Yorkies shadow at George Herald
Grade 11 learners from York High School spent last week at the George Herald, doing job shadowing. Finding out how the newspaper comes into being each week was quite an eyeopener for them. Here are some of their impressions. Also read their article on page 22.
Editorial - Lesmé Heyns
I never realised how complicated it is to produce an article for a newspaper. The journalist must constantly check that the facts are correct. The editorial team consists of the journalists who writes articles for print (newspaper) and social media platforms (website and Facebook) where articles are uploaded daily. Although the George Herald is a weekly community newspaper, it has become like a daily paper with their online section. Journalists start writing their stories after they receive tip-offs and had interviews with at least two or three reliable sources, checking all the time that the facts are correct. Once written, a teaser (short story) is uploaded to their website with a few photos and videos.
The full article, which appears in the newspaper, is loaded on the system where the sub-editor checks and proof reads it.
The editor also checks it and then allocates it onto the page of the newspaper. There are two subeditors, for English and Afrikaans. The editor tries to balance the articles between the two languages
for the readers.
Advertising - Nosinda Mgijima
My 5-day job shadowing experience broadened my understanding of how a publishing company works. Journalists aren’t the only hands in the business as the marketing and advertising team play a major role in ensuring that the newspaper comes out once a week. Advertising is the primary income for a newspaper and without advertising the printed version sold on street wouldn’t exist.
The advertising department strives to enter into long-term partnerships with clients and many have year-long contracts, which are renewed at the end of February.
The reps are constantly visiting customers to source new clients. The cost of advertising depends on the size and location of the advertisement in the paper. The most expensive advert is the front page, followed by the back page and then the bottom right hand corner. The marketing team is a business on its own.
Online Department - Joel Symons
The online department updates the websites, Facebook and
Twitter, of each publication in the group, i.e. George Herald, Oudtshoorn Courant, Mossel Bay Advertiser, Suid-Kaap Forum, Knysna Plett Herald and the Graaff Reinet Advertiser. These sites are constantly uploaded with breaking stories and updated information. The team of four are on duty 24 hours a day. The workload is dependent on the amount of newsworthy stories received and thus varies from day to day. I was very surprised to learn that the George Herald generates more income from the sales of hard copy newspapers than it does from its online department, but I am sure this will change as the online news becomes more relevant.
The reps are constantly visiting customers to source new clients.