EDITING COPY
=What Copy-Reading Means.= All news stories, whether written by
reporters, sent through the mail by correspondents, or received by
telegraph or telephone, must be read and edited before they are set up
in type. This work is done either by the editor in whose department
the news belongs or by a copy-reader. The reading and editing of copy
consists of:
(1) Correcting all errors whether in expression or in fact.
(2) Making the story conform to the so-called “style” of the newspaper.
(3) Improving the story in any respect.
(4) Eliminating libelous matter.
(5) Marking copy for the printer.
(6) Writing headlines and subheads.
The good copy-reader must be able to catch instantly, and correct
quickly, errors of all kinds. Good copy, or “clean copy,” as it
is called, should be free from mistakes in spelling, grammar, and
rhetoric; but rapid writing too often leads to carelessness, and the
copy-reader’s work is correspondingly increased by the necessity of
doing what the writer has neglected to do. The correction of such
errors, however, is not the most important part of his work. He must
be able to detect and correct errors of fact. As every art, science,
business, occupation, sport, recreation,—in short, every form of
activity, is the subject of news, the copy-reader should be able to
pass intelligent judgment on the accuracy of stories written about
these various activities. He must also be familiar with proper names
that appear in the news, such as names of prominent persons and places
the world over, the titles of well-known books, plays, pictures,
and musical compositions, the names of railroads and important
corporations, and special trade-mark names. To no one in the newspaper
office and to few outside of it, can the words of Terence more truly be
applied than to the copy-reader, _humani nihil a me alienum puto_, “I
consider nothing human to be outside of my sphere.”
Like the good reporter, the copy-reader must be an accurate judge of
news values. He must be able to see the significance of the news in the
story. He must be able to decide how much space it is worth. If the
real point of the news has been buried by the writer, the copy-reader
must get it out and give it the prominence that it deserves. The
ineffective lead must be rewritten, the needless details cut out, and
the parts of the story rearranged for the best effect.
To improve the style of the story, he must consider carefully the
construction of paragraphs and sentences, the choice of words and
figures. Each paragraph should be given an effective beginning that
will catch the reader’s eye in rapid reading. Close connection should
be maintained between the sentences in the paragraph. The copy-reader
must transform the weak, rambling sentence into a firm, coherent
statement with an emphatic beginning. For the trite, colorless word
or phrase, he must substitute the fresh, picturesque one. The too
figurative flights of exuberant fancy in one young reporter’s copy
must be toned down, and the bald, prosaic narrative or description in
another’s given life and interest. In short, the copy-reader’s work is
constructive as well as critical; it is as important for him to rewrite
and rearrange as to cut out and boil down.
The responsibility of determining whether or not any statements or
implications of the story as written are libelous also rests upon
the copy-reader. He must know the law of libel, therefore, as it is
construed in his state, and must prevent violations of it in the matter
that he edits. Less often he is called upon to decide whether or not
anything in the news story violates laws regulating the transmission of
printed matter through the mail. Whenever the copy-reader is uncertain
on any important point involving the management of the newspaper, he
refers the question to his superiors.
=Some Common Errors.= In reading copy rapidly the beginner will do well
to be on the lookout for certain kinds of common errors in spelling,
grammar, and punctuation. The quick eye of the copy-reader will catch
the frequently misspelled words without difficulty, but uncommon proper
names are more likely to cause trouble, and in cases of doubt, books
of reference should be consulted. To prevent errors in grammar from
slipping through in a story, the copy-reader should note such points as
(1) the agreement of the verb with the subject, particularly when they
are separated from each other by words or phrases; (2) the relation
of pronouns to their antecedents; (3) the position of participles in
relation to the words that they modify; (4) the use of coördinate
conjunctions to connect elements of the same kind; (5) the position
of correlative conjunctions with relation to the elements that they
connect.
In punctuation, not infrequent errors are (1) the use of a comma
instead of a semicolon to separate independent, grammatically
unconnected statements; (2) the omission of apostrophes in the
possessive case and in contractions; (3) the omission of a period
after abbreviations; (4) the use of double instead of single quotation
marks; (5) the failure to put quotation marks at the beginning of each
paragraph of a continuous quotation and at the end of only the last
paragraph.
=Following the “Style Book.”= As each newspaper has its peculiar
“style,” so-called, the copy-reader must learn the rules set forth in
the “style book” which his newspaper prints for the guidance of its
reporters, editors, copy-readers, and compositors. These rules have to
do with capitalization, abbreviation, hyphenation, punctuation, use of
numerical figures, and also with the use of certain words and phrases.
The form and size of each kind of headline and the number or letter by
which it is to be designated in the copy, are sometimes included in the
style book. Every newspaper office has its own method of designating
the heads, either by number or letter, whether or not the method is
printed in the style book. Almost every style book has a long or
short list of “Don’ts,” which includes common errors to be avoided
and frequently those words and phrases that are pet aversions of the
editor-in-chief or of the managing editor.
=How the Copy-Reader Works.= In all this work of the copy-reader the
important element is speed. Every minute is valuable in the newspaper
office, and only those who can work rapidly as well as accurately
can expect to hold a position long. To rearrange, to reconstruct,
to correct, rather than to rewrite, and to do this quickly and
skillfully, is the real work of the copy-reader. To putter over details
is an inexcusable fault. The combination of speed and accuracy in a
copy-reader is the ideal of the editor.
On large newspapers under the plan of having all news copy read at one
desk by copy-readers under the direction of a head copy-reader, every
news story goes to the head copy-reader, who, after deciding on its
value, determines how much space it is worth and what size head it
shall have. Before passing the story over to one of the copy-readers,
the head reader gives it a catch-line, or “slugs” it, to indicate its
character and to serve as a means of identification. He also indicates
by means of a number the size of head to be written for it; for
example, “No. 1 Wreck” indicates the name of the story and the style of
head.
If the copy is being read page by page as fast as it is written rather
than after the whole story is completed, the guide or catch-line may
be repeated at the top of each page, thus “4 Storm,” which means that
this is page 4 of the storm story. The head copy-reader also keeps a
record of all copy that passes through his hands, the entries in which
may be something like this, “Walters—Wreck—500—No. 1—11.15 A.M.—more,”
which means that from one of the members of the staff named Walters,
he received a story of a wreck that contained about 500 words; that he
gave it a No. 1 head; that it went to the composing room to be set up
in type at 11.15 A.M.; and that more of the story is to follow.
When the head copy-reader passes over the story to the copy-reader who
is to edit it, he may give verbal directions in regard to cutting it
down, “playing up” important facts buried by the writer, or improving
the form or expression as he thinks best; or he may leave all these
details to the discretion of the copy-reader. The latter begins to
correct and improve the story as soon as he has finished the piece of
work that he has in hand. It is not unusual during the rush hours when
time is very valuable to send stories to the copy desk as each page
is written, and as the page is edited, to send it up to the composing
room to be put into type, without waiting for the complete story. Under
these circumstances a copy-reader is often editing alternate pages of
several entirely different stories, all the details of which he must
carry in mind in order to handle them intelligently and to write a
complete and accurate headline if, as is sometimes the case, this is
written only after the last page of copy on the story has been read.
=Use of Guide Lines.= Catch-lines, such as “Society,” “State,” “Sport,”
aid in assembling news that is to go on one page or in one department.
When several independent stories, each with a separate head, are to
be assembled so that one will follow the other, the catch-lines may
indicate this thus: “Lead Convention,” “Follow Convention,” “First
Follow Convention,” “Second Follow Convention,” etc. In making up a
report of a state or national political convention, these catch-lines
are of considerable assistance. When, on the other hand, copy is being
edited that is to follow immediately upon the lead or any part of the
story without a separate head, the copy is marked “Add Convention,”
“First Add Convention,” “Second Add Convention,” etc.
Not infrequently after the story has gone to the composing room new
facts of sufficient importance develop to warrant the writing of a
new lead or of a new paragraph or two to be inserted somewhere in
the story. In the case of a new lead the copy is marked “New Lead
Convention,” and the copy of the inserts is marked “First Insert
Convention” or “Insert A Convention.” Whenever it is known in advance
that there are to be additions to the story later, the copy-reader
writes “more” at the end of the piece of copy, instead of the end mark
(#). If the head is not sent to the composing room with the copy, the
copy is marked “Head to Come.” This is often done when it is known that
important news is coming that should be embodied in the head. If this
later news is to be put into the lead, the story may be sent up without
a lead and with the explanation “Lead to Come.” Stories to be used in
a particular edition are marked “Noon Edition,” “Market Edition,” etc.
All these catch-lines should be taken out when the type is assembled in
the forms in making up.
The typewritten copy of telegraph news furnished by news distributing
agencies like the Associated Press and the United Press has guide lines
on stories for the benefit of the editors whenever such explanatory
matter is necessary. In order to keep their newspaper clients informed
of the latest phases of the news, these associations send brief
bulletins and “flash” statements, which they follow with more complete
stories as the news develops. The first news of an accident, for
example, comes as a bulletin, and later more details are furnished in
one or more additions to the original bulletin or in substitution for
it. The following example taken from the United Press telegraph news
service illustrates how news stories, the parts of which are furnished
at intervals during the day, are supplied with guide lines:
(1)
BULLETIN
Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2.—Six men have been reported injured, two
probably fatally, in an explosion on the battleship Vermont, early
today.
———————
(2)
(ADD BULLETIN ... NORFOLK)
The Vermont is now in Hampton Roads and only meagre details of
the reported accident were received by the navy yard here. It was
understood that the explosion occurred in the boiler room of the
vessel.
———————
(3)
(SUBSTITUTE)
Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2.—In an explosion in the boiler room of the
battleship Vermont last night, six men were scalded, two receiving
possibly fatal injuries. While the ship was cruising a short distance
off the capes which form the entrance to Hampton Roads, a part of the
boiler burst, filling the engine room with scalding water and steam.
Captain Hughes immediately sent a wireless message to the hospital
ship Solace and the wounded men were transferred at sea to that
vessel, which brought them to the Norfolk hospital to-day.
The injured men are:
R. M. Wagner, fireman second class.
M. C. Horan, coal passer.
J. R. Newberry, fireman first class.
M. T. Green, fireman first class.
C. A. Hoteling, coal passer.
P. W. Cramer, coal passer.
(MORE)
———————
(4)
(ADD ACCIDENT VERMONT ... NORFOLK)
The accident occurred while the Vermont was anchored off the southern
battlefield drill grounds, where the annual fall target practice
began today. The head of the boiler burst and a torrent of boiling
water and steam poured out over the firemen and coal passers. Wagner
and Haran (correct) who were nearest the boiler head, were the
most seriously injured, both being scalded from head to foot. The
hospital ship Solace asked that the navy hospital here make ready
for the injured men and said that she expected to reach Norfolk this
afternoon. It was reported, but without confirmation, that Haran had
died of his injuries.
———————
(5)
BULLETIN
(LEAD)
Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2.—Two men are dead and four others this afternoon
lie swathed in bandages suffering terribly from scalds, as a result
of a boiler explosion on the battleship Vermont early today. R. M.
Wagner, a fireman, first class, and M. C. Haran, a coal passer, are
the dead.
The hospital ship Solace brought the dead and wounded to the naval
hospital here today. The Vermont broke all her former speed records
in a run
(MORE)
———————
(6)
(ADD BULLETIN LEAD ... NORFOLK)
in a run from the southern drill grounds, outside the capes, to
Hampton Roads, arriving here late this afternoon.
Wagner and Haran both died on the Solace, suffering terribly from the
scalds that covered them from head to foot.
———————
(1)
FLASH: Salem, Mass., Nov. 26.—Ettor, Giovannitti, and Caruso
acquitted.
(2)
BULLETIN: SUBSTITUTE FLASH ALL
Court House, Salem, Mass., Nov. 26.—Ettor, Giovannitti and Caruso,
the three labor leaders who have been on trial nearly two months
charged with murder as the result of the killing of a woman striker
during the textile troubles at Lawrence, were acquitted to-day
(MORE)
=Sizes and Kinds of Type.= Editors and copy-readers need some knowledge
of type in order to do their work efficiently. The size of type
is measured by the point system. The unit of measure, a point, is
one seventy-second of an inch. Six-point type, accordingly, is six
seventy-seconds of an inch, 10-point is ten seventy-seconds of an inch,
and 36-point is thirty-six seventy-seconds, or one half, of an inch
in size. Before the point system was adopted, each size of type had a
name, and these names are still in common use. Thus, 5½-point type is
known as agate, 6-point as nonpareil, 7-point as minion, 8-point as
brevier, 9-point as bourgeois, 10-point as long primer, and 12-point
as pica. Nonpareil, or 6-point, is the size commonly used by large
newspapers, and minion and brevier by smaller papers.
Type is classified as body type and display type. Body type is that
which is used in newspapers for all reading matter; display type is the
large sizes, or “faces,” of type used in headlines and in advertising.
As distinguished from the light-face body type, the heavy faces,
that print blacker than the body type, are known as bold-face type
(abbreviated, “b.f.”). Thus the boxed summaries and lists on pages
86–88 were marked to be set in 6-point bold-face type (abbreviated,
“6-pt. b.f.”).
Type is further classified on the basis of the proportion of the height
of the letter to its width, as extra-condensed, condensed, regular or
medium, and extended. Extra-condensed and condensed faces are used in
the top deck of large headlines, and medium, or regular, faces are
usually used for banner heads extending across the page, as well as in
underline and overline heads for cuts. As distinct from slanting or
Italic type, the usual perpendicular type is called Roman.
Different kinds, or faces, of type are given names by type founders,
such as “Caslon,” “Cheltenham,” “De Vinne,” “Ronaldson.” Each kind or
face is generally made in different sizes, body sizes commonly ranging
from 5½-point to 12-point, and display type from 8-point to 120-point.
A “font” of type of a particular size and kind consists of a complete
set of letters, figures, etc., each character being furnished in
numbers proportional to the frequency with which it appears in ordinary
printed matter. Type is kept in shallow wooden trays, or “cases,”
divided into compartments, or “boxes,” one for each character. Capital
letters (abbreviated “caps.”) are often called “upper case,” and small
letters are always known as “lower case” (abbreviated “l. c.”), because
the capital letters are in the upper of the two type cases and the
small letters in the lower one.
The amount of type set is measured by the number of “ems” (from the
letter “M”). An “em” is a square of a given size of type; i.e., an
em in 8-point type is eight seventy-seconds of an inch square. The
standard unit of measure for type matter is usually the 12-point, or
pica, em. A column of a newspaper that is thirteen ems wide, therefore,
is thirteen 12-point ems, or thirteen picas, in width; i.e., it is one
hundred and fifty-six seventy-seconds of an inch, or two and one sixth
inches wide. Advertising space is measured by the so-called “agate
line,” on the basis of fourteen agate lines to one inch.
In setting type by hand, the compositor has a small metal tray, or
“stick,” inclosed on three sides and adjusted to the width of a column
or a line, into which he places the type, letter by letter, as he picks
it out of the case before him. As a stick holds about two inches of
type, a “stickful” has come to be a common expression for about two
or two and one half inches of printed matter. A news story is spoken
of by editors and compositors as being two or three “stickfuls” long,
and an editor often tells a reporter to “write a stickful or two” on
a particular story, or directs a copy-reader to “cut it down to a
stickful.”
Type is “leaded” when thin strips of lead or brass are placed between
the lines, these “leads” being two points in thickness. When two
of these 2-point leads are placed between the lines, the type is
“double-leaded.” If no leads are used, the type is said to be “solid.”
The first paragraphs of news stories are often leaded, and very
important news, particularly short bulletins for extra editions, are
frequently double-leaded. In most parts of a newspaper, however, the
type is solid. All type and cuts are made of the same height—that is,
they are “type-high”—so that when used together they will present an
even surface for printing and stereotyping.
=Marks Used in Copy Reading.= The marks used in editing copy are a few
simple time-saving devices to indicate to the compositor how the matter
is to be set in type. They are as follows:
[Illustration: Three short lines under a letter or word indicate that
it is to be set in capital letters.]
[Illustration: Two short lines under a letter or word indicate that
it is to be set in small caps.]
[Illustration: One line under a letter or word indicates that it is
to be set in Italics.]
[Illustration: A circle around figures or abbreviations indicates
that they are to be spelled out.]
[Illustration: A circle around a word or numbers spelled out
indicates that they are to be abbreviated or figures used.]
[Illustration: A caret is placed at the point in the line where the
words written above the line are to be inserted.]
[Illustration: The paragraph mark (¶) or the sign ⅃ is placed at
the beginning of each paragraph.]
[Illustration: A cross (×) is used for a period.]
[Illustration: Quotation marks are often put in half circles to
indicate clearly whether they are beginning or end marks.]
Elements to be transposed are marked thus:
[Illustration]
A line is used to connect the end of one line with
the beginning of another when both are to form a
continuous line of print.
The end mark (#) or the number 30 in a circle is
written at the end of every complete piece of copy.
The application of these marks and the catch-lines in the editing of
copy are shown by the following typical pages:
[Illustration:]
[Illustration:]
SUGGESTIONS
1. Familiarize yourself thoroughly with all details of the
typographical style of your paper.
2. Read every word of copy carefully.
3. Work as rapidly as is consistent with accuracy; don’t putter over
corrections.
4. Make all corrections and changes so clear that the compositor can
not misunderstand them.
5. Revise and rearrange whenever possible instead of rewriting.
6. Cut out all needless words and phrases.
7. Don’t think that your own way of expressing an idea is the only good
way.
8. Scrutinize carefully all participles, pronouns, conjunctions,
correlatives, and “only’s.”
9. Watch for the omission of the apostrophe in possessives and
contractions.
10. See that all quoted matter is properly enclosed in “quotes.”
11. Be sure to put single “quotes” on quotations within quotations.
12. Verify names, initials, addresses, dates, and facts generally.
13. Be on the lookout for libelous matter.
14. Give every story a distinctive guide line.
15. Don’t confuse “add’s” and “follow’s” in marking copy.
16. Keep a record of all copy read with size of head, length of story,
author, and time.
17. Draw a line around all directions intended for the compositors.
18. Consult your superior when in doubt about the propriety of anything
in copy.
PRACTICE WORK
Point out all changes that should be made in editing the following
piece of copy and show how each change should be indicated:
Washington, D. C. August 21—
According to a statement issued here to day by the treasury
department the first deposits of the Governments fifty million dollar
fund to aid crop movements will be made in the Southern States in
Aug. and Sept. All deposits in all states, declares William B.
MacAdoo, secretary of the Treasury and who orginated the plan of
assisting banks of the South and West, will be made in 2 equal
allottments. He outlined the Treasury Department’s requirements for
security in to-days statement
While all deposits may be recalled without notice the treasury
expects to recall 25 per centum Dec. 15th, another 25 per centum on
Jan. 15th, another February 15 and the final portion on March 1. The
banks will pay two per cent. interest and all expenses
Secretary McAdoo’s statement says the government expect by making
the deposits in National Banks in principle cities the funds will
be used in good faith for releiving stringancy and not to speculate
with and that it will be distributed to smaller banks at moderate and
reasonable interest. Deposits only will be placed with banks who have
forty per cent of their circulation of banknotes out standing.
10 per cent of the security must be in Government Bonds and the
remaining 90 per cent. may be high class state, municipal and other
bonds at 75 per cent of their market value and approved by the
secretary. Prime commercial or business paper will be excepted at 65
per cent. of their face value when indorsed by the bank, approved by
the Secretary and unanimously approved by a “securities committee”
of 6 members in the clearing house district in which it comes. The
secretary of the treasury will name one member of each comittee.
Commercial paper the statement point out must represent legitinate
commercial transactions preferably endorsed with two names and
the borrowing bank but single name paper will be accepted in the
judgement of the Treasury.
Any of the banks may return the deposits at any time before Mar. 1.
The Secretary’s statement of to day outlined many details which are
chiefly of interest to bankers concerned.