor reports a record number of page views when photos from a recent marathon were added to the Web site, Jacksonville.com.            

            11 a.m. Meet with assistant metro editor and a reporter to discuss a breaking news story he’s working on. He’s stumbled upon a lawsuit in an adjacent county wherein a young woman is trying to get the inheritance of her deceased elderly husband. Apparently, the woman and her boyfriend schemed for her to marry the rich old man and take all his money. Marilyn likes the Anna Nicole-esque scandal but warns the reporter to make sure the story is documented well.

            11:30 a.m. Check e-mails and respond to one from the Georgia bureau chief

            12-1 p.m. Lunch with metro assigning editor Tim Heider and features context editor John Timpe. Topics of discussion include the recent reorganization the newsroom had undergone. Apparently, the company did a massive “reorg” a couple of years ago, and this most recent reorg was to correct the problems created by the first. Now, the paper is hiring many new reporters. Tim tells me that in his 20 years of newspaper experience, he’s “never met a reader advocate [aka ombudsman] who was worth a shit.” He says they all “f—ed up” at some point in their careers and were made into reader advocates. For example, he says the T-U ombudsman used to be a publisher at a paper in South Florida, but he was completely inept.

            1:30 p.m. Attend another “maestro meeting” with two photo editors to discuss video for online and art for tomorrow’s paper

            2 p.m. Attend a training session with all other department heads to learn how to use new budgeting software. Each editor sits at a computer and watches a demonstration on an overhead projector while a disembodied voice narrates over a speaker phone. (We leave early, and Marilyn tells me this is the third updated version of the software with its own training session. She complains of the grotesque waste of time.)

            3 p.m. Meeting with interim editor Frank Denton to discuss a proposal the ombudsman has submitted. The proposal is for story package planning to begin weeks, even months in advance, in order for photo and graphics editors to better plan their strategies. Marilyn says she appreciates what he’s trying to do, but says the proposal is just not feasible because stories evolve so much during the course of reporting, and reporters shouldn’t be stuck in a corner because the art has already been done.

            3:30 p.m. Attend afternoon budget meeting to finalize tomorrow’s paper.

            Note: I left the paper at this time. Through my interview, I learned that Marilyn works until 12:30 a.m. some days. “If I get out by 10 or 11, I’m lucky,” she said. She spends much of the evening in meetings with various editors and reporters in the office and over the phone from the Georgia bureau. She also continues to get phone calls from work after she goes home for the night.

 

Hierarchy Chart

            Please see PowerPoint presentation. Note: Because of recent reorganization, the chart may be somewhat out of date. However, it is the best version available. Someday, the development editor plans to consolidate the chart and put it online.

 

Profile of an Editor

            Before coming to the Times-Union, Marilyn Young was the managing editor of a midsize Indiana paper for 10 years. She started at the T-U as the night editor and worked her way up to being metro editor within five years.

            When she started at the T-U, she worked with a staff of 27 reporters. Today, because of company reorganizations, the staff is down to 15 reporters, but Marilyn is in the process of hiring about five more, including a military reporter, a health reporter, and an investigative reporter.

            Marilyn knew she wanted to be a journalist since third grade, when she was in charge of the classroom newsletter. As soon as she got out of high school, she began writing for a paper in Jeffersonville, Ind. While attending classes at Indiana University, she continued reporting for the paper, contributing coverage about an adjacent county. Her first editor was her best editor, she says. She still calls him for advice, even though he’s been retired for five years.

            When she was a reporter, Marilyn had no interest in becoming an editor. She was working at her second paper when she was asked to step in for an editor’s monthlong hiatus. At age 27, she was then asked to fill the position full time. When the paper was bought out, she moved to the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind., where she started as features editor. She was city editor and then managing editor before moving to Jacksonville.

            Marilyn says her biggest career regret is leaving reporting so early. She plans to one day end her career in reporting because “it’s the greatest job in the world.”

 

Copy of Ethical Policy

            Please see hard copy on Wednesday. Highlights include:

n      Staff members may not accept any cash, gifts, samples, discounts, or free services

n      Staff members may not seek public office while employed at the paper

n      Editors may approve circumstances under which a reporter or photographer does not identify himself as a journalist to a news source

n      Some people should not be identified by address, including handicapped people, those with valuable collections, or those who have been featured because of physical attributes

 

 

 

Views of Ethical Policy

            Marilyn says, “I don’t know of anyone who violates it.” She says the paper takes its policy very seriously: “There’s no gray there.”

 

Policies

            Using anonymous sources

                        Using an anonymous source must be approved by an assistant managing editor or higher. It can only be done if the information has been verified by at least two independent sources and the department head knows who they are. Marilyn says 95 percent of the time, there’s a better way to get the information. When possible, the paper identifies the person the best way possible, for example by saying, “a courthouse official…”

            Identifying juveniles suspected of crimes

                        Juveniles are always identified when they are charged as adults and are sometimes identified if they are charged with violent crimes. 

            Identifying victims of crime, especially rape/molestation victims

                        The paper never does this, except in the rare case the victim wants to be identified.

            Fact checking

                        Marilyn says there is no written policy on fact checking, but it’s “just something we do.” Copy editors especially verify every name, phone number and Web address.

 

 

 

Outside influences on news content

            Marilyn said the only outside influence she could think of was suggestions from readers. As far as sacred cows, she says the paper had none. She says she actually killed a couple of them when she took over as metro editor. For example, she decided to not cover a fundraiser that had received prominent coverage for many years.

 

Training

            Before budget cuts, the paper used to bring in training sessions by Investigative Reporters and Editors and other groups for “journalism week.” Now, the paper sends one person to a training session or conference, and that person shares his knowledge with other newspaper staff at a brown bag lunch.

 

Editing Protocols

            The T-U doesn’t have written editing protocols, but many questions about the editing process are answered in other written documents: “Attribution and Sourcing Policy,” “The Florida Times-Union Policy on Plagiarism,” and “Values.” Marilyn explains that changes are rarely made to stories without a reporter’s knowledge because assigning editors work so closely with reporters throughout the reporting process. If something gets changed, the two meet the next day to discuss the reason. Copy editors have an unwritten rule that they never change a story’s lede, except in the case of very experienced copy editors who have a gift for improvement. Most importantly, copy editors must be sure to “keep a reporter’s voice.”

 

 

Pay and Unionization

            Marilyn says editors are not unionized and never seriously considered it. Assigning editors at the T-U make between $45,000 and $65,000 per year. Because she is a department head in charge of assigning editors, she makes more than that but wouldn’t specify the exact amount.

 

Convergence

            The Times-Union produces the Web site www.Jacksonville.com, with bureaus including http://www.myarlingtonsun.com/, http://myclaysun.com/, http://mymandarinsun.com/ and  http://www.shorelines.com/. Over the past year, the staff of Jacksonville.com has melded into the newsroom staff. Physically, the staff became one with the institution of a circular desk module, at which online and print editors sit in close proximity. Last year, the paper designated a “Rapid Response Team,” whose main mission is to put content on the Web immediately. Marilyn says, “As a newsroom, as soon as we know something, we post it.” She said exclusive stories used to be held until the next day’s print version, but now even they are immediately posted despite the danger a competitor might steal it. Any staff member can post content online from any computer in the newsroom. Some reporters have shot their own video to go online. Comments posted on online message boards are sometimes taken and put into the print edition the next day. Marilyn says the online product is seen as being equal with the print version. “I think we realize that if we all want to be working in 10 years, it’s equal,” she says.

            Convergence has presented plenty of obstacles, Marilyn says. She says all local and developing stories go online, but the paper needs to greatly improve their presentation. She said she works with online and art editors all the time to enhance presentation using photos and videos. She said now the paper develops a story for the print version and puts it online as an afterthought, but it’s moving toward creating stories for online and putting them in print as an afterthought. She said the goal is to create “platform agnostic” content, but it’s difficult for the newspaper culture to adapt.

            Wayne Ezell, the T-U ombudsman, said convergence has added dimensions to his job as a liaison between the readers and the news staff. He said he’s gotten more e-mails recently from people whose whole view of the paper appears to reflect the online product. This creates a “schism” is his mind between “paper people” and “online people.” With 750,000 recent page views of a single online photo gallery, he said the T-U staff recognizes the amount of time people are spending with the online product. He plans to start a blog in addition to his weekly printed column.

            Part of the newsroom is dedicated to a multimedia production space with green screens. So far, the space has been used to host a talk show about high school football that went online.

 

Career Advice 1

            For young journalists looking to start their careers, Marilyn said it’s of utmost importance to work under a great editor. A great editor, like the one she had at her first job, is patient yet firm, knows what makes a great story, and gets you to do it. For those who hope to become editors, she says to work as a reporter for as long as you can first. She said the relationship between editor and reporter is a “tough” one because the editor must work to earn reporters’ respect and trust. Therefore, a young editor would have an even harder time. She said the only time a young person should take on an editing position is if she works for a really small paper and also writes.

 

Career Advice: Resumes and Cover Letters

            Marilyn stressed that the cover letter is the most important part of an application. She said she sees so many resumes that they all start to look the same, so your big chance to grab her attention is in the letter. She can tell if you’re a good writer in one paragraph, she says, so there’s no minimum length. She advises students to avoid the cliché: “I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer,” even if it’s true. She would rather see great storytelling or a big dose of personality than tired old phrases. She says multimedia skills are important, but if you don’t have them, tell her in the cover letter that you’re willing to learn them. That way, you show that you realize they are important even if you didn’t get a chance to take an online class in school. (She suggests visiting apple.com and soundslides.com for free tutorials on how to produce multimedia.)

            In your resume, what you did isn’t as important as how you did it. She says to explicitly state your skills adds icing to the cake of your experience. For example, say what computer programs you used to edit copy at your last job.