New year, new Kansan

This year has been a year of growth. Despite tragedy, I charged forward — ready to do something that mattered.

This semester, the Arts & Culture section was my oyster. We revamped and introduced content that touched on topics we thought students would care about. Now, here I am, a senior only a semester away from graduation.

After a nudge by a few friends I applied for Editor-in-Chief. I made it. I’m both honored and surprised but here’s what I have in mind. Hope you’re ready.

As we step into the Spring 2016 semester, I plan to work hand-in-hand with a couple of individuals to build a strong core for the Kansan. This team — Brand Manager, the Managing Editor and myself — will be able to play off each other’s strengths to steer the staff for a stronger Kansan.

Overview of goals

We will strive to encourage two main principles in the spring semester: collaboration and creativity. Both principles are of paramount importance to establish an environment that inspires our staff to be exemplary.

Creativity is more than just design and photography. It means that our staff creates content that is most relevant to our readers and packages it in a way that draws readers in. It means that our stories go deeper than the surface. It means our story formats are unique and specific to each story.

Collaboration goes deeper than talking to each other. It should be at the core of all that we do. Designers, photographers and reporters should work hand-in-hand to package stories in the best way possible. Editors of all sections should come together to discuss content. Correspondent reporters should feel comfortable chatting with higher-level staff members. We don’t want a staff that is compartmentalized and separate. Instead, we will encourage unity through collaboration.

A large focus will be on increasing alumni engagement with the Kansan. They are an important part of our readership, and we could do a better job reaching them. This includes showing them our content and building relationships so that we can better identify the content they expect from the Kansan.

We also want to establish a unique identity for each of the print products. This will help our staff as we budget as well as make the print products more cohesive and relevant to our readers. That means we’ll have the opportunity to produce two alternative reporting, design-heavy and engaging end products every Monday and Thursday.

We’re a team and, at the end of the semester, a “Famsan.” We will encourage a professional environment in which we all respect one another, regardless of staff position, and treat each other appropriately and kindly.

We are journalists. As a team, we will work together to produce two strong, relevant papers per week and fresh digital content daily, with clear goals in mind. We will challenge one another to think critically and outside of the comfort zone. We are the student voice and that voice should be diverse.

Digital

The Kansan made the digital-first push this semester. But, we haven’t made it 100 percent and need to push the Kansan.com to the next level. Our readers deserve a strong web and social media presence. That means improving on unique reporting methods and tools.

Even though we emphasized packaging each story in the fall, our teams lacked the direction to address these three points:

• How to do it.
• Who to do it.
• Communication between reporter and visuals.

As a digital-first paper, we should encourage all staff members — editors included — to report, be it through an aggregate of Twitter reports or iPhone videos or photos. For Kansan.com the goal should be clear: a full packaged story is expected at deadline.

For our digital presence, we need to benchmark the number of posts per day and per week. This will help social media engagement and establish the Kansan as the go-to news source for students.

Staff breakdown

The EIC, ME and BM will all work together to make sure content, business and staff is well supported. We all have one goal in mind: collaborate. Each person has a strength that can support each other’s weakness, which is why I’ve proposed we establish a core of three to head the Kansan.

A Brand Manager position has been added to address the business know-how portion of the Kansan. The BM will work hand-in- hand with managing editor on content, but more on the ad/business side. The EIC, ME and BM will work as a team and divvy up those responsibilities.

The Brand Manager will work on cultivating and establishing a strong brand for the Kansan. They will be the bridge between the advertising staff and the editorial staff. They will also help with social media and the digital presence in big-picture ways. They will focus on overall engagement, with their main goal being to make sure content is reaching the relevant audiences and that the Kansan brand remains consistent and strong.

The current Engagement Manager and Brand Manager positions have been absorbed and redistributed to the new Brand Manager and the digital staff (Digital Editor and Social Media Editor). The digital staff will now work on social media and analytics, as well as Kansan.com. They will work with reporters and editors to present content in the best way possible.

The Managing Editor position has been reimagined. I’ve seen how overwhelming having to do day-to-day management is with production night duties. It’s too much for one person. That’s why I propose to split that position and have another person — Print Production Manager — be in charge of production Wednesdays and Sundays. My plan is to reintroduce the copy chief but through the PPM, who is directly under the ME’s leadership. The ME would be in charge of budget meetings, check-ups with section editors and daily slot shifts (with my help of course!) for daily content.

The current Visuals Editor position leads the Design Chief and the Photography Chief and their respective staffs. The new Visuals Editor will still lead both the photo and design staffs, but will absorb the Design Chief’s responsibilities. This means that they will be at production nights to design and to make sure the visuals department runs smoothly. They will also work to revamp the print design and create engaging special sections and general content. They will foster creativity between all staff members.

Improving Kansan journalism across all platforms

Each staff member, from reporter to designer, should read the Kansan, know the Kansan policies and Kansan style. Sure, we want to emphasize a diverse wealth of knowledge within our staff but there should also be an emphasis on a love for news because that’s the core of what we do.

It’s imperative to ensure that we balance in-depth coverage on the heavy topics with light-hearted content. Our readers cannot be inundated with hard-hitting news at all times. It’s also important to ensure that our content isn’t lacking in substance. By encouraging our staff to dig deeper, we can help maintain an environment that produces relevant, engaging and understandable content.

Our staff should ask themselves:

• Is this issue relevant to our readers?
• If not, then why are we pursuing it?
• How do we go beyond just reporting the obvious?
• How do we break down the big issue so that it makes sense to our readers?

Our staff shouldn’t be afraid to break stories down and tell readers why they should care.