Freelancers save the day

While I complain about having no one on staff — which is still a problem — we’ve been getting by with some really good freelance writers.
I think our freelance system this semester is working well. This time around, we have two freelance editors who alternate nights. It’s the first time we’ve ever tried this system. [...]

So much to do, so little time

I realized as my exams are coming up this week: it’s a third of the way through the semester.
(Insert the expletive of your choice here.)
Starting out, a semester seemed like so long to accomplish what I and the other editors wanted for the paper.
Now, looking back on the first four weeks, I’m starting to feel [...]

Keeping the ’student’ in student-run paper

The Alligator doesn’t have a news adviser on staff, and I think it’s for the best.
The Daily Tar Heel, UNC Chapel Hill’s student paper, just hired a non-student adviser, Erica Perel. She was a staffer for the Charlotte Observer.
In an opinion piece in the Daily Tar Heel about the hiring, Perel was quoted as saying:
“It’s [...]

Budgeting the paper: Not about inches

I’m curious about how many other managing editors have to deal with the budgets of their college papers — because I do, and it’s my least favorite part of the job.
I do payroll for the newsroom every week as part of my managing editorial duties. Between pulling briefs from the wire and editing stories, I [...]

Keeping a full-time staff of full-time students

In our first two weeks of publishing this semester, we had three reporters quit.
And that’s out of a newsroom reporting staff of nine — we lost a third of our reporters.
The people who quit were good reporters, but they decided they didn’t have time for the rigorous Alligator schedule, which often includes writing multiple stories [...]

Managing, editing and communicating at a college newspaper

I started working at the Independent Florida Alligator in January 2007 mainly because I didn’t want to get rusty during a semester with no journalism classes. I took the job I thought would allow me to spend the least time at work: copy editing once a week.
I laugh now when I think about wanting to [...]