GALWAY–On Monday, December 2nd, Jocye Bassett, a layout editor for The Times Union, made a special visit to Room 903 during 8th period. There she was met by Mrs. Decker’s Journalism and Ms. Mierzwa’s Adobe Illustrator Class. She was asked to present what a layout editor’s job entails.

Mrs. Bassett began her presentation with a slide show display of her most current work, the front page, a.k.a. A1, of Monday’s paper that she had been working until 1 a.m. that morning to produce. She shared that a major part of the layout editor’s job is to experiment with the placement of visuals and to design visuals that make the stories more engaging. She shared that there are two full time artists who are part of the staff and her minor in Art helped cultivate some of the skills she employs daily. Ms. Mierzwa was glad to have Mrs. Bassett expose her students to another career option that students interested in pursuing a degree in Art will have.

In addition to having an art background, Mrs. Bassett has a writing and reporting background. Her involvement in journalism began when she became a member of her high school newspaper’s staff. She played multiple sports in high school and in addition to being recognized for her accomplishments in those activities, she liked when peers and adults would stop her in the hall to comment on a story she had produced. After high school graduation, she went to Temple University in Philadelphia and majored in Journalism.

Mrs. Bassett’s career with The Times Union (TU) started off with her covering different beats, including episodic reporting on crime in the area and events at local schools. She has been with the paper for 30 years now and in addition to her job as layout editor, she writes a youth sports blog for the TU‘s online site.

She shared some behind-the-scenes info with the students about the newsroom. One is that sports scores are the final work to be done each evening before going to press. Games keep reporters and editors up late! She also passed around what she referred to as a budget. It identifies which articles and briefs (including the dateline, slug, and lead for each) will be included in each section. It also identifies potential centerpieces (dominant photos or graphics) to accompany the stories. She shared that the highlight night of her career was the production of the paper after Osama Bin Laden’s death. One of the younger staff members had given her the heads up something BIG was happening and they got a jump on preparing for it and were able to produce a quality spread in a short amount of time.

She acknowledged that the newspaper has changed a lot over the last decade. She has responsibilities to both the online and the print publication. She encourages those interested in any form of media work to stay current with programs, apps, and social media sites. She also mentioned blogging as a good way to hone writing skills, get exposure and experiment with aspects of journalism.