Goodbye copy desks, hello trouble?

Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 1998 by Russial, John

Ongoing staff development would not be as serious an issue if all copyeditors on teams were top-flight generalists. Few managing editors, even at prestigious metro dailies, would argue that they have such depth of talent.

Benefits of reorganization

Shifting copyeditors to reporting teams means that copyeditors can be involved in stories earlier in the reporting process. Earlier input means fewer calls to reporters at night to patch up problems just before deadline, eliminating one of the traditional sources of friction between reporters and copyeditors.40 Casey Selix, a team copyeditor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, said that being part of a team enhances trust between editors and reporters. Editors and reporters who work in the same area of the newsroom get to know one another better and tend to respect one another more, she said. The payoff is that she feels she can ask harder questions and has a better chance of getting answers. Kathy Gorman, a business team copyeditor at the Oregonian, said, "When you have earned their respect and trust, it's easier to talk things over."41

Other editors, however, expressed concern that copyeditors might be less likely to ask reporters tough questions once they became members of a reporting team.42 Nancy Olsen, a copy / layout editor with the Star Tribune's Urban Team, said she thought she might be less critical of team members' copy at times but that the camaraderie allows her to "ask better questions."43 Foreman pointed out that there may be a downside to having copyeditors involved early in the story-shaping process. Copyeditors should act as the readers' representatives, he said, and maintaining a distance from the newsgathering and assembling process enables copyeditors to see stories more as readers do. Copyeditors involved early in the process might get too close to a story and lose their critical eye.44 Pete Lesage, a copyeditor with the Oregonian's Public Life team, said that maintaining some distance is important. "I don't want to be an insider copyeditor," he said. "I won't do the team any good if I become one of them."45

The shifting of copyeditors to topic teams does offer some potential training benefits to editors, such as the development of expertise in content areas"6 and the ability to perform a wider variety of tasks.7 It also may help reporters, if, for example, a copyeditor's attitudes toward accuracy, clarity and fairness rub off onto the team reporters. It may, as in Wichita, enable the paper to put more reporters onto the street or give copyeditors the opportunity to do some reporting.48

Working with a reporting team may enhance a copyeditor's ability to get a better job. Weaver said a good, young copyeditor was hired away by a major metropolitan paper in part because he had experience in content editing with the team. At the Pioneer Press, Selix said that moving copyeditors to teams has improved copyeditor morale and that copyeditors who had broader editing experience with teams might be stronger candidates for promotion.49