Role of Regional Editor

Studying Patch over the last month, I've concluded a Regional Editor’s success lies with the Local Editors. Based on my experience with RacinePost, I've learned community news succeeds with consistency over time. If you report news every day, readers and advertisers will find you. But if you miss a beat, audience will disappear quickly. My biggest concern for Patch sites is turnover among the Local Editors. It’s bound to happen, but I believe a Regional Editor’s primary job is to minimize turnover and to build succession plans for when someone does leave. I would work from the belief that building and maintaining a pool of talent is of critical importance to successful, lasting community news sites. Patch's four virtues are good markers for how a regional editor can recruit, support, and encourage Local Editors.

Here’s an outline of how I envision the Regional Editor’s job breaking down:

1. Hiring and managing Local Editors 

a. Identifying, interviewing and selecting candidates
b. Coordinating schedules for vacations, sick days
c. Supporting Local Editors; Constant communication
d. Recruiting freelancers and potential LEs
e. Launch!

2. Day to Day
a. Reviewing sites, editing stories, tracking competition and Patch site performance
b. Following Facebook and Twitter feeds (use of social media)
c. Encourage and motivate LEs (positive, honest feedback)
d. Meet and review short and long-term plans with LEs
e. Review and monitor the region’s budgets

3. Marketing
a. Building the Patch name in communities
b. Guiding LEs to understand ‘goodwill’ marketing
c. Assist with community presence/visibility

4. Implementing Patch plan
a. Consistent communication with VP
b. Study and communicate Patch strategy to LEs
c. Follow trends

5. Guiding content to build audience
a. Facilitating cooperation among Local Editors
b. Mix of stories for a wide audience
c. Efficient use of resources
d. Emphasize photos and videos

Commentary 

I’m a hard news guy at heart, but I rank “content” 5th because we’re hiring 12 Local Editors to work daily at creating content and covering their communities. All five categories are important, but I see the Regional Editor as looking big picture at what is needed to maintain consistency and continuity across all 12 sites. I don’t expect to routinely train Local Editors. We’re hiring and equipping professional journalists to cover their communities. Even a relatively green reporter shouldn’t need extensive training. If they do, I hired the wrong candidate. 

Also, while I primarily investigate, write, and share hard news, I’m not locked into only recruiting hard news reporters. I’m much more interested in a Local Editor who can handle all aspects of the job and who knows how to connect with readers. Local Editors are the “face” of Patch in their community. While I love a reporter who can slice and dice local officials with strong reporting, the Local Editor position is a nuanced job that needs to connect with a wide range of readers. A strong feature writer, entertainment reporter, sports editor, or photojournalist may do just as well as someone with a hard news background.

Patch editors are really a throwback to the time when you had a daily Local Columnist who reported news, told stories, promoted events, and held local government officials accountable. Every community had one of these columnists who served as the face of the local newspaper. (In Racine, it was a man named Tex Reynolds, who remains a local legend.) I see Patch editors as an updated version of this lost position. Journalists from any number of backgrounds could excel in this role. 

Thoughts for Local Editors 
1. For stories, nothing beats going to meetings and events - the smaller and more obscure the better. I developed a strong local government beat in Racine by simply going to meetings that reporters had skipped for years. Organizers were both flattered, and scared, by the prospect of third-party oversight. It led to many great stories and immediately cemented my reputation as a community-minded, hard-nosed journalist interested in all aspects of the community.

2. Event stories are good. Photos and video are better. We cover many local events in Racine as a way to support the community and appeal to readers. What better way to draw them in than by putting their picture in a news story? I’m a huge proponent of large, comprehensive slideshows and reports on events. One mistake I see local newspapers repeatedly make is to get too clever in their stories. They’ll go to an event and “look for a story,” while ignoring the larger picture. Once in Racine the Downtown threw a huge block party that drew 10,000+ people. It was a huge event and the city was very proud of it. The reporter, though, focused the next day’s story on one out-of-town vendor he’d met on the street. He made no mention of the crowds, the amazing success of the event, or what it meant for the city. He was too clever. I learned from that story that just because we get tired of writing some stories, doesn’t mean the public is tired of it. Actually, they expect it from their local news source. There’s still room for stories on vendors and individuals, but you can’t miss the big picture.

3. Restaurants and bars. I’m not sure why, but people love reading and commenting on stories about local establishments. It’s like the enjoy knowing the behind-the-scenes stories of the places they routinely go to for entertainment. I think Patch sites could do well for themselves to highlight local places to eat and drink one a week.

3 1/2. Business. Important for reasons similar to restaurants and bars, with one addition. Business profiles also get people talking about your website and telling other business owners about it. This helps ad managers and marketing efforts.

4. Records requests. Nothing says reporting chops like a records request that develops into a story. They can be easy - village salaries, the administrator’s schedule, teacher dress code - or more challenging - emails from state officials on an issue, financial records - but I’d push all Patch reporters to become familiar with the open records law. It’s an incredible tool that local journalists underutilize, despite bearing incredibly fruitful stories.

5. “Ask Patch.” I think that’s a great column idea that promotes reader interaction and establishes Patch as a community resource. We ran a column at the Racine newspaper called “Glad You Asked,” and it was very popular. When done well, it’s a real reader magnet.

6. Three levels of cops. As a former cops reporter, I learned there were three levels of police stories worked in their own way. First was the down and dirty daily police blotter telling people about the burglaries, car crashes and shootings - all the big stuff we’re used to media covering. But I also had a lot of success in reporting minor crimes as news. For example, I called up someone who’s car had been broken into and it turns out the thieves stole her gradebook. She was an elementary school teacher and had lost all of her class’s records. In another story, I interviewed a teen who had thousands of dollars worth of CDs stolen from her car. They were all in a CD case. It led to a big community discussion about how teens, and really everyone, spends their money. The last category of crime story is the deep investigation. This is taking one crime, usually one of some note, and really digging into it. One really effective question: How did the actors get to this point? I like these stories because they put crime in context. I really don’t like to scare people with crime listings without at least some explanation of underlying causes. That said, the daily blotter and crime news is a big reader draw. They can’t be ignored.

7. Localizing. This local reporter standby is even more important in today’s search-engine/Twitter world. As an experiment, I wrote a story that tied Brad Pitt to Racine (actually, Racine was the name of a model who was making claims about Pitt, but it was enough to hang a silly little story on) and then monitored the traffic. It was by far our most popular story of the week. I’m not at all in favor of shameless SEO tactics, but I really enjoy local reporting efforts to connect a community to the larger world. This is especially important for smaller communities in southeastern Wisconsin that work hard to increase their visibility on the regional, state, national and international stages. If done well, it uncovers great stories and increases website traffic.

8. Columns. Not to be overdone, but a well-written and reported column brings needed life to an audience. I’ve found readers love to interact with a person, instead of an institution. One way to build that intimacy is by sharing personal stories and experiences, especially as they relate to the community. It’s hard to do well, but I’ve found if you approach it with a degree of humility readers are forgiving.

9. Story forms. I really like Q&As, numbered lists, “Notes” packages, and other reader-friendly formats. They also tend to be writer friendly and a way for a reporter to cover a lot of ground quickly. For example, if you go to a village meeting you can focus on a bigger story, then use “notes” to easily report smaller stories. Sometimes a note will tip off a reader who will have some insight to share. Mostly, though, it shows you’re on top of a community’s local news. 

Management
This is a general section meant to show my thinking about how to organize a Patch region. It's just one issue I've been thinking through as a regional editor. It's included here to demonstrate my thinking on a regional scale:

Copy editor vs. Sports Editor vs. Visual Director 
Mark talked about different wants to organize a region. He was debating going with a sports editor for his region vs. a copy editor for the 12 sites. My initial thought is to mix in a third option, which would be a visual director who would work with Local Editors on photos and videos. Here’s my initial thoughts:

Copy Editor – A good copy editor is incredibly important for any news operation. It’s critically important to be accurate and consistent, especially for a new operation. The early days of a site are critically important for establishing reputation. A copy editor can help give a strong first impression.

Sports Editor – I like and follow sports and see their importance on Patch sites. You can reach many, many families and community members through sports coverage. But I would be inclined to recommend LE’s use freelancers and regional cooperation for sports coverage.

Visual Editor – Photos and videos are critical to the social component of a website. Sharing either on Facebook is like the new refrigerator – it’s a chance to show off to family and friends, and promote the news source in the process. A truly talented visual journalist is incredibly important to telling stories and covering a community.

I’m initially inclined toward a copy editor, followed by a Visual Editor and the Sports Editor, but could easily be swayed based on available for candidate. In this floating position I’d like a star performer who can do as much as possible. For example, I know one possible hire who is an exceptional videographer and photographer, who also loves local sports. I know another possible candidate who is a standout copy editor and great news person. Either would be invaluable to all 12 Patch sites in the region.

Strategy Memo

I. INTRODUCTION

Dear Sherry,

Thank you for the opportunity to interview for Patch’s south Milwaukee’s Regional Editor position. I know Patch is hiring talented journalists around the country to implement its plans. I’m grateful for the chance to join that group.

I’ve spent the past month researching, writing and thinking about how to bring Patch to southeastern Wisconsin. This document is the result of that work. It’s a collection of notes and writing I’ve done on how I envision the Regional Editor’s job, how I would hire and manage Local Editors, and how I would market the Patch sites to build “goodwill” to attract readers and advertisers. My hope is to demonstrate a working plan to hit the ground running as a Regional Editor. With your OK, I’d start tomorrow.

I see a remarkable opportunity with Patch. Three years ago I left a comfortable job with decent pay and benefits to create a community news start-up. Since that day I’ve worked nonstop building RacinePost.com into a respected and impactful source for local news. Throughout this time I’ve waited for the opportunity to “do it right.” I love RacinePost, but with limited resources it can only grow so far and do so much. Patch is different. It’s set a clear path to re-inventing local news on a grand scale. It’s everything I’ve wanted to do, and then some. It’s something I’d love to be part of. Hopefully, this document shows I’m ready to take and excel at the job.

Sincerely,

Dustin Block 

II. REGIONAL STRATEGY

Southeastern Wisconsin is ripe for Patch's entry. Several communities in the south Milwaukee region have little or no regular news coverage at a time when they are attempting to establish themselves as standalone communities. Daily news coverage will bring wanted attention and identity to growing villages like Mount Pleasant, Caledonia, and Pleasant Prairie, and needed competition to news coverage in Oak Creek, Franklin, and Brookfield. Many of these communities rarely see a reporter at their government meetings, and community members and business leaders rarely get media attention. Patch sites will fill the needed watchdog role for local governments while also bringing deserved attention to communities left behind by deep cuts in media coverage. In short, Patch's timing could not be better. 

A. Competition 

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and CommunityNOW

Journal Communications has gutted its community news operation over the last five years, while also making drastic cuts to its metro staff. The result is a huge opening for Patch in coverage in the Milwaukee suburbs. There's a wealth of local talent available to fill Local Editor and freelance positions, especially at the salaries and benefits Patch is paying. I have little doubt Patch can steal away CommunityNOW's best employees and quickly establish the Patch sites as the dominant source for local news in the Milwaukee suburbs. 

Journal Times/Kenosha News/Waukesha News 

I lump together these three metro dailies because they're remarkably similar. Staffs are underpaid, overworked, and constantly asked "to do more with less." Meanwhile, their coverage has fallen off dramatically over the last three years ago. Patch will have no problem competing with these dailies and raising the quality of news reporting in the Patch communities. 

News Market 

Southeastern Wisconsin is surprisingly newsy. It's a good mix of urban and suburban issues with a heavy focus on development and rapid change in most of the Patch communities. Traditional urban centers are losing their grasp as the region's driving force, and news stories are following this influence away from cities. It's also worth noting that southeastern Wisconsin is the driving economic force in Wisconsin is increasingly connecting with the Chicagoland area. I read somewhere the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor is one of the most populated in the world. Positioned along the Great Lakes, one of the largest sources of freshwater in the world, it's clear long-term Southeastern Wisconsin will be a major source of economic growth.

B. Key Issues
Southeastern Wisconsin is a very newsy area. Along with the traditional urban centers, explosive growth in the suburbs is resulting in a number critical issues surrounding growth and development, schools, the environment, transportation, taxes, and many more. Regionally, I have my eye on three issues I'd love to see the Patch editors worth together to cover:

1. Landfills and garbage. This is a big deal in SE Wisconsin because the landfills are filling up and it's costing communities a lot of money to ship garbage to new landfills. There's a big effort to increase recycling and change people's habits, but what happens when the landfills are full?

2. The Root River. This river through the heart of SE Wisconsin touches at least five of the Patch communities in the southern Milwaukee region. Each community has their own issue with the river, including flooding, pollution, development, and stopping development. Another big story worth tackling across multiple sites.

3. Schools. There's a discrepancy between school spending throughout the region. It's a critical issue worth a closer look. What schools are doing well? What's working? I'd love to start a series on good ideas in Patch communities. Education would be a good place to start.

Ad Market 

Based on my experience with RacinePost, an online news startup in Racine, there's a fertile local advertising market for Patch sites. Small businesses and large nonprofits are seeking new ways to reach customers, and larger businesses are disgusted with the drop in quality of the local newspapers and are ready to support an alternative source for news. 

Marketing 

I'm optimistic Patch will quickly spread through Southeastern Wisconsin simply by having reporters and ad directors on the street, doing their thing. There's a vacuum of coverage in the region waiting to be filled. Mix in community involvement and local marketing efforts (like launch parties) and we'll have no problem reaching a strong local audience a few months after launch. My guess is you'll see more communities requesting Patch sites within three months of region's first site launches. 

IV. HIRING 
Over the next six months it seems the south Milwaukee Regional Editor’s top priorities are to recruit exceptional Local Editors, help them launch their sites, and build the sites into leading sources of community news.

Thinking ahead to starting as Regional Editor, I’ve put together a list of potential candidates for all 12 Local Editors in the south Milwaukee region. Please know I’ve in no way contacted these people or suggested they apply for Patch jobs. This is an internal document based solely on my research and experience. I have no idea if any of these people are interested in a Local Editor job (including friends), but it’s where I would start if you asked me to fill the positions.

I believe the Regional Editor’s primary job is to recruit, build, and support a consistent, reliable staff of Local Editors. I don’t believe training is a critical aspect to the Regional Editor’s job. Local Editors are professional journalists paid and equipped to cover their assigned community. If a Local Editor requires regular training, particularly journalism training, then I’ve hired the wrong candidate. (That said, everyone will require instruction in some aspect of Patch’s model. Best practices for Twitter, Facebook, video, photos, etc. … all can be communicated. But I don’t see the Regional Editor heavily involved in daily stories or routine coverage.)

Given that hiring philosophy, I’ve compiled a list of 30 potential candidates (Appendix A) I’ve identified as possible Local Editors, freelancers or miscellaneous positions in Patch’s south Milwaukee region. Mixed with applications already submitted to Patch, I’m hoping this is a productive start to quickly filling the 12 Local Editor positions and getting started on launching sites before the end of the year.

V. HIRING STRATEGY 
Strategically, I broke down the region by size of the community with the intention of trying to find the strongest journalists for areas to anchor their region. For example, I’d love to find an experienced journalist and editor for Pleasant Prairie or Mount Pleasant who could also help Local Editors in Bristol-Salem and Caledonia. My hope is to divide the region into four senior journalists, four journalists with average experience, and four new journalists, with the senior journalists divided through the region. (In other words, I don’t want four new journalists bunched geographically together and four senior journalists together.)

Here’s the breakdown, with “Three Stars” meaning most experienced and “One Star” meaning least experienced. Of course, this is only for planning purposes. If a talented, veteran journalist lives in a smaller community, we may still want to hire and pay them at the top level, and use a less experienced, and less expensive, candidate in another community. But the skill levels of the different editors should be taken into account when planning out the region.

Three Stars (Targeting a top-flight, experienced journalist with experience running a news operation)

New Berlin
Pleasant Prairie
Brookfield
Franklin

Two Stars (Veteran journalist/reporter)

Greenfield 

Caledonia
Mount Pleasant
Oak Creek

One Star (Journalist with 1-3 years experience)

Greendale
Salem-Bristol
Muskego
Pewaukee

VI. MARKETING 
Outside of traditional marketing methods, I’ve discovered three keys to marketing community news websites. All three are designed to build “goodwill” in the community, which attracts readers and advertisers. I spend time on them here because I believe this is important way a Regional Editor can help new Patch sites succeed.

1. ENGAGE – Local Editors have to care- really care - about the community they cover. This doesn’t mean cheerlead or simply promote. It means they have to engage in community life and use their skills to share accurate, fair, insightful and entertaining stories. For a Local Editor, Patch sites aren’t about making money. They’re about being of service to a community. How is this marketing? An engaged Local Editor builds goodwill in the community. If readers know they care, they’ll support the site by reading, advertising and spreading word.

2. WATCHDOG - Early on, Local Editors cover every government meeting possible, no matter how small. This impresses local government officials, who probably haven’t seen a reporter at their meetings in years. It also leads to good stories, develops contacts, and puts officials on notice there’s a new watchdog in town. I’d recommend Patch Local Editors take on this job themselves for at least the first few months before turning it over to freelancers. You want to get your face and name known to local government leaders, who are highly influential in the community. Fair, accurate coverage create immense goodwill among people who can quickly get word out about a community site.

3. YES! – A creative Local Editor should be able to accommodate every person who contacts Patch. Traditional media is in the habit of saying “No” to people. Patch should be about “Yes.” Someone calls with a not-so-great story idea? Use it as a seed for a better story. Someone calls with an event we can’t cover? Post it in the calendar and invite them to send in photos. Anyone who takes the effort to write or call Patch is a valuable reader. Local editors should do all they can to embrace them.

As Regional Editor, I see part of the job is to guide Local Editors in marketing efforts. It’s important they know from Day 1 their engagement with their community will affect their site’s success. It’s a different situation than most reporters, even veterans, will have been in. A regional editor needs to be sensitive to this difference from a traditional reporter/editor job, and guide Local Editors in using Engage, Watchdog, and Yes! to build goodwill, grow audience, and attract advertisers. 

Story Edit

Hi Dan, 

Great work on the Palos Patch site. You have a nice mix of stories, and your crime coverage seems particularly strong. Nice job in getting things up and running. 

I'm writing today about a story written by Jesse Marx on Oct. 1 headlined, District 218 Looks to Boost Test Scores With Technology. It's a good story that hits several key points of interest to local parents and students, but I think you missed an opportunity to do more with a great local topic. Here's what I saw as the heart of the story:

This year freshmen are required to take 2 to 3 hours worth of web-based English and mathematic tests in the classroom each week. The results are stored electronically to keep teachers updated on individual student's strengths and weaknesses.

The heads of the school district's math, English, science and social science departments say the data will be used specifically to highlight concepts that students have failed to learn. 

This leads me to all sorts of questions. Is this year's class of freshmen the first to use the software? If so, what prompted the change? How much does the program cost? Is it used anywhere else? Will they continue the tests through high school? Are there plans to extend the tests younger? Can parents monitor the test scores? How many other local schools are using the technology? Does anyone object to turning class time over to a computer? 

Also, what does the test look like? What do the students think of them? I think these are all compelling questions that give a glimpse of the future of education in Palos. 

More importantly, they'll get parents, students, teachers, and community members talking about local education (and hopefully reading Patch to learn more about their schools). The more we can drive the discussion on local issues in Palos, the more people will turn to Patch for news. 

Here's my review of the story: 

Headline 

Your headline was: District 218 Looks to Boost Test Scores With Technology / School administrators say District 218 is focusing its energy on improving student performance and test scores.

Both the head and subhed are too general to really grab readers. I would have liked to see something like, Online tests gauge Palos students' progress / Teachers, administrators use data to shape curriculum


Remember, you're trying to entice readers to click through the story with the headline. Try to put the most interesting aspect of the story in the headline.


Story


(Edits noted in blue)


Community High School District 218 administrators believe the best way to improve test scores in high school is to begin tracking student progress before high school.


You generally want to avoid reporting what people "believe" (because you don't know what people really believe). Better here would be something like: 


The best way to improve test scores at Community High School is to track student scores before high school, say District 218 administrators. 


But this lead doesn't get at the heart of the story. What does this mean to parents and students? How about something like: 

Welcome to a new era in local education. 


Based testing and data analysis, students and teachers at District 218's Community High School are relying  on web-based software to gauge progress and tailor classes to improve student performance.  


Freshmen at Community High School spend two to three hours per week taking online math and English exams designed to test their understanding of class material. Teachers evaluate the results and adjust their lessons accordingly. 

This flows in to the rest of the story:

Assistant Superintendent Kevin McCaffrey and other staff described the system to the Education Committee on Thursday. The online tests start in eighth grade and continue throughout high school. They're expected to have a direct, and immediate, impact on students' education. 

(The superintendent's quote is the strongest in the story. It also raises another interesting issue: Are English and math more important than electives like music or art?) 

Students may be required to take additional math or English classes if tests show they're falling behind, said Superintendent John Byrne. 

"That means you might not have an elective, but we figure to move on and be successful you better know how to read and do math," he said. "It's back to core skills."

(Don't let officials gunk up a story with jargon. Translate for the reader.) 

Byrne said the online tests will help the district improve test scores.  

"We could always do better," he said. "We've got good kids, good schools, good teachers. Let's figure out what the kids know and don't know, and teach it to them."

Students take the English and math tests in the classroom each week. The results are stored electronically to keep teachers updated on individual student's strengths and weaknesses.

Delete excess words and tighten where possible. Instead of ... 

The heads of the school district's math, English, science and social science departments say the data will be used specifically to highlight concepts that students have failed to learn. Other teaching methods will then be tried and those struggling students will be allowed to retake the test.

This ... 

Test data will flag concepts students didn't grasp and give teachers a second chance to present information, said the school district's math, English, science and social science department heads. Students can retake the test until they pass the material. 

"Part of this whole process is to get more confidence and knowledge in skills," Byrne said. "You're not hooked ball 'n' chain to the text book."

It shouldn't matter how many times it takes a student to pass a test, he added, so long as they pass it.

Mike Jacobson, curriculum director of English and LRC, said his teachers meet daily during their common plan time or before or after school to share assessment results and plan differentiated lessons. Their goal, he said, is to create a living lesson plan rather than a synthetic curriculum and move the conversation away from, "Well, he's not very good at reading."

"All of this information becomes responsive in the classroom. We're not just reacting," Jacobson said.

(Note on above: Again, this is a fascinating statement that seems very progressive. You could unpack this into another story. It seems like District 218 is doing some innovative work that's worth writing about.)

The goal is to open dialogue among academic departments so that the big picture may be seen while addressing daily teaching styles, Byrne said.

(Above: I'm not sure what this means. What's "the big picture"? Is the hope to use data to improve teaching? Again, don't let officials get away with jargon and buzz words.) 

Students won't be the only ones who benefit from the software; it was also purchased with parents and taxpayers in mind, McCaffrey said. Stakeholders can visit the District 218 website and view how particular schools stack up against one another in the district.

To learn more about the web-based software used by District 218, click on the following links: Lexia's ReadingPlus ACT's, EXPLORE Assessment and ALEKS

Do you think web-based assessments can help improve student performance? Tell us in the comments

End Notes 

There's a few things missing from the story: 

1. I'd love to hear from a student about the tests. Hard to do on deadline, but did the reporter witness anyone taking the tests? That would have made for better art, too. 
2. An interview with a regular teacher about how they use data, if they do at all. This all sounds great, but is it really working? The story could use a dose of skepticism until the district demonstrates how this works. You could actually ask the question: Is this really being used? What's a concrete example of a teacher changing their style based on data? Or of a student who improved performance?
3. The art for the story is lacking. I'd love to see how the students take the test, or how teachers analyze data. 
4. Where do parents fit into this? Can they review data? What do they think of students taking regular online tests? Is the data protected? Does it affect grades? 
5. I'm not education expert, but this seems to be fairly cutting edge. It'd be interesting to put these tests in some sort of context. Do other districts use them? Is this common around the country? An interview with the testing company or an education expert could answer these questions. 

Social Media 

Here's some suggestions on adding social media and additional technology:  

1. Twitter: Not your parents' education: Community High freshmen take online tests to gauge progress
2. Facebook: Discuss: Community High is using online tests to gauge student progress. If students fall behind, they may have to give up an elective class to catch up in math or English. Are core subjects more important than electives? 
3. Facebook: Computers are an everyday part of today's schools. What was high-tech in your high school? 
4. Tumblog: Things that make Palos great: Innovative use of technology at Community High School to test students and adjust teaching methods to improve performance 
5. Video: What does a test look like? Can we take one? Can we see if readers would pass a freshman English exam? 

Links

The reporter did a good job of linking to related materials. I would just add the Community High School District 218 website: http://www.chsd218.org/