GUIDE TO ALL THINGS EDITING Welcome, editors! Congrats on earning this prestigious title. You’ve obviously proven your journalistic skills in some way in order to earn this position, but editing is a whole new step in the world of journalism. Use your journalistic abilities to improve the writing of your fellow journalists. This is your guide to help you accomplish that goal. Good luck.
Editing Content: Important Questions to Ask Does the story have an angle? Does it have an angle? Does the story jump all over or is it focussed on something specific? A good story is not very broad. It is going to focus on the essential details needed to tell a good story, and a good story will not include any boring details. An angle should be interesting! So help the writer determine the best angle. 1. Ask the writer what the point of the story is What do they want the readers to realize? What was the most interesting part? Once they discover this, the rest should of their story should flow. 2. Get the writer to form a sentence about their story This should help them condense everything the readers need to know. It could even be used as a sentence in their story! We should know their angle from the beginning so this sentence should help us set up what the story is about. 3. Make a writing plan If they want additional help, make a writing plan with them. Ask them what their lede will be and what information will they plan to include after that. It doesn’t need to be fancy but just make sure they know what they’re doing. ex: new iPhone release Angle: Is it a review? Is it a news story explaining apple upgrades? Is it what students at Westside think of it?
Is the story interesting/good? If you’re bored, that’s not because you’re tired. It is because the story is boring! However, you need to be careful about how you approach this conversation with the writer. 1. Ask them what they think of their story Usually they will not think their story is good. However, regardless of their answer, it is important to ask their thoughts to help train their thinking to see what makes a great story. 2. Why? Why do they think what they think about their story? What aspects of their story make it good or bad? 3. What happened in their interview? Now you want to help them find a better angle. You want something that is newsworthy and worth telling. We don’t want the same story to be told with different people over and over again. Even if it is an opinion, you do not want them writing an opinion on how shooting people is bad. So help them retrace steps their research or come up with a new angle to focus on. 4. Determine the real story — What’s the point in publishing this story? This story was chosen for SOME reason. After all, the writer would not have picked the topic otherwise. So, encourage them to write a story on what was the most interesting. Find the purpose of the story!
5. Give them steps to continue. Do you think it would be helpful to talk to other people? That could help them develop a more detailed story and fill it with more information. Do you think the story is hopeless and they should pick a new one? Maybe it has come to that point. Make a decision that is best for the readers.
How can I push the writer to make them write a better story? This problem is more than “the story is bad.” Even though it isn’t amazing, it is not awful or boring. The story has an angle and would be appreciated by the readers. However, your gut is telling you that something is missing. It usually occurs when we know that the story is more interesting or bigger than whatever the writer turned in. So…here’s how to make it better. 1. Establish what the writer already did. Who did they interview? One person? If so, they need to interview more people whether it’s friends or family or teachers or the principal or administrators. More than one person? Who? Were they relevant to the story? Is there any person that they should also interview? Is there any person that they are afraid of interviewing? What questions did you ask them? Are there any questions they avoided? Try to establish if there’s anything the writer didn’t do. Did they avoid certain questions because they were scared? Did they not talk to someone because they couldn’t get a hold of them? Did they do everything and just not write well? What did they not do? 2. Fix it. Now it’s time to plug the hole. If they need to interview more people, make sure they contact people. If they need to ask people more/different questions, help them develop the necessary questions. If they need to use more detail, then help them come up with ways to paint a picture for the readers. If they are afraid to do any of this, sit down with them and ease them into it. Journalism is scary because you are the person asking the questions and you don’t want to be rude or invade their privacy. However, if we don’t do it, who will dare to ask those questions? So encourage them that they can do this! We want to push people out of their comfort zone.
Are the facts checked? Everything mentioned in an article should able to be backed up by at least two reliable sources. So make sure the writer knows what they are talking about, and if they use specific information (ex: statistics), make sure they use phrases like “according to” to show what source provided them with information. If you discover facts aren’t checked, here’s what you need to do. 1. Get the writer to contact people Talk to somebody! Contact the police to get police records, the parent, the doctor, WebMD, etc. They need to get that information verified! 2. Check in with the writer Make sure they did what they needed to do. Every fact needs to be 100% correct. If problems come up, work it out with them. Maybe they need to delete that sentence. Maybe they need a new angle.
Will this story harm someone? Some stories are complicated. They could be about abuse or drugs or LGBT issues. Our goal as journalists is to report nothing but the truth! We don’t need permission to publish what truthfully happened. So follow the steps under “Are the facts checked?” to make sure the story is okay to publish. If you still are concerned, talk to Mr. K or the chiefs. We may send a note to the parents or publish the story under an anonymous name. We will do whatever we can to publish the story.
Is the story sensitive? If the story is talking about mental illness or dead loved one or other sensitive topic, you need to be a human. You do not stop being a human when you are being a journalist. Each sensitive story is different but follow these steps so it is dealt with well. 1. Make sure the subject knows the angle If the subject of the story does not know the angle, that can cause some problems. How do we know if they are okay with the angle? How do we know that they are okay with being open about this subject to the world? Always, always, always make sure the subject knows what is printed. Make sure the writer contacts them. 2. Make sure everything is true. You need your facts backed up especially in sensitive stories. Do it! 3. Contact chiefs/Mr. K The chiefs and Mr. K will decide whether or not we should allow parents to read the story before print. They will also work out any other problems with the story.
“I am unsure of whether I want them to change it.” Stick to your gut. If you are not sure something needs to be changed, listen to your gut. If your gut says “HELL YES” or even just a small “yes,” then make them change it.
Look at past edits Editors should be saying similar things. If you think you are making a big change, talk to the previous editor and work out a solution with the writer.
“Logistics” of Editing: Sentence Structure, Grammar and Essential Parts of a Story *notice there is no oxford comma in this sentence. This is funny because there are no oxford commas in our stories either. lol #classicjournalismjoke
Sentence Clarity If a sentence doesn’t make sense to you or is too long, tell them to rephrase it. If you think that this writer needs a little extra help in rephrasing, give them examples of how to start a sentence.
Sentence Fluency Your English teachers say it and I will too. If the sentences in a paragraph are all of the same length, the story becomes harder to read. So, tell them they need to change it up!
Quotes Here is how to properly format a quote. ex.: “My mom is a very nice lady. She brings me pizza during finals and encourages me to go outside and explore my neighborhood. No words can describe how much she means to me.” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Add the quotation mark. duh Place the first sentence of the quote beside the quotation mark. End quote with a comma followed by another quotation mark. After the quotation mark have the speaker’s title and then first and last name. If the speaker has already been introduced in the story, just have last name. After addressing who said the quote, add the word said. NEVER USE A WORD OTHER THAN SAID. After “said’ put a period and follow the period with another quotation mark. Put the rest of the quote after the new quotation mark. End with a quotation mark.
ex: “My mom is a very nice lady,” senior Libby Seline said. “She brings me pizza during finals and encourages me to go outside and explore my neighborhood. No words can describe how much she means to me.” A story should have lots of quotes! If the story only has one quote you need to pull that writer aside and tell them to add quotes from multiple interviews. Quotes add color to the story and these people will often say it better than the writer can. Additionally, a quote should never be boring. If the writer would be able to describe it in their story (for example, steps to buying a new product or when the event took place), then there is no point in the quote. A good quote is special and unique and shows the feelings of the subject of the story.
Unnecessary words/Voice Some people have the habit of writing like they talk. This is great but can also be complicated. They may use too many words that they don’t need. Writing should be simple so take out the unnecessary words. A common unnecessary word is that. Most of the time you can get away without using “that” in a sentence.
Bias Essentially, get rid of all opinionated language. Everything needs to be backed up by fact. Obviously this doesn’t count in opinions.
lol What are words? If you think a word is awkward tell them to get a new word. It’s as simple as that.