The Editor’s Desk

Carla Correa is a community coordinator at The Baltimore Sun. In this Q&A, conducted by e-mail, she talks about her job and her transition from the copy desk to social media. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Q. Describe your job at the Baltimore Sun. What is your typical day like?

A. My title is community coordinator. Community coordinators at The Baltimore Sun are responsible for generating loyalty, frequency and advocacy among Web site users through blogging, social media and other outreach tools.

It’s a new position, so we have the opportunity to shape our roles in the newsroom. On a typical day, I get to the office between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. I track page views and local visits to various stories, blogs, etc.

Throughout the day, I update the @baltsunarts Twitter account, and occasionally @baltimoresun. I help to update and enliven our Facebook account, too, and keep tabs on social news sites. Our team also works on special Web-side projects; helps organize and run live chats on baltimoresun.com; and assists reporters with social media, if need be.

Q. You’re active on Twitter. What makes for a successful tweet?

A. It’s important for journalists to remember that Twitter is a conversation. So, news organizations, in my opinion, shouldn’t set up an automated feed of their stories. Sometimes, automated feeds feel a bit too much like spam and turns off followers and potential followers.

Successful tweets are engaging, personalized and a bit humorous. Successful journalists on Twitter respond to questions, retweet others’ tweets, seek sources, etc.

Now, for the actual wording. Unlike most newsy headlines, tweets can be a random interesting quote or catchy fact — couple that with a link, and you’ll have something people might click on. Like a headline, you ideally want to use keywords so people can easily find news and comments that interest them.

Using a hashtag is also a good way to classify your tweet and to help people find it. For example, the hashtag #dixontrial has helped Baltimoreans follow what people are saying about trial of our mayor, Sheila Dixon.

Q. You started at the Sun as a copy editor. What skills from that time do you use in your job now?

A. Aside from the obvious — fitting important words in a tight count (140 characters or less!) — I think that the good judgment that I developed while copy editing helps me in my new position. I need to pick the stories that I think will appeal to users.

Time management is always important, too, and I don’t think there is a better place to learn that than on a night news copy desk. And good grammar and correct spelling are always applicable!

Q. Journalism students would probably like to have a job like yours. What advice do you have to them in landing one?

It’s a tough environment out there for journalism students. But they have an advantage because they grew up with the Internet, and they can offer news organizations and other writing-and-editing focused fields skills that more experienced journalists may not have.

I would suggest that students stay on top of social media, social networking and all the new, fun ways to tell stories. For example, students should experiment with live tweeting a hot story, using Google Wave or working with some kind of format that established news organizations haven’t thought of.

As far as actually landing a job, be persistent, flexible and creative.

It’s nomination time for awards from the American Copy Editors Society. Here’s how to enter two of the organization’s contests:

ROBINSON PRIZE: This award honors the copy editor of the year who demonstrates not only superior editing skills, but also mentoring and leadership ability. The deadline to nominate someone (or yourself) for the prize is Dec. 1, and you can do that with a handy online form.

HEADLINES: These awards go to the best headline writers in the country. There are six categories, including a student competition. Find out more about the contest at the ACES site. You can enter online this year.

Winners for all prizes will be announced at the ACES national conference in Philadelphia in April 2010. Online registration is under way, and I hope to see you there.

My visit to China is done, and although I’ve adapted once again to Eastern Daylight Time, I’m still thinking about my experience half a world away.

My colleague Laura Ruel and I spent about a week working with journalists of the China.org news site. The English-language site has a staff of about 30 people, including a few Americans.

I was impressed with the dedication and skills of the China.org staff. It’s a different sort of journalism — run by and controlled by the government, created in an environment where Facebook, Twitter and most blogs are blocked. Yet, the staff there is doing much of what their Western counterparts do: trying to figure out the best to get the news to readers, in both form and content, while on constant deadline pressure.

I was asked to speak to the staff on several topics:

• Story editing

• Headline writing

• Caption writing

• Alternative story forms

I covered each of those topics in workshop sessions at the China.org offices. Each went well, and with each session, the staff grew more comfortable asking questions and offering comments.

On my final day in Beijing, I worked with staff members one on one in the newsroom. This was the most rewarding part of the week because I got to help people with the stories, captions and other content that they were working on at that moment. I also got a surprising compliment from one editor: “Thank you for your help. And I would like to say that you are very handsome.”

Thanks to everyone at the site for their hospitality, and special thanks to Celine Chen for organizing the trip, showing us the city and and allowing us to bring a little bit of U.S. journalism to China.

This blog will be quiet for much of October because I am going to Beijing for part of the month. I will be training journalists at an English language news site on topics such as headlines, captions and alternative story forms.

This trip is part of UNC’s ongoing relationship with this site. Here’s how it works:

• In the spring, two Chinese journalists come to Chapel Hill for a semester and sit in on courses of their choice. They often select News Editing as one of those courses.

• In the summer, two UNC undergraduates work in Beijing as summer interns at the site.

• On occasion, faculty members travel to China for a week or two to lead workshop sessions. Previous visits led to the site’s recent redesign.

I’m excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing my experiences when I am Stateside again. I hope to be able to offer updates on Twitter as things go along.

Thanks for reading, and see you later in the month.

Editors at newspapers spend a great deal of time and energy on writing headlines. And for good reason — headlines attract attention, and some live on decades after they are written. This is the seventh in a series of posts on memorable headlines.

THE HEADLINE: “I’M SORRY… SEND ME MONEY”

THE PUBLICATION: The Huffington Post

THE STORY: In September 2009, Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, caused a commotion when he shouted “you lie!” as President Barack Obama spoke to Congress. The fallout included an apology and a fund-raising effort by Wilson and his Democratic opponent in the 2010 election.

ITS SIGNIFICANCE: This headline is more noteworthy for how it was done than what it said. The Huffington Post put out a call on Twitter, inviting readers to submit ideas for headlines for this story. Anyone on Twitter could offer a suggestion by using the hashtag #headlinehelp.

The winning submission was a hit because it generated about 100,000 clicks, according to HuffPo co-founder Arianna Huffington. She said that the site will continue to try “crowdsourcing” headlines on occasion.

Many readers seemed to like this approach to headline writing. “This is a good idea,” read one comment. “The headlines need improvement. I’d rather have a little snark than an overdramatized eye-grabber anytime.”

At least a few professional editors, however, may prefer “outsourcing” as the name for this practice. “How much are they paying?” asked Patrick LaForge, director of copy desks at The New York Times. Yes, he used Twitter and the hashtag to ask that question, which has apparently gone unanswered.

Editors at newspapers spend a great deal of time and energy on writing headlines. And for good reason — headlines attract attention, and some live on decades after they are written. This is the sixth in a series of posts on memorable headlines.

THE HEADLINES: GOTCHA/Our lads sink gunboat and hole cruiser

THE PUBLICATION: The Sun

THE STORY: In 1982, Britain and Argentina fought a war over the Falkland Islands. In the war’s deadliest moment, an Argentine ship, the General Belgrano, was sunk by the British navy, killing more than 300 people.

ITS SIGNIFICANCE: The “GOTCHA” headline is noteworthy for its pro-war point of view. The use of the first person (“our lads”) in the drophead makes it clear that the Sun was not a detached observer of the conflict, but a direct participant.

Roy Greenslade, a former editor at the tabloid paper, wrote in 2002 that the Sun’s leadership had promoted the idea of a British assault to retake the islands after they were seized by Argentina. Greenslade describes how jingoistic headlines played a role in that effort before and during the 74-day war. The newsroom became a war room, a fact epitomized by the “GOTCHA” headline.

Curiously, the Sun changed the headline between editions that day when the death toll became apparent. But “Did 1,200 Argies drown?” is not a significant part of British history. “GOTCHA” is. Indeed, that front page has become a museum piece in and of itself.

Erica Beshears Perel, a former reporter at The Charlotte Observer, is newsroom adviser to The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at UNC-Chapel Hill. In this interview, conducted by e-mail, Perel talks about her job, the paper’s new Web site and the changing role of copy editors at the DTH.

Q. What does the newsroom adviser to The Daily Tar Heel do on a typical day?

A. A little bit of everything, although I do not make editorial decisions. I provide daily feedback of the product in the form of a written critique of each newspaper. I praise the stories, photos, designs, etc., that I like while offering ways to improve the rest.

When I’m not critiquing, I’m working with editors and staffers, listening and giving advice when needed. I organize and provide training and enrichment opportunities, and serve as a writing coach and editing coach. I spent plenty of time this summer monitoring the new Web site, and right now, I’m busy with our massive recruitment season.

Q. The paper just launched a major overhaul of its Web site. What’s the idea behind the redesign?

A. Sara Gregory, managing editor for online, did a great job explaining the philosophy behind the new site here. But basically, we need a Web site that can grow with us, one that’s flexible, one that allows us to interact more with our readers.

Our previous site, hosted by the College Media Network, served us well, but we needed more flexibility to grow in terms of content and ad revenue. This one, while developed by professionals, should allow our student journalists tremendous freedom for experimenting, both with content and technology.

I’m personally excited by plans to publish more news as soon as our reporters nail it down, and by the tagging and topic pages that should help keep our readers informed.

Q. How is the role of the copy editor changing at the DTH, both in print and online?

A. Copy editors still perform a traditional function at The Daily Tar Heel, saving us from embarrassing errors and writing good headlines. But this year, they will be taking a more active role in the online publishing process.

They also plan to start writing more online headlines that differ from the ones that run in the print edition. Print edition headlines, constrained by space and dependent on other visual elements to make their point, often are hard-to-understand online headlines. A special online headline can be clearer and help the story pop up faster on search engines.

Q. Every weekday, thousands of students pick up a print copy of the DTH. Do you see a time when the paper is exclusively online?

A. I certainly don’t see that time in the foreseeable future. We say here at The Daily Tar Heel that young people read newsprint as long as it’s free, easy to pick up and full of relevant, interesting content. We work hard to satisfy all three components.

The DTH is an independent newspaper that gets all its revenue from advertising. And right now, the vast, vast majority of that advertising comes in print form.

The DTH is very lucky to have potential for growth on our site without harming the print product because we have a large audience outside our print circulation area. Alumni, parents and UNC sports fans everywhere can’t get the print edition, but they can really drive traffic to our site.

John McIntyre, blogger at You Don’t Say, recently listed leads to avoid. Pam Robinson at Words at Work offered a collection of “not alone” sentences.

I’d like to add another to the list of worn-out phrases: references to “15 minutes of fame.” Andy Warhol’s famous statement, uttered in 1968, lives on even though the artist himself has been dead for more than 20 years.

Here are some recent examples:

• Susan Boyle’s 15 minutes of fame aren’t over! (Irish Central headline)

• Tweeters melt away after 15 minutes of fame (Times Online headline)

• For some, even 15 minutes would be too long (USA Today headline)

• Everyone is getting their own 15 dizzy minutes, but now it comes mostly with a full-frontal paparazzi assault. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports column)

• Andy Warhol was spot on: 15 minutes is just right. After that they start to visibly deflate. (The Guardian story)

• The thought of making a killing while she was still in her Andy Warhol “15 minutes” was too much for her and Todd to pass up. (Talking Points Memo blog post)

• If it’s true, as Andy Warhol suggested, that we’ll all have 15 minutes of fame, I’ve got 13 minutes left. (The Polk County Democrat column)
  

Warhol himself became bored with the phrase. Imagine how readers feel. Let’s retire “15 minutes of fame,” and let Andy rest in peace.

Pam Robinson at Words at Work has taken note of yet another article about the future of newspapers. This piece, posted on The Moderate Voice, mentions some ill-considered advice from an editor at a New Jersey newspaper:

Restructure the newsroom. Half of the journalists are involved in the “processing” of news — copy editing, writing captions, laying out pages — as opposed to the generation of journalism. Concentrate on journalism that matters. And “focus on good writing. Tales well told.”

Robinson smacks down this argument, pointing out the valuable rewriting and fact checking that copy editors do. (It’s a point also made in a widely discussed column by the Washington Post’s ombudsman.) Robinson also mentions the necessity of production — copy editors and page designers are the ones who put the pieces together for print media. If they don’t do that, who will?

I’d like to build on Robinson’s response and suggest that copy editors are journalists, or “storytellers.” Here’s how:

• Copy editors write cutlines. Most photographs need explanation and detail that link them to the text they go with. In standalone photos in print and in slideshows, the captions and images must work together to tell a story. Either way, copy editors make that connection.

• Copy editors are experts on story structures. That makes us essential in deciding what form best matches the stories we are trying to tell.

• Copy editors write headlines, which both reflect the story text they accompany and tell stories on their own. Indeed, many headlines are just as memorable as the stories themselves, if not more so.

These are just three ways that copy editors are storytellers. We are journalists, just like the reporters, photographers and page designers in any newsroom. We believe in the importance of “tales well told” as much as our colleagues do.

In short, we generate plenty of journalism. Is that so hard to see?

When the Weekly World News stopped publishing in 2007, the legitimate media noted its demise. No more headlines about Bigfoot, space aliens and miracle cures. No more Bat Boy.

Now, the people at Google Books have created an archive of the supermarket tabloid for all to enjoy. The searchable collection offers full issues of the newspaper from 1980 through 2007.

It’s interesting to see the evolution of the Weekly World News as it moved from celebrities to the supernatural. (That’s Catherine “Daisy Duke” Bach on the front page on the left.) The paper’s experiments with color on the front page and its increased use of doctored images are there to see as well.

It’s also entertaining to skim through the paper’s exclamatory, all-caps headlines, which amount to an alternative reality that may be more interesting than our own. Here’s a sampling:

• ELVIS VISITS HIS NEW GRANDSON!

• SPACE ALIEN MEETS WITH ROSS PEROT!

• FAT IS CONTAGIOUS!

• ANGRY TRUCKER FIRES 5 BULLETS INTO UFO!

• BAT BOY LED OUR TROOPS TO SADDAM’S HOLE!

So what did in the print version of the Weekly World News? (It still exists online, but just barely.) My guess is The Onion, which took the idea of fake news in newspaper form to a more sophisticated level. It turns out that its focus on the mundane is more amusing than the preposterous.