Long hours just another day to Skiffers
Every day, about 75 students gather and work almost all day to produce one issue of the TCU Daily Skiff.
By Melissa DeLoach
Skiff Staff

Editor’s note: This story chronicles a day in the life of the production of the Sept. 18, 2002, issue of the TCU Daily Skiff.

It’s 9:06 a.m. in Fort Worth and only a handful of students are visible walking around campus on S. University Drive.

While 8 a.m. classes are reaching the final stretch, Antoinette Vega, the reporter on the administration beat, is huddled over a computer monitor in the TCU Daily Skiff newsroom trying to finish a story on the administration’s reaction to U.S. News and World Report’s recent ranking of TCU in the America’s Best Colleges 2003 issue.

Vega, a senior news-editorial journalism and Spanish major, has been in the newsroom since 8:30 a.m. And it’s not uncommon for her to be up this early, she said.

“I have other things this afternoon so I have to start this early,” Vega said. “I have to wake up earlier to manage my time. I’m not even a morning person. I’m learning to be one.”

Vega is one of 75 students currently employed by the Skiff, Business Manager Bitsy Faulk said. Since the paper’s inception Sept. 19, 1902, nearly 2,000 students have contributed to its content.

Early mornings are nothing new to Faulk, who arrives to work at 7:30 a.m. each day. She is in charge of payroll and bookkeeping for the employees of the student publications.

At 9:15 a.m., advertising representatives and reporters start coming to check on ads and stories that appeared in the newspaper that day.

Erin McBrayer, a senior advertising/pubic relations major, said she normally gets to the Skiff by 9 a.m. to return phone calls and contact clients.

“We have to constantly do follow-up work to make sure the art work was done correctly,” she said.

The number of ads sold a day determines the number of pages the newspaper will run two days in advance. Advertising Manager Bradley Bennett will notify the editorial department of the number of pages by noon the next day.

Bennett, a senior business management and marketing major, said while people know about the Skiff, many do not understand the extent to which the advertising staff operates.

“For the most part, people probably don’t know we’re here,” he said. “I don’t think people understand what the Skiff — in general, editorial and advertising — go through to put out a paper every day.”

On average, the pace of the newsroom and advertising department is steady until 9:30 a.m. when the rooms empty because of students leaving for classes.

Activities do not pick up again until 11 a.m. when the reporters return from their reporting class.

Going through the motions
This semester, as in the past, each of the seven reporters are expected to write a minimum of 16 by-lined stories — usually at least 500 words a piece — for the newspaper. However, reporters usually exceed that number.

For instance, junior news-editorial journalism major Kelly Morris, a former administration reporter, wrote 20 stories in spring 2002.

News editors Colleen Casey, a junior news-editorial journalism major and David Reese, a senior news-editorial journalism and speech communication major, are in charge of assigning stories. At 11 a.m., they meet with Managing Editor Priya Abraham, a senior international communication major, to discuss the progress of stories scheduled to run the next day.

Meanwhile, on a lighter note, Sports Editor Danny Gillham, a sophomore broadcast journalism major and reporters Joi Harris, a senior broadcast journalism major and Bill Morrison, a junior broadcast journalism major, toss a two-foot inflatable football across the newsroom.

“We need to use this in our next flag football game,” Gillham said, laughing.

At 11:30 a.m., Skiff Adviser Robert Bohler, walks through the newsroom and briefly joins the fun. Bohler also teaches the reporting class.

Minutes later business returns to normal. Harris revises a story about homosexuality and Morrison reads the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The reporters are working on stories to be published in the Skiff for Thursday, as well as working on revising stories for Wednesday’s issue.

Reese said the stories are turned in two days ahead of time to ensure accuracy.

“If there are any questions, it gives the reporter time to clear up any confusion,” Reese said.

Casey and Reese are not the only ones reading the reporter’s stories. In fact, stories go through at least four reads before they are published.

At 2 p.m., senior broadcast journalism major Angie Chang comes in to read news, opinion and sports stories after the section editor’s initial reads.

Once Chang checks the story, she sends it to a section called Rim where copy editors like Jenny Hoff, a senior advertising/public relations major, who comes in at 3 p.m., look over the story for Associated Press and Skiff style errors and write headlines.

Reporters, editors and staff spend anywhere from three to 60 hours a week working on the Skiff, outside of other classes, other work and extracurricular activities.

The final push
The official business of the editorial board is taken care of when editors meet for Budget — the daily planning meetings of the Skiff. Mondays and Wednesdays editors meet at noon and 5 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays the first meeting is at 4 p.m.

“That’s when the real stuff happens as far as I’m concerned,” said Editor in Chief Brandon Ortiz, a junior news-editorial journalism major. “This is the only time I have all the editors at once. This is where we find out what stories are coming in.”

The editors rank the stories in order of importance, decide the Purple Poll question for the day and their stance on the house editorial at the meeting.

The design editors draw up the pages from the space left after the advertising department places the ads on the pages.

Leslie Moeller, a senior advertising/public relations major, serves as design editor. She said pages can be designed within an hour following Budget.

At 6 p.m. production assistants arrive and begin placing stories, art and pictures on the pages. Copy editors are writing headlines and sending stories to the top editors for a final review.

Only a handful of staff members remain past 9 p.m., working on the design of the paper.

Production Manager Jeanne Cain Pressler oversees the final stages of the newspaper’s creation. Her staff places the pictures and stories on the pages. A photo artist assists by making sure pictures used are of the best color quality.

“I view production as putting on the polish or the finishing touches,” she said. “It is so important to pay attention to every detail of every page.”

Once the pages are proof-read and finalized, the staff uploads the pages via the Internet to Texoma Web Off-Set Printing. Once the printer confirms the receipt, editors and staff may leave, but it doesn’t mean the work is complete.

The paper must now be printed.

While the total printing time for the 6,000 copies of the Skiff is only 15 minutes, it takes three hours from the time the pages are transmitted electronically for the publishing cycle to be completed.

Steven Sulton, pre-press supervisor for Texoma, said they try to have the Skiff delivered to the 35 drop sites on campus by 7 a.m. before students, like Vega, begin their day again.