Name: Laura Irwin
Job: Editor-in-Chief of The Centurion, the independent student newspaper at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa.
What are your responsibilities? The whole shebang - from editing to writing. The layout and design is my own, and I look for stories with visual elements to highlight a particular page. To fill the pages, I assign stories and edit copy as it comes in. I write my own weekly column, as well as any juicy stories I dig up. After sending each paper to print, I produce a weekly webcast, highlighting the stories from that week's issue. I deliver newspapers and issue checks to the guys that print the paper. I await checks from advertisers. I use my role outside the newsroom as a student leader and try to not skip all my classes.
What's a typical workday? An outrageous amount of time is spent in the newsroom checking e-mail, fielding phone calls, and clearing Quark pages and badgering journalism students. Skipping class for layout, taking random photos I think I may need at a later time and talking to professors and college faculty is pretty typical too.
What do you like/dislike about the job? Like: Having my music playing in the newsroom, meeting and working with others who have the same interests, AP Style. Dislike: Having to put on a three-ring circus to get others involved.
Background: At age 26, I am a hair away from an associate's degree in journalism. I work freelance for a chain of weekly community papers where I live.
What are the skills young journalists need today? Networking is no. 1 and being marketable is no. 2. Knowing the people you will eventually work with in the news biz is key, and in order to work next to these people, you need to have more than a few good clips under your belt. I try to make myself as well-rounded as possible, which means learning various multimedia skills and layout programs.
Any advice to aspiring journalists? Write!
