Deep care about truth drives editor in journalism field
Hannah Davis, editor at The Forest Lake Times, sees her role as providing the public with information to make informed decisions
By Aaron Heckmann
Hannah Davis didn’t originally major in journalism as she pursued broadcasting at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. But the late hours of the broadcasting industry coupled with a disjointed program caused her to rethink her future plans.
What she did know was that she enjoyed being part of her high school yearbook. After taking a semester off, Davis changed her major to journalism. After her hopes of interning at a magazine she grew up reading called Brio were crushed due to the Great Recession, she ended up in California where she interned with the weekly VC Reporter before coming to the The Forest Lake Times where she’s been for five years, around half of that as the editor.
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Q: What’s it like working at a community newspaper?
A: I like being invested in the community I’m in; whereas if you work for a daily like the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press, you build relationships, but your footprint is different because your network is just so much more vast. As a community journalist, I feel like you’re so much more invested in the community.
Q: What are your responsibilities as a news editor?
A: I’m making sure that I know what content is going in the newspaper. I’ll help navigate different timing aspects of it, or I’ll nix them if I don’t feel like they’re newsworthy enough or if we need to try a different angle. So it’s twofold; editing itself and then being the leader of the newspaper in deciding what gets in the newspaper, having a hand on that even though I try to be mostly hands off. I still want to make sure I know what content is getting in the newspaper. In a leadership role, I also have to manage our staff.
But it’s also the actual editing part; making sure that when we get stories, it’s not limited just to the grammatical things and the stylistic things. It’s also about what the point of the story is and did we do a good job representing what’s going on? Answering any questions that may come up that I think our readers might have. Outside of that, I report as well. I definitely have more of a writing imprint than I think some people might think for the role.
Q: What is a typical work week like for you?
A: I’m writing and editing content leading up to Monday. Then I finish up content and edit on Mondays. I go down and attend the council meeting and write that up if necessary. On Tuesday, I wrap up final edits and do the page layout. Wednesday is my day to reset for the week; take a broad view and plan ahead as well as have our staff meeting. The latter half of Wednesday, as well as Thursday and Friday, is a wide range of things, such as scheduling interviews, figuring out what I need to do for my stories, posting to the web, mapping out my social media reports and working on content for the following week.
Q: What do you like about being an editor and what challenges do you face?
A: I love building my footprint in the community. Being a part of a community is such a huge part of hyperlocal journalism. Editing specifically, I really love helping people figure out a story and I love deciding what gets into the newspaper. I also love being in the leadership role of that gatekeeper to decide what stories to share with the public. Those stories inform public discourse, and that comes with great responsibility.
One of the biggest challenges is simply that the structure of the business right now is struggling, and I feel like there’s far too much on my plate to get done in the amount of time that I have. I’ve really had to learn how to do things faster and just in a more organized fashion because I only have 37.5 hours in a week.
Outside of that, the reporting challenges come down to how well I have networked. So for instance, I’ve tried tracking down a handful of stories that just ended up not being able to go anywhere because I had not yet built up the network and relationships I should have had, but that really just takes time and effort.
Q: What’s the best way that you’ve found stories and how do you decide what is newsworthy?
A: You will find stories regardless, but getting to know people and maintaining relationships with them has probably been one of the biggest helps. You’ll get press releases all the time and sometimes those will turn into a story, which has been helpful. But I’d say building those sources in determining what’s newsworthy. I also ask whether a topic is interesting. Are we just telling a story to just tell a story, or are we telling a story for a reason? What’s different? What’s new? If you can’t tell me what’s different and what’s new, I’m not sure there’s a point to this story.
Q: What advice would you give to students who aspire to become an editor?
A: You need to be able to handle a lot of stress and build your news judgment now. That’s a skill that is highly important, not only determining what is newsworthy but how to approach particular topics. And everyone is screaming about bias these days. I think the reality is that bias will exist, but the point is being able to set aside my opinions and think about what other people want to know. I care more that everyone else is able to make up their own mind with the best information possible.
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Davis said she wishes people knew how much she cares for the community. She cares more that people have the information to make an informed decision and most importantly, she cares about truth. Davis knows the power stories have on the community and her responsibility as an editor, so she gives “a lot of weight and attention to that.”
[Editor’s Note: Answers were lightly edited for clarity and brevity.]
