Examining the Tri-City Voice’s approach as an independent newspaper
News and Sports Editor
Fremont-based independent newspaper the Tri-City Voice relies on the versatility of its freelance writers as well as a commitment to good-faith journalism covering Fremont, Newark, and Union City.
Stephanie Uchida, who has been the assignment editor for the Tri-City Voice for over 5 years, pitches stories to the newspaper’s writers. “If I’m going to assign [a story] to a writer I want something that addresses a topic that’s relevant for a large portion of the community or that has a timeliness element,” said the assignment editor. “Choosing things that have a significance—[avoiding] trashy gossip and the ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ mindset. We want to have something with content, something that is unique to this area.”
“Half the time, she writes an email to me and says, ‘Oh, I have this article. Are you interested in writing it?’ As a journalist and an educator, I’m very curious about the world, so I hardly ever turn down a story,” said David Newman, a reporter and writer for the Tri-City Voice of over ten years. “The other half of the time, I’ll pitch ideas. As a journalist, you’re taught to be impartial, but you can’t help but be drawn to stories that interest you.”
“Our more established writers, they’re a little bit more familiar with what we’re looking for, so they often feel a little bit more comfortable pitching ideas to us,” said Uchida.
“More and more as a journalist, your mind just starts thinking of stories everywhere you go. You subconsciously start thinking about what you could write an article about,” said Newman, a former architect whose introduction to journalism began with the Tri-City Voice.
These articles are separated into the Sports, Government, or Features sections. “There’s a weekly meeting where all the editors get together with the editor-in-chief and go over the next issue—what stories they have coming.”
After the writer is assigned a piece, Uchida provides them with a deadline and they are ready to start the interviewing process. “Once I get the assignment, I procrastinate for many days,” said Newman with a chuckle. “Then getting interviews usually takes the most time. You have to figure out who you want to interview. I usually overdo it and interview lots of people, then I have all this material that I need to edit.”
“Once we get [the interviews] scheduled, I do the interview, record it, transcribe it, look for good quotes—yeah, and write up the article,” said Newman.
This article, usually 500 to 800 words, is initially edited by Uchida who assures the article is in line with grammatical conventions and word count.
Next, the article is passed to a content editor. “At the Tri-City Voice, all the articles go through them. That’s kind of the second editing filter,” said Newman, “[They ask] does it make sense, and is it a complete story?”
The final check is completed by the editor-in-chief who subsequently works with the production team to decide which articles will make it to publication.
“Then it’s up to production to lay out the paper. There’s a few people who work on the layout,” said Newman. “Besides the articles, there [are] all the ads, the calendar, events, and obituaries. Usually it comes down to the night before [then] it needs to be sent to the publisher so they can print it.”
For the Tri-City Voice, the final product is often cheerfully reflective of the cultural and community events in the Tri-City area. “It’s really fun because there’s always something to learn about and people are usually very open about discussing different cultures and approaching that with curiosity—like, ‘Oh you’re my neighbor. I’m curious about what you’re doing,’” said Uchida.
“It’s more events and kind of a positive look at the community,” said Newman. “I’ve always been able to write on different areas. The next week, [you cover] whatever interests you as a writer. It’s very liberating because you’re not limited. The world opens up as far as the stories go.”
Uchida said, “There’s always something going on. So many different people groups are represented, it’s kind of amazing.”
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