The Changing Face of the Copy Editor, Pamela Di Pinto

As a journalism student, the bulk of my studies, and that of my fellow classmates have been about the shift from traditional to online journalism.

Throughout the year, instructors have urged us to remain up-to-date with the latest technologies so that we can use them to promote our "brand," or name, in the industry. Yes, print journalism is still alive and well in many newsrooms, but editors, now more than ever, are looking for "backpack journalists," or journalists who are comfortable with these technologies, and can use them to produce content for more than one medium. In his vlog, "What do journalists need to know in the digital era?" Howard Rheingold outlines what editors are looking for as journalism continues to shift to the online world. However, with this shift, the role of the journalist is not the only one subject to change: copy editors must also adapt new ways of thinking and preparing content for the Web.

In traditional mediums, copy editors play a key role in the newsroom, performing many duties before a story goes to press, such as:

• Correcting errors of grammar, spelling and CP style
• Correcting errors of fact
  
• Judging news value
• Guarding against libel and other legal problems
• Writing headlines that will capture the reader's attention
• Selecting, cropping and sizing photographs; and
  
• Laying out pages

With online journalism, copy editors perform much of these same tasks; however, they must also cater to the online user. In her blog post, "Editing for the Web," Jennifer Carbert addresses this point: "Editing stories for online is very different than editing for the physical paper. Online readers don't want to spend a lot of time reading the news, they want to quickly find out the news and move on." Because of this, online news-goers will often scan stories as opposed to fully reading them. To make a story more scannable for the reader, the copy editor should consider the following:

• Bolded subheads
• Bullets or lists
• Short sentences and paragraphs
• Headlines that clearly state what the story is about
• Inverted pyramid format where the most important information is up high in the story
• "Chunking" or splitting the story into sections

Editors should also pay attention to multi-media elements, like audio or video clips and images; external links to relevant sources; and interactivity, whether through comments, social networking sites (SNS), or participatory journalism, where online users can essentially "play" journalist.

This article from the CBC website is a good example of an online news story.

In the fast-paced world of online journalism, though, where posting a story to the Internet 15 seconds behind a competing paper could mean losing readers, some could argue that the role of copy editors has been eliminated. Who has the time to edit through a piece? We want to get this story out first! However, I would argue that their role hasn't been eliminated, but simply modified. Copy editors are still an essential part of any newsroom. Now, they need to exercise some level of flexibility, paying attention to both the editing techniques rooted in traditional journalism as well as those regarding the online world. Like journalists are instructed to remain current amidst the changing face of the industry and meet the additional needs of online users, so too should copy editors. I think the speed of online journalism will only help refine their editing skills because it is during these crunch times when fact-checking and accuracy matter most. The face of the copy editor is changing, and it is definitely for the better.

Note: Image from flickr.com