Top editors tell us how Covid-19 has affected all aspects of their
jobs.
By the Editors Only staff
[Editorial
Note: We've debated whether to go with COVID-19 or Covid-19 as a style
choice. Most media are running the disease name in all caps: COVID-19.
Some publications, including Harvard Business Review, MIT
Technology Review, along with news outlets Bloomberg and CNN,
however, have adopted the initial-cap version (although CNN has been
inconsistent). Our staff consensus is that COVID-19 is a little
overwhelming to the eye, even if it is the scientifically correct
version. We've opted to adopt "Covid-19" for EO style.
It is the cleanest-looking option and will serve readers the best, in
our view.]
We asked readers how the Covid-19 crisis has affected
their publications. Here's what they told us:
Jenn Fiedler,
editor, Township Focus
Covid-19 has greatly impacted
the way in which we are communicating with our members. Our staple
publication, a monthly magazine called Township Focus, has been
back-burnered while we shift our attentions to providing near daily
updates, guidance, and resources to our member townships, as they
continue to serve more than half of Michigan's residents during this
time.
We've created new email updates, new video updates, new web
resources, increased social media posts, and expanded webinars to
provide more immediate information to our members. Trying to figure out
how to cover Covid-19 in our magazine -- which will hit mailboxes up to
two weeks after any articles have been written -- has been a challenge,
as information seems to change on an almost minute-to-minute basis. At
the same time, we are offering non-Covid-related information in the
magazine as well, so it's not "all Covid all the time."
We
have heard from just a few advertisers who fear the impact on their
business and wish to pull back on marketing spending. So we are also
brainstorming new ways to offer additional exposure, opportunities, and
benefits to our advertisers and other vendors who support our
association. It has truly been a team effort to come together -- even as
we are working apart -- during these past few weeks to ensure we are
meeting our member needs. Based on their feedback, they are appreciative
of our shifts in focus and our commitment to keeping them on top of the
crisis, and the changes that impact our members as a result.
Jayne
Haugen Olson, editor-in chief, Mpls.St.Paul magazine
Our
May issue had about half of the budgeted revenue. We did not cut our
editorial pages. We want to deliver as much editorial as we can. The
June issue closes on April 23, and we anticipate the same trend. We are
highly dependent on local advertising, and nearly all of our clients are
closed (retail, restaurants, arts organizations, health and dental,
etc.).
Our quarterly home and design magazine closed a few weeks
ago, and was close to budget. As a local magazine, the local builders,
remodelers, and designers want to keep up their advertising.
New
initiative: Last week we have launched MSPtv and are delivering both
live and prerecorded content via our social channels daily. Each day is
dedicated to a different content silo -- health and fitness, local
music, local thought leaders, restaurants, etc. The goal is
three-pronged: All of these local businesses are closed, so we want to
allow them the visibility to our audience. As a monthly magazine, we
want to use our digital and social channels to be a part of local
conversations and provide some service and entertainment to our
audiences. And third, we will now approach potential sponsors. Since our
event team is not involved in executing any live events, their team is
working with editorial on the logistics, posting, providing tips and
tricks lists to our guests on how to use the technology, and more.
Jan
Ramsey, editor-in-chief, OffBeat magazine
We have
stopped publishing our print publication and have gone to an all-digital
format for the time being, which means a mindset change from publishing
a "monthly" magazine to publishing digital content every day. We've seen
about a 90 percent drop in advertising. It's made it harder on us, as
we're doing most of the content ourselves and not having freelancers do
it as we cannot afford to pay them. God, say a prayer for all of us!
Jef
White, executive editor, The Shop magazine
We are a
trade magazine for the auto aftermarket. Our in-house editorial team is
just my online editor and me. We are both obviously working from home
now. We immediately put together messages for our advertisers and
readers, asking how this is affecting them and then sharing their status
(open, closed, essential, etc.) and stories, along with the important
small business information coming in to us from government and other
sources. We have a Covid-19 section on the website that is updated
daily, and we share those updates and other news in our Monday–Friday
e-newsletter.
Meanwhile, my first fully-from-home monthly printed
issue of the magazine will include a mix of Covid-19 news from the
website; drop-in sidebar updates for some of the longer articles we
already had planned for the issue, as appropriate; and some general
articles that don't mention the coronavirus at all.
I would
suggest that editors continue to make news gathering at this time a
two-way street -- ask your readers (and advertisers, if appropriate)
more than once for input and stories on what's going on and how they are
dealing with things. Obviously there are tons of interesting stories to
go with the serious/scary reporting that needs to be done, and I think
everyone appreciates a good mix.
Our advertisers for the most
part are taking a wait-and-see attitude. None have panicked or dropped
everything yet -- it's obviously going to be a while until we all feel
the full effects.
Rachel Grabenhofer, managing editor, Cosmetics
& Toiletries
We're working from home 100 percent (we
had several telecommuters, so it was only a matter of IT getting all the
equipment together); weekly video conferences to reconnect with our
entire team; a much bigger influx of email to sort through, which is
taking 3x as much time as before -- a lot dealing with Covid19 but some
not -- and we want to remain relevant but not Covid-19 folks to death
with our news -- we try to focus on steps to move forward; added weekly
meeting slots for meetings with sales and event planners; also working
beyond and outside of regular core hours to fit at-home education into
the mix of normal working hours. (Thank god for flexible management;
it's appreciated.)
Tips for fellow editors: Be sure if you plan
to do more videocasting and podcasting that you have all the services to
do so and all the right permissions to make it happen; you kind of need
to have the independence to see it all through and some level of
flexibility from teammates to let you run with things.
We've seen
a drop in advertising to some degree, mainly content like e-blasts
pushing people to visit booths at shows that no longer are happening.
We're seeing an uptick in all the digital formats (sponsored podcasts,
sponsored videos, webinars, newsletter content, paid e-blast pushes).
Name
withheld by request
I can't really talk about this for print,
and I don't have numbers on advertising. But off the record, ads are
down substantially, we are running fewer pages and less color, our staff
was already a shadow of its former self, and we are all just doing our
best to serve our community while working from home and dealing with
rolling furloughs. Nothing positive to share here except great respect
for our staff and their work.
Andrew Simpson, chief content
officer, Wells Media Group
We are a small, lean company of
under 40 employees. Wells Media is publisher of publications for the
property/casualty insurance industry including Insurance Journal, Carrier
Management, and Claims Journal. Our editorial staff is less
than a third of that. We publish three daily digital newsletters and
about a half dozen weekly specialty newsletters as well as two print
magazines, 24 times and six times a year. We also produce regular video
interviews and webinars.
We are fortunate to have an owner and
CEO who care and put people first. Just as they did during the Great
Recession, they have committed to do everything they can to keep
everyone in the company all on the payroll. Just today they announced
our first quarter profit-share bonus will be paid per usual.
The
bottom line is we can't complain. We are fortunate in many ways. We also
happen to serve an industry that is essential and still working, largely
remotely. Our web traffic is off the charts. Subscriptions are up.
Webinar registrations are exceeding system maximums. We also have an
amazing ad sales team that has thus far succeeded in securing most major
accounts or placements.
Working from home is not new to us at
Wells Media. The entire editorial team of full-time employees has worked
remotely for nearly 20 years. We have an office in San Diego, but for
decades we have been largely a work-from-home company. We are very
experienced with video interviews and Zoom meetings. The company
supplies all the equipment and programs we need. So we did not have to
make major adjustments.
The other side of this is we are busier
than ever. There are multiple insurance issues in this crisis. They
include business interruption, workers' compensation, workplace safety,
medical liability, employer liability, wrongful terminations, reduced
driving, auto insurance discounts, and more. Every day there are court
cases and legislation to report at both state and federal levels. Our
readers are themselves having to adjust as other small and large
businesses have been forced to do, and they are worried that many of
their customers may be out of business for good.
The news
requirements and feature possibilities are seemingly endless. The volume
of calls, emails, and tips is probably triple or quadruple what's
normal. The challenge for our content team is being able to sort through
it all and focus on what is important to our readers and leave the rest
to others. I think everyone in every job is probably having trouble
staying focused. It can be frustrating and exhausting. At the same time
that more people are reaching out, the more difficult it seems to
actually speak with people. More phone calls go unanswered. Many calls
to offices are not forwarded to workers at home. Most conversations have
to be scheduled. Email seems more important than ever. As a result, it
takes longer to complete stories than it used to. But it's all doable.
Our
writers, like others working at home, now share their formerly quiet
domestic workspaces with their kids and partners. But they don't mind;
they get their work done when they can. Editorial team members talk more
on the phone with one another than they used to. We have made more of an
issue of our team's daily phone call check-ins. The calls seem more
important now and while we are still spread out across the country, we
feel closer as a team now than ever. And we are busier than ever.
Again,
bottom line for us at Wells Media, working at our company, covering this
industry, we can't complain at all. We are fortunate.
Bradley
Worrell, editor-in-chief, RV PRO magazine
As the
coronavirus pandemic spread, my Colorado-based company took the
precaution of closing its office in mid-March and mandated that everyone
work from home. I totally agreed with that decision.
Still, after
multiple weeks of working from home, I miss the daily interaction with
my co-workers, I miss working at my work desk with all my things, and I
really, really miss getting actual page proofs that I can hold in my
hands and mark up with my trusty red pen. In place of that, I am
proofing pages by posting virtual "sticky notes" on PDF pages that I
view on my small computer screen. It's just not the same thing -- not by
a long shot.
Assuming conditions continue to improve, the plan is
that our headquarters will re-open in a matter of weeks, and personally,
I can't wait to get back into the office.
Lisa Hurley, content
director, Special Events magazine
Wish I could comment
but we are slammed -- wishing you all good luck.
[More
comments to come in the next issue of Editors Only.]
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