CLEAN up your COPY

GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION

CLEAN COPY

Today’s host

MIKE TURLEY Content team manager — Central RegionGateHouse Media News & Interactive Division585.851.9696mturley@corp.gatehousemedia.comTwitter: @ml_turley

• Audio: 877.411-9748; Code: 630-956-8834• Please silence your phones• Do not hesitate to ask questions

THE AGENDA

• Remember when … Where have all the safety nets gone?• The transition Moving from in-house to Design House• Online copy Have our standards really changed?• Hot Zones for errors Avoid embarrassing mistakes

THE TRADITION

150 years of copy

desks

The needfor copy desksdeveloped as newspapers grew in size.

1949: The copy desk at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

THE TRADITION

Safety in numbers

• local copy desk• proofreaders• prepress or

composing department

• press room• hard copy

Source: The Underground

THE TRANSITION

The local news site will:• edit stories and other content for local knowledge• write headlines and cutlines• continue Web management and online editing

Design House will:• give a final read to all copy, but no rewrites• design and layout news and special section pages

THE TRANSITION

Clear, clean and concise: Whose job is it?• Reporters• Assignment editors• Copy editors• Anyone who sees the story before a reader.Bottom line: Everyone is responsible, and it startswith the reporter.Quote“Don’t work in a vacuum. Be aware of what is going on and be prepared to sacrifice your work at the moment to help out in a crisis.” — BILL MITCHELL, Poynter Institute

COPY EDITING TIPS

The quest for clean copy• Don’t assume: If in doubt, leave it out.• Follow your instincts: If it feels wrong, it probably is

wrong.• Err on side of caution: Better to be safe than sorry.• Double entendres: Recognize red flags.• Double-check the math: There is a reason

journalists are not engineers.• Use spellcheck, but don’t completely rely on it.• If time allows, write the story and step away for a

few minutes before reviewing it.

COPY EDITING CHECKLIST

Check, and then check again• First name on first reference • Unusual spellings of names, places, etc.• Titles and positions • Addresses, telephone numbers and URLs • Streets, avenues, roads, drives, boulevards • Personalities, events tied to community • Facts, figures, dates• AP and local style • Bylines, credit lines, tag lines

ONLINE

• Do not compromise our profession’s values, standards and expectations.

• If your website is riddled with errors, credibility will suffer.

• That said, you need to be quick to post online.• Empty your notebook: Publish what facts you have

and let readers know more will come.

ONLINE

• Web readers scan rather than read.• Copy should employ reader-friendly techniques such as bold words, subheads, bullet lists and deep links to Web sites.• Use the inverted pyramid style.• Use simple declarative sentences and keep the adjectives to a minimum.• Use active voice and active verbs.Source: Poynter Institute

Quote“Solid news judgment can’t be replaced by bells and whistles, and we still strive for accuracy and credibility.” — JOE MARREN, The Craft of Online Editing

ONLINE

• Provide key background or contextual information with links. Editors should link to previous stories on the same topics. They also can link to original documents.

• Online, the headline may be the only element readers see. Tell them as much as you can about the story to draw them in.

• Be specific and direct in headlines. Clever may not work online.

Source: SUE BURZYNSKI BULLARD / American Copy Editors Society

ONLINE

Credibility at stakeMistakes made online can be quickly fixed, but the damage already is done.

SOURCE: CRAIG SILVERMAN / Poynter Institute

HOT ZONE — THE HEADLINE

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT• A copy editor works and reworks a headline

until the right words are found and the correct message is conveyed. Changing and rearranging words and sentence structure often lead to grammatical errors that slide through on deadline.

MEAN WHAT YOU SAY. WAIT … SAY WHATYOU MEAN• There are Arabs who are Muslims, and there

are Muslims who are Arabs. But the words are not synonymous.

HOT ZONE — THE HEADLINE

WHEN FACTMEETS FICTIONHow many times have you read a name, title or number in a headline that does not correspond to the same information in a story? CHARLES APPLE / The Visual Side of Journalism

HOT ZONE — THE CUTLINE

NAME GAME• Similar to working with

headlines, do not make the mistake of spelling a person’s name one way in the cutline and another way in the story.

IT SEEMS OBVIOUS TO ME …• Then most likely it is obvious

to the readers. Please give them a little credit … and some information they do not know.

The State Journal-Register

GO FIGURE

HOT ZONE — THE INFOGRAPHIC

SITE TRAFFIC

FacebookTwitterDirectOther

35%

25% 45%

5%

Do not assume numbers in a bar chart are correct or the figures in a pie chart total 100 percent. Do the math. If the figures are in a story, cross-check those as well.

HOT ZONE — THE PULL QUOTE

‘YOU CAN QUOTE ME’• Use caution when pulling a quote from a story and

running it in 12-point type so it catches a reader’s attention. Suddenly, those spoken words nestled halfway down in a story may be taken out of context when standing on their own or resting near a headline.

WHO SAID THAT?• Keep an eye on the name and title lines in a pull

quote. They often are typed in a rush … and incorrectly.

REVIEW

• There are fewer safety nets in today’s environment, so restructure the newsroom to get as many eyes as possible on copy.

• Online copy: The thought process and format may differ from print, but the standards and expectations remain the same.

• Hot Zones: The bigger the type; the bigger the problem.

Quote“You can’t be cavalier about it. People get vocal if they think the level of editing has dropped.”— EMILY INGRAM, THE WASHINGTON POST

CLEAN up your COPY

GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION