REGULAR MEETING
Jan. 12, 2006 • 5 p.m.
Student Senate chambersCALL TO ORDER
Present: Jessica Branson (chair), Patrick Cleary, Heather Warren, Emily Pahel, Anni Sadow, Josh Bassett, Keitris Weathersbe, Rebecca Heslin, Britt Hayes
Absent: Whil Piavis (ex-officio), Seneca Toms (ex-officio, non-voting), Ronald Johnson, Darryl Hardy, David Nourse, Emmanuel Lipscomb
Guests: Bradley Wilson, Krystal Pittman, Martha Collins
OLD BUSINESS
- Approval of the minutes. CLICK HERE. The minutes from the Oct. 20, 2005 meeting were reviewed. Heslin made a motion to approve; Hayes seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by consent.
- Update on the Nubian Message. Editor Weathersbe deferred discussion until the period for editor reports.
NEW BUSINESS
- Revision to Appointment of Top Media Leaders policy. CLICK HERE. Wilson and Heslin spoke to the need to realign the starting dates for the editors of Technician to ensure good transition and effective summer leadership. Cleary moved to amend sections 1c), 1e), and 4b) to include the Nubian Message , Weathersbe seconded, and the amendment was accepted by consent. Heslin made a motion to adopt the overall revision; Bassett seconded, and the revision was accepted by consent.
- Deadline progress. CLICK HERE. Of particular discussion were issues related to the Agromeck and Technician meeting scheduled deadlines. The board was informed of current timeliness status, and editor Heslin noted that the Technician had not missed any on-campus distribution times. Further, editor Bassett and Wilson downplayed the future significance of the missed deadlines for Agromeck this school year on a fall delivery system, but Wilson presented the grave dangers for a spring delivery yearbook that missed deadlines. The board was also informed that financial penalties to the publication staffs were assessed for missing deadlines.
REPORTS
- Agromeck, Josh Bassett, editor • CLICK HERE
- Americana, Emmanuel Lipscomb, editor • CLICK HERE
- Nubian Message, Keitris Weathersbe, editor • CLICK HERE Weathersbe gave a promising vision for The Nubian Message noting that the paper was well-staffed at the section editor level and was prepared to meet a full spring publication schedule. The board expressed its appreciation for her hard work.
- Technician, Rebecca Heslin, editor • CLICK HERE
- Windhover, Britt Hayes, editor • CLICK HERE Editor Hayes asked for the board's help in getting more and varied submissions for Windhover .
- WKNC 88.1fm, David Nourse, general manager • CLICK HERE
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Student Media Advisory Board may adjourn into executive session to discuss matters of litigation, potential litigation or personnel.ADJOURN
A motion to adjourn was made by Heslin and seconded by Hayes. The motion was approved by consent, and the meeting adjourned at 5:50 PM.AGROMECK
Submitted by Josh Bassett, editorEDITORIAL STAFF:
Josh Bassett, editor (editor@agromeck.ncsu.edu)
Austin Dowd, managing editor (austin@agromeck.ncsu.edu)
Cynthia Rouf, organizations section editor (nrouf@ncsu.edu)RECRUITMENT/TRAINING
On Jan. 6 and 7 Student Media staff members, including members from the Agromeck will participate in training in design.PHOTOGRAPHY
Congratulations to Anna Gookin for being named the November Photographer of the Month. See her photos on the Agromeck Web site.DEADLINE PROGRESS
- The staff met the first deadline on Oct. 3 as 16 pages were sent to Taylor Publishing.
- The second deadline was met when 31 pages were sent to Taylor Publishing on Nov. 7.
- The third deadline didn't pass smoothly. Only 27 of the 60 required pages were sent off Dec. 14. The original deadline for the full 60 pages was Dec. 3. The remaining pages will be shipped on Jan. 11.
- Due to missing the deadline, the editor, managing editor and organizations section editor will receive pay docks.
- A new accountability system for writers will also be instituted as a result of this missed deadline.
AMERICANA
Submitted by Emmanuel Lipscomb, editorAmericana is still down; however, our Web developer, Michael McAuley, has made progress towards restoring the web site. Working with our other Web developer, Hexing Liu, Michael has managed to get the following scripts functioning: addition of new stories, addition of new authors and artists, view of unpublished material (for editors), viewing of each section, and logging in as a unique ID. Left to complete are the application of the site template to the scripts (a graphical interface for editors/readers), the addition of an image and video upload option, the addition of an editor's page from which stories can be managed, the addition of a comment system, and the addition of a searchable archive. Michael has said that we could publish as early as this weekend. He is also working on a Web site programming manual that will be a thorough guide that explains how each bit of the site's code functions. Hopefully, this will prevent confusion as we pass from one Web developer to the next in the future.
The lack of publishing continues to be detrimental to Americana. When publishing resumes, we'll have to regain many of our readers and writers. As it is, one staff member has left the group, and morale has been low at staff meetings. Because of this, we are in the process of obtaining a new features editor.
Fortunately, last semester's new staff members have brought a lot of enthusiasm to the table. Matt O'Bryant, publicity coordinator, has been busy making contacts around the university concerning various publicity opportunities. He organized and ran our Open Mic Night last semester with surprising success given initial setbacks. Travis Stearns has aided our Web developers, Michael and Hexing, with their constant work on the Website. Cari Corbett and Amos Baynes, creativity editor and humor editor,
have kept up with their writers and produced content despite the lack of publication.Given our staff, I am confident that Americana will have no difficulty overcoming the inertia of our lack of productivity once we are able to publish.
NUBIAN MESSAGE
Submitted by Keitris Weathersbe, editorEditorial staff:
- Editor- Keitris Weathersbe, kewe1885@yahoo.com
- Managing editor- Senadzi Kpeglo, skkpeglo@ncsu.edu
- Business Manager-Ryan Daniels, rdaniel@ncsu.edu
New hires:
- Webmaster- Gui Oliveira, gtolivei@ncsu.edu
- 5 section editors
- 1 Circulation manager
- 12 writers
- 3 photographers
- Volunteer writers/photographers
Open House: There were 53 students in attendance at the open house held on Nov. 21, 2005. Out of that 53, 28 have been hired, while the remaining are awaiting interviews. The open house featured display boards, which provided students with information on the publications, surveys, and ways to join the staff.
Progress: Over the winter break, writers were given assignments for articles, with the deadline being set for Dec. 31, 2005. All writers met the deadline. Layouts have been produced by layout editor, Ariana Farquharson. With it being post-open house, several students have expressed interest in working for the Nubian Message, as a writer or photographer. Interviews for vacant positions will continue on the second week of the semester. The first publication will be available on January 18, 2006. Job descriptions and expectations have been given to all staff members. There are vacancies for: one copy editor, news writer, photographer, designer, and arts entertainment writer. Interviews for these positions will continue during the week of Jan. 15-20.
TECHNICIAN
Submitted by Rebecca Heslin, editorBudget: Looking good thus far. Ads are still fluctuating but at a decent percentage of our paper. Especially toward the end of the semester, we had a huge increase in ads, but that's only to be expected.
Staff: Staff recruitment/retention is struggling. We lost a lot of our good writers toward the end of the semester due to their involvement in other activities. Our core group of new writers, however, has stuck with us for the most part and have really been carrying their weight. We lost several of our top editorial board members for the upcoming semester and will feel the effects of their absences undoubtedly. Managing Editor Patrick Clarke has left us for bigger and better things for a design internship with the Detroit Free Press. We will not be replacing him at this point in time. In News we're losing Erin Welch. Kasey Butler will be joining the news editors as a deputy. In sports we've lost both Ian and Joe, but Tanner Kroeger will step up as editor and Josh Harrell and Clark Leonard will be deputies. In photography, Nick Pironio is the new photo editor as Jeff Reeves graduated in December.
There are obviously a ton of changes taking place, but I have full faith in this new staff and really look forward to working with them this semester.Production: Deadlines sank miserably at the end of the semester. Not a single section seemed to do well. Everyone was busy finishing up with school and it seemed to be very tough for all.
Staff Manuals/Training: News Editor Tyler Dukes was Technician's hero over the holidays as he worked tirelessly on a new staff/training manual. He compiled endless stacks of manuals from other newspaper to put together something really great which will be ever-so helpful this spring. Everyone is indebted to Tyler.
Recruitment: Technician will be taking on a recruitment drive in the month of February to bring in some new staff members. E-mails are being sent out, tables will be set up in Caldwell Lounge Jan. 23 and 24, classes will be visited and posters will be put up around campus. Any other media interested in getting involved contact me at editor@technicianonline.com. If you would like us to have your media's recruitment fliers at our table but will be unable to make it, let us know.
Columnist controversy: Columnists are back in the limelight. Jeff Gaither wrote a column published Jan. 10 explaining why sometimes you have to drive drunk and how to get away with it. We received several letters and a group of students wants to have the structure of Technician changed. Their plan is yet to be decided. The editorial board has had several group and individual discussions about the matter and a new plan for running columns is being created.
WINDHOVER
Submitted by Britt Hayes, editorBudget: We are on budget with the only expenses to date as being a promotion print job and payroll.
Anticipated new expenses will be stickers and the actually magazine.
Personnel: Staff has been strong and responsible.
Britt Hayes Editor/Web, behayes@ncsu.edu
Lauren Gould Literary Editor, lbgould@ncsu.edu
Carolin Harris Designer, carolinh@mac.com
Caroline Okun Designer, cdokun@unc.com
Schedule:
- Submission completed by end of January
- Cover making event mid February
- Literary final edits by end of February
- Book to printer before spring break
- Reception end of April
Goals/Progress: Goals continue with improving communication and keeping up with responsibilities and deadlines. There has been no efforts for staff manual development.
Historical Interest: ‘04 Windhover was submitted for the ACP Pacemaker Award the first week of classes. There have been struggles with the financial computer logistics of getting stickers printed, and might have to be scratched.WKNC
Submitted by Dave Nourse, general managerWKNC is still on the air!
The winter break saw a lot of development for WKNC. We completed 95 percent of the work for the open production studio in the old conference room/vinyl library. The remaining 5 percent should be completed in the next few days. Work was also started with the preparations for the spring training class. The class is set to begin on Monday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.; location TBA. We are considering putting the manual in a WIKI format which would allow for easy modification and quick links to a glossary. WKNC is also in the midsts of creating a new feature to its website that showcases a particular format each month. This will help draw attention to this particular format as well as educate folks about the many different varieties of music and talk that that can be heard on WKNC.
WKNC is falling behind in its goal for sales so I will be sitting down with our sales manager and sales consultant and will try to figure out how to best get us back on track.
Preparations are already in the works for turnover in March. There are two possible successors for general manager. I believe it will come down to who is willing to remain here the most over the summer months.
MAJOR OBJECTIVE
To produce an annual (school year) calendar of deadlines and publication dates for all media while (1) educating students about the importance of meeting deadlines; (2) establishing consequences for failure to meet those deadline; and (3) learning how to plan so that major deadlines are broken into manageable pieces that can be delegated among staff members.
Technician
PLAN: The Technician staff will deliver the paper to the News & Observer by FTP on or before 1 a.m. 80 percent of the time in the fall and spring semesters as determined by the times logged by the N&O staff. If the staff exceeds this goal in any given month, the editor and managing editor will receive a 'bonus' which they can distribute as they see fit. If the staff falls below 80 percent of on time delivery in any given month, the editor and managing editor will receive a penalty equal to $50 for every five percent below goal. Editors may also choose to hold other staff members accountable for missing deadlines.
PROGRESS:
Agromeck
PLAN: If the staff meets or exceeds this goal for any given deadline, the editor, managing editor and photo editor may receive a 'bonus' of no more than $75/each which they can distribute as they see fit. If the staff fails to meet its deadline, the editor, managing editor and photo editor will only be paid a percentage of their monthly salary equal to the percentage of the deadline met. The editors may also choose to hold other staff members accountable for missing deadlines.
PROGRESS:
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