Welcome to the 2008-2009 of The Trumpet

First deadline: October 15th! Send all stories, artwork, pictures, and other materials via email to Mrs. Mangan (jmangan@viking.pvt.k12.de.us) or to the editors at: thetrumpet@ymail.com

Senior editors: Dyaln Wiseman, Shy Porter, Rachael Boruta

Remember to verify all quotes and spell everyon'es name correctly! Do not forget to include the "who, what, where, and why" of each story!

 

Position: Executive Editor or Co-Editor

The executive editor is responsible for directing and coordinating the efforts of certain staff to produce a whole section or sections, or a whole version of the newspaper. For example, executive editors can be assigned responsibility for the news and feature sides of the paper, for matters of content and layout, or for the print and online versions. Generally speaking, the executive editor should have just about all of the skills of an editor-in-chief.

 

Copy Editors

Student newspaper staffs can have copyeditors specifically designated as such, but it is more common for the editor-in-chief to handle the copyediting function. Copyediting means taking the article and feature manuscripts submitted by the reporters and vetting them for typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors, in addition to rewriting headlines and leads, and applying style guidelines. The general quality of the published newspaper will depend in large part on the strength of the copyediting.

Reporters

By and large, reporters make up the largest component of any newspaper staff. They are responsible for generating the copy thatmakes up the content of the newspaper. They generally take assignments from the editor-in-chief, and often cover particular “beats” or story sources, such as news, sports, and clubs. It is their drafts that the senior editors edit, layout, and publish in finished issues of the newspaper.

Reporters should know how to get information out of people by effective questioning and interviewing. Then need to be careful note takes, fact checkers, and follow up specialists. They should be decent writers, but writing per se need not be their particular expertise, a point that should be stressed when recruiting staff. Provided that reporters can get the information that makes stories complete and interesting, their literary shortcomings can more than be made up for by the rewriting and editing efforts of the senior editors

Feature Writers

The distinction between feature writer and reporter is not hard and fast, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. More commonly, however, reporters are detailed to cover evolving events while feature writers take general interest topics that are less time-sensitive. Humor, Op-Ed essays, book, music, and film reviews, interviews, surveys, opinion and position pieces—all of these common newspaper sections are generally considered to fall within the feature category. With respect to writing ability, however, a feature writer may need to have relatively stronger skills than a reporter.

 

Production Editor

The production function involves laying out the copy and illustrations on each page, and producing the camera copy, film, or that the printer needs to put each issue on press. It also entails preparing electronic copy files for uploading to the web version.may be that third party professionals at the printing vendor or at the school web site office will handle most of these chores, but it may fall to the senior editors to handle some of them, especially layout. As most layouts are now done using software applications, the supervising editor needs to be someone who is either adept at computer-based text and graphics systems, or a fast learner in online environments.

 

Photographer

 Photographers are generally assigned to capture shots that relate to the content of articles and features. It should be kept in mind that a photo essay can be a feature in itself, and that more can be done with photos on the web version of the newspaper than in the print version.

 

Artists

Cartoons and hand-drawn illustrations are a traditional stable of newspapers. They inform and illustrate content by providing a more subjective and creative image that can generally be conveyed through a photograph. The staff artist needs to be a student whose sketching ability is significantly above average. Depending on the extent of that ability, it may be possible to have personal caricatures used instead of photos for certain pieces.