Where Have All the Copy Editors Gone?

As an editor, I’ve seen a lot of ugly writing in my day. Some of it still makes me cringe – or laugh – but in general, it doesn’t faze me. In fact, I’m grateful for all the crappy writers out there; if not for them, I’d be sitting on my couch in my cute sleep pants from Old Navy watching a rerun of “Law & Order: SVU” right now. Hmm, that actually doesn’t sound so bad. Let me clarify: If not for them, I’d be unemployed right now.

I differentiate between trained writers and non-trained writers, however. That is, if your degree is in political science, I’ll forgive you when you confuse “affect” with “effect.” But if you have a degree in journalism, or even if you don’t but your title involves the word “editor” or “reporter” or a variation thereof, well, I might go all get-off-my-lawn with you over a simple mistake.

It’s easy to pick on CNN.com over this. Finding a mistake on CNN.com has become such a regular occurrence that it’s like taking candy from a baby – no, easier than that, like taking candy from a fetus (this makes no sense). Take this recent gem:

A fine editing gem from CNN.com

Gah. Painful. I realize it’s easy to mistype and use one word (“work”) when you mean another (“week”), but this is supposed to be a news site run by professionals. Someone – the reporter, his/her editor, the copy editor, the person who actually uploads the content onto the site – should have caught it. Processes should be in place at a major news organization to avoid such errors.

“Oh, come on,” you say. “That’s one little word in the middle of a paragraph in the middle of a story. These things happen!” Fair enough. But what about the below example?

Another fine, fine editing example from CNN.com

Try to defend this one. Do it. I dare you. It’s in the very first sentence. It’s within the first six words. And it’s enough to make any reader pause and back up. It’s that obvious.

Leaving CNN.com alone for now (I’m starting a collection of these, by the way, and plan on posting them on an as-needed basis), here’s another example. This one came from the website of the Houston Chronicle, but the story came straight from none other than the Associated Press:

How many homes are we talking about here, kids?

The Associated Press! The very creators of my beloved stylebook! To be fair, when I refreshed the page a few hours later, the second “homes” had been changed to “churches.” Someone caught that one – eventually.

I realize there are many reasons why it seems, to me at least, that errors by professional writers are becoming more and more common. We’ve become a demanding public that wants the latest news now. Quantity seems to be becoming more important than quality. Journalism schools are closing, perhaps resulting in fewer, or not as well-trained, editors and writers. Heck, maybe I’m becoming a better editor and finding mistakes I would’ve missed in the past (though I kind of doubt it).

I’m sure I make mistakes sometimes as well, although I have no proof because I refuse to look at anything I worked on at my job after it comes in from the printer. And sure, you’ll probably find mistakes on this blog. Of course, this is a one-woman show here, and I’m not getting paid for my blog. Keep that in mind.

It’s sloppy. Plain and simple. And I fear it’s only going to become more and more common as people continue to text more and more and use annoying shorthand in place of actual words. So, yeah, go ahead and get off my lawn already. And wake me when it’s time for supper.