New Staff Training

  • Show don’t tell
    • Let the new reporter show you what kind of experience they have: give them a story idea or let them take one of their own and have them go interview sources for the story. Before writing, go through their interview together and provide constructive criticism
    • Then, have them try writing the story with no help. Do the same process, sit down and edit with them and have them rewrite or fix things then submit it for the final edit to be published 
    • Have them sit in on one of your interviews and discuss why you asked the questions you did after the interview
    • Share with them your process of writing a lede/coming up with interview questions/submitting photo or graphic requests
  • Edits, edits, edits
    • Sit down and edit each of their stories with them for the first few weeks/months if needed. 
    • I learned the most freshman year when my editor sat me down and helped me realize what was good and what could’ve used improvement
      • Don’t just tell them what they did wrong, try and guide them into figuring it out themselves
    • Go through alternative ledes or angles to the story: how would you have written the story?
  • Assign them other articles to read from publications like Washington Post, NYT, Sports Illustrated to better understand journalistic structure/different forms of ledes/story structures – visual learning is key 
  • Develop friendships/connections
    • Make them feel comfortable at the DI
    • Host virtual (for now) hangouts/happy hours/game nights (whatever is fun)
    • Talk to them about their lives/school not just edits and stories all the time

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