The Collegian is printed off campus by our good friend Travis at the printing press of a newspaper, The Progress Index. Thank you Ben for the question, even if you were coerced.
And how does The Collegian get to that printing press? Why thank you for asking.
Every Wednesday night, Collegian staff members get together and devote their Wednesday nights, and usually Thursday mornings, to the news (and sports and features and opinion and Web site, of course.) When we're done, our editor-in-chief, Barrett Neale, double checks everything and drags the .pdf files over from one window to another, closes the window and walks away. It's actually a little scary, but we haven't had a missing page yet.
Even before all of that happens there is work being done a week and a half before an issue of The Collegian is taken to the presses. It begins with journalism students and everyone else (we hope) sending in news tips to jpracticum@richmond.edu. Then our managing editor, Emily Baltz, goes through the tips, decides which stories to assign ,and then assigns stories to practicum writers and any one else who may volunteer to write a story. Practicum writers are journalism majors and minors who are taking JOUR 377. Journalism minors have to take the class once and majors twice.
The stories are written and edited, the pictures are taken, and then the editors of the sections assign them to a page. Then editors and assistant editors put them on their assigned pages.
And then we get back to Wednesday nights. Once a page is complete, it is printed and read at least three times, usually five, before it is deemed done and a check mark is proudly placed on the white board.
The Wednesday night process can end anywhere from 11 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday (like last week). There are a lot of editorial decisions that need to be made, as well as a lot of reading and making corrections, eating (a lot of eating), homework, laughing and general merriment.
Then Barrett does her thing and sends off the pages by 7 a.m. Thursday and bam! The Collegian is at your fingertips.
Not so much.
The printer delivers 4,000 copies of The Collegian to the service parking lot behind the Commons and two circulation managers usually drive over, pick them up and carry them to all of the various places. Sometimes there is an issue and various Collegian employees (and anyone else they can sucker into helping) end up carting all of those papers around campus unless their car breaks down or they get a parking ticket. That usually happens only on occasion -- usually.
There are always bunches of Collegians in the Commons, every academic building and dorm, the Modlin Center, the Weinstein Center, the law school, the business school and I'm pretty sure a few other places.
And then the process starts all over again. Actually it starts a little before that.
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And if you don't want me to ramble next week, send in a question to newseditor.collegian@gmail.com or make a comment on the column at www.thecollegianur.com. I will keep you anonymous in the column if you so desire. The important part is the question and getting you involved in the news.
Contact news editor Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu
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