Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Comment on newspaper preferences

Below is a comment from Doug Fisher, a journalism professor at the University of South Carolina. I've met Mr. Fisher, since both of us are members of ACES, the American Copy Editors Society.
Doug Fisher said...
Most of these aren't quirks. They're wretched excuses, rationalizations, stupidity, cluelessness, etc.

I love the one - cut anyone not quoted. Even better, cut all the quotes if you want to shorten stuff (most quotes I read are scalpel-ready anyhow) and keep more names in. Sell more papers and maybe get a little more diversity in the process.


He's right that senior editors make excuses and rationalizations. Maybe the stupidity and cluelessness, too.

I found his comment about quotes interesting. Editors recently edited out some of the quotes in my story, completely changing it. If they'd asked, I'd have edited it to fit.
Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

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