Why Editing Matters
Copy editing at America’s newspapers,
a cornerstone of fair and honest journalism,
is threatened now more than ever.
Why does editing matter to you?
This site, created by the American Copy Editors Society, is dedicated to the craft of good writing —
and to countering the ever-more-prevalent belief that
editors are dispensable. We do not intend this site to
serve as a forum for “gotcha” postings.
We’re looking for constructive submissions that
demonstrate what editors and copy editors do —
and why they’re crucial to credibility. Our intent
is not to widen the distance between writers and editors,
but to show that we’re all equally responsible for
what gets into print or posted on the Web. Questions? E-mail us.
What others have said
112 entries submitted since June 25, 2008 | Viewing entries 1 through 50
Entry No. 124: I believe that there should not be a need for copy editors. With the level of education required to be taken seriously in today's job market, and with the use of computer spelling and grammar checks, there is no reason why reporters and journalists themselves cannot edit their own copy. Technological advances and career specialization often put people out of jobs, and that is a sad fact, but it is true.
If journalists are not skilled enough at their work to write copy and edit it themselves, chances are they are not qualified to be writing in the first place. Maybe they should be researchers instead, and let the copy editors, who are so good at correct grammar and composition, take over their jobs. (Posted at 03:11 PM on September 07, 2008)
Entry No. 123: Because the president of an advertising agency once told me that mistakes in a six-figure proposal were no big deal...it just made the company appear more conversational. Huh???
Because the body of Chris is much different from the body of Christ.
Because there are two different spellings for fluorescent/florescent. The package was a million-run print job and would have talked about clothes that flowered, not clothes that were brightly colored.
Because I could go on for days with mistakes (not just misspellings) I have seen. (Posted at 11:41 PM on August 19, 2008)
Entry No. 122: Effective communication is the cornerstone of any business. To paraphrase Strunk and White, most readers are lost most of the time anyway; don't make their job any harder than it already is. (Posted at 09:45 PM on August 14, 2008)
Entry No. 121: Because editing is about far more than just catching misspellings. It's about finding holes and discrepencies, making sure that the lead is in fact the lead, endless fact checking to make sure we're putting out a good product and writing an eye-catching headline that causes the reader to pick up the paper or click on the link. As one of my favorite copy editors told me, copy editors are the super heroes of the newsroom. (Posted at 06:30 PM on July 31, 2008)
Entry No. 120: Apparently, some editors have calculated that the circulation declines due to misspellings or worse won't be significant. Or maybe they've reasoned that those losses will be outweighed by the gains that come from shrinking staff. Or maybe they figure that people will cut a paper some slack if there's an uptick in typos and corrections.
I know editing matters. But, rightly or wrongly, someone clearly believes that other things matter more. (Posted at 06:47 PM on July 26, 2008)
Entry No. 119: Because it isn't about us or the reporters. It's about avoiding the cancellations owing to misspellings or worse. We're losing ground as is, and handing out excuses to stop delivery is about the worst thing we can do at this point. (Posted at 07:23 AM on July 25, 2008)
Entry No. 118: "How do we get them to see that there is a real cost to putting holes in that safety net?"
That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? Part of how to do that involves the copy desk coming out of the corner, keeping track of what gets caught, and letting editors farther up the line know about it. (Posted at 04:06 PM on July 24, 2008)
Entry No. 117: Copyediting/editing matters because it's what writer is all about. Revising, getting to the core what the writer is trying to say. You can't express yourself without editing and going through your writing. All good writing comes from editing multiple times. Why seems to be threatened, I don't know. But it's a shame.
(Posted at 02:59 PM on July 24, 2008)
Entry No. 116: Call it a wild guess: I think we all agree that editing matters. Most of us, if not all of us, are editors. Probably copy editors. No surprise that we all agree on this point.
Now, how do we get people who have never spent a day on a rim in their lives to consider editors as valuable to the process as those who write and photograph the news? How do we get them to agree with us?
I'd wager that every newsroom in the country is aware of the fact that copy editors keep embarrassing stuff out of print.
So you tell me: How do we get them to see that there is a real cost to putting holes in that safety net? How do we get them to see that that cost might be greater than any savings realized by outsourcing or eliminating numbers of reads?
(Posted at 10:04 PM on July 23, 2008)
Entry No. 115: Because 'Everybody Hates Chris'--- not
'Everybody Hates Christ' (Posted at 01:49 PM on July 23, 2008)
Entry No. 114: Because antique replicas of donkeys fornicating does not belong on a children's book cover. (Posted at 01:35 PM on July 23, 2008)
Entry No. 113: Because leaving one letter out of "public" can make an "L" of a difference. (Posted at 04:13 PM on July 22, 2008)
Entry No. 112: Because of Entry No. 101; we should still live in a society where language still matters. (Posted at 03:48 AM on July 21, 2008)
Entry No. 111: Because there are so many malaprops and typos [only tangentially an editing problem] weekly that Jay Leno could build his entire show around it every night.
And it is so easy in cutting, pasting and trimming to end up with something that makes no sense - unless someone else sees it before the ink hits the paper. (Posted at 04:17 PM on July 20, 2008)
Entry No. 110: To carry on that baseball analogy, because a good team has one fielder go back up another fielder during a play, as sometimes fielders make mistakes or the ball bounces funny or the sun blinds the eyes. (Posted at 05:17 AM on July 18, 2008)
Entry No. 108: Because the guy was a bond trader, not a bong trader. (Posted at 11:29 AM on July 17, 2008)
Entry No. 106: A baseball team needs infielders and outfielders as well as pitchers, catchers and hitters. Editors protect the reader from the distraction and annoyance of typos -- the routine flies. Imagine an infield that couldn't field even the easiest rollers -- that team would be the laughing stock of the league. But editors also protect the readers from bad information, and in so doing protect the publication as well. Those are the to-the-wall catches that make for great baseball, and great journalism. Meaning absolutely no disrespect to reporters and others involved in the process, but everyone needs an editor -- and those who don't think they do are doomed to embarrassment and failure, not to mention a lesser reputation. (Posted at 06:39 PM on July 14, 2008)
Entry No. 104: Because a copy editor found a discrepancy between Death Row facts listed in big, red type on page 8A and small, black type on the Editorial page. Both pages cited the Department of Corrections. Desk editors verified the statistics and corrected the Editorial page.
Because a copy editor knew that the state prison is in Town A, not Town B, as most of the media like to report.
Because a copy editor noticed the paper's Web site got the convict's name wrong on a bulletin about an execution.
Because a copy editor saw that the text of the story listed the convict's initial release month incorrectly. (Posted at 11:28 PM on July 12, 2008)
Entry No. 103: Because half the names on the roster we almost printed were people who weren't playing, and some of those who were had their names spelled wrong. (Posted at 10:10 PM on July 12, 2008)
Entry No. 102: Because transposed digits in a toll-free phone number can lead readers to call and hear this: "Hello. I've been waiting for you to call. I'm soooo horny." (Posted at 06:12 PM on July 11, 2008)
Entry No. 101: Because a copy editor does not just use language to write a story. A copy editor loves language enough to respect it, preserve it and fight for it in the face of those who, in the name of convenience, would see it undone. (Posted at 03:24 PM on July 10, 2008)
Entry No. 100: Because a sextet and a sextuplet are not the same thing. (Posted at 12:13 AM on July 09, 2008)
Entry No. 99: Because an ellipsis isn't a machine at the gym.
Because a colon isn't something you dab behind each ear so you can smell nice on a date.
Because a nut graph isn't something you use to calculate whether squirrels have enough food for the winter.
Because a jump head is not a defensive move in kung fu.
(Posted at 11:57 PM on July 08, 2008)
Entry No. 98: Because someone needs to be paying enough attention to notice that we ran that same story in the paper two weeks ago. (Posted at 10:09 PM on July 08, 2008)
Entry No. 97: Because you really want to have someone take notice when a vice presidential candidate can't quite spell potatoe (an oldie but a goodie).
(Posted at 08:30 PM on July 08, 2008)
Entry No. 96: Because English has nuances, not understood by people whose first language is something else. As in, when you call the help desk in India to report that the AP wire isn't working and the response is, "Did you unplug it?" (Posted at 06:03 PM on July 07, 2008)
Entry No. 95: Because readers write letters to the editor asking why your paper mixed up "ravage" and "ravish," and follow up by asking: Why would you lay off copy editors? (Posted at 08:58 AM on July 06, 2008)
Entry No. 94: Because the Washington Post just claimed, in a story about a domesticated chimpanzee who escaped his cage and is loose in the wild, that the San Bernardino foothills are west of Los Angeles.
They are, of course, east of Los Angeles. (Posted at 02:15 AM on July 06, 2008)
Entry No. 93: Because I spoke in front of a local community college mass media class last April. About half actually said they read newspapers. I asked what bothered them the most about newspapers, and the answer was the errors. Then one piped up with "I wish there was more editing on the Internet. The misspellings drive me crazy!" (Posted at 01:34 AM on July 06, 2008)
Entry No. 92: Newspapers aren't the only medium for news. Editing doesn't matter just in print. Editing matters just as much on the Web, and these many reasons noted are proof. I know in my newsroom, editing matters as much to the reporters, and it matters when their stories go online as well as in print. No one wants their raw copy posted unread — they see the danger there. (Posted at 05:40 PM on July 04, 2008)
Entry No. 91: Because after months of hard work, a special publication at my newspaper published "because of the efforts of Martin Luther" in a piece about the Civil Rights movement. (Posted at 12:22 PM on July 04, 2008)
Entry No. 89: Because one of these days, we'll find out that copy editing is the hot new thing, and we'll all have groupies, roadies and elaborate world tours. (Posted at 07:29 PM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 88: Editing matters because authors often don't know how to convey what is clear in their minds based on personal and professional experiences and worldviews, nor even recognize that their language choices may afford a myriad of opportunities for individual audience members to misinterpret messages. (Posted at 05:01 PM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 87: Because (these are catches) Mexican-Americans aren't "foreigners," and "homeless" isn't a synonym for hostile street thug, and even if the suspect really, really, really looks guilty on Day 1, the story can take a complete U-turn by the end of the week.
Because people look at stuff that makes it into print as a model for clear thinking -- and when we sell them muddy, biased, anemic prose, we take away one more chance for them to grow into strong people and good citizens.
(Posted at 04:34 PM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 85: Because today's news ends up in tomorrow's history book, and if today's news has errors, they'll be perpetuated. (Posted at 12:45 PM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 84: Because anything that inspires people to read the news -- including a clean story and a catchy, honest headline -- is a blow for democracy. And anything that inspires cynicism and boredom about the news -- including dull, vague prose and avoidable mistakes -- is a blow against democracy.
(Posted at 12:39 PM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 83: Because news happens any and everywhere and the editors are those ones who always know when and where. (Posted at 11:03 AM on July 03, 2008)
Entry No. 80: Because the reporters think of me as their safety net, and I don't want to let them down. (Posted at 07:55 PM on July 02, 2008)
Entry No. 79: Because our reporters post directly to the Web:
"A man accused of punching a whole in the wall of duplex was arrested on suspicion of third-degree malicious mischief after midnight on Tuesday." (Posted at 03:01 PM on July 02, 2008)
Entry No. 78: Because the reader needs a surrogate, and anyone else is likely to be either too close to the story or too far removed from it.
(Posted at 02:31 AM on July 02, 2008)
Entry No. 77: Because spell check doesn't know the difference between two, to and too or there, their and they're. (Posted at 12:00 AM on July 02, 2008)
Entry No. 76: Because I've yet to see a baby's head crow.
``They comforted her and the baby's head started crowing,'' Lopez said. "It came quick."
(Posted at 07:39 PM on July 01, 2008)
Entry No. 75: Copyediting matters because it: has the public's true interests at heart—and inserts the "l" in "public" when a reporter's head is still wrapped around the other word from the night before • works magic with submissions clearly written under the journalists' age-old "go with what you've got" motto (i.e., makes those press releases look like real stories) • provides subject matter expertise related to a particular story—for a fraction of expert witness fees • allows a publication all the conveniences of its PR "quote sanitizer" nemesis and none of the hassle of admitting it • keeps passionate staff op-ed writers from looking like complete reactionaries (left-wing or right-wing) • frees page and section editors to plan articles and op-ed pieces (although astute copyeditors will suggest them as well) • above all, accounts for the CONTEXT and CULTURE of the employing publication's core readership/subscriber base (as well as the region or nation in which the employing publication is headquartered BECAUSE THE COPY EDITORS ACTUALLY LIVE THERE)! (Posted at 02:50 PM on July 01, 2008)
Entry No. 74: Because every gaffe, large or small, detracts from a newspaper's credibility, and a newspaper lacking credibility is a waste of ink and paper. (Posted at 07:40 PM on June 30, 2008)
Entry No. 73: Editing matters because we want people to think about the content of stories and not their construction; we want them to consider sense and not spelling; we want them to feel informed, not infuriated. (Posted at 12:00 AM on June 30, 2008)
Entry No. 71: Because the reporter meant to write "lawsuit," not "lawshit." (Posted at 10:51 PM on June 29, 2008)
Entry No. 70: Because editing is not a frill. (Posted at 07:14 PM on June 29, 2008)
Entry No. 69: Because this op/ed headline, written by the author, makes no sense: "Child rape ruling went/too far, but it was right" -- That's no opinion at all! (Posted at 05:11 PM on June 29, 2008)
Entry No. 68: Because of this dialogue from the movie Clue:
Mrs. White: He even threatened to kill me! In public!
Miss Scarlet: Why would he want to kill you in public?
The Butler: I think she means he threatened, in public, to kill her. (Posted at 11:18 PM on June 28, 2008)
Entry No. 65: Because of the first lesson I learned in Journalism 101: "Accuracy. Accuracy. Accuracy." (Posted at 08:04 PM on June 28, 2008)
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