Behind the scenes of your publication office

Nicole Pizur, staff writer

Picking up a paper or going online to check the news can be a very easy task, but the hard work that goes into making sure the news provided is up to date and popular with students is a much more complex task. Behind the news is a staff of writers, editors, page designers, artists, and photographers.

The Joliet Tiger Tales newspaper, overseen and produced by Miss. Galloy, is run by Co-Editors in chief, Alita Stukel and Aileen Carranza their jobs are to make sure the next issue is always filled with up to date article topics, that articles are in on time and edited, pages look interesting and are formatted correctly, and they make sure the pages are ready to be sent to be put on stands on time.

For a lot of the formatting of the paper, the students utilize In-Design, Photoshop, and other resources on the web if necessary. Freddy Ortiz, one of the news section designers, says, “Page designing is a rigorous task of trial and error. Before we release an issue, us editors probably make a good hundred versions all together. To be an editor you have to be able to try your hardest.” Each page of an issue is always looked over by a group of editors to assure spelling, placement, and the information given is correct.

Although all of the deadlines are very important, the staff-writers deadline for articles is the most important seeing there’s no paper without articles, “As a staff writer, we’re given about two to three weeks when the issue is our normal length, but we’re given more time if the issue is a longer one” says, Gabby Houde.

The copy editors are then given the articles and corrections are done ASAP and given back to the original writer. The articles then make their way to the page designer for their section. Each section has at least two page designers for the normal eight-page issue and may have more depending on how big the issue is.

Page designers then are given a week to layout articles and any photos or extra things. All the pages are reviewed by copy editors, the Editors in chief, and Miss. Galloy. “advanced multimedia is a unique class that is 100% class ran. I really rely on my student editors to produce quality publications where their leadership shines through.” states Miss. Galloy.

Any final changes are made prior to the pages being sent off to the printers on Friday before they’re back at the school to be distributed Monday morning. Editor-in-chief, Aileen Carranza has stated, “Despite the lengthy process to put out an issue, it’s all worth it in the end!”

This can truly show all the hard work that’s occurring in the publications office.