As copy editors gather in Denver to talk of many things, including the reality that publications are getting less interested in copy editing as we know it, there is news of a rather drastic example of that trend.
The graphic above, of course, is a joke. For now.
4 comments:
The paper in this town actually did that once -- they somehow left out the "r" in the town's name, so the title across the top of the front page said "Geenville." That sort of thing is why I took a retail job when I moved up here after three years as a photographer for my hometown paper; I'd be embarrassed to work for those people.
You could be embarrassed to work for them, or you could work for them and turn them back into a class act. It's all in how you view it.
I don't believe copy editing is a dying profession. I don't even believe it's on life support. I believe that in this fast paced existence, which seems to be getting faster by the second, we occasionally lose track of the quality. For some, 'Get it right' has been replaced by 'Get it done and I mean five minutes ago'. Deadlines have been known to replace thorough proof-reading and fact-checking. While tired eyes and minds have sometimes been guilty of glaring oversights, I believe those who do this job and those who oversee them still care to present their best to the public. Call me a hopeless romantic.
Copy editing. Buggy-whip making. Not a dying profession? In the face of cost-reducing morons, more concerned with the bottom line than with the quality of the material they place in front of their audiences, I suspect that it will be more than a few decades before we (they) realize what has been lost. I assume it will self-adjust, but not quickly. And not before we see egregious examples of the decline...
GB
Yet another reason ACES should think beyond its origins and attract more non-newspaper folks. I'm particularly interested in hearing from book people.
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