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What exactly does desk work entail?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Jay Sherman, Jul 17, 2008.

  1. jlee

    jlee Well-Known Member

    At an 18K in a rural northwestern area:

    News side: Two or three copy editors edit and lay out about seven pages per night on average. If there's a big mid-week paper when only two are on staff, which happens a few times a month, they'll tackle 12-14 pages in a night.

    Sports side: We're a four-man staff with an intern. Either the SE and one writer do layout and editing. The other two full-time writers do editing, and the intern just writes (he's unpaid and he does a hell of a job) though sometimes he likes to stay and read proofs. A general night is 3-4 pages, and the desk resposibilites of the night usually include agate and compiling local digests -- generally rewording e-mails we get from events we didn't cover, watching the gametracker of an out-of-town game and making a phone call or two.
     
  2. a_rosenthal

    a_rosenthal Guest

    I do between 28-32 pages a week. Midweek is slower than the weekends, obviously. We have slot editors who edit all copy. I typically read all local stories, but trust the slot to have read and checked wire stories. I receive dummies before I'm in the door, but they often change (fucking ad people).

    I get in at about 4:30. I print out the dummies, sit in on our little sports budget meeting and start cranking out the section. On Wednesdays, I have a 6 page book usually. Thursdays I'm regularly at six pages, but sometimes we get to 8 during the prep season. Fridays during the summer is 6. During the prep season we're at 8 or 10. Saturdays are 8 at a minimum and even in the summer we're up to a 10. During college football season we're at around 10. Sundays are almost exclusively 4.

    We're down one desker from where we're supposed to be, upping my workload quite a bit. At my shop, I don't think there's anyone who pumps out the number of pages that the sports designer does (there have been nights where, because of sections done in advance, I have done as many pages as each of the news designers/copy editors combined. Those are the nights where I reward myself with a glass of scotch when I get home).

    As far as the stress levels go, each night (during the heavy sports season) is a struggle, particularly for me when we're down a person. I enjoy it most nights, but there are nights where it grinds on you. But I knew that going in, as does every desker whose worked at least a year in this business. You keep on truckin'.
     
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