Reporter: Manuela Vega: the early shift

Manuela Vega, ‘21, is a reporter (external link)  at the Toronto’s Star’s Express Desk and a writer for the First Up Newsletter. (external link)  She has also worked on the Toronto Star audience team and was a breaking news reporter in the radio room. In her work, Vega has explored a range of topics including housing, politics, real estate and climate change with extensive reporting on the recent rise of violence on the TTC (external link) .

Around this time, I wake up and start my day. I do my morning routine basics, and maybe make some breakfast: oatmeal or toast.

At 4 a.m. I open up my laptop and start working on the First Up newsletter, which goes out in a few hours. I start writing up my copy so that it can be edited and sent out.

Around 5:20 a.m., my editor signs on and joins the Google Doc where I’m working to make copy edits. She also puts my words into the backend. Then she sends me a test email of the newsletter where I can basically see everything that I've written, the photos she has added, and, edits that were made. At this point, I am combing through the newsletter and making sure that everything is factually correct and written properly, that nothing is out of place style-wise and that all hyperlinks are correct.

At around this time, the newsletter is sent out via email to First Up subscribers. 

The Star team has decided to also put a web version of the newsletter on thestar.com every morning, Monday to Friday, to expand our audience and encourage people to read the featured stories. To do this, I copy and paste all the newsletter text into the backend, add a headline and abstract, upload photos and format everything.

Once it is published online, a blue banner hyperlinked to the newsletter goes up at the top of the website until around 10 a.m. People who have The Star’s app also receive a notification.

This is where I sign into my other role, reporter at the Express Desk. For the next half-hour I work on an existing story, brainstorm story pitches or finalize edits on stories from the day before.

Now, I start to work with my editor on my stories. I typically work on one, but sometimes two or three. 

She might approve a pitch, give me an assignment, or both. Express Desk stories are not like traditional or feature stories, which usually have three or more interviews; many of them only require one — like an expert opinion. For example, I did a story recently on daylight savings (external link)  and I spoke to a sleep expert about how people can adjust to the time and sleep better.  Several Express Desk stories also build  off of content we already have on our website. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a timeline of TTC violence (external link)  over the last year and how the city, TTC and police have responded. For this, I didn't have to do any original reporting, and instead I used all the articles that we've published over the last year to create that. These are stories I can turn around in under one to three hours.

Ideally, I am finished writing my last story of the day by this time so that I can send it to my editor, and she can send me edits back. I either approve all of the edits or suggest a change. We speak about any tweaks we want to make and finalize them.

At the end of my shift, I update my editor and colleagues by letting them know what stories I’ve published, what is being edited and what I will continue working on in the days to come .

I then sign off and make lunch. Later, I like to get some physical activity,, so I might go for a walk — especially if it’s sunny out — or go to the gym or pool. In the evening, I like to play guitar, read or journal. 

I usually go to bed pretty early; depending on the day, it can be anywhere between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.