Copy editors

A short blog about the most unappreciated, yet most important, desk in the newsroom. I'm not talking about page designers, though at some papers, copy deskers read copy and lay out pages. I'm referring to actual copy editors. I started out as one, which probably explains why I'm more inclined than most reporters to acknowledge that these guys are more important than writers.

Anybody who can save your ass as well as the paper's on a daily basis deserves respect.

The last place I worked, the fauxpaper, didn't have any. So stories got a read by a city editor and a proofreader (people who came in off the street with no paper experience and were untrained) and maybe a second editor if there was time or it was considered a big enough story and then that was it. The design desk wasn't encourage to edit or make changes.

It shows in each section of the fauxpaper. It's also a big reason it's a fauxpaper and will never be anything else.

Cheers.