Retrospection

Last Days at The Post

Above, from top: A hall of old Posts welcomes visitors; The edition announcing the school closing after the Kent State riots hangs with other famous Posts through the years; Current Posts hang with critiques in the lounge. Below right: A precious plant pretty much owns the window in the lounge.

Peace out, sewer
The walls are bare and the ancient computers are left on as if they are ready to be used. But there will never again be a paper produced in this old room, featuring a garbage bag over the window to keep the plants from poking through.

The first time I ever walked in the Post newsroom, I was excited by a bunch of seminormal-seeming kids fired up about journalism. Two and a half years later, the metaphorical luster has not worn off, but the paint sure has. Maybe the bathroom has become unusable and the stains on the carpet look worse and worse, but it’s still home. We’re like the ninja turtles of journalism, hanging out in our sewer.

Nastalgia aside, this quarter has been an interesting start of a year at The Post. It has been a quarter of transition as well as controversy.

A facelift
At the beginning of the year, The Post unveiled a redesign, which some have criticized as looking too soft/youthful/feature-y, but most have recognized with applause. A revamp of the cramped, graphic-deprived old design was overdue. And we assure you that the news coverage is not soft. Our next step, thanks to Editor Brittany Kress’ happy obsession with making things look pretty, will be the Web site, which should be ready to unveil at the beginning of Winter Quarter. The new design will be more reflective of the new print version and will eventually include blogs, a calendar and a Craig’s List-type database. I hope that future Posties will put more and more resources onto the Web.

Brittany's round-up of the quarter: “We redesigned the paper this quarter, and we are going to redesign and enhance the Web site, and we are moving to a new building. This could be one of the biggest years of changes The Post, I think, has ever seen. I think everyone’s adjusting really well, and they’re really excited.”

Above left: Editor Brittany Kress screws in a light bulb in the editorial office. Above right: Amy Lauer, design editor, puts together a story package.

Plenty of stories to go around
We kicked off the year with a business school blowout (Reports, prof find faults in business college). Sean Gaffney has had his hands tied following up on the plagiarism scandal that put Ohio University in the recent national spotlight (most recent story: OU mines theses and dissertations for plagiarism), including coverage on Jay Leno and Nightline, both of which I unfortunately don’t have archival links for.

At the start of October, the alcohol policy for athletes debacle ruined our lives, as our sports editor would say. It definitely came at a time when both sports and campus staffs were already overloaded (our first story: Damage control).

The New York Times (Ohio University Tries to Get Past Problems, But New Ones Emerge) did a story on the problems facing Ohio University. These problems are not going away anytime soon.

The price of news
Wednesday night after our last meeting of the quarter, a few of us were talking over drinks at Casa about the burden of some of the stories we presented this year. (Yes, it’s true, we still talk about The Post even when we aren’t there.) Copy Chief Jeff Smith is doing a project about the harm and good of publications running controversy for a journalism class. An excerpt of a few thoughts he shared in a memo to all of us a few weeks ago, which he gave me permission to use:

"I was just reading Brittany and Janet's College of Business story online and thinking about all the controversy here in the past year. Obviously there's something wrong with your school when your dirty laundry ends up in a Jay Leno monologue, but as these scandals pop up, I keep wondering how prevalent these problems are elsewhere. (We can't be unique, and I wonder if we're even all that special.)

"… This is going to sound arrogant, but I wonder if OU's reputation is what it is today only because the student journalists at OU are better than the ones covering the rest of the MAC and our peer institutions. Of course, we didn't create the problems. But we've been good at exposing/covering them, haven't we? I'm not suggesting we stop focusing on OU's dirty laundry so as to dig it up at other schools, nor am I trying to defend cocaine possession and player arrests. But there's nothing special about having dirt under your bed; it just takes a flashlight to see it."

Jeff interviewed several administrators/OU newsmakers, who shared their fair observations and also aired their grievances about our coverage. I cannot use their comments here, but here is my commentary, which I also sent to the other editors:

"It's almost painful to work at a student newspaper that digs up stories that unveil scandal defacing our school's image. But I think the reporters do a fair job of reporting about them. And it's our responsibility as journalists to get controversies out there in the most efficient way possible. I don't think we pick on the university, in fact, I think there are a billion stories out there that we could be reporting on and don't have the resources for. I do think that because we have a good journalism program, Ohio University is on closer watch by a student media outlet than other schools. However, other big Ohio schools are on closer watch by metropolitan newspapers (i.e. The Dispatch over OSU or The Enquirer over Miami), and so I think it balances out.

"As far as our reporting, I do think a lot of our news stories are not Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism. Some of the reporters are newcomers and some of the stories are mediocre. BUT they are always as fair as possible. Even if we roll our eyes at a quote a new reporter brings in, the editors help make it the best it can be. I can proudly say that I can’t think of a story this year that felt like it didn’t have both sides of the story, even if the story wasn’t totally sexy in reporting or presentation … Sometimes we have to run with the damn thing in the best interest of the public.

"To give you an example from my perspective at The Post, Friday Features make me want to kill myself every week. It is SO HARD to get journalism students to write sweet news features that take weeks of reporting, especially when the day-to-day grind is so consuming. And of course, in a New York Times world, every story would be a Friday Feature, and it’s just not possible. With that said, some of our stories are out-of-the-ballpark, especially in the thoroughness of reporting. Brittany and Janet’s business story went far beneath the surface of he-said-she-said (or he-said-he-said in this case). It takes a lot of time to be more than a mouthpiece, and Post reporters — babies and old fogies — have proven time and time again that they will take that extra time."

A 'very unique' crowd
Despite the outer whir of scandal lapping up around us, we were met with a few internal problems this quarter, including understaffing. But the thrill of the new building, away from the disgusting bathroom pictured in my earlier post, has excited us all, despite the overworked, underpaid lifestyle we often flaunt.

Amid the stressful nights (I win the award for most trips to The Messenger at 6:30 a.m., thank you very much), trips to Wendy’s and scandal that news outlets all over the country caught sight of, we’ve had quite a few laughs. In fact, we have a whole quote book full of things that at least we think are funny. We sometimes get a kick out of misused commas, or using the redundant phrase “very unique.”

Left: Posties DIY: A Miller Light candle and a retro phone we can't wait to replace. Below right: The Guide to Getting It On was one of the more exciting press packages we received all quarter.

Other highlights this quarter were the arrival of new sex manuals in our press materials: The Guide to Getting It On and Cosmo’s Aqua Kama Sutra. Associate Editor Justin Thompson, who doubles as a book critic for culture staff, reviewed the former (Guidebook answers sexual questions). The Kama Sutra review ended up being too dirty for press, even after heavy editing. And then the book disappeared from the newsroom.

From a staff editor
“My favorite thing about The Post is the friendly atmosphere in the newsroom. I'm sure it isn't like this in the real world, so I'm soaking it in while I still have the chance. All of the top editors and staff editors interact so well and it allows us to have fun while still doing our jobs. In most professional newsrooms, I'm sure there are a lot of ill feelings or hostile relationships, but we all seem to get along well and have fun joking as we work away our lives. It's the little things that make our endless hours working at The Post seem worthwhile.” — Caitlin Price, culture editor (pictured above right)

Above left: Brittany gives directions to copy editors, who are hard at work for the last latenight of the quarter, as Copy Chief Jeff Smith prepares to hand out a page proof. Above right: Myself and copy editors Carly McCloskey and Sarah McCoy pretend to work on a headline together so that we can all pose for this blog picture for our Online Journalism class.

Feedback
Please let me know your thoughts:

• How do you feel about The Post’s coverage of controversy? How could it improve?
• Do you think the editorial decisions on controversial matters have been fair?
• Do you think we should review more sex books?

Election Madness

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006

Tonight at The Post is one of the most important nights of the year: our annual Dance Party … er … Election Day. But impromptu dancing (what we call “one minute dance parties”) is definitely necessary to stay calm. I apologize for not posting pictures; all of them were destroyed by a malfunction in the camera I borrowed from a copy editor.

Election Day is one of the busiest days in the newsroom. It is also my first time as an active participant in election night, having never been on city staff to cover an election. This isn’t just any election, but the night that our state will get a new governor, likely a Democrat (preview: Familiar faces tout platform). Meanwhile Ohio has a big say in a possible Democratic takeover of Congress, including a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs (preview: Races focuses on jobs, economy). There are also three important issues on the ballot concerning a smoking ban, gambling and the minimum wage (preview: Voters control future of constitutional amendments).

Planning for election night happens weeks in advance for city staff. City Editor Kantele Franko decided whether races would be covered by staff or Associated Press stories. She even worked with the front-page designer to have the protodesign of Wednesday’s front page ready to go.

3:46 p.m.:
After taking an hour to vote at the overcrowded polls, I arrive late to the newsroom and start surfing the wire for projected election stories. Editor Brittany Kress and Kantele are already mapping out where the election stories will go in the paper.

5:10 p.m.:
Breaking news: Forget election. The big news on everyone’s mind: Britney Spears got a divorce! The newsroom cheers. We need to get that in the paper. I mark it down for our News/Events section.

9:11 p.m.:
Lined up in the courthouse like criminals, about a dozen journalists — mostly Post city staffers — patiently wait for election results.

“This is the night the media and the political parties — we’re all on the same team. We just want the numbers,” said Associate Editor Justin Thompson, a former city staffer, who is supervising the courthouse bureau.

Shortly before 9:30, Justin receives word from the newsroom that gubernatorial candiate Ken Blackwell conceded to Ted Strickland. “But no one here is covering that, so you all have to sit here,” he says comically.

They all appear to be in good spirits. A few of them leave to get provisions and return with pop, drinks and a magazine.

City writer Amanda Teuscher, a junior journalism/political science major in her first quarter at The Post, has her laptop out to compile some prereporting. She is covering one of the pivotal U.S. House races — the District 18 showdown between Joy Padgett and Zack Space (preview: Candidates share many similar goals for region). She shows me a lede with holes in it. It begins: “After (a campaign involving) (defending herself against) …”
“Isn’t that clever?” she laughs.

Once the results come in, she will call both of the candidates and probably ask the winner how he/she feels and what his/her next plans are, she says. It shouldn’t be hard to get a comment from the loser, because they are probably still willing to talk about their next move. “It’s not like they’ll fall off the face of the earth,” she says.

By 9:30 there are still no results. Justin heard that Cuyahoga County took an extra hour for results. Reporters from various media are popping in and out and hearing the news.

Meanwhile, one of the writers asks another writer if they would cheat on Reese Witherspoon, who also filed for a divorce from her longtime hubby Ryan Phillipe.

Shortly thereafter, Kantele shows up with a few pizzas as provisions for her reporters, and she and I sojourn back to base together.

9:59 p.m.:
Back in the newsroom, a cluster of copy editors, designers and staff editors await results as we munch on a plethora of pizza stacked in the corner.

Assistant Managing Editor Matt Burns is the lucky editor on duty tonight. Although he was part of our four-part editorial decision to endorse the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Marc Dann, his mother is employed with Betty Montgomery in Columbus (preview: Attorney general hopefuls focus on government reform). “I check every three minutes to see if my Mommy’s employer is winning or not,” he says.

A listing of Post endorsements, made by the majority opinion of the executive editors

10:10 p.m.:
Still awaiting numbers from Athens County ... Jimmy Buffet plays out of someone’s laptop and Matt Burns says, “I’m going to kill myself.”

Drinking his coffee from a little plastic cup (we should really invest in mugs), Matt Burns describes his strategy for the night before it turns to complete chaos: get most of the non-election pages done soon in order to focus on the late pages.

The courthouse crew has still not heard from candidates, but Brittany and Kantele are trying to find information online on the Secretary of State’s Web site.

Brittany has already posted two Democratic wins on the Web site: Ted Strickland for the governor race and Sherrod Brown for the U.S. Senate (preview: Race focuses on jobs, economy). Tonight marks the first time The Post has ever posted live election results. We have made an effort recently to post breaking stories online.

11:15 p.m.:
Kantele calls the Board of Elections to find out what the hold up is. The results are taking so long because of the excess number of provisional voters, they say.

In more important business, we need to have a one-minute dance party.

We are trying to predict results. Because Charlie Wilson is up by 30,000, we are calling it for him in for the Ohio House of Representatives (preview: 6th District candidates push for tax reform, job development). We can later verify the victory.

11:35 p.m.:
Kantele describes the result situation as “uncool.”

Despite the stress, we all manage to stay good-humored.

“And this is why I love The Post,” says Sarah McCoy, senior copy editor. “… Besides that whole news thing going on.”

11:49 p.m.:
Apparently they locked the Courthouse and our writers are still inside, waiting for results.

12:40 a.m.:
I’m considering running to the nearest bar and smoking a cigarette while I still can, but I’ll refrain. We heard that the smoking ban passed. Of course, many bars and restaurants are choosing the ban on their own, so it was inevitable (More area businesses become smoke free).

Meanwhile, other election results for Ohio races, including secretary of state (preview: Contenders trying to restore faith in Ohio election process), attorney general, state treasurer (preview: Trust, accountability key, treasurer contenders agree) and state auditor are in. I am working on pulling the stories and photos from the wire.

12:56 a.m.:
Groans reverberated in the packed newsroom when we received word that the Athens County Board of Elections is experiencing technical difficulties. The reporters first thought they were going to receive word around 9:30 p.m. Some reporters have trickled back to write their stories.

Matt Zapotosky, city senior writer, has a “no results” story ready to go for the Debbie Phillips and Jimmy Stewart race for the 92nd district Ohio House of Representatives seat — one of the races Athens is watching the most (preview: 92nd district hopefuls urge students to voice concerns). Matt Zapotosky spent the night at the Blue Gator waiting with Phillips for results. “I hung out with drunk Democrats all night,” he said.

We also have no results for county auditor, a hot race between incumbent Jill Thompson and what some have called a Democratic filler candidate, Pat Sikorski (preview: 2 vie for county auditor).

3:20 a.m.:
The dance party is over. We are still awaiting results. I am half asleep. We are now deciding whether we can print certain stories. Our absolute deadline is to go to print is 6:15 a.m.

“It’s very strange to be a member of the media and to feel utterly powerless,” said Matt Burns, before randomly breaking into a Shakespeare soliloquy.

4:32 a.m.:
We have to go to press without the numbers for Athens County. We plan on sending some pages to The Athens Messenger, where we publish, and will drive the remaining pages out later.

“We can hope against hope,” said Kantele, about getting last minute results.

6:20 a.m.:
After two hours that felt like a minute of all bodies at work copy editing, designing and writing, Matt Burns and I are ready to take the paper to The Messenger.

While the CD of pdf files is burning, a few of us think it would be funny to call our parents who are just getting up.

Overall, election night was a stressful success. Our paper doesn’t have Athens County results, but we were able to revamp it and make it look OK. What worked was the cooperation of the executive editors and Kantele as well as all of the designers, copy editors and reporters. As Justin said, "It’s the way Thanksgiving should be" — with a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Wednesday’s full election coverage

A Day at The Post

The staff editors pretend to work hard during a Sunday in the newsroom.

Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006

Planning the week
After a long Homecoming weekend, the staff editors trickled in around 2 p.m. for our weekly Week Ahead meeting, during which we talk about each staff’s stories for the week. Editor Brittany Kress always brings food, because she said research shows that food makes people happy; it certainly makes Week Ahead a less grueling meeting.

Each writing staff — city, campus, culture and sports — highlights each day’s stories for the forthcoming week, fielding questions from one another and the executive editors. This week included a discussion about Halloween coverage. City Editor Kantele Franko has selected a lucky sober reporter to write the story. The other reporters will be working in shifts. The quotes will be compiled on the Sunday after Halloween (usually known as one of the busiest days at The Post).

After going through the staff stories, we all helped pick out centerpieces for the week, which is a routine we started this year, partially because of our new emphasis on design. The centerpieces are subject to change, but it helps prepare us for what days are photo light and what days will have tough competition for front-page art. The staff editors are very good at promoting their own stories as well as suggesting other staff’s stories. In past years, this cooperation has not been as apparent to me.

Budget
Monday’s eight-page paper included a lot of Homecoming coverage. We had planned on a centerpiece about the women’s groups on campus since last week’s Week Ahead (Women unite for women: Herstory group honors ‘foremothers who hit the bricks’). However, the Bobcats beating Buffalo probably had more audience appeal, and the women’s march moved to secondary art. (‘Cats crush Bulls) The top news story on the page was a shoe-in: Board of Trustees meeting coverage (Faculty voice discontent to trustees ) from Bethany Furkin and Sean Gaffney. In light of scandal at Ohio University, this first scheduled Board of Trustees meeting was sure to be important.

While Brittany budgeted the staff stories in relation to the ads on the page, I searched The Associated Press wire to find copy to fill the holes. It is relatively easy to find important plugger these days, with the election in the waning weeks. Wire copy is often a juggle to decide what is more important than other things, but I generally favor local or state news, especially with the upcoming elections. Information on North Korea (the other editors have heard me say, “We’re all going to die soon!”) is an example of a world/nation story of import that I try to put in the paper.

Right: The staff editors snuggle in for an impromptu budget meeting in our disgusting lounge instead of our usual meeting room upstairs in Baker Center.

From the editorial board
Editorial decisions are made by the four executive editors, including myself. Some decisions require more debate than others. Today’s eddy discussion was what Associate Editor Justin Thompson, who leads the discussion and is in charge of the opinion page, called “eddy light.” It was a lighthearted commentary on the joys of Homecoming — rare positive fluff to run on page two (Home sweet home: Reserved yet rambunctious weekend party shows that OU can enjoy itself without cops) . We then brushed on a few more serious topics to come later in the week.

From a staff editor
“I hate people,” said Campus Editor Rick Rouan, half jokingly referring to his frustration with a variety of aspects of their staff. With low staffing issues and yet high scandal at the university, staffs at The Post have been treading water all quarter. Rouan gave examples of his frustration: Meghan McNamara, a hard-working campus reporter, will be leaving next quarter to study abroad. Another reporter made a reporting error requiring us to write a correction for Monday’s paper.

Correction
In Sean Gaffney’s plagiarism story on Friday, the president was referred to as the provost.

To explain our policy: We run corrections on page three for factual errors and Brittany manually fixes them on the web with a note that it has been updated (Plagiarism review board up for vote). This is a clear-cut example of a factual reporting error (sometimes we attribute errors to copy editing or source errors), but most reporters make mistakes like this at some point.

“It was a blatant inaccuracy that was careless and irresponsible,” said Assistant Managing Editor Matt Burns.

The buzz
Today’s newsroom was treated with a Homecoming visitor of our own, former copy editor Cheryl Sadler (pictured below), who is now a copy editor with the Times Recorder in Zanesville.

“It still smells a little funny in here. And the first thing I noticed is that the temperature is not comfortable,” she said about her reunion with the newsroom.

The overheating was a rather uncomfortable problem all day. We have no control over the heat, and so we blasted air conditioning at the same time. It could be why this Post executive editor found herself completely ill the next morning.

Cheryl is not exaggerating about the smell. Over a year ago, a sewage overflow happened in the newsroom. The bathroom never recovered:

Culture Editor Caitlin Price calls this The Silence of the Lambs bathroom. We are very excited for our new office in the new student center.