10 rules for a college editor

I was looking through articles on Poytner institute when I ran across one that was similar to what we’ve been reading about over the past few weeks.  It was a list of the top 10 things a great boss needs to know.  I agree with everything the author Jill Geisler said, but after working as a copy editor at the DEN for the past semester and as an editor for the yearbook I feel like college publications should have their own top 10 for editors and reporters.

1. Give new writers a chance: Yes they’re fresh out of news 1 but if we don’t give them a chance who will?
2. Don’t stare at said newbies when they walk in the door, it’s intimidating and scares them away
3. Get out of the newsroom:  luckily most of us walk from our dorm to the newsroom, because if we didn’t we’d never know what was going on outside this fluorescently lit prison
4. Call people: whether it’s to set up an interview or contact a reporter, it’s faster and you get better information than compared to emailing
5. Take it outside: if something is hilarious or enraging take it outside and leave it there, I can’t work if someone is screaming with laughter or anger
6. Sex sells: battle of the sexperts/rubber lovers/masturbatathon – is there a theme here?
7. Lola is always right
8. Caffeine is a lifeline, time is a shark
9. Experiment: try new things, don’t be afraid to question, look outside the box, because that will get you a job
10. And when all else fails: call student government stupid

Boston Globe using journalism student stories on front page

A small story over at Poynter Online caught my attention. Being a journalism student myself, I found it surprising that a paper such as the Boston Globe is using student stories in their paper, 11 of which has made the front page of the paper.

I agree with what Walter Robinson, a Northwestern University professor and former Boston Globe writer said. He said that paper editors should welcome the help that students can give outside of internships. This is a great idea for students still in college to start getting their name out. I know that working at the college level newspapers is nice, but expanding out to the city level with publishing stories can help students competing for jobs get an advantage when they are out of college. It would be nice to see universities take advantage of this as well, and encourage students to go out to these papers and write for them.

That’s Such a Cliche

An article I read recently dealt with using cliches. It focused on how the phrase “tipping point” has become a cliche in the media. For instance, when discussing a global climate chance, Al Gore used the phrase saying we are moving toward “several dangerous tipping points.” The Army General, David McKiernan, used it saying he wants to reach a “tipping point” with the Taliban.

I thought this was interesting because just last week in my Editorial writing class we were discussing how it is important as a writer to steer clear of using cliches. As a writer, you should try to create your own cliche in a sense and not rely on the phrases that everyone else happen to be using.