Author: tom

Why so few copy editors have joined ACES

American Copy Editor Society head honcho John McIntyre posted the following at the ACES discussion board the other day: According to the latest numbers from ASNE’s survey of newsrooms, there are 10,708 copy editors/layout persons working for America’s daily newspapers.…

Enough of this affirmative action…

… for underqualified white guys, Leonard Pitts says. So, loath though I am to position myself as a spokesman, I feel confident in saying one thing on behalf of black journalists everywhere: When and if our industry decides to deal…

When the lede needs a rewrite

Today I thought I’d share some useful line-editing advice for a change. For the heck of it I stopped by Tim Ball’s paper, the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, to mine for news nuggets that would provoke my editorial urge.…

New site for business newsies

Businessjournalism.org is a new site run by the American Press Institute. It’s opening piece is written by Bonita Burton of the Merc, a master of unboring business pages. She works across the room from me and often maintains her concentration…

Surviving a redesign

In honor of the sad sacks on the Denver Post’s copy desks (see post below) who are about to have their lives ripped apart in the name of prettier pages, I’ve decided to throw together Seven Tips for Copy Editors…

Why the Denver Posties are toast

You can thank your lucky stars you’re not working on the desk at the Denver Post in the next few weeks, where redesign hell is in season.

AP Stylebook worthless at porn mag

Maud’s blog has an amusing entry about a guy who lied his way into the editorship of a gay-porn mag. Maud’s excerpt: There was the flamboyant gay editor who could barely speak English?let alone use grammar correctly; the standard office…

Making sense of Columbine

Dave Cullen deflates the popular myths about the high school massacre. The first steps to understanding Columbine, they say, are to forget the popular narrative about the jocks, Goths, and Trenchcoat Mafia and to abandon the core idea that Columbine…