WAG - What I did on my editing shift…
Not much.
This was how I typically started all those “What I did on my Summer Vacation” essays during my stay in public schools. I didn’t necessarily write down that first statement, but I usually mentally acknowledged it before writing anything else. Then I’d recount the words in the title and the byline (by Caleb Michael Smith) before pondering what I was going to do to fill up the 190 words I have left in my 200-word essay.
Note: I didn’t start using my middle name in my byline in the sixth grade to squeeze one more word into my essays, but it certainly has added a tiny bit to each paper that was tied to a word count that I’ve composed ever since.
Anyway, with that introduction out of the way, I don’t have much else left to report.
Part of the reason I postponed writing an update was that I was scheduled to meet with my editing teacher Wednesday afternoon. I was curious if she’d have some comments or observations to add.
She didn’t. And that will make my comments even briefer, but here it goes…
I had the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. shift, which consisted of editing syndicated editorials, which had been edited once before. It’s nice to know while working the wire that not only do you have a net beneath you, because my work would be reviewed by several other editors, I also had the added comfort of another layer of protection. It was like I had a bunch of clowns running around beneath me with one of those trampoline things.
Editing and grammar weren’t too much to worry about. The main thing was converting the stories to Missourian style, which isn’t too far removed from most newspapers’ styles, but has enough quirks in it to keep you honest. I fiddled with some dashes and removed some courtesy titles and that was it.
I did edit one letter to the editor from a concerned citizen, complaining about an “ABC Primetime” investigation story that used shortcomings at three Veterans Association hospitals to make the entire VA system look bad.
It was a well-organized letter, but it does make me pause when it rails against people who reported legitimate problems. I would assure the agitated viewer that the intent wasn’t to paint the entire system as deficient as much as inform viewers and keep the VA hospitals on their toes. Is that such a bad thing? Also, if there is going to be much publicity and scrutiny following the people who mess up, isn’t that incentive to keep others from breaking the rules too?
Anyway, I spent most of my time working on headlines and picking quotes to be pulled out and featured along side the columns. Finding the killer quote – now that’s a fun job.
Working the headlines wasn’t as much fun, except for the delight one has when you finally get your headline to fit.
Note: I don’t know the name of the program, but there’s a feature in the editing program that will indicate a red, yellow, or green color depending on how well the headline fits. Green = good, red = bad, and yellow = will work in a pitch. It can be annoying watch the letters stretch to the end of the boundary going, “One, two, three, four, red light!” Shoot! Try again.
Upon reading the newspaper the next day, I found two of my three headlines were retained (and the other one was just reorganized, keeping all the key terms) and they kept one of the two representative comments I put down.
Not bad, I figured. I’m sure in the future I’ll be working shifts longer than two hours with more responsibility than reviewing previously edited articles, but I’ll get to that in time.
So now, after running word count (and confirming my essay has attained the minimum required length [or much more than that as deemed by some readers {but noting that only further pads out the length}]), I will simply turn this transitory thought into a closing statement and finally end this essay which has reached the length of 700 words.
'The_End'
