Carol Kinney JRN349 Comparison Paper April 24, 2013 Copy Editors: “The last line of defense” To state that copy editors are important to newsrooms is to oversimplify their roles. Copy editors are not just important to newsrooms, but important in a number of other industries such as magazine and book publishing and within the public relations field. This is because virtually everything that is written needs to be edited before it is presented to the public. Brian Brooks and James Pinson (2009) say that the copy editor edits, tightens, writes, and proofreads the information in a story, article or on a branding item to check for the accuracy of grammar and content objectivity(p. 34). These tasks are primary and for this reason alone copy editors are essential to whichever field they are employed. However there are also secondary roles that copy editor are responsible for that increase their value in the workplace. According to Brooks and Pinson, copy editors can also be managers and leaders in the workplace (p. 394), “detectives (p. 30),” “masters of language (p. 135),” “advocates for the reader (p. 43), and visual literacy agents (p. 259) as well as coaches and mentors (p. 388). All of these secondary roles are important for copy editors to fill, however there is one secondary role for the copy editor that is essential to for them to fill through all primary and secondary tasks. Susan Keith (2005) calls this role “the last line of defense
against errors (p. 930).” In essence, not only is the copy editor an editor in the traditional sense, but they also help to protect reporters, writers, managing editors, and owners of media and other businesses against all sort of legal suits (c.f. Brooks and Pinson Chapter 5, p. 85-133). Keith says that one way for copy editors to provide this “defense” is for them to be “guardians of ethics” which means to both edit in an ethical way and be certain that the writer writes in an ethical manner. This is a large role to fill, yet copy editors have three forms of editing that help them to achieve all primary and secondary tasks and roles, and ultimately allow them to fulfill their role as “the last line of defense.” These forms are micro, macro and holistic editing. Micro editing is the primary task of copy editors in which they read writings for small errors. Donald Samson (1993) defines micro editing as “the close editing of text and graphics word by word and line by line to produce a well-written document that is rhetorically sound, grammatically correct and consistent. . . (p. 9).” Samson includes editing for sentence structure, spelling and punctuation errors, the removal of any “offensive language (p. 10)” and other “proofreading” tasks under the umbrella of micro editing. Additionally, Brooks and Pinson add editing for “style (56)” under the tasks of micro editing; the tasks of micro editing “tightens (Brooks and Pinson, p. 176)” writings before they can be published. While
proofreading might not seem like something that would put copy editors on the “first line of defense,” consider the following lawsuit. In 2006, Ian Austen of the NY Times reported how costly a grammatical error can be. Austen reported that a Canadian based regulatory agency was able to sue a Canadian based company for breach of contract. The regulatory agency was the ultimate winner and was awarded “1 million Canadian dollars (NY Times).” Austen reported that the arguments for both sides of the suit and the basis for the lawsuit was a “misplaced comma” in the contract.
Additionally the Canadian court ultimately based its decision
not on the comma alone, but also translation of the contract from French to English. Canada courts are not the only ones to review grammatical errors in documents. Adam Freedman (2007), also of the NY Times reported that United States courts as high up as the Supreme Court have heard cases regarding placement of commas and their affect on how meaning is derived. One such example that Freedman cited was Supreme Court debate on the placement of two commas in the Second Amendment which could have profound impact on all cases regarding gun control. Both of these examples show how important micro editing can be and why copy editors are truly “the first line of defense” when performing the tasks associated with micro editing. However, micro editing is not the only type of editing that copy editors perform that makes their work important.
Macro editing is the second form of editing that helps copy editors complete their primary and secondary tasks and roles, as well as reach the goal of being “the last line of defense.” Just as copy editors are responsible for micro editing writing that can prevent law suits, macro editing also helps them to accomplish this, but in a more direct way. Brooks and Pinson say that the tasks of macro editing, or editing the “big-picture (p. 56)” of writing are editing for story worthiness, accuracy of leads and all information, organization and flow of story, and objectivity. Additionally, Brooks and Pinson say that copy editors must be “sure stories are legal, ethical, tasteful and sensitive to the audience.” In fact, they devote an entire chapter to the legal, ethical and proprietary issues that copy editors must be on the lookout for when performing macro editing tasks (Chapter 5, p. 85-133). In that chapter, Brooks and Pinson discuss the various grounds for libel and various other legal issues that can find writers, reports, editors and media owners in a court of law (p. 95-113), even though journalists have some protections under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (c.f. Brooks and Pinson, p. 85-95). Because there are limitations to the First Amendment placed upon journalists, it is important for copy editors to keep abreast of changes in Constitutional law in order to “spot and fix (Brooks and Pinson, p. 95)” any legal issues of writings. Brooks and Pinson say that “journalists don’t need to be lawyers, but they should know enough about media law to know how to handle common
situations (p. 95). For instance, Lilly Chapa (2012) reported that in New York State a business owner can now sue for defamation “without showing proof of monetary loss (Reporters Committee. . .).” The case in New York shows how laws can change and why it is important for copy editors to know current law. Without having this knowledge could cause serious legal repercussions for the writer, editor and management and owners, especially if they were macro editing according to outdated legal standard. When copy editors macro edit, not only are they protecting the writer, themselves and the media outlet itself, but they are practicing ethical editing in not making legal errors. In other words, macro editing tasks help copy editors print truthful publications and help them to be the “first line of defense” against lawsuits aimed at the journalist, themselves and media owners. Just as micro and macro editing help copy editors be the “first line of defense,” so does the third form of editing. According to Brooks and Pinson, holistic editing is the integration of macro and micro editing (p. 184). Because holistic editing combines the tasks of both of these editing forms and both forms help prevent legal issues for journalists, it makes sense that holistic editing does the same. It does, but there is also more to holistic editing than just using micro and macro editing at the same time. The essence of holistic editing lies within a copy editor’s experience. The holistic approach does not look at either micro or macro editing as the preferred form, but uses both at the same time and assumes that an
experienced copy editor will have edited so many of each different story types that they will recognize patterns in errors (Brooks and Pinson, p. 184). Additionally while most articles and books about copy editing place the subject of visual design and headline writing under macro editing, Brooks and Pinson are more inclined to use the holistic approach to these items by advising that copy editors use both the macro and micro approaches to edit visuals and headlines (Chapters 8 and 9, p. 226-292). They even discuss how libel can creep into headlines (p. 245) and the importance of making ethical choices in choosing graphics (p. 272-278). They also combine micro and macro editing in the holistic process of writing headlines when they state that libel cases in a headline can be the result of printing “a wrong name.” Paul Siegel, author of Communication Law in America (2011), writes that photo captions have a higher risk of being libelous when the photos do not accompany an explanatory story or appear alone on the cover of a publication (p. 91). Siegel cites the 1998 case of “Kato Kaelin v. the National Examiner as an example of both a libelous headline when only combined with a photo. The Examiner featured Kaelin on the front cover with the headline “Cops Think Kato Did It!” in reference to the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson (Siegel, p. 91-92). An experienced copy editor that was practicing holistic editing principles would have avoided this entire situation by looking at the entire story and seeing the potential patterns for
libel by comparing it to similar story types, as well as checking the sentence structure of the headline. As shown in each of these examples, all three forms of editing provide copy editors with frontline protections in journalism. If micro editing “tightens” the writing with proofreading tasks, then macro editing tightens the writing just a bit more by looking at the “big picture” of a story and correcting the larger errors. When holistic editing combines the other two forms with knowledge that comes with experience, holistic editing tightens the preverbal belt so tight that no errors can be detected in final publication. By utilizing all three forms of editing, the copy editor can fill all primary and secondary tasks and roles, as well as showing full ethical journalistic responsibility. And finally, when all of this is realized, the copy editor will achieve a high status by providing that “first line of defense” that protects not only him or herself, but protects the writer, reporter, managers, and media owners.
Sources: Austen, I. (2006). “The Comma That Costs 1 Million Dollars (Canadian).” NY Times, 25 Oct. 2006. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com. Brooks, B.S. & J. L. Pinson. (2009). The Art of Editing in the Age of Convergence 9th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Allyn and Bacon. Chapa, L. (2012). “Businessman can pursue defamation suit without showing
proof of monetary loss, N.Y. appeals court rules. Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press, media law resources, 14 Dec. 2012. Retrieved from www.rcfp.org. Freedman, A. (2007). “Clause and Effect.” NY Times, 16 Dec. 2007. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com. Keith, S. (2005). “Newspaper Copy Editors’ Perceptions of Their Ideal and Real Ethics Roles.” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 10776990, Winter 2005, Vol. 82, Issue 4.
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