Joshua Lynch

Editing & Editorial Management

What has shaped me most is my experience as editor-in-chief of Seattle University’s student newspaper, The Spectator. In that role I managed a staff of more than 30 (business and editorial) and produced a weekly paper with a daily-updated online presence. I’m known for drastically reshaping and improving The Spectator online, in print and internally.

When I began as an online editor, the newspaper had a website located on a subdomain of seattleu.edu. It was rarely visited, and poorly maintained because it was nearly impossible to update. I instigated and project managed the newspaper’s move to a new website independent of the school’s infrastructure and control. The site gained traction, and a year later when I was editor-in-chief, we were ready for version two, a modern and flexible layout site I conceptualized and managed. Along the way, I rolled out new features and design adjustments. Combined with a blog that myself and our online editor started, the new web presence was known to hit 80,000 pageviews a month.

Among my other major accomplishments for The Spectator online were:

• Starting and curating the newspaper’s Twitter and Facebook presences, drawing more than a thousand followers.
• Founding a partnership wherein Spectator employees also got experience creating content used in different ways by both Capitol Hill Seattle, a innovative neighborhood blog, and the newspaper.
• Bringing multimedia gear and training to The Spectator’s staff, producing original video, audio slideshows, podcasts, live blogging and image galleries.
• Collaborating with Capitol Hill KOMO’s blog and KOMO News Radio AM 1000 to bring student journalist’s work to a larger audience on air and online.
• Developing a web-first culture that broke major news online, including scooping regional and national publications on:
  • Seattle University’s president being named in a lawsuit alleging the cover-up of sexual abuse of Native Americans by Jesuit priests. Obtained an exclusive interview with Seattle University’s president and victims.
  • The Oregon Province of Jesuits filing bankruptcy as a result of more than 500 claims of sexual abuse by its priests in a five state region.
  • Seattle U professor Jodi O’Brien’s controversial job offer retraction from Marquette University, including first to report O’Brien, an open lesbian and sexuality scholar, had signed a contract with Marquette that the university later broke. Obtained an exclusive interview with O’Brien, and wrote a staff editorial that made readers proud.
  • Seattle University’s preemptive closures of off-campus parties planned by students and graduates.

The fun didn’t stop online. In print and in the office, I was also able to:

• Increase print circulation and readership by up to 1,500 more copies per issue.
• Establish popular print features and a much more reader-friendly design while expanding pages in each issue by 25 percent.
• Nearly double the staff to more than 30 with many more contributors.
• Double entry-level salaries and hold a week-long staff training before school started.
• Invest heavily in hardware and software, with a focus on streamlining processes and cutting down on factual errors and typos.
• Create a collaborative and supportive culture, with performance raises for outstanding leaders.
• Sponsor important student-led university events financially.
• Increase profit by establishing relationships with local businesses and leveraging the web presence with online advertising for the first time in the publication’s history.