CLEAN up your COPY
GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION
CLEAN COPY
Today’s host
MIKE TURLEY Content team manager — Central RegionGateHouse Media News & Interactive [email protected]: @ml_turley
• Audio: 877.411-9748; Code: 630-956-8834• Please silence your phones• Do not hesitate to ask questions
THE AGENDA
• Remember when … Where have all the safety nets gone?• The transition Moving from in-house to Design House• Online copy Have our standards really changed?• Hot Zones for errors Avoid embarrassing mistakes
THE TRADITION
150 years of copy
desks
The needfor copy desksdeveloped as newspapers grew in size.
1949: The copy desk at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
THE TRADITION
Safety in numbers
• local copy desk• proofreaders• prepress or
composing department
• press room• hard copy
Source: The Underground
THE TRANSITION
The local news site will:• edit stories and other content for local knowledge• write headlines and cutlines• continue Web management and online editing
Design House will:• give a final read to all copy, but no rewrites• design and layout news and special section pages
THE TRANSITION
Clear, clean and concise: Whose job is it?• Reporters• Assignment editors• Copy editors• Anyone who sees the story before a reader.Bottom line: Everyone is responsible, and it startswith the reporter.Quote“Don’t work in a vacuum. Be aware of what is going on and be prepared to sacrifice your work at the moment to help out in a crisis.” — BILL MITCHELL, Poynter Institute
COPY EDITING TIPS
The quest for clean copy• Don’t assume: If in doubt, leave it out.• Follow your instincts: If it feels wrong, it probably is
wrong.• Err on side of caution: Better to be safe than sorry.• Double entendres: Recognize red flags.• Double-check the math: There is a reason
journalists are not engineers.• Use spellcheck, but don’t completely rely on it.• If time allows, write the story and step away for a
few minutes before reviewing it.
COPY EDITING CHECKLIST
Check, and then check again• First name on first reference • Unusual spellings of names, places, etc.• Titles and positions • Addresses, telephone numbers and URLs • Streets, avenues, roads, drives, boulevards • Personalities, events tied to community • Facts, figures, dates• AP and local style • Bylines, credit lines, tag lines
ONLINE
• Do not compromise our profession’s values, standards and expectations.
• If your website is riddled with errors, credibility will suffer.
• That said, you need to be quick to post online.• Empty your notebook: Publish what facts you have
and let readers know more will come.
ONLINE
• Web readers scan rather than read.• Copy should employ reader-friendly techniques such as bold words, subheads, bullet lists and deep links to Web sites.• Use the inverted pyramid style.• Use simple declarative sentences and keep the adjectives to a minimum.• Use active voice and active verbs.Source: Poynter Institute
Quote“Solid news judgment can’t be replaced by bells and whistles, and we still strive for accuracy and credibility.” — JOE MARREN, The Craft of Online Editing
ONLINE
• Provide key background or contextual information with links. Editors should link to previous stories on the same topics. They also can link to original documents.
• Online, the headline may be the only element readers see. Tell them as much as you can about the story to draw them in.
• Be specific and direct in headlines. Clever may not work online.
Source: SUE BURZYNSKI BULLARD / American Copy Editors Society
ONLINE
Credibility at stakeMistakes made online can be quickly fixed, but the damage already is done.
SOURCE: CRAIG SILVERMAN / Poynter Institute
HOT ZONE — THE HEADLINE
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT• A copy editor works and reworks a headline
until the right words are found and the correct message is conveyed. Changing and rearranging words and sentence structure often lead to grammatical errors that slide through on deadline.
MEAN WHAT YOU SAY. WAIT … SAY WHATYOU MEAN• There are Arabs who are Muslims, and there
are Muslims who are Arabs. But the words are not synonymous.
HOT ZONE — THE HEADLINE
WHEN FACTMEETS FICTIONHow many times have you read a name, title or number in a headline that does not correspond to the same information in a story? CHARLES APPLE / The Visual Side of Journalism
HOT ZONE — THE CUTLINE
NAME GAME• Similar to working with
headlines, do not make the mistake of spelling a person’s name one way in the cutline and another way in the story.
IT SEEMS OBVIOUS TO ME …• Then most likely it is obvious
to the readers. Please give them a little credit … and some information they do not know.
The State Journal-Register
GO FIGURE
HOT ZONE — THE INFOGRAPHIC
SITE TRAFFIC
FacebookTwitterDirectOther
35%
25% 45%
5%
Do not assume numbers in a bar chart are correct or the figures in a pie chart total 100 percent. Do the math. If the figures are in a story, cross-check those as well.
HOT ZONE — THE PULL QUOTE
‘YOU CAN QUOTE ME’• Use caution when pulling a quote from a story and
running it in 12-point type so it catches a reader’s attention. Suddenly, those spoken words nestled halfway down in a story may be taken out of context when standing on their own or resting near a headline.
WHO SAID THAT?• Keep an eye on the name and title lines in a pull
quote. They often are typed in a rush … and incorrectly.
REVIEW
• There are fewer safety nets in today’s environment, so restructure the newsroom to get as many eyes as possible on copy.
• Online copy: The thought process and format may differ from print, but the standards and expectations remain the same.
• Hot Zones: The bigger the type; the bigger the problem.
Quote“You can’t be cavalier about it. People get vocal if they think the level of editing has dropped.”— EMILY INGRAM, THE WASHINGTON POST
CLEAN up your COPY
GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION