By dcecelia at 4:04 pm

Okay, my school wasn't that small.
I’m writing in response to another Ask the Recruiter column, this time about an aspiring journalist with an impressive resume coming from a small college.
In his column, Joe Grimm offers some pretty good advice to the student — on his jaw-dropping sixth internship at a daily newspaper — who seems to be having some problems breaking into a bigger daily publication.
It is unclear whether he is trying to land another internship or an actual job, but as both processes are similar, the advice (network harder, reach out to recruiters) is applicable to either.
I want to elaborate on this topic, because while I don’t have nearly the amount of internships and accolades as this student, I do come from a small school and can relate to his situation.
Continue reading More advice for small-school journalists
By dcecelia at 6:30 pm

Feel free to make changes, but not to the byline.
Q:
I am an editor at a smaller publication, and sometimes we find ourselves short on content when deadline rolls around. Every so often, we have to publish poorly-written articles that require extensive editing — even to the point where our copy editor is literally rewriting whole paragraphs and rearranging the structure of the piece. I feel bad because the copy editor is doing so much work while the reporter gets to take credit for the article. Would it be okay to give the copy editor the byline instead, and name the original reporter as a contributor?
A:
Ideally, this situation would never happen.
Ideally, you have more than enough available content every week, and only select the best pieces for publication.
Ideally, you have a strict editorial schedule for your publication and have adequate time to work with a writer and help them revise their piece before your newspaper goes to press.
But, for all of us who have ever spent time in a newsroom, we know that ideal situations are few and far between.
Here’s what it comes down to: It’s a reporter’s job to get the facts, quotes and background and assemble it into a story — it’s your job as editor to make that story look good.
Continue reading jQuery: Bylines and extensive editing
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