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Stakes, Expectations Rise as Copy Desks Shrink
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Not about experience
Posted by Jacob Hanson 7/7/2008 12:11:44 PM

One of the arguments it seems is becoming more common with regard to eliminating copy editors is that many of them are inexperienced. This argument ignores the fact that copy editors who have the most experience are often being shown the door since their salaries are higher than the inexperienced copy editors.
If news organizations are laying off their highest paid employees and replacing them with inexperienced workers who demand a smaller salary, it is illogical to then say that their position is unnecessary since the new workers lack experience. However, many of us would agree that many of the decisions being made at newspapers don't seem to be "logical."

While I am confident that there will be a need for copy editors, I doubt whether news organizations will have employees solely devoted to the task. And with all the extra responsibilities, I expect that people who can do layout and manage Web sites will be given some copy editing tasks, whether or not they are qualified to perform them.

If a copy editor is good, readers and even some other journalists may never know the job they've performed. But when copy editors are taken out of the mix, I predict that everyone will know just what a tough, demanding and important job it was they actually performed.

high stakes editing
Posted by Lin Young 7/5/2008 7:24:28 PM

I work for an online news agency and in my virtual newsroom I don't have a copyeditor. I assign stories, edit them and publish them at a dizzying pace - having 15 minutes to devote to one story would be bliss. It is very stressful, especially since so many of our reporters live in other countries and often send in breaking news stories that only I will edit before it reaches the reader. In addition, reporters have sent stories with quotes from people they interviewed for a breaking news story partially in the language they speak because the reporter's English was insufficient for them to completely translate it. That was before we had all of our reporters in Asia and the Middle East on instant messenger, which meant I didn't have time to contact the reporter. So I have run stories with the quote as the reporter submitted it, followed by my translation of the quote in parenthesis after using Google to figure out what that word, or words, probably meant.

The responsibility of being the only person to edit a story before I published it seemed very stressful when I first started here two years ago. I had been a government reporter for a daily newspaper. There, a copyeditor, at least one editor, the page designer and whoever proofed the pages was going to go over every word of every story.

But it has worked. Somehow I, and the other editors, make amazingly few mistakes and when we do make one whichever editor is on duty is quick to make a correction. That editor also quickly offers the reader that caught the error our sincere regrets for the inconvenience caused. I also generally explain our situation and tell the reader that, unlike newspapers, we only have one person editing the story before it is published. From what Mallory Tenore wrote though, it sounds like I won't be saying that for long. It looks as if newspapers are headed toward the lean editing model my newsroom uses.

Few is more
Posted by Julie Lipkin 7/5/2008 12:31:35 PM

Craig Silverman proves his point about the necessity of diligent copy editing with his observation that "there are less people manning the copy desks."

Time = Mistakes
Posted by Becky Blanton 7/3/2008 8:15:02 PM

Inevitably copy editors will blame mistakes that get by them on the reporters. They also tend to create headlines that have nothing to do with the story or that give readers a mistaken idea of what the story is about. I've had copy editors tell me they "glance" at the story and don't have time to "craft" a headline. They simply put something funny or a pun or something designed to grab a reader's attention rather than to be accurate - hoping the reader will read the story they failed to in order to sort it all out.

When I suggested that copy editors are not reporters and that rewriting entire stories - which then in turn made no sense, I was put down.

My experience is - the industry needs more copy editors - not less - particularly as journalists are cut and have less time to check their own work.

Talking about Stories During the Editing Process
Posted by Mallary Jean Tenore 7/3/2008 3:40:57 PM

Thanks, everyone. Great comments all around.

Rob, you point out that younger copy editors with only a couple of years of experience are editing the work of veteran reporters. As a young journalist, I'm in a similar situation here at Poynter because I edit the work of veteran journalists, too. The more I edit their work, the more I realize how important dialogue is to the editing process. By talking with those whose work I edit, I've gotten to know their work better and get a better idea of what they're looking for in an editor.

I've talked to a lot of copy editors at mid to large-size papers who say they have little interaction with reporters when editing their stories. Sure, assigning editors talk with reporters, but it seems like it would be smart for copy editors to do the same. Maybe then more people in the newsroom would better understand the work they do.

What's the conversation like between copy editors and reporters in your newsroom?

Cut in copy editors
Posted by Mara Lee 7/3/2008 2:47:23 PM

I've noticed an immediate change since the Washington Post trimmed its staff (and copy desk.)

"Barak" Obama made its way into a local news column. "It's" for "its" was in a list of events.

Today, a story had "experience" where it should have said "experienced".

And other bloopers. All minor, but they sadden me.

--not a copy editor, but a downsized reporter

Kudos
Posted by Rick Kenney 7/3/2008 2:46:57 PM

Mallary:
Thanks for an honest and comprehensive article. I hope anyone who reads this and who knows or is mentoring a young copy editor will forward this. Since The Worst Week in Newspaper History, I've been hearing and reading many discouraging words among students, interns and other emerging journalists. I think it's vital that we help them to see the big picture.

What's at stake
Posted by Rob Bignell 7/3/2008 2:11:25 PM

A good overview of the current challenges facing copy desks, Mallary. Copy desks aren't about proofreading and writing headlines aymore but paginating/design and at smaller newspapers posting to the Web site. Accompanying this time crunch is the young age of copy editors - single journalists in their 20s usually possess the tech skills, are willing to work the late night and weekend hours and of course earn less, so they're hired as copy editors. This creates a precarious situation in which news staff with only a couple of years (or even just months) of experience are editing the work of reporters with a decade or more of writing under their belt. As we rethink and reorganize newsrooms to meet the new publishing and media realities, certainly these issues need to be addressed or we will undercut our greatest asset: our credibility.

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