A.    Guidelines:  Before describing the kinds of stories you might want to consider submitting, here are a couple of guidelines on what makes a good story for us.

• Geography:  stories that have a connection to our geographic area:  Alhambra, South Pasadena, Monterey Park, Lincoln Heights & Lincoln Park, County USC General Hospital, El Sereno, City Terrace, Boyle Heights and other adjacent communities are especially of interest to us.  This does not mean that stories outside these areas wouldn’t be considered, but rather that we would have to find a connection to our geographic coverage.  For instance, a story that took place in Highland Park, Pasadena, or Whittier would be of interest to us, but would be further down the importance scale than those communities listed above.  Also, communities that may be very far away from campus may be of interest to us if there is a strong connection to the campus.  For example, the campus has a high number of Asian students; stories from Asia that have an educational, cultural, or academic connection may very well be of interest to our audience.  It must have a connection to this audience.

• Demographics:  our key audience is between 18 and 45 years old.  This doesn’t mean that stories which fall outside those age ranges would be ignored, but rather our preferences will remain rooted in serving that audience.  Our audience is also aspirational (trying to better themselves through education), generally middle to lower middle class in income, and usually more involved with family, job and education than the general public.  Our audience votes in higher numbers than the general public, therefore stories that deal with politics and government tend to be high on our list.

• Affinity:  our audience is not just students of CSULA.  It also includes faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, adjacent communities and the families and friends of these people.

• Subject Matter:  while the interests of our audience are very, very broad, we can say that certain topics and subjects are of particular interest, including:  immigration issues, education and educational policy, sex and sexuality, drugs, government and politics, popular culture, crime and punishment, and especially achievements of our affinity audiences.

It is worth noting at this point as well that you may either write commentary/opinion/editorial pieces or do straight reporting, but not both.  If you begin your relationship with the UT as a reporter, you will not be allowed to publish opinions, editorials, or commentary for our outlets.  If you start as a commentator, you will not be able write journalistically.  We keep a strict barrier between these two roles.  Frankly, we have much more commentary and op/ed material than good journalism.  While we certainly will consider commentary from you, we are going to be much more interested in journalistic coverage you can provide.  You should not see this as editorially limiting you from expressing your opinion – you are free to do that on a blog or publication you control.  At the UT, the role of opinion and the role of journalism are very separate.  It should also go without saying that when we edit commentary, opinion or editorial, we only do so for style, syntax and clarity.  Not only will we avoid modifying your point of view, we will defend vigorously your right to have that point of view published, regardless of the personal feelings or ideology of the UT staff and management.  The only reason we would reject controversial texts would be for length, syntax, clarity and style – never for their ideological content.

B.   What makes a good story?  This is quite subjective, of course, but over the years journalists have come up with the following set of values of what makes a good story:

• Relevance, usefulness and interest [RUI] are the broad guidelines for judging the news value of any event, issue or personality.  Within those broad standards, journalists look for more specific elements in each potential story.  In our [RUI] matrix, the most important qualities we want to have in a story are these:

• Impact – This is another way of measuring relevance and usefulness.  How many people are affected by an event or idea:  how seriously does it affect them:  The wider and heavier the impact, the more important it is to tell the story.  Sometimes, of course, impact isn’t immediately obvious.  Sometimes it isn’t very exciting.  The challenge for good journalism is making such dull but important stories lively and interesting.  That may require relying on the next three elements.

• Conflict – This is a recurring theme in all storytelling, whether the stories told are journalism, literature, or drama.  Struggles between people, among nations or with natural forces make fascinating reading.  Conflict is such a basic element of life that journalists must resist the temptation to over dramatize or oversimplify it.

• Novelty – This is another element common to journalism and other kinds of stories.  People or events may be interesting and therefore newsworthy just because they are unusual or bizarre. Novelty alone, however, is not news and we must not let news products be subject to the tyranny of novelty and simply a parade for the freakish, bizarre, and weird.

• Prominence – Names make news.  The bigger the name, the bigger the news.  Ordinary people have always been intrigued by the doings of the rich and famous.  Both prominence and novelty also can be, and often are, exaggerated to produce “news” that lacks real relevance and usefulness.

• Proximity – Generally, people are more interested in and concerned about what happens close to home.  Whey they read or listen to national or international news, they often want to know how it relates to their own community. We should always favor local, regional news over national and international stories.

• Timeliness – News is supposed to be new.  If news is to be relevant and useful, it must be timely.  For example, it is more useful to write about an issue facing the city council before it is decided than afterward.  Timely reporting gives people a chance to be participants in public affairs rather than mere spectators.

C.   Submissions:  There are a couple of ways you can submit materials for publication consideration:

• Via Email:  email your story to universitytimes@yahoo.com  This will get your story in the queue for consideration very efficiently.  It is important that you follow the rules listed in “E.” below on the form and format of whatever you submit.

• At Editorial Meetings:  our editorial meetings are held on Fridays at 12 N. in our conference room, KHC3098.  Those meetings are open to the public.  It is at these meetings that we determine our editorial priorities, new stories, reviews of old stories, and what sort of resources we will be applying to those stories.

• Drop Off:  you may always send hard copies of your stories to the attention of “Editor” at the University Times.  They can either be delivered by hand, sent via the US Postal Service, or from the campus, via inter-campus mail.

• Pick up an Assignment:  if you would like to write for us but don’t have an immediate story idea, you may come by and ask what needs to be covered.  One of our senior editors will identify a range of stories that need coverage, and assign you a story that is both of interest to you and a relatively high priority for us.  Every editor and staff member in the University Times area is capable and authorized to assign stories to anyone who wants to help.  You will be asked to agree to deadlines, and to understand that your story will invariably be edited.  We may likely require additional work from you once you drop off your story.  Nonetheless, this is a great way to get known in the UT office, to contribute high quality material, and to gain valuable experience on how news operations work.

D    What to expect:  because of the complicated technical and editorial issues involved, you should not expect to drop off a story on Tuesday and see it in print on Thursday.  Once your submission is received, it will be assigned to a senior editor, who will read and evaluate your manuscript for clarity, brevity (shorter is always better!), relevance, and newsworthiness.  If we proceed with your story, that editor will contact you and discuss any changes required to move forward.  You then incorporate any changes or revisions discussed with the editor and re-submit your article.  This edit/revision cycle could continue for a couple of rounds (though not likely) until the editor is satisfied that the piece meets the standards of the UT.  At that point, the editor will officially hand off the piece to another editor at the UT who will review it as well.  Presumably, by this time, the article will be very strongly written, with problems eliminated, and with strong prospects for publication.  It is possible, however, that a senior editor may wish to recommend changes as well.  We ask that you be patient and cooperative in this process.  It is only by virtue of the very close scrutiny of submissions that the quality of the paper remains high.  We will, of course, alert you of publication dates of your work as appropriate.

Story deadlines [both editorial and journalistic] are always Tuesday evenings at 6:00 PM, unless other arrangements have been approved by your editor.

E.   In what form should my submission be?  While there are no hard and fast rules about writing style and content, we can say the following about the form of your submission:

• Give your piece a suggested title.  Understand that any title you supply is a suggestion which may be overridden by the staff of the UT.

• Copy should be in Courier type face (like this document), 12 points in height, spaced at 1 ½ lines (or double spaced, though this is not necessary).  The line spacing of 1 ½ to double spacing gives editors space to make revisions or edit suggestions.

• Every Submission (both within the UT and from the outside!) must have the following – which we call a “slug” - in the upper left hand of the first page of the article:

	Sausage of Northumbria	< Suggested Slug of story >
	“Sausage and Out Age”	< Title - different from 'slug' >
	New Reasearch Shows Meat Preseravation Goes Back Centuries	< Sub-Slug Headline >
	Kent, Clark	< Last Name, First Name >
	0709291300 V. 1.0	< Date, Time: See “note”* >
	323.555.1212	< Your MAIN number! >
	ckent@calstatela.edu	< The email you use most >
	00237	< STORI no., if assigned >

NOTE:  This looks complicated but isn’t!  It’s the date and time in as few keystrokes as possible:  YYMMDDHHMM The “HH” – hours – and “MM” – minutes are optional, but could be important if you are sending versions of your story back and forth on the same day.  The “V. 1.0” is the version number of the draft you are submitting.  Ask your editor to explain this too you.

• Commentary, Opinion and Editorial should be no more than 300 words.

• Journalistic stories range in length from as few as 100 words for a simple news notice, to several thousand words in length.  The length of your piece will be negotiated with your editor.  Please observe the length determined in consultation with that editor.  If your story is too short (not likely) or too long (highly likely), it is a.) likely to be cut down to fit the agreed upon space with or without your cooperation,  b.) poses many problems for production staff, and c.) will not endear you to the UT management.  When you negotiate a story length, stick to it.

F.   Bylines  In general, our default policy is that most stories do not get bylines. This is because our writers/reporters should be seen as contributory to the paper, not their own vanity.

Occasionally, a story will be received which merits a byline by virtue of its superior reporting and impressive writing.

The decision of who gets a byline rests soley with the news director. Therefore, the best way to assure you get a byline is to write really, really well about things that meet our mission.

G.   You want to contribute to the UT but you don’t want to be a reporter…

There is an endless list of research, production work, office management, filing, answering correspondence and other work that is needed to keep the UT operating smoothly.  We would be delighted to have you come and volunteer some time.  We ask that you a.) commit to a minimum of four hours and b.) that you alert us in advance that you’d like to come in.  That’s it!  Just call and show up.  One of the senior editors can help you choose work that you will find fulfilling and useful to our operation.  Thanks in advance!

	The University Times	Our physical location is:
	California State University, Los Angeles	King Hall, C Wing, Room 3098
	5151 State University Dr.	Office Hours:  8:00 am – 6:00 pm
	Los Angeles, CA 90032	After hours drop off via drop
	323.343.4215 | Office	box on the front door.
	323.3435337 | Fax
	universitytimes@yahoo.com