Deadlines - a lost cause?

It happens every time I teach a workshop or a session at a journalism conference: kids asked questions that essentially boil down to “How can I get my staff to make deadlines?” The follow up question is usually, “And what horrible punishment can I visit upon them when they don’t?” Advisers ask the same questions.

There’s really only one answer that makes much sense: Editors need to have regular conversations with their reporters, coaching a little bit each time.

This is quite different from the traditional: “Look, I gave you the assignment two weeks ago. Today is the deadline and I want that story!”

People appreciate regular engagement in a topic, and the conversations should begin with the handing out of assignments. A two-minute conversation right away not only lets the assigning editor make her point clear, but gives the reporter a chance to ask questions.

By having more conversations each day or so (and they must be kept brief), the editor shows her interest in what the reporter is doing, and the reporter gets a chance to bounce cool quotes, interesting ideas and puzzling questions off someone else. It is during these conversations that stories can evolve. Think of how many story assignments begin with one set of assumptions and sources, but end up producing a piece of reporting no one saw coming. And those are often the stories of which we are proudest.

When this coaching method is suggested to editors, the common response is that they don’t have enough class time to get this done.

Here’s a rule to try with your editors: Class (or at least a designated portion of class) is for conversation. Do not sit in front of the computer, agonizing over your page layout (or your own writing). Once a person sits at the computer, there is only one conversation going on, and that is between human and machine. Others in the room are sent a clear message that they should stay away.

Editors should seek out reporters. Have meaningful conversations. Listen. Ask a few questions. Think like a reader. Help the reporter see strategies for telling the story. Pick up ideas for photos and sidebars. Discover early on that the assignment shouldn’t be presented as a piece of text, but as a cool infographic.

Oh yes, and since editors are also writers, shouldn’t they be having conversations with their own editors?

And when should editors be agonizing over page layouts? Perhaps editors just need to go with the idea that they will need to spend some time after school, during free hours or whenever to get that portion of the job done. The reporting and writing and sheer thinking must come first. Why agonize over creating a beautiful page design when you have a page devoid of information, of story telling, of passion?

Of course there must always be some sort of "drop dead deadline," otherwise all the great coaching, reporting and packaging work goes to waste. How can we be flexible, yet still get the paper out, get the pages sent to the printer?

MTV's "The Paper"

Perhaps I just can't organize my life well, but I ended up watching all 8 episodes via streaming video from the MTV web site (rather than on TV).

We watched it in class when there was an extra 25 minutes, and most students got into it, but there was disappointingly little actual journalism depicted. There is one truly horrifying scene in the final episode in which two staff members take proofs of the paper to an assistant principal who objects to a front page story she claims is not fully reported. She wants the story pulled and only the efforts of Amanda (the editor-in-chief) save the day. So there is good news. It's just that seeing prior review depicted so nakedly made me sad about scholastic journalism, and sad for the poor adviser. Can you imagine the football coach at Cyprus Bay running his play calls by an assistant principal each game?

On the bright side, this short series illustrates one of my personal favorite sayings: "High school journalism is more about high school than about journalism." And the kids on this Florida high school journalism class remind me of any number of highly-motivated, over-indulged students I have met over the years. Perhaps we can find some way to use this series to help our students see the importance of following a story over time, and of how important characters, setting, conflict and resolution (even if fleeting) are to good story telling.

Check it yourself by going to http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/the_paper/series.jhtml to find full episodes and all sorts of background on this series that ran this spring.