we all need editors
Add comment November 27th, 2007
there are lots of things out there that i could blog about (like this or this or this), but i’d like to shine light on a topic rarely mentioned or defended in the business: copy editing.
copy editors are the people who work nights, weekends, holidays and, more and more, daytimes to make sure copy is clean, accurate and easy to understand. they tweak cutlines. they write headlines. they catch when you type “goutmutt” instead of “gourmutt” (a dog biscuit business, not a dog with gout). they post to the web. they design pages. they scour the news wires.
some may view copy editors unneccessary these days or see a way to centralize the work, but john mcintyre of the baltimore sun argues otherwise. he’s a longtime editor, educator and defender of the craft. i saw him at an american copy editors society convention in 1999 because i once was a copy editor, too.
as we deliver news and information to multiple platforms, copy editors have become increasingly important in our room. and their skills have broadened greatly. so i say, “save the copy editor.”
