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‘Downward sprial’ for Denver Post copy editing?

avatar by Published May 25, 2012 12:51 pm

Earlier this week, Denver Post Editor Gregory Moore explained how the newspaper plans to spread copy-editing duties throughout the newsroom after it eliminates the copy editing desk and reassigns the remaining editors to individual desks.

Under the old system, Moore said, a story often would be read six or seven times. Now it will be two or three, perhaps more if it’s a big, high-stakes story.

For this to work, staff will have to be trained on a variety of skills, such as writing headlines for print and the Web and, of course, copy editing.

The day before my story was published, this headline ran in the paper:

Related: John McIntyre says to expect first drafts, quickly edited, after Denver Post eliminates copy desk

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  • Joseph D’Hippolito

    mOE, the Denver Post is the anchor of the Singleton Media Empire, which is determined not only to cut fat and meat but bone, as well (cf, LANG, BANG, AP, etc.) Of course, there comes a point where all this cutting becomes self-destructive. I think Singleton has reached it.

  • Anonymous

     …but speaking of typos that do escape spellcheck, that same local paper last week reported that a city contractor had been fired instead of hired. There’s an example for ya!

  • Anonymous

     Except “sprial” is not a word at all, so spellcheck undoubtedly *did* catch it–the humans just didn’t notice/care enough. I was just wondering how something like that gets through this morning when my local paper (much smaller and more lax even than the Denver Post) had “vye” in a headline instead of “vie.”

  • Anonymous

     Except “sprial” is not a word at all, so spellcheck undoubtedly *did* catch it–the humans just didn’t notice/care enough. I was just wondering how something like that gets through this morning when my local paper (much smaller and more lax even than the Denver Post) had “vye” in a headline instead of “vie.”

  • http://twitter.com/conect2u mOE

    First, the New Orleans Times-Picayune eliminates their paper publication to three day/wk, and now the Denver Post is eliminating their copy-editor’s desk?! I enjoy the opportunity to read stories from various papers across the country & the world, but at the same time, I appreciate, expect  & depend upon an elevated quality of their journalism. They are not blogs, please don’t mimic them, too often they are scant  in quality and few in high substantive content.

  • http://twitter.com/hotincleveland Truly S.

    Wait until they let their first “pubic” for “public” go by. This should be fun.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749911534 Anonymous

    Welcome to the new newsroom world of “atomic typos.” Google the term. CF Hanif, former editor at the Palm Beach Post coined it in 2002 or so for words that spellcheck cannot “see” because they are spelled correctly on the “page”  or screen BUT used in wrong context and no human checked it. Examples are unclear for nuclear or Sedan for Sudan or Governor Christ for Governor Crist….and many many more. They are called ATOMIC typos i assume because they are so small as to be almost impossible to detect, unless of course a human being is working the night shift. Sigh.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1563233591 Ellen Goldstein Koven

    “Downward Sprial” says it all. About 5 or 6 years ago, Poynter, I think, ran a contest for journalists that solicited a six-word summation of the state of newspapers. My entry: You’ll miss us when we’re gone. (I was a copy editor),

  • Anonymous

    The Denver Post has been in a downward spiral ever since the Rocky Mountain News folded. They’ve slashed and burned content like a bat out of hell for the past three years. They should rename it the Decline Post.

  • Mary Tillotson

    “Sprial”?  English is SOOO difficult.  O muy deficil!