Manhattan College's student-run newspaper The Quadrangle perseveres and continues creating print editions of the newspaper amidst challenges presented by working remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Quadrangle, popularly known as The Quad, has been a steady Manhattan College tradition since 1924. As one of the largest institutions on campus, the student-run newspaper is dedicated to consistently providing incredible and important news coverage voicing student concerns and reaching administration, even amidst the pandemic. Although The Quad is proudly displayed on stands across campus weekly, not everyone knows the hard labor that goes into producing a weekly newspaper especially in a remote setting.
“Production is the backbone of the paper. Without production, we wouldn't have a paper every week. It is so difficult,” said Editor-in-Chief Anna Woods.
Production of the newspaper occurs every Sunday. Each production editor chooses to layout one of the four sections of the paper consisting of News, Features, Arts & Entertainment, and Sports. Using Adobe InDesign as the main production platform, each story is laid out and formatted appropriately for the print edition of the paper.
“While it opens at 10, production does not end until we're done completely. It goes through a copious amount of edits throughout the entire day,” said Woods.
Prior to the pandemic, production of the newspaper was conducted in-person every Sunday in The Quad office with all production editors present. Now, everyone is spread out in their homes or dorm rooms doing production.
With working remotely, The Quad has been forced to adjust and overcome different unprecedented challenges such as maintaining communication among writers to meet deadlines and conducting production of the paper by having production editors download Adobe InDesign onto their personal computers.
“COVID has definitely hit our communication hard. Because we're not sitting next to the person that's making changes, we have to make sure that every single person knows otherwise things get messed up and then it takes longer,” said Production Editor Emily Hollar.
With a new masthead this semester and new assistant production editors joining the production team, Hollar created an instructional video on how to use Adobe InDesign software to format and ensure the completion of the weekly paper.
“This semester, we have new assistant production editors who have never used InDesign before and who have never laid out an article, let alone an entire section for The Quadrangle. Not being there in person to help them alongside made it really hard for them to learn,” said Hollar.
Using Zoom and an old Features section of the paper, Hollar recorded a meeting where she thoroughly displayed how to properly lay out an article. Not only is the instructional video accessible to the production team, but it is accessible to all of The Quadrangle staff.
“I feel like that video has been amazing. It's a piece of gold that we have within The Quad,” said Woods. “Because of COVID, I have been more hands on in production that I'm not sure if I would have as Editor-in-Chief outside of our virtual COVID world. I'm so lucky for that opportunity to be able to see a page that I laid out in the paper.”
Although the production process is extremely challenging and time-consuming, it is equally just as rewarding.
“We open up Adobe InDesign and don't get off of it until it's done. When it's all laid out, it makes it look like a real newspaper,” said Hollar. “We basically turn it from Google Docs into what you would see on the streets of Manhattan. Sometimes it does take a long time, but I love my Sundays.”
Serving as a Production Editor for The Quadrangle myself, I sat down with Editor-in-Chief Anna Woods and fellow Production Editor Emily Hollar. We highlight the importance of student journalism, especially during COVID, and narrate the process of producing a weekly newspaper in my podcast Behind the Scenes of a Student-Run Newspaper: The Quadrangle found below.