EL200: [Portfolio 3] Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists

As editor in chief of The Setonian, there could not be just one theme in the book that is relevant to my position on the staff. The entire book touches on aspects I deal with everyday as a journalist and a leader on the student newspaper staff.

Haiman was wise when he chose to begin this book with the section "Newspapers are unfair when: They get the facts wrong" because accuracy is the most important aspect of the news industry--in any medium, but especially in print because inaccuracy is harder to remedy in that form. When broadcasting the news, the reporter can quickly recognize a mistake and correct himself, and the same goes for radio. Even in the digital world, with lightening fast internet, corrections can be published in seconds. In print the process is a bit slower, and by the time newspaper staff members recognize the error, there could already be a scar forming on the opinion of the public. My heart sinks when I recognize an error, but it breaks when somebody else brings one to my attention I hadn't caught. With a student newspaper, it's a bit difficult to not become used to looking at the layout, your eyes stop looking for errors after a while. With national newspapers, the size of the staff obviously helps counter balance errors; however, more people working for a publication also means more room for errors because there's less damage control. I have the ability to know and be in touch with all of the staff -- I make sure they all know and practice the same standards in all aspects of The Setonian, and for the journalism majors, their classes help with that as well.

I had a recent experience relating to the second section of "Best Practices" because I had to publish corrections for issue 6 in issue 7 this semester; there were incorrect photo credits and a forgotten student year, in place of which lingered a blatant question mark. I felt awful but luckily nobody was upset. There was no way I would ever even consider not including the corrections in the next issue. As soon as I was alerted about the problem I e-mailed the photographers and told the staff in the next meeting. Even though the mistakes are ultimately mine, I'm not embarrassed to admit them. We should all be aware of them to avoid similar errors in the future, and many sets of eyes look over The Setonian before it goes to print.

Section 6, "Newspapers are unfair when: They concentrate on bad news" is also an extremely relevant topic to me personally. As editor in chief I decide, with the help of the staff of course, what goes into the paper. I'm the moderator of the voices of the staff members. It is easy to start the chatter that is vital to coming up with content by starting a meeting with, "Questions, complaints, rumors?" The room usually quietly erupts with snickers but the bouncing of ideas commences immediately after. I like to start meeting sometimes by announcing the ideas I have for the news or other areas which are positive about Seton Hill. These are usually more public topics of knowledge because I am a commuter, and don't have the opportunity to hear about inside news like the residents on the staff. I try to also focus my editorials on more positive topics, or be conscious to provide solutions to any problems I may voice. I try to encourage the other columnists to do the same. As students it is natural for us to first look to the problematic news because that is what we form the most opinions about. We converse with our peers and when problems are recognized they become heightened by the group -- I guess we still have rebellious tendencies. The Setonain is the voice of the hill, and is the perfect medium to send messages to the university in. Because I am a commuter, I trust what the staff tells me regarding news on campus, and help determine what's actually newsworthy. Seton Hill gives students the opportunity to change laws through Senate and SHGA; we are lucky to be students in an institution that is so willing to listen to our complaints and act upon changing them. There is so much good to be said about SHU as well, and I try to balance and even outweigh the negative with the positive content in every issue.

There are some points in Haiman's best practices that don't apply directly to student newspapers because the positions are unpaid volunteer work; however, the book is extremely useful to journalists on all levels. I make an effort to uphold ethical journalistic practices in every issue, not just as an editor but as a writer as well.