The T word-Our secret Weapon
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
By Deborah Gump
News editor, Marin Independent Journal
Project report
The Knight Foundation Fellowship for Copy Editors
Dec. 12, 1997
Page 2: Introduction
Page 5: ACES - A slice of copy desk life
Page 32: How to get better all by yourself
Page 51: Where to get help
Editors have a secret weapon that will improve the quality of their newspapers, cut painfully high turnover costs and boost sagging morale. This secret weapon, this management magic bullet, requires no focus groups, reader surveys or consultants. Employees won't have to be cajoled into allowing this weapon into the newsroom; indeed, they'll probably clamor to help pull the trigger.
And the cost of implementing this secret weapon can be as little as absolutely nothing.
But this weapon truly is a secret weapon. It's so secret that many editors don't know it exists, or they don't appreciate its power. It's so secret that many copy editors don't realize that they, too, have the power to use it - without their bosses' help or permission.
The weapon is training. Almost everybody wants it, and very few get it, according to "No Train, No Gain: Continuing Training for Newspaper Journalists in the 1990s," a survey released by the Freedom Forum in 1993. The numbers are discouraging:
Only four of 10 journalists say their newspapers offer either in-house or outside writing training; eight in 10 want it.
Only three in 10 say management training is offered; seven in 10 want it.
Only two in 10 are offered reporting or editing training; again, seven in 10 want it.
The outlook is particularly bleak for editors on the copy desk, dubbed "the Mount Everest of discontent" in ASNE's 1989 report, "The Changing Face of the Newsroom." Copy editors, called "disillusioned gatekeepers" in that report, now constitute 18% of the newsroom workforce, according to "The Newspaper Journalists of the '90s," an ASNE update of the '89 report released in April 1997. That one-fifth of the workforce is no happier than it was almost a decade earlier.
Here's a closer look at the profile painted of copy editors in the 1997 report:
37% of copy editors say their job fails to meet their expectations. Compare that with the 22% of non-copy editors whose expectations are unmet.
Morale is the biggest problem of 30% of the copy editors, followed by a lack of resources (29%) and not enough time to do a good job (25%).
Many hope for a change in their job: 44% would be unhappy if they were doing the same work in five years - again, the highest percentage in the newsroom. Only 37% of reporters would be unhappy, 10% of editorial writers, 26% of photographers and 37% of supervisors.
Most telling for copy editors and their desire for training: Only 24% of copy editors say they had regular feedback on their work performance, the smallest percentage of any work group in the newsroom. Almost 34% said feedback was rare; 42% said feedback came only occasionally. Regular feedback, however, came to 27% of the reporters, 42% of editorial writers, 33% of photographers and artists and 33% of supervisors. Nobody gets enough feedback, but copy editors get less than anybody else.
More disturbing news came in a 1993 report by professors Betsy Cook and Steven Banks, who found that the group most likely to face burnout was copy editors, particularly younger ones who were asked to perform several different jobs, such as editing, layout and design. "Predictors of Job Burnout in Reporters and Copy Editors" (Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 1, spring 1993) found that copy editors had significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization - two key indicators of burnout - than reporters.
If training can improve the working life of a journalist - and therefore the quality of the newspaper - the numbers show that an editor's best training investment could come on the copy desk. The "No Train, No Gain" report indicates that training pays enormous dividends. Lack of training itself is not an important factor in job dissatisfaction, the report said, but its absence can block other things that do lead to satisfaction: promotions, bigger salaries, a better newspaper, more challenges.
And if copy editors quit, editors must pay dearly to replace them. Turnover can cost up to 30% of a staffer's annual salary, according to Madelyn Jennings, who was Gannett's senior vice president of personnel when the "No Train, No Gain" report was written.
"It is a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept anything but the best,
you very often get it."
- W. Somerset Maugham
ACES - A slice of copy desk life
"Copy editors have suffered for generations from an abysmal lack of respect in many newsrooms. Now, to this perennial problem have been added two huge new ones - newsroom downsizing and pagination, a technological revolution that ironically increases the workload on the copy desk while reducing the newspaper's overall payroll."
- Gene Foreman, ASNE Human Resources Committee, 1996-97
Gene Foreman, deputy editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, could have added many more items to his list of copy editor problems: newsroom restructuring that at some papers has eliminated the copy desk altogether, time-intensive graphic layouts designed to lure back readers, the introduction of photo archiving systems that copy editors must master, the perennial plight of having the worst hours in the newsroom.
Problems such as these sparked an ASNE effort to find some answers.
Merv Aubespin, associate editor for development at the Louisville Courier-Journal, launched the initiative in 1995 during his term as chair of ASNE's Human Resources Committee. As he said in his wrap-up report, "How We Can Help Each Other," newspapers "have a serious problem involving their copy desks." If the problem is not addressed, he said, "newspaper will pay a heavy price."
Foreman agreed, and he continued the effort during his term as committee chair. In his wrap-up, "A Return to Quality Editing," Foreman urged copy editors to rally and "advocate their cause."
Just that is happening. The work by Aubespin, Foreman and several passionate copy editors led to the formation of the American Copy Editors Society in early 1997. ACES held its first conference at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in October, bringing together more than 300 copy editors for two days of panels and workshops and the chance to talk about the future of their craft.
To gauge the opinions of these copy editors on training issues, I distributed a survey, designed with the help of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty. The survey focused on two points - the need for training and the preferred types of training - but it also asked respondents open-ended questions regarding job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction and their opinions about the challenges facing newspapers and copy editors.
The results are in no way scientifically representative of copy editors as a whole. The sample was small, and the response rate was low. However, the results offer some insights into the mood of the copy desks represented at the conference.
The 79 respondents were divided into circulation categories (under 50,000, 50,001-100,000, 100,001-300,000, more than 300,000) and experience levels (less than five years, five-10 years, 10-15 years, more than 15 years). Here are some of the key findings:
65% of the respondents worked at papers with a circulation of more than 100,000: 18% from under 50,000, 18% from 50,001-100,000, 30.4% from 100,001 to 300,000; and 34.2% percent from more than 300,000. The mean circulation size was 335,948; the median circulation size was 190,000.
The respondents had a broad range of experience: 27% had less than five years of experience, 27% had 5-10 years; 19% had 10-15 years; and 28% had more than 15 years. The mean experience level was 11 years; the median was 10. Those with the greatest amount of experience worked at the largest newspapers. Those with the least amount of experience were spread more evenly across the circulation categories, but 33% of them worked at the smallest papers.
A key job satisfaction was improving the quality of the writing and the paper's overall report, particularly with respect to maintaining its credibility through the elimination of errors. Here's a typical comment on the most satisfying aspect of the job: "Converting faulty copy into clean copy, making substantial improvement in the paper and supporting the work of my colleagues."
The least satisfying aspects of the job are no surprise to any working copy editor: lack of respect, lack of time, lack of training and terrible hours. A typical comment: "Hours. Workload. Pay. I could go on and on."
Most copy editors said their skills were improving (72%); the rest said their skills were remaining constant (24%) or stagnating/declining (4%). Of the 72% who said they were getting better, 23% were from the smallest papers and 41% were from the biggest papers. Improving copy editors were spread across all experience levels (27% for less than 5 years, 30% for 5-10 years, 20% for 10-15 years, 23% for more than 15 years).
It was a group fairly confident of their abilities. Half were very satisfied with their ability to do their job (53%). The rest were somewhat satisfied (38%), somewhat dissatisfied (7%) or not very satisfied (3%). The most satisfied worked in the two biggest circulation categories (71%). Very satisfied editors were in all experience categories (20% had less than 5 years, 32% had 5-10, 17% had 10-15, 32% had more than 15).
It's interesting to note that those who said their skills were improving were those most satisfied with their jobs. It's not a large leap to predict that if editors get training - or train themselves - they'll do their job better, be happier on the job, stay longer and help produce a stronger paper.
Copy editors could do their job better if they were given more time to do the task. That choice topped a mean ranking of these other options, in order of preference: more communication with reporters/editors on a story/project; additional training/professional development; involvement in the paper's daily/strategic planning; and better reference resources.
Although training ranked third, 41% of the respondents made it their No. 1 or No. 2 choice. It's also important to point out that with the exception of better resources, which had a strong grip on last place, the rankings were very tightly clustered. The only sure conclusion might be that copy editors want all of the above.
Copy editors were split on whether their papers offered training: 48% said training was offered and 52% said it wasn't. Most of the training was offered at the largest papers. More interesting, though, is the fact that among those who wanted training, 85% preferred training that would help them do their job better - not training that would prepare them for a different job.
A closer look at those who want training to do a different job is difficult because of the particularly small sample. Only those whose papers didn't offer training were asked the follow-up question, and most of them wanted training for their current job.
However, of the 14 copy editors with more than 15 years of experience who answered the question, 43% wanted training for a different job - the largest percentage for that answer in any category, circulation or experience. Perhaps the longer one is a copy editor, the more variety is needed.
Copy editors preferred occasional training by non-staff personnel, followed by occasional training by staff, infrequent training offsite by non-staff and regular training by staff.
Copy editors really want to improve the writing in their newspaper. Respondents were asked to rank these 10 areas: computer/Internet training, design/layout, headlines, spotting holes in stories, understanding community issues, understanding national/world issues, cutlines, grammar/spelling, improving writing in the newspaper, ethical/fairness issues.
The mean rating of the entire sample put training to improve writing first, followed by spotting holes, headlines, design, computer, ethics, grammar, cutlines, community issues and national issues. The least experienced copy editors also chose writing training, followed by headlines. However, the most experienced - and presumably older - copy editors wanted more computer/Internet training, followed by writing training.
Copy editors were also asked what they considered to be the most pressing challenges facing journalism and copy editors, and how they could help meet those challenges. The challenges to journalism revolved around credibility issues, while those to copy editors focused on workload and respect. Here's a sample of how they saw the challenges to both the field and themselves:
* "The fight to stay a viable and credible news source in the media world - copy editors can help by perfecting their skills."
* "Burnout, burnout, burnout. Copy editors need to become more vocal about their needs and their talents. Respect rather than marginalization is needed. Copy editors need to take the initiative (especially desk managers) in this matter."
g g g
The survey questions follow as a framework for the detailed responses. An unannotated copy of the survey is attached at the end of this section. Not every copy editor answered every question, so in some cases the responses total fewer than 79.
1) Job title & department: Exact titles and departments weren't calculated, but the question was asked to get a feel for who answered the survey. The overwhelming number of respondents were news copy editors, but sports, business and lifestyles departments were also represented. Most respondents were line copy editors, but 20 were supervisory editors (copy desk chiefs, news editors, etc.).
2) Newspaper circulation: Newspapers were divided into four categories: under 50,000, 50,001-100,000, 100,001-300,000 and more than 300,000. As the following chart shows, most respondents were from larger newspapers.
Circulation Number of newspapers Percentage of total Under 50,000 14 17.7% 50,001-100,000 14 17.7% 100,0001-300,001 24 30.4% More than 300,000 27 34.2% Total 79 100%
3) Years as working copy editor: Experience was also divided into four categories: Less than five years, five to 10 years, 10 to 15 years and more than 15 years. Respondents were fairly evenly distributed by experience.
Experience Number of respondents Percentage of total Less than 5 years 21 26.6% 5-10 years 21 26.6% 10-15 years 15 19% More than 15 years 22 27.8% Total 79 100%
Here's a comparison of experience levels to circulation size.
Circulation Under 5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years More than 15 years Total Under 50,000 % 7 50% 33.3% 3 21.4% 3 21.4% 20% 1 7.1% 4.5% 1.3% 14 within circulation 8.9% 14.3% 3.8% 100% % within experience 3.8% 17.7% % of total 17.7% 50,001-100,000 % 5 35.7% 23.8% 4 28.6% 2 14.3% 3 21.4% 13.6% 3.8% 14 within circulation 6.3% 19% 5.1% 13.3% 2.5% 100% % within experience 17.7% % of total 17.7% 100,001-300,000 % 4 16.7% 19% 7 29.2% 7 29.2% 6 25% 27.3% 7.6% 24 within circulation 5.1% 33.3% 8.9% 46.7% 8.9% 100% % within experience 30.4% % of total 30.4% More than 300,000 % 5 18.5% 23.8% 7 25.9% 3 11.1% 20% 12 44.4% 54.5% 15.2% 27 within circulation 6.3% 33.3% 8.9% 3.8% 100% % within experience 34.2% % of total 34.2% Total % within 21 26.6% 100% 21 26.6% 15 19% 100% 22 27.8% 100% 27.8% 79 circulation % 26.6% 100% 26.6% 19% 100% within experience % 100% of total 100%
4) What is the most satisfying aspect of your job: Copy editors gave a wide variety of answers, listing several activities and goals. Here are some of the responses:
* "Seeing the press run and knowing my work is all over that paper."
* "Nurturing reporters."
* "Working to take a good story and make it better - also, finding those stupid mistakes that take away credibility."
* "Solving problems that result in smooth operation of the newsroom."
* "Having a say in news decisions."
* "Writing accurate headlines that lead readers into a story; designing pages that will pique a reader's interest."
* "Delivering meaningful, understandable news and information that may have a positive impact on the community."
* "Working as a team, overcoming adversity to make deadlines."
* "Making the best presentation of my paper's words and art for the reader."
* "Being the gatekeeper."
* "Making a story 'unpassable,' i.e., one can't pass by without reading it, first for the headlines, then the lead..."
* "Helping inform society of the issues it faces."
* "Fixing grammar errors, catching factual errors."
* "Taking a virtually raw piece of copy (that has been read by a bureau chief) and making it palatable."
* "Teaching good copy editors to become outstanding ones."
* "Being someone our paper knows it can count on."
5) What is the least satisfying aspect of your job: Again, answers were across the board, but typical comments follow:
* "Being invisible - not getting the recognition we deserve. Little praise and a lot of thumps."
* "Trying to teach the unteachable: part-timers, the poorly grounded."
* "Clerical duties, news meetings, 'negotiating' with assigning editors."
* "Cleaning up the shoddy work of incompetent reporters/writers and being dictated to by incompetent desk editors."
* "Too much work."
* "Long working hours and high levels of stress - with all the frustrations of supervising a large crew of copy editors who often fall short of my standards, who tend to quit their jobs before mastering them, and who are always difficult to replace!"
* "We're treated like second-class workers."
* "The fact that reporters and editors are so uncaring about deadline and the resulting lack of time to do my job."
* "Lack of continuing education and the lack of promotion opportunities."
* "Office politics that don't belong in a newsroom. Techno oppression!"
* "Lack of respect, burnout among colleagues, expanding duties, shrinking time."
* "The hours."
* "The gap between responsibility - what I'm expected to ensure gets done - and authority - the degree of power within the paper to get done what I'm expected to get done. Also, in a near tie, the pressure to concentrate more on layout and less on content."
* "Until my recent job change ... I disliked how hard it was to get off holidays and the occasional Saturday."
* "Not enough time to do the best job possible."
6) Do you think your skills and abilities are improving, remaining constant or stagnating/declining: The vast majority of editors said their skills were getting better. Anecdotally, it's interesting to note that the three who considered their skills stagnating were from two different circulation categories and three different experience levels.
Skill level Number of respondents Percentage of total Improving 56 71.8% Remaining constant 19 24.4% Stagnating/declining 3 3.8% Total 78 100%
Here's a comparison of the answers by circulation categories.
Circulation Skills improving Skills constant Skills stagnating Total Under 50,000 % 13 92.9% 23.2% 1 7.1% 5.3% 1.3% 14 within circulation 16.7% 100% % within skills % 17.9% of total 17.9% 50,0001-100,000 % 5 35.7% 8.9% 6.4% 8 57.1% 42.1% 1 7.1% 33.3% 1.3% 14 within circulation 10.3% 100% % within skills % 17.9% of total 17.9% 100,001-300,000 % 15 65.2% 26.8% 8 34.8% 42.1% 23 within circulation 19.2% 10.3% 100% % within skills % 29.5% of total 29.5% More than 300,000 23 85.2% 41.1% 2 7.4% 10.5% 2 7.4% 66.7% 2.6% 27 % within 29.5% 2.5% 100% circulation % 34.6% within skills % of 34.6% total Total % within 56 71.8% 100% 19 24.4% 100% 3 3.8% 100% 3.8% 78 circulation % 71.8% 24.4% 100% within skills % of 100% total 100%
Here's a comparison of the answers by experience.
Experience Skills improving Skills constant Skills stagnating Total
Less than 5 years 15 75% 26.8% 4 20% 21.1% 5.1% 1 5% 33.3% 1.3% 20
% within years % 19.2% 100%
within skills % of 25.6%
total 25.6%
5-10 years % 17 81% 30.4% 4 19% 21.1% 5.1% 21
within years % 21.8% 100%
within skills % of 26.9%
total 26.9%
10-15 years % 11 73.3% 19.6% 3 20% 15.8% 3.8% 1 6.7% 33.3% 1.3% 15
within years % 14.1% 100%
within skills % of 19.2%
total 19.2%
More than 15 years 13 59.1% 23.2% 8 36.4% 42.1% 1 4.5% 33.3% 1.3% 22
% within years % 16.7% 10.3% 100%
within skills % of 28.2%
total 28.2%
Total % within 56 71.8% 100% 19 24.4% 100% 3 3.8% 100% 3.8% 78
years % within 71.8% 24.4% 100%
skills % of total 100%
100%
7) How satisfied are you with your ability to do your job: The responses were divided into very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied and not very dissatisfied. Respondents were fairly satisfied.
Ability to do job Number of respondents Percentage of total Very satisfied 41 53.2% Somewhat satisfied 29 37.7% Somewhat dissatisfied 5 6.5% Not very satisfied 2 2.6% Total 77 100%
Here's a comparison of the answers by circulation categories.
Circulation Very Somewhat Somewhat Not very Total
satisfied satisfied dissatisfied satisfied
Under 50,000 % 6 42.9% 7 50% 24.1% 1 7.1% 20% 14 100%
within circulation 14.6% 7.8% 9.1% 1.3% 18.2%
% within 18.2%
satisfaction % of
total
50,001-100,000 % 6 42.9% 7 50% 24.1% 1 7.1% 50% 14 100%
within circulation 14.6% 7.8% 9.1% 1.3% 18.2%
% within 18.2%
satisfaction % of
total
101,000-300,000 % 14 60.9% 7 30.4% 1 4.3% 20% 1 4.3% 50% 23 100%
within circulation 34.1% 18.2% 24.1% 9.1% 1.3% 1.3% 29.9%
% within 20.9%
satisfaction % of
total
Over 300,000 % 15 57.7% 8 30.8% 3 11.5% 60% 26 100%
within circulation 36.6% 19.5% 27.6% 10.4%` 3.9% 33.8%
% within 33.8%
satisfaction % of
total
Total % within 41 53.2% 29 37.7% 5 6.5% 100% 2 2.6% 100% 77 100%
circulation % 100% 53.2% 100% 37.7% 6.5% 2.6% 100%
within satisfaction 100%
% of total
Here's a comparison of the answers by experience.
Circulation Very Somewhat Somewhat Not very Total
satisfied satisfied dissatisfied satisfied
Less than 5 years % 8 38.1% 11 52.4% 2 9.5% 40% 21 100%
within experience % 19.5% 10.4% 37.9% 14.3% 2.6% 27.3%
within satisfaction 27.3%
% of total
5-10 years % within 13 61.9% 7 33.3% 1 4.8% 20% 21 100%
experience % within 31.7% 16.9% 24.1% 9.1% 1.3% 27.3%
satisfaction % of 27.3%
total
10-15 years % 7 50% 17.1% 5 35.7% 1 7.1% 20% 1 7.1% 50% 14 100%
within experience % 9.1% 17.2% 6.5% 1.3% 1.3% 18.2%
within satisfaction 18.2%
% of total
More than 15 years 13 61.9% 6 28.6% 1 4.8% 20% 1 4.8% 50% 21 100%
% within experience 31.7% 16.9% 20.7% 7.8% 1.3% 1.3% 27.3%
% within 27.3%
satisfaction % of
total
Total % within 41 53.2% 29 37.7% 5 6.5% 100% 2 2.6% 100% 77 100%
circulation % 100% 53.2% 100% 37.7% 6.5% 2.6% 100% 100%
within satisfaction
% of total
A cross-comparison of the answers to Questions 6 and 7 confirmed a key value to training. Those who were satisfied with their job also said their skills were improving. Most of those who were less satisfied said their skills were not improving.
Skills Very satisfied Satisfied Somewhat Not very
dissatisfied satisfied
Improving 32 20 2
Remaining 9 8 1 1
constant
Stagnating 2 1
8) How could you do your job better: Respondents were asked to rank the following, with 1 most important: better reference resources (e.g., better equipped library, more reference books); more communication with reporters/editors in story/project); involvement in the paper's daily/strategic planning; more time on task (e.g., more time to edit story, design layout, etc.); additional training/professional development.
Preference Mean rank More time on task 1.93 More communication 2.48 Additional training 2.93 Involvement in planning 3.05 Better resources 4.11
Although training came in a close third, it's worthwhile to note that 41% of the respondents chose more training as either their No. 1 or No. 2 choice. Here are the breakdowns by circulation category and by experience.
Training Under 50,000 50,001-100,0 100,001-300, Over 300,000 Total (71 rank 00 000 answers) No. 1 2 3 6 5 16 No. 2 ` 2 2 2 7 13 Total % of 4 6% 5 7% 8 11% 12 17% 29 41% total
Training Less than 5 5-10 years 10-15 years More than Total (71 rank years 15 years answers) No. 1 7 2 4 3 16 No. 2 ` 5 2 1 5 13 Total % of 12 17% 4 6% 5 7% 8 11% 29 41% total
9) Does your paper offer training/professional development to copy editors: Respondents were split, with 48% answering yes and 52% saying no. When compared with circulation size, the gap was widest among the 50,001-100,000 category.
Circulation Yes training No training Total Under 50,000 % 7 50% 18.9% 9.1% 7 50% 17.5% 9.1%
14 100% 18.2% 18.2% within circulation % within training % of total 50,001-100,000 % 3 23.1% 8.1% 3.9% 10 76.9% 25% 13% 13 100% 16.9% within circulation 16.9% % within training % of total 100,001-300,000 % 12 50% 32.4% 15.6% 12 50% 30% 15.6% 24 100% 31.2% within circulation 31.2% % within training % of total Over 300,000 % 15 57.7% 40.5% 11 42.3% 27.5% 26 100% 33.8% within circulation 19.5% 14.3% 33.8% % within training % of total Total % within 37 48.1% 100% 48.1% 40 51.9% 100% 51.9% 77 100% 100% 100% circulation % within training % of total
When compared with experience levels, the split was widest among the least experienced copy editors: 60% said no training was offered at their paper.
Experience Yes training No training Total Less than 5 years 8 40% 21.6% 10.4% 12 60% 30% 15.6% 20 100% 26% 26% % within experience % within training % of total 5-10 years % 11 52.4% 29.7% 10 47.6% 25% 13% 21 100% 27.3% 27.3% within experience 14.3% % within training % of total 10-15 years % 7 46.7% 18.9% 9.1% 8 53.3% 20% 10.4% 15 100% 19.5% 19.5% within experience % within training % of total More than 15 years 11 52.4% 29.7% 10 47.6% 25% 13% 21 100% 27.3% 27.3% % within 14.3% experience % within training % of total Total % within 37 48.1% 100% 48.1% 40 51.9% 100% 51.9% 77 100% 100% 100% experience % within training % of total
10) If no training is offered, would you prefer training that helps you perform your current job better or perform a different job: The clear majority preferred training for their current job to training for a different job.
Training preference Number of respondents Percentage Training for current job 39 84.8% Training for different 7 15.2% job
Here's a comparison of the result to circulation categories.
Circulation Training to do Training to do Total
current job different job
Under 50,000 % 7 100% 17.9% 15.2% 7 100% 15.2% 15.2%
within circulation
% within training
% of total
50,001-100,000 % 8 88.9% 20.5% 17.4% 1 11.1% 14.3% 2.2% 9 100% 19.6% 19.6%
within circulation
% within training
% of total
100,001-300,000 % 12 85.7% 30.8% 2 14.3% 28.6% 4.3% 14 100% 30.4% 30.4%
within circulation 26.1%
% within training
% of total
More than 300,000 12 75% 30.8% 26.1% 4 25% 57.1% 8.7% 16 100% 34.8% 34.8%
% within
circulation %
within training %
of total
Total % within 39 84.8% 100% 7 15.2% 100% 15.2% 46 100% 100% 100%
circulation % 84.8%
within training %
of total
Here's a comparison of the results by experience.
Experience Training to do Training to do Total
current job different job
Less than 5 years 12 100% 30.8% 12 100% 26.1% 26.1%
% within 26.1%
experience %
within training %
of total
5-10 years % 11 100% 28.2% 23.9% 11 100% 23.9% 23.9%
within experience
% within training
% of total
10-15 years % 8 88.9% 20.5% 17.4% 1 11.1% 14.3% 2.2% 9 100% 19.6% 19.6%
within experience
% within training
% of total
More than 15 years 8 57.1% 20.5% 17.4% 6 42.9% 85.7% 13% 14 100% 30.4% 30.4%
% within
experience %
within training %
of total
Total % within 39 84.8% 100% 84.8% 7 15.2% 100% 15.2% 46 100% 100% 100%
circulation %
within training %
of total
11) What form of training would you prefer: Respondents were asked to rank these four categories, with 1 most important: regular (weekly/monthly) training by your newspaper's staff members, occasional (quarterly or semiannual) training by your newspaper's staff members, occasional (quarterly or semiannual) training by non-staff professionals and infrequent (annually or less often) off-site training by non-staff professionals. Respondents put occasional training by non-staff members at the top of the list.
Frequency/type of training Mean rank Occasional training by non-staff 1.6 Occasional training by staff 2.4 Infrequent training off-site by 2.8 non-staff Regular training by staff 2.9
Here's a comparison of the results to circulation categories.
Circulation Reg. staff Oc. staff Oc. nonstaff Inf. offsite Total Under 50,000 % 4 36.4% 7 63.6% 11 within circulation 26.7% 6.6% 25.9% 11.5% 100% % within type % of 18% total 18% 50,001-100,000 % 4 36.4% 1 9.1% 4 36.4% 2 18.2% 11 within circulation 30.8% 6.6% 16.7% 1.6% 26.7% 6.6% 7.4% 3.3% 100% % within type % of 18% total 18% 101,000-300,000 % 3 16.7% 3 16.7% 50% 4 22.2% 8 44.4% 18 within circulation 23.1% 4.9% 4.9% 26.7% 6.6% 29.6% 13.1% 100% % within type % of 29.5% total 29.5% Over 300,000 % 6 28.6% 2 9.5% 3 14.3% 20% 10 47.6% 21 within circulation 46.2% 9.8% 33.3% 3.3% 4.9% 37% 16.4% 100% % within type % of 34.4% total 34.4% Total % within 13 21.3% 6 9.8% 100% 15 24.6% 27 44.3% 61 circulation % 100% 21.3% 9.8% 100% 24.6% 100% 44.3% 100% within type % of 100% total 100%
Here's a comparison of the results to experience levels.
Experience Reg. staff Oc. staff Oc. nonstaff Inf. offsite Total
Less than 5 years % 6 33.3% 1 5.6% 3 16.7% 20% 8 44.4% 18
within experience % 46.2% 9.8% 16.7% 1.6% 4.9% 29.6% 13.1% 100%
within type % of 29.5%
total 29.5%
5-10 years % within 2 11.8% 2 11.8% 7 41.2% 6 35.3% 17
experience % within 15.4% 3.3% 33.3% 3.3% 46.7% 11.5% 22.2% 9.8% 100%
type % of total 27.9%
27.9%
10-15 years % 2 16.7% 2 16.7% 8 66.7% 12
within experience % 33.3% 3.3% 13.3% 3.3% 29.6% 13.1% 100%
within type % of 19.7%
total 19.7%
More than 15 years 5 35.7% 1 7.1% 3 21.4% 20% 5 35.7% 14
% within experience 38.5% 8.2% 16.7% 1.6% 4.9% 18.5% 8.2% 100%
% within type % of 23%
total 23%
Total % within 13 21.3% 6 9.8% 100% 15 24.6% 27 44.3% 61
experience % within 100% 21.3% 9.8% 100% 24.6% 100% 44.3% 100%
type % of total 100%
100%
12) Rank the areas in which you would like more training, with 1 most important: Copy editors were asked to rank the following topics: computer/Internet training, design/layout, headlines, spotting holes in stories, understanding community issues, understanding national/world issues, cutlines, grammar/spelling, improving writing in the newspaper, ethical/fairness issues.
The top-ranked area was training in how to improve writing in the newspaper, but the choices were so tightly packed that conclusions are tough to draw. It's also important to note that some editors wrote on their survey that they weren't uninterested in, say, understanding national issues, but they already considered themselves well-trained in that area.
Breakdowns by circulation categories and experience levels are available in each training area, but a more useful comparison is the mean ranking by the entire group, the preferences of the most experienced and those who are least experienced. Note the difference in the ranking of computer training between the least experienced and the most experienced.
Area of training Mean of total Less than 5 years More than 15 years Writing 3.1 3.1 2.9 Spotting holes 4.0 4.1 4.4 Headlines 4.02 3.8 4.46 Design 4.62 4.2 4.44 Computer 4.65 5.7 2.3 Ethics 4.9 5.2 4.54 Grammar 5.3 5.2 5.8 Cutlines 6.6 7 6.3 Community issues 6.7 6.8 6.1 National issues 6.9 7.3 6.8
13) If you are aware of training/professional development resources that you can pursue on your own, for free or nominal cost, what are they: Copy editors had few suggestions to make. The most common answers were to read extensively, check out courses at nearby colleges and plug into the Internet.
14) What do you consider the most pressing challenge facing journalism, and how can the copy desk help your newspaper meet that challenge: Copy editors had a great deal to say on this topic. The answers dealt primarily with the quality of reporters, journalism's credibility and the need to remain relevant to readers. Here's a sample:
* "Increasing lack of interest in and respect for journalism. The copy desk can help by doing its best to make stories, headlines, etc., clean and concise so readers and employees can be proud of the paper. Also, copy editors can talk with students, community groups and the like to explain our roles in presenting news."
* "Newspapers are BORING. The copy desk should be able to hold stories that are bad, and we need to get stories earlier so this can happen."
* "Time pressures on individual readers. Copy editors must give readers a reason to pick up the paper and grab their attention with fresh, relevant headlines, clean layout and creativity."
* "The changing technology. What does the Internet mean to newspapers? Copy desks must continue to set high standards for content, whether it be paper or online."
* "The decline in writing quality! The language is often abysmal. We need to teach reporters how to write. The copy desk can encourage management to require attendance at continuing-education sessions and offer our expertise and help in conducting them, and we can bring problems to the attention of management."
* "Credibility. We are the most important people in the newsroom when it comes to preserving (achieving?) credibility, both in content and tone."
* "Ensuring that you convey to your readers that they - and their city - are part of a larger world. Copy editors can help by selecting stories on many issues to fill the pages and make sure local stories explain why people need to read them."
* "Young journalists are not being sufficiently trained in the basics - from getting the facts straight to spelling words correctly. This is going to lower standards and hurt credibility even more. The copy desk can help by being more involved in training."
* "We're in danger of losing substance to design considerations and deterioration of writing skills. We can point it out and lobby for training and quality."
* "Doing more with less, maintaining high standards amid staff cuts and declining morale. The copy desk has many multitalented people. Upper management should tap into those talents."
* "Newspapers seem intent on institutionalizing bad writing. We can fix that, with the proper authority - and a license to kill."
* "Maintaining objectivity. Copy editors are the last line of defense, and copy editors can, and should, clean copy of subjective thoughts."
* "Trying to maintain quality as management looks for any way to increase circulation."
* "We have to reassert a public right to know in the face of growing institutional obsessiveness about privacy issues. There's too much secrecy in local business/government activities."
* "The birth of USA Today. ... Newspapers are more concerned with being pretty than being informative. Also, we need to get away from being 'politically correct' all the time, and instead get back to telling it like it is."
* "Sloppy editing on all levels. Improve training and better employee selection."
15) What do you consider the most pressing challenge facing copy editors, and how can copy editors help meet that challenge: The focus of the copy editors remained on quality in its different dimensions. A sample:
* "Fighting the wave of pretty papers that read ugly. We need to uphold the principle that content is what counts. When we lose sight of that, we're dead."
* "Delivering quality work on a consistent basis. Pagination has made us in too much of a hurry."
* "Keeping your head in the game. Copy editors get bored easily and stressed out by deadlines. We need to vary our tasks."
* "The burnout among senior copy editors is depressing for the whole desk. Morale is low. It doesn't help that we break for lunch at 10 p.m. (after coming to work at 4 p.m.). I'm not sure how to change that. It needs to come from the top down."
* "Career development is the most pressing challenge copy editors face."
* "As more is demanded of copy editors, the editing of newspapers begins to erode. Copy editors must make it clear they must be given the resources to do every part of their job well. We can't allow ourselves to become merely page designers or production cogs. We must be allowed to edit."
* "We need to quit whining and effect change."
* "Adaptability. Copy editors need to stop looking at change in the industry as the enemy and start seeing it as a wonderful chance to grow and learn new things."
* "Overwork! Stress! What can we do about it? Hmmmm. Support one another. Learn how to talk about what we do in more specific, concrete terms so we can make more-targeted pleas for help - personally and as a desk.
* "Lack of respect. The solution is to build credibility among those reporters and generating editors who do not preconceive copy editors as copy pushers. Perhaps more respect will follow slowly."
* "Staffing. Too many desks are understaffed and overworked. We need to improve the schedule (possibly rotations) and boost the pay to compensate."
* "Copy editors themselves are not adequately trained in language skills. They should be studying the subject in their free time - and then editing so brilliantly that they can show off some before-and-after texts, earning more widespread respect in the process."
* "Keeping copy accurate. With more people turning to the Internet and thinking everything they find there is accurate, it raises the standard for us. We must be accurate."
* "Not giving up or giving in on quality. My insistence has put this job in jeopardy."
* "Bad writing. Copy editors can be issued whips and granted immunity from prosecution."
* "Learning and operating new technology while faced with eroding deadlines and diminishing reporting and writing skills. We need more training."
Copy Editor Questionnaire
Your help is needed to develop strategies for improving the worklife of copy editors. This survey was prepared by Deborah Gump, news editor at the Marin Independent Journal and a Knight Foundation Copy Editing Fellow, with help from faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
All responses will be kept confidential. If you have questions or suggestions regarding this survey, please call Gump at 919-929-8284. She is also attending the conference and can be found at the sessions. To thank respondents for their contribution, the survey results will be mailed to them.
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Survey mailing information
Please fill out the following information if you wish to receive the results of this survey, or if you are available for follow-up questions. All information will remain confidential.
Name: __________________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________________
Optional (for possible follow-up questions)
Name of newspaper: ______________________________________________________
Phone number (and best time to call): ________________________________________
Job title & department: __________________________________________________
Newspaper circulation: _______________ Years as working copy editor: ________
What is the most satisfying aspect of your job?
(Examples: fixing errors, making a community contribution, etc.)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
What is the least satisfying aspect of your job?
(Examples: Workload, lack of respect, etc.)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you think your skills and abilities are:
______Improving ______Remaining constant ______Stagnating or declining
How satisfied are you with your ability to do your job?
_____ Very _____Somewhat satisfied _____Somewhat dissatisfied ____Not very
How could you do your job better? Please rank, with 1 most important
____ Better reference resources (e.g., better equipped library, more reference books, etc.)
____ More communication with reporters/editors involved with story/project
____ Involvement in the paper's daily/strategic planning
____ More time on task (e.g., more time to edit story, design layout, etc.)
____ Additional training/professional development
____ Other. Please explain briefly: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Does your paper offer training/professional development to copy editors? _________
If yes, what training/professional development does it offer?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If no, would you prefer training that helps you
____ perform your current job better OR _____ perform a different job
What form of training would you prefer? Please rank, with 1 most preferable:
_____ Regular (weekly/monthly) training by your newspaper's staff members
_____ Occasional (quarterly or semiannual) training by your newspaper's staff members
_____ Occasional (quarterly or semiannual) training by non-staff professionals
_____ Infrequent (annually or less often) off-site training by non-staff professionals
Rank the areas in which you would like more training, with 1 most important:
_____Computer/Internet training _____Cutlines
_____Design/layout _____Grammar/spelling skills
_____Headlines _____Improving writing in newspaper
_____Spotting holes in stories _____Ethical/fairness issues
_____Understanding community issues _____Understanding national/world issues
_____Other. Please describe briefly:__________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
If you are aware of training/professional development resources that you can pursue on your own, for free or at nominal cost, what are they?
________________________________________________________________________<> ________________________________________________________________________<>
What do you consider the most pressing challenge facing journalism, and how can the copy desk help your newspaper meet that challenge?
________________________________________________________________________<> ________________________________________________________________________<> ________________________________________________________________________<> ________________________________________________________________________<>
What do you consider the most pressing challenge facing copy editors, and how can copy editors help meet that challenge?
________________________________________________________________________<> _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________<>
For the editor trying to make his newsroom a happier place, there's a management theory he should read up on. The same goes for the copy editor looking for a little more satisfaction out of the job.
About 30 years, Edward Lawler and Lyman Porter put a new twist on the link between job satisfaction and performance. It had been commonly thought that the happier worker was the more productive worker. Make your employees happy, the thinking went, and they'll do a better job. But the Lawler and Porter model turned it around: Job performance leads to job satisfaction. If you do your job well, you'll enjoy it more.
The smart editors, therefore, offer their employees training and professional development. Training helps the journalist learn to do his current job better, while professional development grooms him for a more advanced job.
But what is a copy editor to do if the boss, for whatever reason, can't or doesn't offer training? What can the shy copy editor do on his own without admitting his shortcomings to his boss? What can the motivated copy editor do to enhance her skills for that promotion she intends to get?
"The test of our humanity is what we settle for." If that's true, as Dr. Eva Brann of St. John's College at Annapolis, Md., once said in a commencement address, then we can't settle for anything less than our best.
What follows is a collection of tips, strategies and ideas for getting better on your own. Most are the result of calling up copy editors, trainers and teachers; some are pulled from resources listed in this report's final section.
Presumably, you already have the motivation to get better, but maintaining the discipline for self-training is a tougher nut. After an exhausting day on the desk, it may be hard to open a book, fire up the Internet or sit down at your desk to work through some of the following exercises. But this chapter includes tips to help you do just that.
The ground rules
Management books and training manuals offer some basic advice for anyone about to embark on a training program. Much of what follows is a modification of what editors are told about training their employees. These ground rules may sound simple and obvious, but it's the obvious things that tend to get overlooked.
Assess your needs and set goals. Give your skills an honest appraisal and decide what needs the most work. If your headlines need work, set a goal for writing three heads a night - or a week - that are not rewritten by the slot.
Remember that positive reinforcement works. Be good to yourself once you've reached a goal. Go see that movie you've put off seeing while you finish one of your self-assignments. Take a relaxing drive in the country. Eat some M&Ms.
Make self-training part of your routine. Perhaps it's only 15 minutes a day, or an hour a week, but make your self-training as essential as getting dressed. If you don't - on either count - you'll probably embarrass yourself.
Don't forget that mistakes and lapses are going to happen. You train yourself to get better, not become perfect - at least not overnight. If you don't make mistakes, you're not learning. As Samuel Beckett said, "Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
Take it slowly at first to avoid overwhelming yourself. Learning is easier to digest in small bites. Set up a schedule that accounts for your needs and lifestyle, and then stick to it.
Keep your training a hands-on experience. Reading a chapter on grammar is great, but then put it into practice by re-editing yesterday's paper.
4Accept your natural skills. If you're not artistically adept, you may never become the newsroom's design expert. Certainly, you can improve your layout skills. But if you demand of yourself that you become the Picasso of the news page, you may be setting yourself up for discouragement and failure.
The discipline of discipline
Copy editors are no strangers to discipline. We live by style, and we die by deadlines. It is our nature to care about the details as well as the big picture. Just as reporters gravitate to the chase, we hew to the finish line. What does the final product tell us and how does it look?
However, much of our daily discipline is imposed upon us by the demands of the job and the expectations of the employer. On the job, we live with the "discipline of being perfect," as veteran journalist and teacher Dick Thien puts it. But once we're off deadline, it's tempting to shift into mental low gear. In fact, research supports the theory that people have a limit to how much self-control, or self-discipline, they can exert in a single day.
Carolyn Bower, director of staff development for the Tampa Tribune, says a copy editor must use discipline to put his spare time to effective use, instead of decompressing:
"You need to identify a goal: I need a pay raise the end of the year. I want to move on to a bigger newspaper. I want to do something. Once I know what it is I want to do, it's easier to figure out how to get there."
To help stay on your path, she says, tell yourself that "I'm doing it not necessarily for the newspaper. I'm doing it for me."
Richard Weaver, a professor of interpersonal communication at Bowling Green State University, offered these tips for improving self-discipline in a speech to students (Vital Speeches, Feb. 1, 1994, Vol. 60, No. 8, p. 250-254):
1) Savor the moment. Become completely absorbed in what you're doing. Before you look to the future, invest in the present.
2) Take control of your time. Take an inventory of how you spend your off hours. Do you really want to spend five hours a week watching that particular TV show?
3) Blend work and leisure so that you can capitalize on your skills. If you like the design side of your job, volunteer to help a nonprofit organization design its Web page or a brochure.
4) Work hard. There is no free lunch. Winning the lottery is not a viable career option. A five-year study by University of Chicago researchers followed top artists, athletes and scholars. Project leader Benjamin Brown said, "We expected to find tales of great natural gifts. We didn't find that at all. Their mothers often said it was their other child who had the greater gift." The key element of the successful people in the study was not talent, but extraordinary drive and determination.
5) Take good care of yourself. People who are physically fit are more self-confident, unstressed and in better spirits.
6) Make time for relationships. When work is everything, everything is work.
Tips from the trainers and teachers
Tom Silvestri, deputy managing editor for training and development at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, offered these tips in a video for the Newspaper Satellite Network called "You Know It's Time to Train When..."
It's time to train when 1) a copy editor misspells the word "misspells" in a correction; 2) the nut graph takes up a half column; 3) editors write headlines on communities they've never visited; 4) you ask reporters what they're reading to improve their writing, they say Dennis Rodman.
Remember, it's the passion, not the process. Remember why you're training.
Do what you want to learn. If you want to improve the leads in your paper, write your own leads.
Persevere. Do something each week. Assemble a realistic schedule.
Start with the most pressing problem.
Have an open attitude. Be receptive to a new approach to "how you've always done it."
Yvonne Lamb, training editor, Washington Post.
"If you want to be better, you have to make the time to be better. Often, copy editors - maybe even more so than reporters - are under the gun from the time their shift begins to the time it ends, usually after midnight, when you want to either go home or to the nearest bar. The time for reflection often comes too late."
Often, the only feedback a copy editor gets is negative feedback. Fight the natural inclination to give up. "It's hard to be proactive when all the feedback you get is criticism. Self-training requires wanting be better than you are. It requires listening to what's being said when you raise questions."
"Don't let others slip into bad habits, because then you fall into them. You can't be asleep at the switch."
Carolyn Bower, director of staff development, Tampa Tribune.
"Identify one problem - passive writing or subject-verb agreement - and concentrate on fixing that in every story so there'll be some feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day."
Read any good editing book, such as "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. "It's important to get into the routine of pulling out a chapter of a book and trying to apply what that author is telling you in your work."
"I would pull stories off the wire and edit them" - just for fun. "Boy, that's good practice because there's lots of stuff to edit.''
"I'd pull copies of staff stories before my colleagues edited them and then compare what they did with what appeared in the paper. It's really simple training, and it doesn't tie up everybody else's time. It gives you a chance to say, 'Oh yeah, that was a wordy sentence. So that's what they did to it.'"
Do the same exercise with other newspapers. "It's very easy to spot problems in other newspapers. Look at what you would have done differently or look for excess words."
"When I was editing a story, I would read the budget line or the lead or the nut graph of a story. Before I didn't anything else, I would write a list of questions that I would expect the story to answer. The grammar and structure things are rote if you do it enough times, but I'm concerned that copy editors fall down when it comes to content. When I got to the end of the story, I'd pull out my checklist. If you do it that way, you're not so much influenced by the writing style or the flow. You just have the approach of a reader's expectation."
Bower would ask interns to substitute every word in a paragraph with a new word to broaden their vocabulary. "It stretches your ability to see options," she said. She remembered another editor who played word games during his down time, such as seeing how many words he could define in the dictionary.
Karen Brown, associate director and dean of faculty, Poynter Institute.
"The most important thing a person can do is find at least one buddy with whom to trade ideas, challenges, questions, etc. That helps keep each accountable to the other for progress. It might help for a copy editor to seek out a reporter for this purpose."
"Read good literature - copy editors spend more and more time on mechanics, but the key to good editing is to enhance the literary quality of the writing. Good books help develop the literary eye and ear."
"Review the classics on writing, editing and style. I recommend "The
Elements of Style," a good grammar book for journalists, and a good book on writing. There are several books; the key is regularly reviewing them."
"Teach a class session at a nearby college or university. Teaching forces you to examine and explain what you are doing. Editing a college or high school newspaper would also help."
"Create a stylebook for the paper if it doesn't have one, or update with recent recurring problems. Again, the challenge is to step back, see what is happening and explain what should be done."
Marianne Chin, director of editorial hiring and development, San Francisco Chronicle.
4"Hook up with a more senior editor or someone whose work you admire. Ask them if they will give you regular feedback on your work or if they would mind when you bounced ideas off of them. This should happen naturally on desks, but sometimes doesn't. Asking someone specifically could make it more regular."
"Start up a regular critique session on your desk, led by someone who can talk about errors without pointing fingers and focus on positive work. This is based on the premise that you can always learn from those around you. The key is to keep this from becoming a blame session."
Charles Jackson, director of programs, Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
"I got a mentor. I made friends with the meanest bastard on the desk, who's usually the best one. There's one in every newsroom - they haven't left yet. He's the one who's probably fighting the system. I'd ask if he would mind looking at some of my raw stuff. I did it as a reporter and a copy editor."
"If there's a junior college nearby, audit English courses for the grammar. You don't get it in journalism."
Adelle Crowe, assistant to the editor, USA Today.
4"Try to get a class in grammar or English composition to get jump-started. If you can't take a college course, there are high school teachers."
"The second thing I would do is make sure I have a clear assessment of my skills. I would make sure that assessment has pinpointed what I'm weakest in."
Develop relationships with people of whom you can ask questions, whether it's the little old ladies who write angry letters to the editor or people you've worked with at other papers.
"If you're going to self-teach, you always need someone to run things by," Crowe said. "I would find somebody else on the paper who was good at what I need. I'd try to attach myself in a mentoring way and say, 'I really need help with this. Can we have coffee? Can you explain to me what your thought process is?'"
Jeff Cowart, director of the extended learning center, American Press Institute.
"Reading is the top choice, and read good writers, not necessarily good journalism. Copy editors deal with the power of the written word and the way words are used to communicate. Everything that is written is communication. I think we sometimes focus too hard on journalism, but there are a lot of great storytellers in this world and great writers who can help you."
"Read the stylebook. I go into a lot of newspapers for training and teaching, and I get the impression that stylebooks are not as prevalent as they once were. They might be there, but you don't see them being consulted as much." Nor, he said, is there as much fighting over word usage.
"To be a good copy editor, you have to care about writing. Sometimes I notice copy editors don't write. If you want to be a good copy editor, you have to write. That might be keeping a journal, or writing poetry or short stories. If you ask yourself the question, 'Do I like to write," and if the answer is no, you're probably in the wrong job."
Dick Thien, professional lecturer in journalism, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Thien suggested that you "flawlessly" know "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White and John Bremner's "Words on Words."
"Beyond that, read great writing," he said. "That sounds so corny, but when you get older you realize this is not very complicated or sophisticated. It's quite simple, if you keep reading and looking for techniques. I cannot get through a day without feeling I've failed as a newsperson if I don't get on the Internet and read The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the L.A. Times - all of them."
Thien also did a video for the Newspaper Satellite Network called "Getting Better All by Yourself." In it, he makes the following points.
* Figure out your weaknesses in four common areas: time. ("Nobody wastes time like newspeople"), attitude, habits and talent.
* Do first and talk later. We talk too much or we ponder too much.
* Stay upbeat; avoid gossip. Say nice things. Life is so short. Enjoy it.
* Stay away from the newsroom Draculas, those who suck the lifeblood out of good journalists.
* You can be as good as you decide to be. And while you're learning, no one has to know what you don't know.
* Read at least these three books: "The Elements of Style"; "The Word," AP's guide to good newswriting by Jack Cappon; and "Writing for Story" by Jon Franklin. A common message in all books, to quote Dr. Seuss, is "the briefer, the reliefer."
"It has often been said
there's so much to be read.
You never can cram all
those words in your head.
So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads
That's why my belief is
the briefer the reliefer,
the greater sigh
of the reader's relief is."
* Poet Archibald MacLeish said of writing: "The first discipline is the realization that there is a discipline." Here are five disciplines to improve your writing and editing 100%. 1) The period. Use it often. 2) Write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs. 3) Keep your subject and verb close together. 4) Focus. Good stories say one thing. Outline what you intend to say.5) Cadence. Read it out loud. It lends dignity to what often is a vulgar brawl.
* Take improvement in stages. You set yourself up for failure if you try to do everything at once.
Michael Roberts, training editor, Cincinnati Enquirer.
If a copy editor really wants to get better, Roberts said, he must rethink how he does his job and his role in the newsroom.
Focus not just on grammar but also on content. Content editors and copy editors have many similarities, but "we've broken it into two different categories, and I don't understand why. Critical thinking and news judgment are very difficult to pin down, but they are at the heart of being a copy editor."
Roberts used the example of a badly written story that has a nugget of news. Does it go on page A1 or is it buried on A9? "You have to get the issue of making value judgments out in the open and talk about it. There have to be clear guidelines from the top editor regarding news judgment. There has to be clear communication on the desk as to what we like and what we don't like."
Roberts feared that copy editors suffer from "growing isolation" in the newsroom and an onslaught of technology that "saps their time" for thinking and exercising judgment.
Copy editors must appreciate their value. "Copy editors used to run the newsroom," he said, "but now they've woken up and found themselves in a production mode." A copy editor "must have the mindset that it's an important job. You have high standards to enforce, and you have a readership to think about and protect. You can't just have your head in a Mac."
And if you have the mindset of "running the paper," you have an obligation to act as leaders. "Copy editors have to organize," he said. "They can't just on the desk and complain through the night." The desk must seek the power to find solutions using "maturity and collegial cooperation."
Roberts cited an exercise in which he asked copy editors to begin with a chronic problem and conclude with writing a real memo to their top editor. The memo outlined the problem, offered solutions and listed the benefits of resolving the problem. "They had never done this before," he said. "Instead, they complain, burn out and change jobs."
Being a copy editor is a tough job, Roberts acknowledged, but "it takes an organized, articulate copy desk to quantify solutions. Is the problem deadlines? Is it newsroom structure? Is it production tools? Then you have to link problems with bottom-line solutions."
Tips from copy editors
Alex Cruden, chief editor of the copy desks, Detroit Free Press.
4"Take several minutes each day and read either your stylebook or the AP Stylebook and a very good book about the craft. My favorite is "The Careful Writer" by Theodore Bernstein. Just pick it up and leaf through it. Look at a section you've wondered about. It not only gives you the answer to the question, but it also leads you to thinking in a better way, to seeing distinctions you didn't before, to get back in your head what it is to be an editor."
Cruden also recommends the newsletter Copy Editor. "It's very useful in thinking like a copy editor and reading about what other copy editors are debating," he said.
"Do something with your chief slot or whoever seems most expert at your paper. Do a slice of a mini-seminar. Pick headlines as a topic. Get that person to simply clip out a half-dozen headlines with their stories - yours or somebody else's. Choose ones that deal with the kind of dilemmas that happen often. Each of you make a photocopy, look at them, think about what works and what doesn't and why. Then just spend a half-hour talking about it."
Do a "slot and talk." Ask the slot to talk about what he's doing as he gives a story a final run-through. This can be a mini-seminar for the whole desk, as the Free Press occasionally did on Sundays, when a veteran slot worked.
Grab a couple of readers for their reaction to a headline or story. "This doesn't have to be elaborate," he said. "You could even get someone from the business side."
"Try to overhear what people think are good headlines and why. When a slot changes a headline, ask - after deadline, in a nondefensive way - how come."
"I would pay attention to headlines and other forms of compressed writing that do not appear in newspapers. For instance, the checkout counter. I do the grocery shopping in our family, and one of the reasons I like to do it is to look at the publications at the checkout counter. They depend on headlines for their lives. ... Billboards - just examine what they did, what words they used and what construction. If all you read are newspapers, then your headline vocabulary tends to diminish because you keep thinking of the same few words."
Pam Nelson, day news editor, Raleigh News & Observer.
"Find a mentor. Ask someone in your newsroom to teach you something you don't know. Fit your needs into their schedule. I think all word editors should learn about layout and vice versa. And I reckon it wouldn't hurt for anyone to know how to take a photo."
"Read other newspapers. When you see something that you admire, call that paper's copy desk (or send e-mail) and find out who did it. Talk to the person and find out how they came up with that great headline or designed that great package. A lot of us would love to talk to a fellow copy editor."
"Read style and grammar books. My favorites are "Words on Words" by John Bremner, "The Careful Writer" by Theodore Bernstein and "Usage and Abusage" by Eric Partridge. I also have copies of The New York Times and Washington Post style manuals, which have helped me a lot."
"Learn math. I'm not sure how to go about this. We have a short section on math terms that is part of our in-house stylebook, and I have read that to improve my understanding of math terms. Maybe a book on 'math for dummies' would be helpful."
"Hone your news judgment by trying to choose the front page or the top of the TV or radio newscasts. As you are looking through the wires, find the stories that you think will capture the public's attention."
"I think the best thing for everyone to do is become a news junkie and read newspapers and magazines, watch TV news and listen to the radio. The best editors I know are true news junkies."
William G. Connolly, senior editor, The New York Times.
4"Read a lot. Read well-edited newspapers, but also magazines that are thoughtfully edited. I think an editor left to his or her own devices should also delve into "The Careful Writer" by Theodore Bernstein and John Bremner's "Words on Words."
"In 99 percent of newspapers you would serve yourself well by studying the AP Stylebook - not just reading it, but learning it."
Young people, Connolly said, almost always resist the idea of a stylebook and of consistency. "When I talk about editing, I like to lecture editors on one of the most valuable commodities any publication has - its personality, the persona in which it addresses its reader. One of a copy editor's most important jobs is to know that personality and then do everything in his or her power to reinforce that personality. Every element - every picture, every story, every headline - either fits in with that personality or fights with it."
To be able to keep a writer's tone and a newspaper's personality, Connolly suggested practicing imitative writing, such as he did in a high school course.
"The exercise was to write a graph that imitated, exactly paralleled, a paragraph in the textbook. That was absolute torture when I started, but after you do it for a couple of years, it became fun. It became a little contest in the class to see who could write the funniest paragraph. It didn't dawn on me until years later what wonderful training that was for copy editors. It taught you to write like anybody."
It also allowed him to follow the writer's voice. "You can cut a story in half and the author doesn't realize it," he said. "And when the author doesn't realize it, he doesn't argue. Life becomes much more tranquil."
Jerry Sass Jr., copy desk chief, Portland Oregonian.
Think about what a story is trying to say. "There's an extra step between having a thought and expressing it orally, and then being able to express it in written form," Sass said. "There's something about that process that makes you automatically take sentences apart. Part of the problem that people face today is that everything is prepared. All of the thoughts that are expressed around them are just spoken, or worse yet, it's all video. They aren't reading. There's something about not reading or writing that makes you totally unfamiliar with the process."
"I was in a lot of situations where I had to learn things on my own," he said. "I always found someone whom I could, if not emulate, at least pick up a lot of things from, good and bad." And use common sense when you listen to those around you. "Common sense takes you a long way in most things in life, and also in editing. You can tell just by listening to someone whether the approach sounds right. When I hear people giving very lengthy or technical explanations about why they used certain words or took a particular approach, I'm automatically suspicious."
Learn to challenge. "I don't know anybody who was really good who didn't challenge constantly," Sass said. "If people have that questioning attitude, it's easy to learn. Pretend you know nothing about the story. Look at it skeptically."
Remember the writer. "It's difficult these days to instill the idea of a writer's voice and preserving it, or helping it if you're really good," Sass said. "Editors who have all the technical skills - I mean really got them - tend to want to exercise them immediately and ruthlessly on everything they touch."
Get in a regular habit of reading. "Sometimes the only way to do that is clear your schedule," he said. "Take two extra days off and put out a pile of books to read."
Sass leaves books around the house, so he's reading as many as six or eight things at once. And he addressed the post-work vegetative state: "I found that sitting in front of the TV set led to a lot of other problems, like eating, so I made myself a little area where I put books I really liked, and I ignored the TV. I had to force myself to do that for a month, then when I went home I automatically went to this area."
Sass also tried to make his study area as pleasant as possible, such as adding a bottle of wine. However, not all comfortable places are appropriate. "I don't recommend a bubble bath," he said. "It's hell on books."
Deborah Gump, news editor, Marin Independent Journal. As the author has read and talked to others about this topic, a few other ideas cropped up.
The best students often are teachers. As Karen Brown suggested, consider teaching an editing class at a local college or university. If there's not one nearby, offer to talk to high school classes. Not only will be you be forced to brush up on your skills, you'll be stimulated by the enthusiasm and energy of your audience.
Mentors don't have to be someone you know; they don't even have to be still in the business. Seek out a retired journalist in the community. We'll always have something to say, even if we're no longer working in a newsroom.
As desk denizens, copy editors rarely see the places where news happens. Take a tour of that new housing project or the intersection where accidents continually happen. Push yourself to attend a city council meeting on your night off. Take in a high school football game. The next time you handle a story on that topic, you'll be better prepared. You'll also remind yourself why you got into this business in the first place.
If you can't get the hang of "its" and "it's" or "that" and "which," stick notes around the house as constant visual reminders. As you come across snatches of great writing, post those as well.
Share the wealth. When you find interesting articles or exercises, share them with others on your desk. Consider the Xerox machine a training tool for everyone. Offer to lead sessions for the rest of the desk. The Freedom Forum's Pacific Coast Center in San Francisco maintains a full library of training materials, which you can steal ideas from.
For example, USA Today asked staffers to contribute their worst mistakes to the in-house newsletter. "All of us have screwed up in print," the introduction read. "It's part of the learning process. About the only good thing you can say about messing up so bad that you make the veins on your editor's neck pop out is that you'll never make that same mistake again." Invite your colleagues to share their mistakes - behind locked doors in a soundproofed room, if necessary - so that you can learn from someone else's nightmare.
Another exercise, borrowed from Jon Franklin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer, helps journalists keep an open mind: Put several objects in a cardboard box. Some have cultural symbolism, some don't. For example, use a big black rubber spider, a child's block, a clock, a computer disk, a pencil, a tube of lipstick, etc. The hottest item is what appears to be a roll of $20 bills. All but the outside bill are $1 bills. Your colleagues file by the box and peer inside for no more than 10 seconds. When everyone has had a peek, ask all of them to list the items in the box. Nobody has a complete list, but almost everybody will list that roll of bills. The lesson is that we see what we think is important and that we all tend to see the same things. Unroll the bills to show what's really there.
The bottom line in trying such exercises: If your colleagues get pumped, it'll be easier for you to get pumped.
Where to get help
These reference sources - books, magazines and newsletters, videos, industry and academic reports, organizations, training institutes, fellowships, Web sites and listserves - have been recommended by editors, teachers and training managers. They range greatly in content, approach and style because the needs of copy editors are so diverse. What works for one editor may not work for another; conversely, what may be a waste of time for your colleagues may be a godsend for you.
Some of these resources are particularly useful. The ACES Web site describes the goals and activities of the fledgling American Copy Editors Society and includes a discussion board to get answers from the best in the business. The Freedom Forum's West Coast Center maintains a full library of training tips. The Freedom Forum also maintains a directory of fellowships and training programs. Copy Editor newsletter gets strong reviews, and it offers new subscribers a list of 77 hotlines plus Internet resources.
However, this list is by no means complete. New offerings can be found daily in industry magazines, Web sites and newsletters. This directory offers only a start in finding your way around the information network. The real value will come after you plug yourself into the network and stay plugged in. You'll never know what you'll find until you look for it.
Books
The Elements of Style William Strunk Jr. The Careful Writer, a Modern Guide to
and E.B. White English Usage Theodore M. Bernstein
Words on Words, a Dictionary for Writers The Associated Press Stylebook and
and Others Who Care About Words John B. Libel Manual Norm Goldstein, editor
Bremner
A good dictionary Everyone has a A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
favorite, but all agree on the need for H.W. Fowler
one that offers word derivations.
Modern American Usage Wilson Follett On Writing Well William Zinsser
Chicago Manual of Style University of The Gregg Reference Manual William A.
Chicago Sabin
Grammar for Journalists E.L. Callahan Words Into Type Marjorie Skillin and
Robert Gay
A Dictionary of Usage and Style and The New Well-Tempered Sentence Karen
American Usage and Style Roy H. Copperud Elizabeth Gordon
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, the Woe is I, the Grammarphobe's Guide to
Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Better English in Plain English
Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed Karen Patricia T. O'Conner
Elizabeth Gordon
The Elements of Editing, a Modern Guide Essential English Grammar Philip Gucker
for Editors and Journalists Arthur
Plotnik
Line by Line, How to Improve Your Own The Writer's Handbook for Editing &
Writing Clair Kehrwald Cook Revision Rick Wilber
When Words Collide Lauren Kessler and Working with Words, with exercise book
Duncan McDonald Brian S. Brooks, James L. Pinson,
Jean Gaddy Wilson
Principles of Editing, with exercise Coaching Writers: Editors and
book Daryl L. Frazell and George Tuck Reporters Working Together Roy Peter
Clark and Don Fry
New Precision Journalism Philip Meyer News and Numbers Victor Cohn
The American Conversation and the Writing for Story, Craft Secrets of
Language of Journalism Roy Peter Clark, Dramatic Nonfiction Jon Franklin
Poynter Institute
Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on The American Journalist in the 1990s,
Writing and Life Anne Lamott U.S. News People at the End of an Era
David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland
Wilhoit
Magazines and newsletters
The American Editor
American Society of Newspaper Editors
11690B Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Va. 20191
To subscribe: 703-453-1123
Internet: http://www.asne.org
The ASNE magazine carries articles of general interest, from how the wire services covered the McVeigh trial to grammar peeves. It's published nine times a year.
American Journalism Review
8701 Adelphi Road
Adelphi, Md. 20783
To subscribe: 800-827-0771
Internet: http://www.ajr.org
AJR is published by the College of Journalism at the University of Maryland at College Park. A recent article of particular interest to copy editors is "Copy Desk Blues" in the September 1997 issue. "The copy desk has long been an unsung, isolated outpost in America's newsrooms," read the headline on Sharyn Wizda's story. "But new developments are bringing copy editors closer to the heart of the action."
Copy Editor
149 Fifth Ave., Suite 1207
New York. N.Y. 10010
To subscribe: 212-995-0112
Internet: http://www.copyeditor.com
This bimonthly newsletter, edited by Mary Beth Protomastro, is a staple for many copy editors. The August/September issue carried articles on dictionary updates; whether Gianni Versace was assassinated, murdered, killed or slain; changes in the AP Stylebook and an explanation of AP's style on disc/disk by regular contributor Norm Goldstein, editor of the AP stylebook; and an interview with William Safire's researcher.
The Copy Editor Web site is another treasure trove of resources. In addition to Web links, it lists workshops, correspondence courses and journalism institutions - all targeted to copy editors.
Columbia Journalism Review
101 Journalism Building
2950 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10027
To subscribe: 888-425-7782
Internet: http:// www.cjr.org
CJR is published six times a year by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. General interest stories range from whether Bill Gates is a threat to publishers and the state of journalism after Diana.
The Editor's Exchange
American Society of Newspaper Editors
11690B Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Va. 20191
To subscribe: 703-453-1123
Internet: http://www.asne.org
Editor Craig Branson's newsletter collects good ideas from editors, complete with information on where to get more details. It's published nine times a year.
Editor and Publisher
11 West 19th St.
New York. N.Y. 10011
To subscribe: 800-783-4903
Internet: http://www.mediainfo.com
The weekly industry bible carries industry news, job openings, syndicate information and a wide range of features.
IRE Journal
138 Neff Hall Annex
Missouri School of Journalism
Columbia, Mo. 65211
To subscribe: 573-882-2042
Internet: http://www.ire.org
The magazine of IRE, Investigative Reporters & Editors, is published every other month.
Nieman Reports
One Francis Ave.
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
To subscribe: 617-495-2237
Internet: http://www.Nieman.harvard.edu/nieman.html
Nieman Reports is published four times a year by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University. In addition to regular features, each issue carries a themed package of stories, such as the fall 1997 collection of stories on faith and journalism.
Presstime
1921 Gallows Road, Suite 600
Vienna, Va. 22182
To subscribe: 703-902-1642
Internet: http://www.naa.org/presstime
Presstime is published by the Newspaper Association of America. The November 1997 edition carried a special report headlined "Honor Thy Copy Editors ... and They'll Help You Regain the Faith of Readers.'' In addition to summing up the recent efforts to help copy editors, the article looks at restructuring and offers some words of thanks from editors to their copy editors.
Quill
P.O. Box 77
(16 South Jackson St.)
Greencastle, Ind. 46135
To subscribe: 765-653-3333
Internet: http://www.spj.org
Quill is published monthly by the Society of Professional Journalists and carries news of the organization, industry news and general features, such as a look at the issues surrounding the ABC-Food Lion debate.
Videos
John Bremner: Guardian of the Newsroom
This 30-minute video narrated by Edwin Newman shows the editing philosophy and teaching style of John B. Bremner, a former professor of editing at the University of Kansas. Even though he died in 1987, Bremner remains an editing guru to his former students and non-students alike. To order, send $10 as a donation to the John Bremner Memorial Fund, Attn: Denny Brown, School of Journalism, University of Kansas, 200 Stauffer/Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045
Newspaper Satellite Network
18333 Preston Road, LB6
Dallas, Texas 75252
To order: 800-288-0868
Fax: 972-931-0069
Most of NSN's tapes are produced in cooperation with API and are sold on a contract basis to media groups. However, individuals can buy tapes for $35 each. NSN's library of tapes contain dozens that would interest copy editors, but a partial list includes:
"Getting Better All By Yourself," by Dick Thien of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
"Say Goodbye to the Dead Heads," by Michael Cowling of the University of Wisconsin.
"Headlines - the Ultimate Short Story," by editing coach Pamela Dugan.
"Updating your Bias-Free Language," by Kathi George of the University of California-San Diego.
"You Know It's Time to Train When...," by Thomas Silvestri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"Editors and the Libel Problem," with a panel of journalists.
"Copy Editors and Coaching: The Difference Between Good & Great," by Clark Stallworth of The Stallworth Group.
"The 20 Most Glaring Errors That Make It Into Newspapers" and "Silly Errors, Simple Solutions," by Bill Florence, a veteran editor and educator.
"Copy Desk Creativity," parts I and II, by Jim Braly of the San Jose Mercury News
"Building and Maintaining Credibility," by Beverly Kees, editor in chief, Freedom Forum West Coast Center.
"The Designer's Toolbox," by Neal Pattison, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
"Compelling Graphics," by David Yarnold, San Jose Mercury News.
The Maestro Concept
A New Approach to Writing and Editing for the Newspaper of the Future
This video explains the maestro concept, a term coined by Buck Ryan of the University of Kentucky. In a maestro session, the maestro (either a moderator or section editor) leads a discussion with the reporter, copy editor-designer and perhaps one or two others on the best way to present the story, from the design to the headline. The video and accompanying booklet cost $15 and are available from the ASNE Foundation, Publications Fulfillment, 11690B Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Va. 20191.
Lawrence Ragan Communications Inc.
212 W. Superior St., Suite 200
Chicago, Ill. 60610
To order: 800-878-5331
Internet: http://www.ragan.com
This company markets to a wide range of communication companies, but it sells three sets of tapes that may interest newsroom employees. "Ranly on Grammar" is a four-hour videotape series by Don Ranly of the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. The set, well-reviewed by Copy Editor newsletter, is broken down by topic. Session 1 focuses on clauses, sentences and punctuation; session 2 is on the parts of speech - nouns and pronouns; session 3 reviews the verb; and session 4 is on "verbals, danglers & other stuff." It covers all the grammar points, but it's not cheap: $360.
Ranly also has a two-hour tape on writing ($260) and a third called "Refrigerator Journalism" on "writing and designing your copy in such a way that the reader is inspired to clip your story out and stick it on their refrigerator door" ($260).
Poynter Publications
801 Third Street South
St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701
To order: 813-821-9494
Internet: http://www.poynter.org
Many of Poynter's tapes focus on broader journalism issues (e.g., "Doing Ethics in Journalism," "Journalism & Justice: The Media and the O.J. Simpson Case," "Secrets of Power Reporting"). However, "Coaching Writers: The Human Side of Editing," with Roy Peter Clark and Don Fry, offers tips to copy editors who work with reporters. The 30-minute video costs $25.
The Annenberg/CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) Project
901 E Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
To order: 800-532-7637
Internet: http://www.learner.org
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with financing from Walter Annenberg, has made several productions available to educators and others. Of interest to journalists and educators is a high-quality set of eight tapes called "News Writing." The series is divided into 10 segments: 1) What is news? 2) Hard news leads 3) News writing language and style 4) Development and organization of a story 5) Dealing with sources
6) Good writing vs. good reporting 7) Beat reporting 8) Broadcast news writing 9) Public relations writing and 10) Beyond the summary lead.
The entire package is $300, but two consecutive half-hour programs can be ordered on one cassette for $40.
Industry and academic reports
A Return to Quality Editing
American Society of Newspaper Editors, Human Resources Committee, April 1997, $5.
A report on the committee's continuing focus on copy editors. In addition to reports on the committee's progress, it offers a roundup of research in the areas of new technology, restructuring, education and copy editor burnout. To order, send a check to the ASNE Foundation, Publications Fulfillment, 11690B Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Va. 20191. A version of the report is also on the ASNE Web site at http://www.asne.org.
How We Can Help Each Other
ASNE Human Resources Committee, 1996, $5.
A report on the first year of the committee's initiative to help copy editors. Order from ASNE at the address listed for "A Return to Quality Editing."
The Newspaper Journalists of the '90s
ASNE, April 1997, $9.50
An update of ASNE's 1989 survey of newsroom workers, "The Changing Face of the Newsroom." The demographic and opinion profiles are broken down by newsroom job, including copy editors. Order from ASNE.
The Changing Face of the Newsroom
ASNE Human Resources Committee, 1989, $9.50.
This is the newsroom survey that dubbed the copy desk "the Mount Everest of discontent." Order from ASNE.
Change: Living It, Embracing It, Measuring It
ASNE Change Committee, April 1997, $3.
An examination of the changes sweeping through the industry and how journalists are reacting to them. Order from ASNE.
No Train, No Gain - Continuing Training for Newspaper Journalists in the 1990s
The Freedom Forum.
About 650 journalists at 123 newspapers completed this 1992 survey on training issues. To order a free copy, write to Michael Hemsley, publications fulfillment director, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va. 22209
A Lesson for Instructors: Top 10 Copy-Editing Skills
Ann Auman, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, autumn 1995
Auman, University of Hawaii, asked editors what skills they considered most crucial in their entry-level copy editors. The top eight areas were working with words (structure, grammar, etc.); accuracy, objectivity, legal and ethical issues; headline/cutline writing; story organization/content; news judgment/story selection; layout and design; learning to use the computer; and photo sizing and cropping/visual editing.
How Editors and Educators See Skills Needed for Editing
Ann Auman and Betsy Alderman, Newspaper Research Journal, Vol. 17, No. 1-2, 1996
Auman, University of Hawaii, and Alderman, University of Tennessee, asked editors and educators what skills copy editors should have. Editors and educators agreed that working with words was the most important skill, but editors listed 10 skills areas more highly than educators: working with wire copy, cutline writing, specific section editing, newsroom procedure and organization, mechanics of computer editing, software for graphics, understanding numbers, general knowledge, computer photo editing and use of color. Of these areas, only two were in the educator's top 10 picks: cutline writing and general knowledge.
Newsroom Topic Teams: Journalists' Assessments of Effects on News Routines and Newspaper Quality
Kathleen Hansen, Mark Neuzil and Jean Ward, a paper presented to the Newspaper Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, July 1997. To order, call AEJMC at 803-777-2005, or check the AEJMC Web site at http://www.aejmc.sc.edu.
Hansen, University of Minnesota; Neuzil, University of St. Thomas (in St. Paul, Minn.); and Ward, University of Minnesota, studied the effects of switching to a topic team system on journalists working at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Their survey found that while some journalists thought the team system had improved the quality of the newspapers, the "dominant perception" was that journalistic quality had suffered.
Goodbye Copy Desks, Hello Trouble?
John T. Russial, forthcoming in Newspaper Research Journal. The paper is summarized on Poynter's visual communication Web site (http://www.poynter.org/vj/reog.html). The complete report is available from the author; he can be reached by e-mail at russial@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Russial, University of Oregon, looks at how newsroom organizational changes affect the copy desk and the quality of the newspaper. While the changes offer advantages and benefits, he concludes, the "the copy desk, as it is traditionally constituted, particularly at large newspapers, appears to add value through specialization, not to create inefficiency and bottlenecks."
Goodbye, Copy Desks. Hello, Display Desk
Buck Ryan, The Bulletin, ASNE, April 1991:708
Ryan, University of Kentucky, looks at how multiple duties are shifting production tasks to the copy desk, leaving less time for editing. He suggests dividing the newsroom into source desks and a presentation team.
Seeing the Big Picture: The Integrated Editor of the 1990s
Ann Auman, Newspaper Research Journal 16(1):35-47, 1995
Auman, University of Hawaii, examines editors who specialize in telling stories by integrating text, photos and graphics. Such editors say their ability to balance words and visuals makes a case for cross-training in the newsroom.
Design Desks: Why are More and More Newspapers Adopting Them?
Ann Auman, Newspaper Research Journal 15(2):128-142, 1994
Auman, University of Hawaii, found that more papers set up design desks during a redesign or the introduction of pagination. Her article said that editors agreed the design desks improved the looks of the paper but that the argument of who controls the news - designers or editors - continues.
Predictors of Job Burnout in Reporters and Copy Editors
Betsy B. Cook and Steven R. Banks, Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 1, 1993
Cook, University of Tennessee, and Banks, Marshall University, measured job burnout among copy editors and reporters at five daily newspapers. Copy editors, particularly young editors who performed a variety of tasks (editing, layout, etc.) had significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization than reporters.
The Relationship of Copy Desk Leader Behaviors to Job Stress, Hardiness and Health in Copy Editors
Betsy B. Cook, Steven Banks and Brad Thompson, paper presented to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, August 1995.
The study looked at the relationship between the behaviors of copy desk supervisors and burnout among copy editors. For example, if the supervisor was seen as representative of the group, copy editors felt a stronger sense of accomplishment. The report also suggests steps that management can take to improve the work environment on the copy desk.
Organizations
American Copy Editors Society
P.O. Box 250239
Columbia University Station
New York, N.Y. 10025
Internet: www.copydesk.org
ACES was formed in early 1997 as the first organization completely dedicated to the needs and goals of copy editors. Professional memberships (working copy editors, news editors, wire editors, etc.) cost $35; associate memberships (former working editors, part-time or free-lance editors, journalism educators, recruiters) cost $35; and memberships for full-time students at accredited colleges and universities cost $20. For more information, call founders and board members Pam Robinson (516-385-8423) or Hank Glamann (800-735-3800).
American Society of Newspaper Editors
11690B Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Va. 20191
Phone: 703-453-1122
Internet: http://www.asne.org
ASNE is an organization comprising the top editors of the nation's newsrooms. It is similar to APME (Associated Press Managing Editors at http://www.apme.com), which comprises managing editors, but its programs and offerings are far more extensive.
Several of its publications are listed in this report, and its Web site offers a wide range of information. Copy editors would be interested in the Web site's links to useful sites for copy editors, as well as two upcoming ASNE "flying short courses" for copy editors: one at the University of Kentucky on Jan. 9, 1998, and another in Tulsa in March. Details will be posted on the ASNE and ACES Web sites.
Asian American Journalists Association
1765 Sutter St., Suite 1000
San Francisco, Calif. 94115
Phone: 415-346-2051
Internet: http://www.aaja.org
AAJA, formed in 1981, seeks to "increase employment of Asian American print and broadcast journalists; assist high school and college students pursuing journalism careers; encourage fair, sensitive and accurate news coverage of Asian American issues; and provide support for Asian American journalists." It has about 1,700 members in 17 chapters.
The Freedom Forum
1101 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, Va. 22209
Phone: 703-528-0800
Internet: www.freedomforum.org
With assets of almost $900 million, the Freedom Forum has become one of the biggest nonprofit players in the industry. It is "dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. Its mission is to help the public and the news media understand one another better."
It maintains several offices beyond the headquarters in Arlington, Va.:
* The Newseum, an interactive museum of news in Arlington, and a "newseum" in New York featuring exhibits, lectures and films.
* The Media Studies Center in New York, which offers residential journalism fellowships, seminars, conferences, media research, publications and online services.
* The First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., which analyzes developments in First Amendment law, conducts lectures and conferences, offers fellowships and runs a moot-court competition.
* The Pacific Coast Center in San Francisco, which runs a variety of educational programs, sponsors studies, offers scholarships for minority students and maintains an extensive library. The library holds not only dozens of training ideas but also database collections, Internet resources, some videos, writing exercises and papers on management issues, ethics, diversity, journalism education, fellowships and internships. A full list of resources - all free - is available by calling 415-457-4113.
* The international division in Arlington, which runs the Asian Center in Hong Kong, the European Center in London and the Latin American Center in Buenos Aires.
Institute for Alternative Journalism
77 Federal St.
San Francisco, Calif. 94107
Phone: 415-284-1420
Internet: http://www.igc.apc.org/an
Its Web site says the organization is "dedicated to strengthening independent and alternative journalism, and to improving the public's access to independent information sources." The site offers several links to related sites.
National Association of Black Journalists
3100 Taliaferro Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, Md. 20742
Phone: 301-405-8500
Internet: http://www.nabj.org
NABJ was formed in 1975 to "strengthen ties among African-American journalists, promote diversity in newsrooms, honor excellence and outstanding achievement in the media industry, expand job opportunities and recruiting activities for established African-American journalists and students interested in the journalism field, and expand and balance the media's coverage of the African-American community and experience." It has 3,000 members in 72 professional chapters and 49 student chapters.
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
1193 National Press Building
Washington, D.C. 20045
Phone: 202-662-7145
Internet: http://www.nahj.org
NAHJ was formed in 1984 and is "dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry." It has about 1,700 members.
National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
1718 M St., NW, #245
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: 202-588-9888
Internet: http://www.nlgja.org
NLGJA was founded in 1990 to foster "fair and accurate coverage of lesbian and gay issues" and oppose "newsroom bias toward lesbians and gays and all other minorities." The organization, which now has 1,200 members, offers programs and networking support.
Native American Journalists Association
1433 E. Franklin Ave., Suite 11
Minneapolis, Minn. 55404
Phone: 612-874-8833
Internet: http://www.medill.nwu.edu/naja
The goals of NAJA, formed in 1984, are to improve media coverage of Native Americans, offer training and support to Native Americans already in the field and increase the number of Native American journalists.
Society of Professional Journalists
16 South Jackson St.
Greencastle, Ind. 46135
Phone: 765-653-3333
Internet: http://www.spj.org
Founded in 1909 and originally called Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ is the nation's largest journalism organization with 13,500 members. It is "dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism, stimulating high standards of ethical behavior, and perpetuating a free press." Its Web site offers updates on workshops, events, awards and fellowships and membership information. SPJ is also publishing "America's Best Headlines (And the People Who Write Them)" in the summer of 1998. For more information, write to Felix Winternitz, 1684 Locksley Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45230.
Training institutes
American Press Institute
11690 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, Va. 20191
Phone: 703-620-3611
Internet: http://www.newspaper.org/api
API is a nonprofit organization supported by the newspaper industry with annual contributions of about $700,000. Its one- and two-week training programs at its headquarters in Reston, Va., are highly regarded. Although most participants are selected and financially supported by their employers, individuals can apply and pay their own way. Seminars of interest to copy editors are "News Editors and Copy Desk Chiefs" ($850) and "Design for Today's Readers" ($850).
In 1997, API launched an online training program, beginning with a pilot program in January-February. The first public sessions were held with 185 participants in September-October. The sessions centered on discussion, as do the residential API programs, and required participants to log on regularly for virtual roundtables led by a discussion leader. Class sections ranged from computer-assisted reporting to copy editing. The cost is $595 a person.
Foundation for American Communications (FACS)
3800 Barham Blvd., Suite 409
Los Angeles, Calif. 90068
Phone: 213-851-7372
Internet: http://www.facsnet.org
FACS runs FACSNET, a service for journalists supported by the San Diego Supercomputer Center and several news organizations, including Gannett Co., Hearst, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and many more. Its Web site offers four basic tools: top issues, offering background and sources to help cover stories, such as the global warming conference in Japan in December 1997; Internet resources, a collection of links of particular interest to journalists; reporting tools, designed to help clarify complex issues; and online sources, with the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of people who can answer questions.
FACS also sponsors content seminars for journalists. The sessions, which last anywhere from a day to three days, range from "Redefining Government: Reporting the Coming Crisis in State and Local Finance," in Oxnard, Calif., to "Covering U.S.-Mexico Relations in a Time of Change," in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
1211 Preservation Park Way
Oakland, Calif. 94612
Phone: 510-891-9202
E-mail: mije@maynardije.org
The institute offers programs and services designed to help the media reflect multiculturalism. Its programs include the Multimedia Reporting Forum at San Francisco State University ($850); The Editing Program (formerly called The Editing Program for Minority Journalists) at the University of Arizona in Tucson ($2,500); Multimedia Editing in Phoenix ($850); the Management Training Center at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. ($5,000); Team Management for Newsroom Editors in Washington, D.C. ($850); and a variety of other programs held in conjunction with annual journalists conventions.
The Poynter Institute
801 Third Street South
St. Petersburg, Fla. 33701
Phone: 813-821-9494
Internet: http://www.poynter.org
Thanks to a healthy endowment, Poynter is able to offer a wide range of seminars at very affordable prices, which include hotel accommodations. Although most participants are selected and financially supported by their employers, individuals can apply and pay their own way. Weeklong seminars of particular interest to copy editors include "Newspaper Writing and Editing" ($350), "Editing/Design/Leadership for Copy Editors" ($350) and "Informational Graphics" ($350).
Poynter also offers vigorous online resources at its Web site. In addition to dozens of links to other sites, online newspapers and research tools, its library offers several useful print articles, academic studies and other files. Copy editors would enjoy reading these offerings by Anne Glover, assistant managing editor/copy desk at the St. Petersburg Times: "The Seven Deadly Copy Editing Sins," "Personal Responsibility for Copy Editors" and "In Search of the Perfect Copy Editor."
Fellowships
National Copy Editor Fellowships
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
For more information on the one-semester fellowships, call Professor Raleigh Mann at 919-962-4071 or Professor Bill Cloud 919-962-4070 or send e-mail to copyed@sunsite.unc.edu.
Directory of Media Studies Center, Mid-Career Fellowships and Training Programs for Journalists
The Freedom Forum compiled this directory in 1995. For a free copy, call 800-830-3733 and ask for publication in #95-W07. It's also available online at the Freedom Forum Web site:
http://www.freedomforum.org/FreedomForum/resources/journalism/newsrooms/media.htl
Web sites and listserves
Listserves and mailing lists: Listserves and mailing lists will bring information on the topic of your choice to your e-mail address. Here are two mailing list directories to help see what's available: http://www.tile.net and http://www.liszt.com.
Copyediting-l is one such mailing list. When you subscribe, all the postings to the list will be sent to you by e-mail. To subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@cornell.edu. In the body of your message, include only this command - sub copyediting-l your name - where your name is your real name (e.g., J. Q. Public), not your email address.
A word of warning on copyediting-l: You will get a ton of e-mail. In a single day, the author received eight messages, each totaling about 20,000 words.
Web sites: In addition to the Web sites given with the individual listings of publications, organizations and institutes, here's a list of sites you might want to check out. More are created daily, so this list is merely a sample of what's available. Most sites will contain not only a wealth of content but also several links to other sites. Rather than try to detail everything available on these sites, I suggest you consider it an Internet treasure hunt. Start with these and see what you can dig up.
AJR NewsLink: http://www.newslink.org
American Copy Editors Society: http://www.copydesk.org
Banned for Life: http://www.newsies.com/banned.html
Copy Editor newsletter: http://www.copyeditor.com
Copy Editing for Magazines: http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/copy.editing.html
Dow Jones Newspaper Fund: http://www.dowjones.com/newsfund
Ecola Newsstand: http://www.ecola.com
Detroit Free Press Jobs Page (and much more): http://www.freep.com/jobspage
Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com
Internet Journalism Resources: http://www.moorhead.msus.edu/~gunarat/ijr
Journalist's Toolbox: http://www.ccnet.com/CSNE/toolbox.html
Newsies on the Web: http://www.newsies.com
Newspage: http://www.newspage.com
Newspapers Online!: http://www.newspapers.com
NewsPlace for News and Sources: http://www.niu.edu/newsplace
The Power of Words, the Providence Journal Writing Program: http://www.projo.com/words/main.htm
Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County: http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us
Reporter Org: http://www.reporter.org/main.html
Slate: http://www.slate.com
Telperion Productions (see link to Stepping Disks): http://www.rt66.com/~telp/index.html
The Journalist's Resource Site Part 7</