Interview with newspaper co-editor

For this second post, I interviewed Jason Smith, an executive/assistant editor working for a weekly newspaper in Spartanburg. When asked what types of communication/writing was important in his profession, he answered that the telephone was the most important form of communication for his job. His job involves preparing legal notices and court documents for publication each week; he has to communicate by phone with secretaries at law firms and court offices in an efficient manner to ensure that these duties are performed correctly. Communication by email is also important, but is not used as much as the telephone at the newspaper. Writing/typing skills must be used to ensure that all notices are published for three weeks at a time, and are published with no mistakes. Accuracy is extremely important in this line of work. Verbal skills are also necessary within the office to ensure that deadlines are met and the paper is printed on time each week. When asked what kinds of preparation would benefit a person starting out in this kind of work, he said that journalism classes and extra communication classes would be beneficial.