It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally two staff members both pitch and want to write the same story. In this case, the student who pitched the story first gets first right of refusal.
If two students simultaneously raised their hands to pitch a story and one student was chosen by an editor and another wasn’t, the second student can ask, mid pitch, for the story to be tabled until after the main pitch session.
Three factors will then determine assignment:
- Seniority: Students with more experience will be given stories over newer students. Seniority is determined by the initial enrollment date in an MCOM 11 section.
- Deadline experience: A staff member who has met deadline regularly will be given a story over one who has not in the case two people pitch the same topic.
- Editor veto: The page editor can recommend, outside of the public pitching section, that a student not be given a story based on previous experiences with the writer. This is NOT about personality. This is about productivity. Example: A student regularly pitches two stories an issue. One is news, one is sports. The student turns in the news stories, but never the sports stories. By the fourth issue, the student pitches a sports story and really wants to do it. The editor, based on previous experience, can veto the writer from doing the story.
NOTE ON PAGE EDITORS: Editors ALWAYS have the power to veto a story from the page with good reason. Failure to make deadline, continued poor reporting and unethical practices may be among the reasons.
NOTE ON YOUR ADVISER: Your editor makes the final call. The adviser can serve to help settle disputes, but the position doesn’t include the power to assign or revoke stories. Talk to the page editor and/or the editor of the newspaper before approaching the adviser with a conflict. Not wanting to have the discussion with said editors isn’t reason enough to approach the adviser and jump the chain of command.