Join The Pendulum for Fall 2014

The Pendulum invites you to join its award-winning news organization for the 2014 fall semester. Applications are now available and should be turned in at The Pendulum office (third floor of the Elon Town Center) by 7 p.m. Monday, May 5.

DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION. If you have any questions, send an email to editor-in-chief Jonathan Black at jblack10@elon.edu for more information about applications, positions or other ways to get involved.

The full list of positions are:

• Features Editor
• Assistant News Editor
• Assistant Opinions Editor
• Copy Editor*
• Senior Reporter – News*
• Senior Reporter – Arts & Entertainment
• Staff Photographer*
• Multimedia Reporter*
• Public Relations Director
• Public Relations Representative
• Business Manager
• Sales Associate*

* indicates more than one position is available.

Descriptions of all the positions are below:

Features Editor – This editor covers national trends, personality profiles of Elon campus and community members and other issues of interest to college students. They should stay abreast of unique and noteworthy people, events and places. Emphasis should also be placed on creative images, design and multimedia to ensure the section is filled with both colorful language and art. While top-fives, columns and reviews are an essential aspect of features, they should not carry the section. This editor should work closely with senior reporters to cover events and also communicate frequently with the Arts & Entertainment Editor to ensure the style section contains unique, but complementary content. He or she has a required five office hours a week. This is a paid position.

Assistant News Editor – This editor is responsible for assisting the co news-editors with covering the Elon campus and community. They are expected to cover an assigned beat, including writing every week, while also remaining knowledgeable about the Elon community. his editor will also coordinate coverage of all campus and community events (excluding artistic displays and performances), including assigning stories to reporters, editing stories and then posting them to The Pendulum’s website within 12 hours of the event. This editor is expected to assist in leading a weekly meeting for the news team, budgeting pages Sunday afternoon and editing stories, as requested by news editors. The assistant news editor will attend production night for two hours to help the news editors make changes to stories, search for relevant photos and assist in other small tasks as needed. He or she also has two office hours a week.

Assistant Opinions Editor – This editor is responsible for assisting the opinions editor in writing, editing and publishing columns and letters to the editor. The assistant opinions editor is required to write one column a week, or serve as the author for that week’s unsigned staff editorial. He or she can coordinate with the opinions editor regarding who will write the unsigned editorial on a week-to-week basis. The assistant opinions editor will also help brainstorm topics for columns, which will get sent out to columnists on the Moodle listserv. He or she will assist in editing these pieces. The assistant opinions editor will attend production night for two hours to help the opinions editor make changes to columns, search for relevant photos and assist in other small tasks as needed. He or she will act as one of five Pendulum staff members on the editorial board and will be asked to help pitch and decide on the staff editorial for the week. He or she has two office hours a week.

Copy Editor* – Complete the initial copy editing of all stories before turning them in for layout and page design. Copy editors will be present on production nights for editing spelling, grammar, accuracy, AP style and basic news values.  They are required five office hours a week. This is a paid position.

Senior Reporter* – Pick up at least one story a week (two, if news reporter). If assigned a weekly beat, then the article they write for that beat will count as the one story. But if assigned a beat (such as Town of Elon meetings) and there is no meeting on a particular week, senior reporters are required to pick up another story to fill the once-a-week article quota. They should turn in stories by deadline, unless there are extenuating circumstances that have been relayed to both news editors and cover breaking news when it occurs. They are required two office hours a week.

Staff Photographer* – Staff photographers should take on weekly assignments, as directed by the photo editor, edit and place photos on the server with names and cutlines by 3 p.m. on Sunday. They are required two office hours a week.

Multimedia Reporter* – Produce weekly multimedia content for The Pendulum Online (at least one video per week) and assist with daily updates to the website. They should work alongside print reporters to create multimedia content that is both unique and complementary to the print version of a story. They are required two office hours a week.

Public Relations Director – He or she should be confident in leading a group of students. The Director delegates PR tasks including board storming, creating media boards, and developing events to be held for The Pendulum.  He or she is required two office hours a week.

Public Relations Representative – They should be comfortable and have strong intrapersonal skills. The position is much less about designing brochures, media boards, etc. and much more about personal interactions. They’re visiting classrooms and designing campaigns to get the word out about The Pendulum. They are required two office hours a week.

Business Manager – He or she should sell ads, bill customers, ensure there is sufficient ad content in each issue to cover cost and make sure all ads are scanned and saved correctly. Managers should be comfortable leading a team of sales associates and maintain an organized system of recording client information. They are required three office hours a week. This position is paid by commission.

Sales Associate* – Sales associates must be personable, self-motivated and preferably have access to a vehicle. They are expected to travel into Burlington and other local areas to speak with local businesses and form advertising contracts. They are required three office hours a week. This position is paid by commission.