l began my Michener study leave last April by visiting Harrowsmith
and Equinox magazines in the relaxed rural setting of Camden East,
just 15 miles from Kingston. l had worked out a research strategy
for the study leave and here, among familiar colleagues, l was able
to test the strategy without pressure.
Harrowsmith was created about 12 years ago by former Whig-Standard
writer James Lawrence, who some years later also launched Equinox.
Both magazines have earned enviable reputations and stand as proud
examples of what can be achieved by a small group of enthusiastic
journalists with sound vision and a commitment to excellence.
I talked to staff members about editorial policy, design principles
and technological change, then tracked a specific article as it
passed through several sets of hands along the production line. The
department editor and four copy editors poured over the article,
each marking up the original manuscript with different colored pens.
A full-time researcher checked every fact (are there really 254
varieties of ferns in the Costa Rican rain forest? -- call a Costa
Rican botanist to be sure). After the art director and paste-up editor finished their jobs, page proofs were sent to six
freelance proof-readers. At the Whig-Standard Magazine, the same
article would have been edited and designed by one editor, in one
pass, sent to the back shop and published. No proof-readers. No
second chance. We have a long way to go!
Halfway through my second week at Harrowsmith and Equinox, l was
recalled to the newspaper to deal with a staff crisis. It was a
crisis that ended with the resignation of the editor who was
replacing me while l was on leave. l had to stay put until other
arrangements could be made and until summer vacations were over. l
took my own holidays in September, then resumed the study leave in
October.
The Ottawa Citizen had just introduced its new Sunday newspaper, and
I was particularly interested in talking to its editor and designer
about the project: had they considered including a magazine in the
package? They said they had; after some discussion, however, they
decided against a magazine. l talked to the design director -- a
former news editor -- about his job and the working relationship he
had established with the section editors whose pages his department
designs. I want The Whig-Standard to establish a design department
and am building an argument in its favor. Later in the month I went
to Toronto to talk with the executive art director of The Globe and
Mail with the same purpose in mind. He also showed me how
introduction of pagination equipment at the Globe had affected his
job. We will install the same pagination system next year.
I had hoped to visit Saturday Night magazine that trip, but John
Fraser said it was a bad week, and could I return another time. I
said I would.
Also in October I attended a design workshop in Louisville,
Kentucky, and visited the Louisville Courier-Journal, which
publishes its own Sunday magazine.
Roger W. Bainbridge.
1987