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Now more than ever, the way the general public consumes media has shifted. Very few people will read a 400-word article, and more and more people are using platforms like Instagram to get their news. As a journalist and an editor, it is my responsibility to determine the best and most appropriate medium for every story to be told, and to do it in a timely manner.
WEB
1: Article Packages
During my time as Online Editor-in-Chief, I experimented with Best of SNO and the different visual packages they offer. I learned how to adjust the featured image to be something that fits the story best. Now that is a consideration we take before publishing any story.
This was the cover story of the October Print issue in 2024. When transferring the article from print to online, I wanted to preserve the qualities of the design that makes the article feel claustrophobic. This was accomplished by a crowd photo taking up a whole spread, two pages, in the magazine. I carried this over to the website by using the immersive photo template. When a reader opens this article on a laptop, this photo takes up the entirety of their screen, just as it did on the page.
This story, about a new rock climbing club had a similar situation as the cover story. The story lent itself to a more complex design than the typical display of every other story, but the photo felt awkward and misplaced across the entire page. Thus, I used the immersive half photo template to create the same feeling of being swept in a story without the photo overwhelming the readers.
This lengthier article began in a similar format as the first two, in an immersive photo. However, the design felt clunky, and the arms being cut off by the edge of a computer screen left the photo floating instead of grounded. Instead, I chose to have it be full size, spanning across the whole screen, but not be in the immersive style as the previous two. This left the photo feeling grounded yet still larger than life.
I also experiment with the visual packaging of the article, itself. This format of the article scrolling seperately on the left side of the screen and the photo on the right ensures that there is a visual element on screen at all times. I often use this format when the articles are longer but have few visual elements, so the articles feel less text-heavy and more accessible.
In contrast to those examples, the photo to the left is the typical format of an article that gets published on tjTODAY. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this format (in contrast, I quite like it—the featured image to the left ensures the beginning of the article isn't too text-heavy and more accessible to read) some stories benefit from having a different format.
2: Infographics
My favorite way to display new information in a story is through an infographic. Some data just translates better through visual formats, and I can get important information across through unique ways that might stick with a reader better than reading consecutive paragraphs of text. Here are a few I have made:
Each of the infographics served a purpose of giving information that could not be translated any other way. They serve to clarify information for the reader, make it visually appealing and easy to digest.
3: Interactive Media
It wasn't until recently, at a Virginia High School League (VHSL) conference this past fall, that I truly began to understand how impactful and vital multimedia is to a publication. Interactive media engages the reader more than any visual can. Emboldened from the lesson I attended at the conference, I instantly began to research and implement this newfound technology into the website. We even created two leadership positions—multimedia managers—to ensure that the underclassmen will carry this knowledge onto future writers when I graduate. Here are some of my favorites that I created in the last few months:
An interactive graph that shows how the number of students participating in sports per year changed as a result of COVID-19
An interactive graph that demonstrates the increasing student population size since 2020 due to the change in admissions system for the Class of 2025
The scroll bar allows the reader to compare the freshman and senior year Homecoming banners for Class of 2025
An interactive timeline filled with images and important dates to the Syrian conflict that gave necessary background information for an opinion piece written by a Syrian student on staff
For every entertainment article published on the website, I include a Spotify embed to showcase the music that is being reviewed
I continue to use photo galleries (bottom) to give readers a glimpse into a certain event.
Additionally, if tjTODAY and TJTV News cover similar topics, I will embed the video feature into the published article (left) on tjTODAY.
While awards are never the sole focus of journalism, nor something I personally consider throughout any parts of reporting, writing and editing for the publication, I firmly believe our writers ought to be recognized for the good work they do. I've noticed over the past few weeks that Best of SNO tends to recognize articles with multimedia more often than those without. As such, I make a point to include as much multimedia as I can in articles to ensure every article that gets published on tjTODAY.org, whether written by an editor or staff writer, is on par with one another and of the highest quality.
I created this document to ensure that everyone in the publication has access to information about how to create multimedia, should they so choose. Having everything written down will also ensure no knowledge gets lost in the transfer of leadership positions over time, which was often happening in the past. I noticed while doing research on how to create multimedia over winter break that there were numerous articles published on our website many years before my time that implemented the multimedia I'd spent weeks learning how to do. Somewhere in the transfer of leadership positions and the changing of advisors, lots of knowledge was lost. This document, and the creation of multimedia managers, is our attempt to avoid that moving forward.
SOCIAL MEDIA
1: Self-Promotion
Over the years, I have attempted dozens of ways to increase the traffic to our website. The most effective method, I've noticed, is by posting articles to social media.
Both of these posts link to articles previously published on tjTODAY, the links available in the caption. After perusing other publication's methods of posting news to Instagram, I settled on a fairly sort formula: the lede, nut graph and first quote.
Social media is unique in its ability to reach audiences more effectively than the website—not every student checks tjTODAY daily, but they do check Instagram. This method of posting ensures two things: one, that the Jefferson community is informed of important events happening in a timely manner, and two, that should they be interested in learning more, links to the stories are in the caption.
2: Breaking News
In the past, most of the posts I created on social media were somewhat related to a story already published on tjTODAY—however, I have recently begun to appreciate the power of using Instagram as a platform for breaking news. Not everything has to be a full-length article with quotes and evidence. Sometimes news needs to be shared quickly, and even taking a day or an hour to gather interviews and draft an article is too long of a delay.
3: Homecoming Week
If I were to walk up to a random Jefferson student in the hallway and ask what they think of when they hear "TJ Media," nine times out of ten, they will say Homecoming photos. Homecoming is a time when the entire school gets together in the gym, and it is a full-week spectacle of cheers, role calls, dancing, competition and joy. For a handful of years, before I began publishing articles and breaking news to the TJ Media Instagram account, the only posts we had for a full year were those from Homecoming.
I was once asked if I wished TJ Media was broadly recognized among students for something else, and the answer, much to my friend's surprise, was no. While Homecoming Week is not something typically "serious," it is an integral aspect of the Jefferson experience. Students at my school go all out for Homecoming, and as the school's publication, it's our duty to cover that. The fact that this is the time we get the most engagement on social media is just a testament to the fact that we do our coverage well.
During Homecoming week, we post daily. It's a whirlwind of hours spent on call with fellow editors, scrolling through hundreds of photos from each of the dozen photographers per day, hoping and praying that our computers don't overload. In addition, we publish news articles about each big event that happens during lunch, from chess competitions to video game tournaments to float and MEX and spirit bombing. Homecoming week is the most exhausting and demanding times of the year as an editor, but still one of the most rewarding.
4: Highlighting Individuals
Our series, Faces of TJ, explores the student life at Jefferson and hopes to deconstruct the stereotypes associated with the school. Here are four posts from this year:
5: Instagram Reels
As the media landscape grows, so must we. We previously published Instagram Reels that were direct clips from TJTV News features. However, as TikTok grew more popular, and the popularity of short-form content with catchy music and quick cuts grew, I realized our previous strategy when it came to Instagram Reels would no longer work. Here are two examples of Reels from last year that take into account this new editing style and showcase the TJ Media staff rather than the Jefferson community as a whole.
5: Understanding Audience
Currently, most of our attention has turned toward Instagram. We have social media accounts for other common platforms used by the general public.
YouTube: @tjTODAY (used to post long-form broadcast features, but not typical short-form social media content)
Facebook: @tjTODAY
TikTok: @tjtoday_official
For more on why we moved away from Facebook as our main platform, read this article by me: tl;dr facebook is dying.
During my sophomore year, we still used Facebook regularly. We would post about stories that we published on the tjTODAY website and magazine. The story to the left was an editorial I wrote about the controversy surrounding the delay in National Merit Commendation letters being distributed.
Because this story had already reached national news, our audience was no longer just the Jefferson community. We decided to post about it on Facebook, where we typically have a more broad and far-reaching audience.
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