Page proofs

The approach I would take is to view the pages at some point in most nights without asking my slot editor to send me them. How many of us work in a newsroom where that would be even slightly difficult (while also being big enough that the sports editor takes nights off regularly)?

I'd keep my commentary on the pages sporadic. If there was a news-judgment error in my opinion, I would talk it over with whoever made the call. But I absolutely would want to see those pages most nights.

 

As an editor, I would think that would be a royal pain in the ass to never have a night completely free from work, whether it's out to a movie or date with a significant other, travelling, whatever. If you're a 2,000-circ. one-man shop, I get that. But the larger papers require a team effort.

Again, it goes back to trusting the people you hire. Now, if someone consistently proves they struggle with that, then that's a different story. But I think you hire good people and let them do what you hired them to do.

 

Most lead editors at major newspapers are pretty work-obsessed.

 

I'm a big fan of John Wooden's principle of not calling a timeout with the game on the line: "If they don't know what to do at that point, I haven't done my job."

 

Honey, I know you went through all that effort to plan a romantic evening, and I know the kids are at your parents for the night. But dammit, I need to make sure the desk knows to use the latest AP writethru that adds some inconsequential detail and see if the headlines are as clever as they should be.

 

Put me in the camp that believes a review of the pages the following day is the better approach. If you have good people, they aren't going to fuck anything up, and constantly looking over their shoulder is not good for morale. Our A1 designer/slot sends a PDF to all the high-level editors every night, but it's just to double-check teasers and such. Nit-picking on headlines and things like that is just annoying. Unless it's wrong/offensive/truly terrible, then I would address the quality/creativity end the next day.

 

Best managers I've ever had clearly communicated their expectations, always did their best to put their people in a position to succeed, and if you took a chance and failed, then we had a discussion about it afterward. That wasn't the main reason they were the best managers I ever had, but they have all shared that trait.

Worst managers I've ever had were the ones who didn't trust any of their people, and everyone had to walk on eggshells for fear of fucking up (or for fear of some other micro-managing trait, which invariably manifests itself, too.) Don't be that person.

Hire good people and let them do good work.

 

Exactly. I have had the same experience. Working in a place where you are afraid to fuck up only assures that you are going to fuck up, because it kills your confidence. I worked at a very large paper where we had to e-mail the Executive Editor and explain how/why we made a mistake if the paper ran a correction. Worst place I have worked. "Well, sir, I fucked up. It happens." Unless we're getting sued, just chalk it up as a mistake and move on.

 

If you want a final say on every page, keep yourself in the office and slot yourself.

 

One place I worked kept a file on all published corrections and forms we were required to fill out. The result was I and others did everything humanly possible to keep from running corrections at all because of the paperwork we would have to fill out and the feeling management was trying to hold something over our heads.

 

A former stop did the whole corrections-must-be-signed-off-by-two-editors, goes-in-your-file thing. I can see that happening with a "problem" editor, but it shouldn't be a regular deal. Mistakes happen. Another former stop had the EIC checking out the front page every night from home and totally nitpicking. Neither struck me as best practices.

Henry, your intentions sound good here but if I were your slot, it'd chafe me. Even though you're telling them you trust their work, the actions speak louder than the words. It's one more hurdle to jump over when planning your night out, too, vis-a-vis making deadline.

Then again, the only person's opinion who matters is your slot.

 

How many of these perception issues could be solved by simply using your work computer to log into the system (assuming you have a work laptop) instead of asking the slot to send PDFs?