After my second-ever production night, I can’t even begin to fathom how newspapers were printed back when type had to be set by hand. Fixing mistakes must have been a pain. Even tonight, with just a few pages of news, each batch of edits brought new changes which often involved tweaking the page design to accommodate one or two more words here and there. I would not have enjoyed laying out an article letter-by-letter only to notice a misspelling that meant realigning an entire section.
So far, my new job as News Editor has brought many surprises. For one thing, it used to be pretty simple to keep my inbox under control. Now, I couldn’t be more thankful for the ability to color code emails by subject and sender On the bright side, though, I’ve also never felt more popular.
I also never realized how many different jobs a news editor has to do. Being a news editor means more than just crossing a couple of t’s and dotting a few i's; it means being a coach, being a secret-keeper, breaking stories that not everybody is going to appreciate, being able to report immediately when news happens—and it does happen when it’s least expected—knowing what your audience wants and, more importantly, what they need, and being able to deliver it to them in a timely manner. This semester isn’t going to be easy, but I’m definitely looking forward to the challenge. I’m excited to print more international news, like Becca Tynes’ article in this week’s issue about an Elon student from Tunisia, and I’m also excited to take a deeper look at issues in our own “Elon bubble.” I’m particularly interested in knowing what you, our readers, care about, so don’t ever hesitate to shoot us an email or stop by the office with feedback or story ideas. If you think it’s important, chances are a handful of other people think it is, too.
Watch out for this week’s issue, hot off the press first thing Wednesday morning and online soon after. Happy spring semester!
-Kassondra Cloos, News Editor