As many know, the Democrat and Chronicle is the local newspaper in Rochester. But most of the readers do not know how much work is actually put into the newspaper. Working for the newspaper is a 24 hour job, everyday.

There are three crucial parts about being a reporter. First, the newspaper must be accurate to gain the public’s trust. Second, the reporter must be able to talk to people for an interview. Third, the reporter must learn to love pencils. If the reporter gets caught in the rain with a pen, the ink will smear, so the reporter cannot read what he/she wrote. Having a pencil helps a lot.

The maestro is a group of staff members which include the writer, editor, and designer. The maestro groups of the Democrat and Chronicle meet at 10:30 a.m. to discuss what the writer if going to report on. At 3:30 p.m., the editor and designer put all the odds and ends together. At midnight, the writer must have his/her article to the press.

It is also important to note that not all of the photographs are taken by the Democrat and Chronicle staff. Some of the images, for example, the war in Iraq, come from a wire service (i.e. the Associated Press). A wire service is a news organization that posts pictures from free lace photographers. There are about 600 pictures a day that come in from all over the world. One can visit this site at www.newseum.org. The site also contains 172 front pages of daily newspapers published around the world.

A little after midnight, the press begins the long printing process. The presses are approximately 100 yards long, the size of a football field. The presses can print 70,000 newspapers in one hour, printing at a speed of 22 miles per hour. The press is only set to print 60,000 newspapers an hour for safety reasons. The finished papers are then shipped at around 3:00 a.m. to be distributed.

A unique asset to the Democrat and Chronicle is that it was the first newspaper to take all digital pictures. It now only takes about ten minutes from the time the picture is taken to get it on the paper’s website. Interested persons may visit the Democrat and Chronicle’s website at www.democratandchronicle.com.