For all of you who constantly ask when your editor ever takes vacation time away from the office – Mark down June 5 through June 7 as days your editor is definitely away from the office.
I am taking part in the Mores Media Fellowship from the Iowa Newspaper Association during those days, and will be taking care of business for the newspaper during pauses in sessions and as I am able.
While I’ll be away, I’m sure this newspaper will still be here and functioning, but our newspaper may be thinner for the June 13 issue, as I am more focused on the leadership seminars and training being offered at the time and not cranking out my usual four or more stories a week. I have a couple of stories I have been working on ahead of that timeframe so it isn’t without news content, and will follow up on other content when I get back.
It’s one of the first continuing education courses I’ve been to in a few years. Most of the others have been half days in a neighboring community that you go, learn and then bring back what you learned to help share with others.
It’s a seminar that is tailored for further developing leadership skills in newspaper professionals, and I’m excited to be attending, as having a more robust news plan or other skills will only help with the merger with Student Publications, Inc. this fall as to what type of help and how often we can plan on that being part of our coverage for this newspaper.
As an editor who has been far, far more reactionary than he wants to be at times, it will be great to have at least tips and ideas on how better to plan for the things coming up in a given year and be more proactive in getting some stories done in downtimes in my schedule.
If there are breaking news in my absence during that week, please contact publisher Jason Brummond at the Daily Iowan (his email contact is on the masthead on Page 2).