Douglas E. Jessmer

When I was an undergraduate journalism student, one of my professors’ first words in a news writing class was “accuracy,” repeated three times.

OK, so that’s three words — “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.” Or maybe one word, repeated three times. (This is why I’m a ball at the 12-items-or-less checkout.)

The same prof gave automatic Fs on assignments where a person’s name was misspelled. Never mind the facts of a story — if you can’t even get the basics right, if you can’t pay attention to details, you’re going to be in a world of hurt.

Too bad his words haven’t been heard repeatedly in the world of news illustration. (Maybe the SND ethics code will help, but it’ll take buy-in from the suits in American newsrooms, people who have reporting/editing backgrounds, but haven’t always been that hot at editing visuals.)

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OK, so I’m sitting around, useless, Sunday night, waiting for the ‘24′ premiere, flipping through the newest SND magazine… and a couple of comments caught my eye.

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Every so often, a newspaper will seek outside candidates for a page-one design gig. The reasons may vary, some good (beefing up staff being one reason, a “fresh take” on things being another) and some not so good…

— Top editors may not feel other staffers have the chops for it, regardless of whether they’re cultivated from within.

— The existing staff may run in the other direction when they’re asked to do it (and if that’s the case, you may have problems right off the bat).

It’s a sensitive seat in the newsroom, maybe the most sensitive one. There may be as many as 10 people standing over your shoulder in the early evening hours, including publishers, executive editors, managing editors, AMEs, even a stray artist (who’s probably on his way to the donuts, anyway). The pressure is great. And if you’re a new hire, you’re an unknown quantity, which puts you at a disadvantage.

There’ve been lots of things written about how to execute page one. One of those detailed the thought process in a Virginian-Pilot front, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But I haven’t seen much about the human factor, which is just as important.

A few thoughts for those of you who aspire to the hot seat, from someone who’s been there at five different newspapers, small, mid-size and large, East Coast, West Coast and midwest…
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