Journalism: A Deeper Look

Media Ride-Along Report
Albert Isaac, Editor of Tower Publications Inc.

My lack of a car led me in search of a publishing company in Gainesville. I stumbled across Tower Publications and was well received by the editor, Albert Isaac.

Tower Publications is made up of the Buyers’ Guide, Our Town Magazine and Senior Times Magazine. It has 15 in office staff and about six freelance writers, copy editors and delivery drivers. Senior Times has a circulation of 50,000 people. Buyers’ Guide, which has a circulation of 65,000, caters to people looking to buy merchandise, get coupons or find out more information regarding area businesses reaches the surrounding 10 counties: Alachua, Suwannee, Columbia, Union, Bradford, Gilchrest, Dixie, Levy, Marion and Putnam.

My day was very hectic, as they were on stressed about an upcoming deadline for two of their publications. They were behind on a few things because Isaac had recently transitioned into the position, and he had no experience in this line of work. I shadowed Isaac on Feb. 25, 2008.

8:50 a.m. – Arrived at Tower Publications. The secretary had me wait a few minutes because Isaac wasn’t in the office yet.

9:02 a.m. - Isaac arrived. We were introduced and then entered his office. I briefly explained to him again about my assignment. He seemed eager to help out.

9:08 a.m. - Charlie Delatorre, owner and publisher, entered Isaac’s office. He wanted to confirm their meeting to discuss editorial changes for Our Town and Senior Times magazines. I was introduced to Delatorre before he left.

(Editor Profile) Isaac continued on about how he got started in the field. He attended the University of Florida and graduated with a bachelor’s in English. He always enjoyed journalism and writing in general but found that his true passion was in novels. Isaac went on to work at the medical examiner’s office for nearly 20 years, all the while working on his science fiction novel, “Endless.” He said his experience working at the medical examiner’s office helped him come up with ideas for his novel. Soon he realized he needed a career change and began freelance photography and writing for the Observer.
When the editor of Tower Publications announced her resignation, Isaac jumped at the chance to take her place. “It’s tough to make a living as a freelancer. I needed a change, and it just so happened that I got the job,” he said.

All of these changes came about within the last five months, so Isaac is still learning to deal with the challenges of being an editor. He admits that he doesn’t know much about it, but he keeps a good attitude.
”Everyone needs to realize that you don’t start out at the top. The odds aren’t in your favor. You’ve got to have that attitude and know how to promote yourself.”

He also attributes some of his success to stepping outside his comfort level and to doing his best work at all times.

“One philosophy that has worked for me is ‘do the work and the money will come.’”

9:40 a.m. – Isaac, Delatorre and the rest of the production team meet to discuss editorial changes to the online copy of Our Town and Senior Times magazines. Isaac goes over his notes with Hank McAfee, art director, and they make the necessary changes to the copy. McAfee has all the pages of each magazine uploaded to a specific drive on all the employees’ computers. Everyone can access the drive and save their most recent copy so that people like Isaac and McAfee can use it whenever they need it.

9:58 a.m. – While the editorial meeting was finishing, I met with Crystal Henry, the editorial and publishing assistant, to discuss resumes, clips and general advice for young editors. She also gave me Tower Publication’s ethics policy and let me look over their “book of knowledge.”

(Career Advice) Henry said that clips are the number one priority when it comes to hiring an individual. Next, they’ll look at buzz words in the cover letter to determine if that person will be a good fit with the company. “We want writers who are looking for that extra experience or experience in general, and we want people who are going to work hard. If the cover letter says things like that, we know they probably have what we’re looking for,” Henry said.

The resume isn’t as important as the previous two things, Henry said, because experience speaks volumes.

“If you’re willing to do the work, you can get a job — simple as that.” Henry said young editors shouldn’t be afraid of rejection but should keep on writing and submit articles all the time. She said editors look for people who can come up with their own stories and don’t wait around to be told what to do.

10:20 a.m. – I took pictures of Delatorre and production team member Dru Martin as they continued to go over copy.

10:35 a.m. – Isaac and I went back into his office to continue our interview. We talked about what sorts of changes he likes to make in the copy and why it’s so important to keep in constant communication with the production team about changes. We also talked about some of the policies that Tower Publications has.

(Policies) Because Our Town and Senior Times magazines don’t do investigative pieces, Tower Publications doesn’t have a policy on anonymous sources, identifying juveniles who committed crimes or identifying victims of rape. The do, however, have a policy on how fact-checking is done on their copy.

Most of the copy is written and edited by freelance writers and copy editors who are students at the University of Florida. Isaac said he has to trust his writers to get the facts straight, but he often has to double check the information himself. That’s why the company hard drive is so helpful. He can easily access the writers’ copy and address certain concerns in a relatively quick manner.

“You expect your writers to get it right, but we’re all human and we make mistakes” he said.

He started having monthly meetings with his staff to discuss their roles and what he expects of them in return. Isaac also knows the strengths of each of his staff and tailors work to those strengths in order to get the best product.

Isaac likes to keep the writers in the loop about the changes he makes to their copy. “They know more about the story than I do, so I e-mail them constantly with questions, clarifications or changes.”

Simple changes like sentence structure, verb agreement and spelling are made without discussion (although he does tell them why and help them to know what to expect in the future), but major changes are always an open dialogue.

Isaac says they keep a pretty simple policy: “If we’re stumbling on a sentence, something needs to be changed”

(Views on Ethical Policy) Tower Publications is in a different place then most publications because they often run copy that is paid for by advertisers (advertorial) and copy that is written by freelancers (editorial). Isaac stressed the importance of keeping this line very distinct so that readers don’t get confused. His job is to assign stories and edit them, and the advertising team deals entirely with advertorials.

“We’re serious about that. I don’t care what the perception is. We don’t want to blur the lines between our paid stuff and the stories we do on our own”

Part of that distinction is keeping the two departments separate. Also, all paid advertisement copy gets a disclaimer at the bottom of it and has no byline.

“As long as we’re honest with our readers with what we’re doing with our writers, I don’t see it as a problem” Isaac said.

I also spoke with Crystal Henry about the ethical policy because she was the one who gave me a copy of the binder Tower Publications hands out to new hires. Inside is a copy of the SPJ ethics code, a copy of Tower’s code of ethics, what it expects from new hires, and other information regarding the company.

Henry said that Delatorre’s opinion trumps everyone. In general, they do not publish expletives and they really try not to promote any negative stereotypes. If problems come up like this, reporters should seek alternative people to interview.

(Outside Influence) Tower Publications doesn’t generally have any sacred cows, but Isaac did mention that Senior Times Magazine is sponsoring the construction of a senior center in Alachua County. He said they often write positive stories related to the progress of the center, and some might feel that that is a sacred cow.

11:10 a.m. - McAfee brought more copy and page proofs into the office for Isaac to review. He looked over the changes that had been made in the previous meeting and signed off on the copy.

(Training) After McAfee left, I asked Isaac to tell me about any on-going training that Tower Publications requires of its employees. He didn’t know much because he’d only taken the position about five months ago, but he said he was sure they went to some weekend workshops. He also said that the advertising team does on-going training on their own, separate from the editorial department.

11:38 a.m. - Isaac had to back into a meeting with the production team. They were really trying to get all their copy edited because the deadlines here, so they constantly updated information during my visit. At this point in the interview, I started to wrap up my questions with Isaac.

(Pay) At first Isaac was comfortable with telling me his salary, but a few days later he e-mailed me and asked me not to print the figure. I assured him that his salary would be kept confidential. He also said they do not belong to a union.

11:58 a.m. – Isaac received a phone call and asked that I come back after lunch to finish up.

1:00 p.m. - I returned to Tower Publications’ office and finished up my round of question with Isaac.

(Fusion) Isaac told me that Senior Times Magazine is online, and Tom Reno of the production team is in charge of it. Reno has set up an online forum, which doesn’t get used much because of the clientele base, and an interactive calendar of events. www.seniortimesmagazine.com was launched in July 2007 and has the same stories that are in the print version, but it features more photography.

Tower Publications also has an online version of the Buyers’ Guide, which has partnered with PennySaverUSA.com and Google to allow visitors and users to search for items outside the local area.

1:27 p.m. - Isaac had a lot more work to do, so I thanked everyone for being helpful and left.