Staffers work behind scenes to make the News stand out

To the untrained eye, the Deseret News looks much like any other newspaper. Typefaces vary, but size, shape, newsprint, use of color elements and headlines are fairly consistent with industry standards.
But behind the scenes are staffers who work hard to make the Deseret News stand out. They want the paper to be attractive, eye-catching and, most important, easy and interesting to read.
They receive no public notice, no bylines, no credits. And they often work under grueling deadlines. The pagination department, art department and the copy desk are three such departments.
When pagination director Heidi Perry sits down to her computer every morning, she knows she and her team face a marathon of sorts. They and some editors, who are trained in page makeup, must design and place stories and art elements — photographs or charts, maps and other graphic elements produced by the art department — on as many as 35 pages within a five-hour time frame.
While some pages have small "news holes" that contain only one or two stories, the "open" pages that have no advertising present the challenge — and the fun — of the job.
Page A1, of course, is the premier page. The Deseret News masthead proudly proclaims our name, as well as the date and edition. Above the mast are the "skyboxes," which provide a brief weather forecast and table of contents and flag to important stories inside the paper.
Other section covers — B1, C1, D1 — have mastheads as well and feature the top stories of the day. The B section carries local and regional stories, the C section is the lifestyle/entertainment section with a different focus each day of the week, and the D section is sports and usually business.
Page designers have guidelines, rules to follow in doing their work as established by art department director Bob Noyce. He is responsible for the paper's overall look. Important stories near the top of the page have larger headlines than those farther down. Bold and light headlines are intermingled throughout the page to lend visual interest.
Mary Archbold, assistant director of pagination, said designers try to have an eye-catching photo package on every section cover. Paginators also vary column widths and add logos and other art elements to lend "splash and dash."
"It's fun to do something artsy," Archbold said. "That makes my day."
Paginators decide how large the type in a headline will be, but it's the editors on the copy desk who write them.
Copy editors are responsible for editing individual stories, writing a headline and sometimes a "deck" (a companion headline just below the main head) and frequently one or more photo captions called cutlines.
When a story comes to the copy desk, its layout is already established. Therefore, the copy editor, after reading and editing the story, must write a headline that fits the layout — not always an easy matter!
For example, the headline over a single-column story about environmentalists can be a challenge. Copy editors use lots of short words: firm for company, chief for president, woes for problems, urge for encourage, activist for environmentalist — all useful words in headlines. Copy editors keep their dictionaries and thesauri close at hand.
And regardless of their political persuasion, they're relieved that George Stephanopoulos isn't running for president — either Bush or Gore tucks nicely into headline space.
Copy editors follow strict style rules when writing headlines and cutlines. They attempt to pique the reader's interest with headlines that are as "conversational" and easy to read as possible, although articles, conjunctions and modifiers are often omitted due to space restrictions.
They try to avoid "splits," that is, ending the first line with a preposition, conjunction or modifier. If you see the first line of a multiline headline ending in a preposition, you can be assured much anguish was involved.
Sometimes headlines are "art heads" — made up of one to three words that attempt to catch the reader's attention. These heads are usually integrated into a package designed by an artist or paginator to accompany a "feature" story — that is, one with a human-interest angle rather than a hard-news angle. A companion "deck" may give more information.
When editing stories, copy editors continually refer to their style guides, including the Associated Press Stylebook and an in-house style guide that focuses on local names and peculiarities. In addition to editing for accuracy and clarity, copy editors try to maintain a consistent style regarding variant spellings and punctuation throughout the entire paper.
For example, Deseret News style dictates the use of adviser, rather than advisor, although both are correct; Gov. Mike Leavitt instead of Governor Michael O. Leavitt; filmmaker rather than film-maker.
"Style signals to the reader the personality of a newspaper," copy desk chief Lee Hunt said. "Readers find comfort in correct, uniform style as they enjoy story after story and section after section of 'their' newspaper. A newspaper with shabby style is annoying to the reader."
The next time you read the paper, take a moment to look at the layout and headlines in particular and be assured that much thought and sweat went into each page by the crews behind the scenes.

E-MAIL: smh@desnews.com

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