takes countless hours and an undefined amount of overthinking by yours truly. By the time the majority of our readers unfold their weekly newspaper, the chaos for that week is over, and we’ve already started another edition.
Readers see the finished product. The pieces all fit into a specific number of pages and appear as though everything was meant to be exactly where it is. Many times, however, articles are forced to be cut, items are pulled, or text size is reduced simply to make everything fit in the space available. These decisions do not come lightly. Long nights, added stress, constant worry, and the pressure to provide as much detail as possible for our readers all come with putting together the weekly edition, every single week.
Deadlines in journalism are unforgiving. Printing presses do not wait for perfection. There are nights when pages must be redesigned. There are evenings spent staring at layouts, trimming paragraphs line by line. Then there are nights of simply staring at the computer screen, wondering where to begin.
Another reality of this business is that many times we are simply the messenger, and no matter what is printed, someone is going to be upset. Sometimes people feel a story included too much information; other times they believe it did not include enough. Even on lighter or more positive stories, it is possible to have people upset on both sides of an issue. While that can be difficult at times, our responsibility remains the same: to present information fairly, accurately, and in a way that best serves our readers and community.
Now comes another piece of the puzzle I wanted to share. Many readers, for some reason, believe that everything printed in the weekly edition is submitted by outside individuals. Although we greatly appreciate submitted articles, many of our stories are created by office staff. We have staff members who attend various meetings to provide third-party reports of those events.
We have started featuring meeting minutes for various entities within Greenwood County; however, each article created from meeting minutes includes a leading paragraph explaining that. This was done to include coverage for additional entities and, in some respects, as we scaled back to allow me to attend my children’s activities.
Currently, I am looking for (and in the process of training) additional reporters to assist in covering meetings within Eureka.
My point is this: there are bylines for all submitted content and/ or a leading paragraph when an article is drafted from official minutes. Please know that the staff at The Herald works hard to ask questions, gather information, and format it in a way that benefits our readers.
And somehow, every week, despite the imperfections and worry, the paper comes together once again.
Robin Wunderlich
Quote of the Week “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.” - Rafiki, The Lion King
