Pressley Baird is editor of College Town, a new website covering universities in the Triangle region of North Carolina. She also teaches journalism courses at UNC-Chapel Hill, her alma mater. Her previous experience includes work as a reporter at the StarNews in Wilmington. In this interview, conducted by email, Baird discusses the objectives of College Town, how it will complement student media in the area and how students can get involved.
Q. What is College Town?
A. The practiced answer: College Town is a new site that covers the Triangle’s universities (specifically N.C. State, UNC, Duke and N.C. Central). The site gives readers the news that’s most interesting and useful to them, tailored to their school.
The real answer: We don’t totally know yet! It’s a brand-new website from The News & Observer whose primary goal is to inform college students. I’d like to incorporate lots of information delivery methods, like a daily email newsletter with the site’s best pieces and Snapchat stories from students at each campus.
Q. Describe your role there. What is a typical day like?
A. I’m the editor of College Town, and — again — I’m still figuring out exactly what my role is!
Right now, a typical workday has a lot of different aspects to it. I write some stories and promote those on social media, tinker with the website design, reach out to professors and students at the different schools, and chat with people in the newsroom about what the site should, could and can include.
That last part — those conversations with different people in the newsroom —has so far proven to be the most important part of my job. Despite the fact that I work in a traditional newsroom, College Town is a nontraditional project, so I need to think beyond the usual newspaper structure.
I have conversations with the metro editor and photo editor about working with interns; then I’ll chat with the social media manager about promoting the site. I’ll talk to the folks down in creative services in the advertising department about creating ads for the site, and I’ll sit down with the guy who runs ArtsNow, a similar site at the paper.
Those conversations are so valuable because they highlight something that’s not in any job description: people skills! Good journalists must be able to come up with stories, shoot photos and video or tighten grammar and write headlines … but doing all of that well requires the ability to work with people. You can’t put that on a resume, and you won’t be formally taught how to do it in college, but it’s something I find I need every day.
Q. How will College Town compete with or complement student media on local campuses?
A. I see College Town as a complement to student media — in fact, I hope to highlight the best work of student media! College Town will be more of a news-you-can-use, information and events portal.
Our site might have an interview with a financial aid counselor and tips on how to find five scholarships you didn’t know existed. We would not try to write a deep dive on UNC’s academic scandal like The Daily Tar Heel did this year.
Q. How can college students get involved?
A. Email me, please! You can reach me at pbaird@newsobserver.com.
I’d love to talk to any students interested in writing, photographing or running social media for the site. You’ll get the benefits of an N&O internship without having to come into the N&O newsroom — and you’ll learn (alongside me) about the intersection of traditional and nontraditional media worlds.
Follow College Town and Pressley Baird on Twitter.
The Editor's Desk 