How to Submit a Story Suggestion to MuncieJournal.com

Mike Rhodes is Editor-in-Chief of MuncieJournal.com. Photo by Matt HowellMike Rhodes is Editor-in-Chief of MuncieJournal.com. Photo by Matt Howell

By: Mike Rhodes, Editor-in-Chief, MuncieJournal.com—

MuncieJournal.com publishes content from a variety of sources. We are primarily looking for stories that fit these three categories: Education, Economic Development, and Quality of Life in Delaware County. We do not cover other counties. 

Some stories come from the Woof Boom News Departmentsome are written by MuncieJournal.com staff and our founding partnersas well as user generated content submitted to us for consideration. Some stories are sold by our sales staff prior to publishing.

Submitting a story for consideration by The Muncie Journal is easy. We will include your bylines and photo credit will be given if the submission contains that information. Here are the publication guidelines you’ll need to follow to better increase your chances of your story being published to The Muncie Journal.

MuncieJournal.com is managed and administrated daily by its Editor-in-Chief, Mike Rhodes, a Ball State University graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Mike acts as the editor for all submissions. He decides what runs, what does not run, when something runs, and also generates his own stories.

(Not all story submissions are published.) 

1. Supply a short, concise recommended headline for your story or press release. We may change it, but your initial suggestion is helpful.

2. Each story we publish REQUIRES one horizontal feature photo. (See the photo at the top of this story for reference.  We call that photo position the featured photo. No vertical pictures are used as feature photos.) We also need a suggested photo caption for your submission if we did not take the photograph. We will not use pictures embedded in WORD or PDF files. Please send those as additional attachments. We will not use Vertical oriented photos. We will also not use pictures as feature photos that have wording/graphics/logos or effects in them. Straight photography, please.

Your photo must be at least 1024 x 768 pixels in size. Larger is great. Smaller is not. If you do not submit a photo with your story, we can attempt to photograph one for you. This must be scheduled prior to publishing.

 If NO photo is submitted, or a photo shoot is not requested at the time of submission, we will either find a suitable image from our stock library or decline to  publish your story. We are somewhat different than other media outlets in that regard. 

 

If you submit a photo, it  MUST be in focus and not blurred. We won’t post any photo that is not sharply in focus. We won’t post any photo that is copyrighted, or deemed to be possibly copyrighted or simply copied from the internet. We only publish licensed photographs.  The Muncie Journal will not indemnify anyone against copyright violations.

More background on photo copyright can be found here.   https://mediablog.prnewswire.com/2017/03/29/blogging-copyright-issues/

Smartphone pictures are acceptable if they fit the guidelines above. Most Smartphones will natively shoot the resolution we require. We can compensate for exposure,  cropping, size etc., prior to publishing.

3. Other photos can be submitted to be considered for use within the body copy of the story to supplement the story. This is encouraged! Ancillary photos should always be accompanied by a brief caption suggestion, with correctly spelled names if people appear in the photo etc.

4.  Your story should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, or pdf. Any relevant website links or phone numbers should be included.  ALL items (Story in Word format or pdf,  photographs as separate files  etc.) should then be emailed to the following address: munciejournal@woofboom.com  You will also need to include your name, phone number and contact info. Please indicate who the writer of the story is (for byline credit), if we need to contact the writer. We often receive submissions that do not indicate who the writer of the story is. Your submission will not get immediate attention, if the writer is not indicated. We give bylines— because it’s the right thing to do. Writers deserve credit for their work.

If you have any questions, please address them to this email: munciejournal@woofboom.com

If you have an urgent question, you may call (765)760-3017.

We will review your submission and contact you later if we have any questions. Do not send us “flyers.” We do not publish flyer materials.

Finally, we strive to utilize the AP Stylebook guidelines in all of our published works.

Advertising inquiries should be directed to Lindsay Stafford, General Sales Manager for Woof Boom Radio. 765-288-4403

The Muncie Journal  appreciates all your submissions, ideas and suggestions!
We thank you ahead of time for your submissions.

*These requirements are initial ones, were published initially on August 5th, 2015, and updated on May 24, 2021.

 

 

 


Mike Rhodes is Editor- in- Chief, Muncie Journal.com.