{"id":1052,"date":"2018-08-18T16:58:59","date_gmt":"2018-08-18T16:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.book-editing.com\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2022-07-11T21:22:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T21:22:35","slug":"the-value-of-editors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.book-editing.com\/the-value-of-editors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value Of Editors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, the New York Times notified their editorial staff that they were going to lay off or buy out half of them. So the editorial staff published an open letter to Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Managing Editor Joe Kahn. In it, they describe some of what we editors actually do.<\/p>\n

In fact, we feel more respected by our readers than we do by you. We are living in a strange time when routine copy-editing duties such as fact checking, reviewing sources, correcting misleading or inaccurate information, clarifying language and, yes, fixing spelling and grammar mistakes in news are suddenly matters of public discourse. As those in power declare war against the news media, as deliberately false or lackadaisical reportage finds its way into social media feeds, readers are flocking to our defense. They are sending us pizza. And they are signing up for Times subscriptions in record numbers because they understand that we go to great lengths to ensure quality and, most important, truth.<\/p>\n

But almost nobody knows what we do, in part because we work behind the scenes. No one but the author sees the \u201cbefore\u201d\u009d product, only the final result. So it\u2019s tempting to envision us as joyless pedants who do nothing but run spellcheck and mock people for putting commas in the wrong places. To hear people tell it, a computer could do our jobs in five minutes.<\/p>\n

But think of other invisible professionals. Think of the lighting crew in a movie. If they do a terrible job, we miss Rick Blaine\u2019s nod, and Ilsa Lund is completely in shadow when we are meant to see the powerful expressions on her face while Victor Laszlo sings La Marseillaise. Yes, bad lighting could have ruined Casablanca. Well, we\u2019re the lighting crew for your manuscript.<\/p>\n

The reporters at the New York Times are well aware of the value of editors. Which is why they wrote on behalf of their editors and requested that management reconsider:<\/p>\n

Like nearly everyone we know in the newsroom, we believe that the plan to eliminate dozens of editing jobs and do away with the copy desks is ill-conceived and unwise, and will damage the quality of our product. It will make us sloppier, more error-prone. It will undermine the reputation that generations have worked to build and maintain, the reputation that keeps readers coming back. You are reducing the number of people doing the work of editing, which would be harmful enough in itself. But you plan to take work away from people who do it well, and give it to people who have not developed the same skills, and who are already over-burdened.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just editors for the New York Times who perform these tasks. In my last entry, toward the bottom, I give a list of some of the services that I provide.<\/p>\n