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NMS History Club tours Nevada Daily Mail office
The Nevada Middle School History Club, headed by Social Studies teacher Kim Greer, took a tour of the Nevada Daily Mail and Print Shop office Thursday afternoon.
Nevada Daily Mail Publisher Lorie Harter guided the tour, stopping in each department to highlight the different aspects of the newspaper business.
In the editorial department, Nevada Daily Mail Editor Sarah Haney explained to the students what her position entails. Haney noted how the Editor oversees the newsroom (editorial department) and assigns articles and coverage of events to reporters. In addition, the Editor reports on local happenings including public meetings (city council, school boards, hospital board, county commission, etc.) and community events.
Haney further explained how far the newspaper industry has come since the advancement of technology — allowing newspapers to design and layout editions via computers, as opposed to typing out articles and physically measuring column inches, as was done in years past. Haney noted that the department is comprised of herself, Sports Reporter Kaleb Vestal, and Reporter Lisa Hinkle.
The students learned from Print Shop Manager Renee Ast about the various print projects that are completed each day at the office. Whether it is envelopes, calendars, carbon copy forms, business cards, or many other items, Ast noted she is able to print them.
Moving on to the composition department, Composing Manager Miranda Bronson explained to the students how she designs ads and puts together the Nevada News each week. Bronson noted how each day she will create the newspaper "dummy" — a small overview/layout of the day's newspaper — and place all of the ads on the pages before sending them to the Editor for news content. Bronson also completes promotional sections, among a host of other duties.
The club members were then introduced to Recruitment Specialist and Advertising Assistant Lexie McVay and Receptionist Mandy Radspinner. McVay handles a host of advertising duties, including recruitment advertising which is the practice of using job advertisements to attract, engage, and hire talent via the newspaper. Radspinner handles front office operations, communicating with the public, and handling sales among many duties.
The students were then given a tour of the press and mail rooms. Production Manager Chris Jones explained to the students how the paper is printed in the press (the currented one having been in operation since the 1980s, noted Jones).
Jones gave an in-depth description of how the pages are exported from the editorial department to plates, in a process known asknown as Computer-To-Plate (CTP). This is an imaging technology used in modern printing processes. In this technology, an image created in a Desktop Publishing (DTP) application is output directly to a printing plate. The Nevada Daily Mail utilizes Adobe InDesign as their DTP.
Following a description of how the pages move through the press and the different inks used, the students were given a demonstration of the press in action. The press printed a copy (for each student) of a special edition “NMS Tiger Talk” paper, which included articles written by the students themselves, archive Nevada Daily Mail articles of the construction of the Nevada Middle School, and coverage of activities by the club.
Harter then gave the students the opportunity to look through bound volumes of Nevada Daily Mail newspapers from years past. One item that Greer pointed out in a bound volume from the 1980s, was the TV Guide. She asked the students if any of them knew what it was and, after some time, they figured out that it was a schedule of television programming.
The students were then given a copy of their freshly printed “NMS Tiger Talk” papers and eagerly looked through the hot-off-the-press publication. The students and club advisor enjoyed the tour and discussed much of the history behind the newspaper and newspaper industry during the tour.