I think the idea of speed versus accuracy at a newspaper shouldn't be taken lightly. With all the cutting of editors and shrinking of newspapers, there is only one answer that I can come up with to help cut down on errors. Reporters and columnists will simply have to read over other people's stories as part of their job. It's a two way street; I will feel more comfortable with my story after my coworker reads over it and he will feel the same after I read his. Obviously there will still be copy editors, but this ensures another set of eyes are guaranteed to look over my entire piece.
Some might say it's not a reporter's job to edit for other people. This is simply ridiculous. The more you read, the more you learn. If as part of your job you have to read a few more articles everyday, you will not only become a more well-rounded journalist because your reading another beat, but you'll get to see other people's errors, which hopefully prevent you from making those same errors.
It's plain and simple, I don't want to see more and more errors in the newspaper and online. This means if news businesses want to cut more and more editors, they have to distribute the responsibilities accordingly. Reporters are going to have to step up whether they think it's fair or not. Until the news business finds some answers to prevent downsizing, it's going to be a necessity.
B
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"Some might say it's not a reporter's job to edit for other people." I agree with you and think this is ridiculous. Just like you said, I always feel much better after one of my fellow students reads a story of mine before I turn it in for a grade. It was a very good point to make that the more you read, the more you learn. Correcting other people's grammar, punctuation and style mistakes will only make your own writing stronger the next time you sit down to write a story. I find I am a visual learning, so by seeing other people's mistakes I most definitely learn from them and can apply it to my own writing.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. Editing is incredibly important; others can catch errors that you would never have otherwise. However, I also think that you can catch a number of errors by editing your own work. Before turning in a paper, I always try to get in at least one edit. I usually end up with a ton of scratched-out phrases, grammar corrections and other various of changes. As the layoffs increase, reporters are going have to take increased responsibility for their own writing. In order to become a reporter, you should have a solid command of the English language and shouldn't be dependent on editors for everything.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree, too. The way I see editors when it comes to actual error checking is as a last line of defense. Throughout our college experience in journalism we've always been taught to make sure that our own papers are free from errors. The problems come when the reporters, like college students a lot of the time, wait until the very last minute to write their paper. Then obviously they can't proofread their own stuff because they've delayed actually writing it until deadline.
ReplyDelete