Some of our more detail-oriented readers may have noticed a few new Post bylines sporting the title “senior writer” these past few weeks. Those readers may have also noticed how the “senior writer” byline appears most often with The Post’s weekly print cover stories, specially-designed web packages and longform reports. We are big fans of those so-called senior writers.
So, here’s what a senior writer is: not always a senior academically, just a darn good reporter. One of our four designated darn good reporters, in fact.
This year is the first that The Post has hosted a four-person team — Marisa Fernandez, Rebekah Barnes, Tony Wolfe and Alex Meyer — especially for the purpose of reporting literary, magazine-style features, which are heavily art-directed by our projects designer, Matt Ryan, and our digital managing editor, Seth Archer. The senior writers are not on our weekly payroll, either. Rather, they are funded through stipends generally contributed to by our generous network of Post alumni.
We call Fernandez, Barnes, Wolfe and Meyer “senior writers” because they are some of the most experienced reporters in The Post’s newsroom, and are known by both their editors and readers for their crucially creative story ideas and thorough reporting.
They are encouraged to get out of the newsroom and away from the daily hustle-and-bustle of breaking news reporting to truly sink their teeth into a project they can become excited about, while also connecting with their readers and sources in a manner that often takes weeks or months of dedicated research. When they are done reporting, they come straight to the executive editors at The Post for intensive editing, and see their story all the way through from first draft to Ryan’s final design of their pages for publication in the weekly print product.
This week, readers can enjoy two of the team’s most recent works — a story about hacking threats on Ohio University via Meyer, a junior studying journalism and a former news editor for The Post, as well as a report on the importance and art behind thorough note-taking by Barnes, a senior studying journalism and former managing editor for The Post.
Last week it was Wolfe’s story on freshman safety Tyler Tupa and his family’s long history with football dominance, and another story from Meyer on the resources available to those diagnosed with mental illnesses in southeast Ohio.
Readers will have to keep checking back every week to see what the senior writers cook up next — we are only improving in our in-depth reporting, and we are still learning via The Post’s web analytics what our writers appreciate or neglect to read.
If readers have suggestions on what our senior writers should take a look at or report, please send ideas to editor@thepostathens.com. The purpose of the team is to write and report what is important and interesting, and often those ideas come from our readers directly.
Emma Ockerman is a senior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Email her at eo300813@ohio.edu or tweet her @eockerman.
