Diary of a News Editor

Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda 

Hellen Mukiibi is the deputy news editor at the New Vision. She joined the media house way back in 1989 as a reporter. She is one of the most senior journalists. The New Vision Group is the biggest multimedia house in Uganda. It publishes 8 newspapers and 5 magazines. It owns 3 FM radio stations and a television network. (www.newvision.co.ug) 

Hellen wakes up at 5.00am and switches on the radio to listen to the news. She tunes from one radio to another looking out for any breaking news story or tip. She quickly checks the Internet for stories from Kenya, Rwanda, AFP, Reuters and BBC. These are the major sources of news from the Diaspora. 

7.30 am:  She peruses the local dailies and weeklies if out. She would be looking       out for what the New Vision could have missed or how the competitors       can be beaten. 

8.30 am:  She or the news editor chair the daily editorial meeting to do a                postmortem of the day’s paper and to deploy reporters on different          beats

9.00 am:  Section meeting with other editors and editor in chief to discuss the           photos and stories. The editor in chief shares out stories among the           sister papers.

9.30 am:  Make phone calls, briefings, assignments supervise imprest for transport     and if there is a breaking news story alert the website editor and the FM     radio stations.

             From this time to 3.00 pm, liaise with writers to prepare stories for           editing.

3.00 pm:  Major outlook of the following day’s paper is ready. Consult throughout       the day with editors and writers.

4.00 pm: Arrange what will be in the meeting as we continuously enrich the              content

4.30 pm: News editor takes the line-up of the stories to the editor in chief who         together with chief sub editor and photos editor meet to agree on line up.

6.00 pm:  Sign out, but continue consultations by phone and email.

“Basically all days are like above. I supervise the newsgathering process, which begins with making the diary. The diary consists of what is in store and what we want to gather. We find out from the international and local news agencies what is happening and see how we can follow it up. We also go through the local diary of invites to see what we must cover among the several functions. There is also a diary for follow-ups and a diary for news from other media houses”, says Hellen.

“The progress in the newsroom is continuous up to the time the paper goes to bed. However, as editor I must help the reporters to polish the story and edit it and hand it to the news editor or the other way round. All stories and photos can be accessed on the network even when they are being worked on. This makes it easy for us to link the photos to the stories”, she added.

New Media tools

1.   Mobile telephone: Used for local and international communications. It is used to coordinate and consult with reporters in the field. The SMS is also very frequently used for the same purpose. 

2.   Television and FM radio: For listening to news and other programmes

3.   Internet: This is the most effective news gathering tool.  Examples include; Google search engine, news alerts, breaking news, SMS media and email. For instance, the Uganda Media Centre invites journalists to attend press conferences via SMS media. 

4.   SNS: The social networking sites makes a news editor lazy and they are difficult to follow-up given the amount of work an editor has to accomplish.

5.   Blogging: Hellen blogs, but she is too busy to keep her blog updated.

6.   News@newvision.co.ug: The easiest way to access the editorial

7.   Content Management Software: Saves time and paper and makes work less laborious.