The Chimes Shadow

  For my second media week shadowing, I went to The Chimes newspaper on Wednesday and saw how the editors of each section prepared for the printing of this week’s edition of the paper. They meet in the Student Union Building in a room just big enough to fit all the necessary computers, which had the software Cork. This is the software that the editors use to format each page of the school’s newspaper. The editors said that it is easy to use if you’re computer savvy or once you get familiar with the way it works. This was one of the things that interested me most about the Chimes. Once the editors had all of the written articles submitted to them they were able to place the articles anywhere with whatever layout they wanted. Something that I learned is that the editors are the people who come up with each article’s headline. They have to read each article in their section and come up with a headline that can fit the space that was designated for the headline’s the text. They also had to keep in mind where to place pictures, and ads.

            I also learned that the editors choose specific stories that they want covered and send out their ideas to multiple students who then write the articles and send them to the editors. Although this makes the editor’s job easier, it also leaves them to rely on the journalist who promises to cover the story. This was a minor problem yesterday when one of the articles wasn’t received on time. However, the article eventually was received and easily put into the space on the page, which was reserved for that story. This showed how important it was to have the layout of each page ahead of time, and how important it is to have reliable journalists.

            While shadowing The Chimes I also saw how the editors make captions for pictures. They first have to describe what is happening in the picture in one sentence, and in the second sentence they write an excerpt that lets the reader know a little bit about the article. I can imagine this process would be more difficult than it looked considering they have just one sentence to describe the article and catch the reader’s attention since pictures catch eyes more than anything else in a paper.

            Before the final paper is put together and printed, the editors have to print out drafts of each page. This is so that the pages can be edited once again and physically written on. If the editors just send their work in and have it corrected for them, they do not get the experience of going back to the original document and adjusting their page to make it work.

            The atmosphere of The Chimes’ workroom was much more relaxed than Eagle Vision’s atmosphere. Despite my sense of relaxation in this room, the editors said that this week was one of the more “hectic” weeks due to the students shadowing their work. However, this is probably so because they are very well organized and good at time management, which takes a load of stress off their shoulders. I could see myself working for The Chimes or a business like it in the future mainly because of their efficient work and positive attitudes.

Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm