Designing a Newsroom
Our college newspaper has the good fortune of getting a new newsroom built this summer. It’s not a huge space–about 19 x 13 feet–but we can furnish it from scratch. We have some plans, though I’m wondering what we haven’t thought of. What are the most useful elements in your newsroom–anything from furniture to electronics to storage to things on the walls? Thanks in advance.
4 Responses
I dont have pointers for furnishing a newsroom since my paper does not have one.
May I ask, how did you manage to have a new one built? Who funded it? Thanks.
A couch to sleep on
A light-up framed portrait of the Virgin Mary
Laminated cut-outs of Nancy Drew with speech bubbles reminding you not to eat near the computers
Two typewriters
A fedora
File cabinets (MANY — for archives, electronics, etc)
Bookshelf
“Wall of Inspiration” (especially helpful for layout ideas)
Giant banner boasting the words “FACT CHECK THAT SHIT”
Of course, those are all just suggestions.
Also copy-editing bins and a huuuge conference table.
A couch seems like a good idea, but I’ve heard some stories about couches in newsrooms being used for inappropriate office behavior.
Yeah, we’ll leave it at that.
Having other newspapers in your newsroom is a good thing. Even if they aren’t big, national papers, a couple of them to compare how they handled similar stories is good.
Also, lots of flat surfaces for editing and spreading pages out.
Comfy chairs, since you’ll be sitting for awhile, and some wall or plaque or something to honor people who’ve done good work. Doesn’t have to be every week, doesn’t have to be a set time, just tell people they’ve done a good job when they’ve done a good job and let the rest of the staff know too.
Last, coffee pot.
Post some photos when you get things set up, please.
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