Name: Carolyn Per
Job: Special Projects/Assistant Content Editor at the Bucks County Courier Times, a large, suburban daily.
What are your responsibilities? Editing copy for the daily publication; putting out special projects such as the twice-yearly Voters Guide and the monthly BC magazine; editing the copy, selecting the photos and writing the headlines for the daily business pages; filling in when needed on the op-ed pages; supervising and helping interns from colleges throughout the country; building a pool of freelancers, asking them to do stories and submitting their invoices.
What's a typical workday? Reading and responding to numerous phone calls and e-mails, blogging on the couriertimesnow.com website, interacting with reporters and interns, editing copy for the daily, doing the daily business pages, editing copy for BC magazine.
What do you like/dislike about the job? Like: the excitement of planning and contributing to the next day's paper; working on BC magazine; interacting with reporters, interns and the public; reading the fruits of our labors the next morning. Dislike: administrative responsibilities, such as payroll.
Background: Bachelor's degree in psychology and journalism, with a concentration in magazines, from Syracuse University. First newspaper job was at the Burlington County Times, a sister paper to the Courier Times, in the features department. Started at the Courier Times in 1983 as a sports writer, the first female ever hired by the sports department; moved to the sports desk, putting out the sports section every day; folded into the universal copy desk in the 1990s when one was started at the Courier Times; became a news editor in 1998.
What are the skills young journalists need today? The ability to construct a story, using proper grammar, spelling and punctuation; the ability to navigate the web and a working knowledge of Microsoft Word; the ability to conduct an interview to ascertain the information needed to write a story; an education that includes several internships.
Any advice to aspiring journalists? Have the knowledge to do web reporting, take pictures and do videos - the future of the newspaper industry is on the web.
Any additional comments? Even with the knowledge listed above, it is important to know basics - grammar, spelling and punctuation - so you can present yourself to editors and the public as an intelligent, well-spoken reporter and you can fashion a news story. And it is important that you take time to work on your appearance. T-shirts and jeans are not acceptable in the newsroom. You are expected to present yourself as a professional because when you leave the newsroom you are representing the newspaper in public. We can teach you what questions to ask and how to write a lead, but you need to know the basics, in addition to having done internships, to get a job. The competition is fierce and the openings are few.
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