"I am not sure if you are the right person to ask about this," a caller will say.
It can be confusing to decipher who does what at a media organization.
Here's the breakdown for The Squamish Chief.
Publisher: The publisher is the overall general manager or chief executive in charge of all things related to the publishing of the media’s content. In our case, that is Sarah Strother. She oversees The Squamish Chief and Whistler's Pique Newsmagazine.
Editor: Despite the title, editing stories is about a quarter of the job. Editor Jennifer Thuncher is also the newsroom supervisor. If you have a story idea, a letter to the editor, a daffodil or dart you want to write, or a complaint about a story, she is the person to ask for..
Reporters: Also known as journalists, reporters like Steven Chua and Andrew Hughes at The Squamish Chief develop story ideas, interview sources, take photos, and, of course, write stories.
Graphic designer: Our production guru, Julie Gamache, lays out the stories and photos on the pages for the paper's print editions.
Multi-media salesperson: The sales team, led by Cathie Greenlees at The Squamish Chief, helps businesses advertise and connect with customers on both digital and print platforms.
Distribution manager: Getting the papers out into the community is the task of Denise Conway. She literally delivers the papers — so you may see her in the van around town‚ and she oversees the carriers. She is also at our front desk some days.
We are sometimes asked to send "your photographer" to an event or if there is a "copy editor" at the paper. Others have asked for 'the web team.'
Newsrooms used to include full-time photographers and copy editors (whose only job was catching errors missed by the writer and editor), but as technology improved and news became more immediate, those positions have mostly disappeared.
Reporters often use their own cameras or, increasingly, cell phones to take photos. Even The New York Times did away with its "copy desk" in 2017 to save time and money.
The editor and reporters do the uploading of stories to the web.
If you have questions about journalism or our paper in particular, write to editor@squamishchief.com.
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