University News

University Communications strives to keep the University community and the general public supplied with timely, relevant, and interesting news about the University. The department produces the Montclair State Alumni Magazine, manages the online University E-news (montclair.edu/enews), and the University News System.

The University, its colleges and schools, and many individual academic and administrative departments have Web sites which are capable of displaying news items. Each of these entities has a News System administrator and manages the gathering, writing, editing, and posting of news to its own Web site.

News Policies for Main Home Page

University Communications manages the News and Events sections of the main home page (www.montclair.edu). Items chosen for the main home page are those that best promote or provide insight into the University’s mission, goals, and culture, or are of particular newsworthiness to the University community and to the general public.
Priority for posting on the home page is given to items that

• support the University’s mission
• showcase the contributions and importance of the University to the community and the region
• emphasize the scholarly quality of the faculty and its commitment to teaching
• raise awareness of the range of academic programs and opportunities available at the University
• showcase exceptional student and alumni accomplishments
• promote or focus attention on the Colleges and Schools

University Communications creates and posts many of the news items on the main home page. We also link to news items posted by colleges, schools, or departments on their own Web sites when they are recommended by their respective dean or director’s office for main home page consideration.

Those who wish to have an existing news item considered for the main home page should contact their dean or director’s office for follow up with University Communications.

Guidelines for Creating News Items

Current or prospective administrators for news channels should review the Guidelines for the University News System, which includes instructions on best practices for developing content and use of the system’s various functions.

Guidelines for the University News System

The News System is designed to allow for a great deal of flexibility in how a news item looks. Different text formats (italics, bold, underlining), fonts, sizes, colors, symbols, lists and tables, as well as a variety of justification and spacing options, are permitted.

However, simply because the system has this capacity does not necessarily mean they should all be used. In order to produce a professional-looking news item, and to present a unified look across the Web site, it is strongly recommended that different fonts, point sizes, spacing, etc., not be employed. Instead, use the default settings built into the system.

If a news item is composed and edited within the News System, the default settings will automatically be applied. All news items should be composed in the News System.

Text may be copied and pasted into the News System from Microsoft Word, or other applications, but this practice often results in unwanted code being copied in. This code (which is visible in the News System if the view is changed to HTML) can override the default settings, resulting in a news item with non-standard fonts, spacing, or other problems.

Those who “copy and paste” should be sure to toggle to HTML mode and remove the unwanted code manually before publishing the news item.

Further points about news items

Although a full instruction manual for the News System is available, please note the following points when creating a news item.

Headline:

Keep it short, to fewer than 10 words in length if possible. The purpose of a headline is to identify the subject of the article and to introduce the story; not to tell it.

Lead:

The lead is an optional sentence that expands on the headline. It should not be used to include information, a schedule, directions, or any other text that belongs in the body of the news item.

Byline:

A byline, which is optional, is the name of the person who wrote the article.

Body:

The body contains the bulk of the article and should consist of text.  Do not place images, graphics, or other non-text items in the body.

Redirect URL:

This space is for a full-path URL (one that includes http:// or https:// in the URL) if the headline of the news item is to point to a Web page rather than to a news item in the News System. URLs should only point to a Web page hosted on a Montclair State Web server. Do not use this space to point to third party Web pages because viewers will not be advised that they are leaving the University site. Montclair State has no control over the content of third party Web pages, so it is imperative that viewers know that they are being directed to a page that is not Montclair State’s.

If it is necessary to link to a third party Web page, a news item should be created and the link placed in the body of the news item together with a note explaining that the link goes to a third party Web site. Always use full-path URLs for all links.

You cannot use both the “Body” and “Redirect URL” functions in the same news item. Create a news item using the “Body” function or insert a full-path URL in the “Redirect URL” function.