We’re a month into the new Corsair organizational structure and it is working beyond my wildest dreams. All the teams have taken ownership of their sections and I’m seeing some great results.
Continuous news has three writers and an editor and is posting something nearly every day. One post, on a Dylan and Costello concert in Georgia, received 900 page views the day it was posted. I think that might have had something to do with the College Publisher Network, but that’s still way more than what we normally average.
We did have to hire a managing editor for Continuous News. They are so busy writing that they haven’t had time to keep the calendar and messages up to date. The managing editor manages workflow, not staff. When a story idea comes in, she funnels it to the correct team or posts a quick story online.
For Enterprise Projects, we chose topics at the beginning of the semester, mainly to help the print edition meet deadlines. Students from the journalism classes are free to choose story ideas within those topics or to cover something for Student Life. We have already produced a package on a Pensacola Superfund site, and the current issue covers environmental issues on campus and recycling. The great thing about planning these packages is that the students have time to think about art and additional information to include with the stories.
BTW, we are making this work without an editor-in-chief. The five team leaders have formed an interim editorial board and they like it so much, they would like to change the structure permanently.
If there’s an area where I would suggest improvement, it would be to bring more campus-related news to Continuous News.
