Creative Editing
Chapter 1
Exercises 1-5
1. Observe the copy editors at your campus newspaper. How does their work compare with the work of professional copy editors, as described in this chapter? Make notes on the differences so you can discuss them in class.
2. Draw a chart to explain the copy desk arrangement at your school or local newspaper.
3. Discuss the relationships of, and explain the differences in job duties performed by, assigning editors, slot editors and copy editors.
4. Try to get an interview with a copy editor at your local newspaper and ask about his or her role and responsibilities in the newsroom. From your discussion, develop your own list of the virtues of a good copy editor.
5. On weekends, large metropolitan dailies contain inserts that are not produced locally but are transported in and inserted in the mailrooms as newspapers come off the presses. Find a Sunday edition of the largest daily in your region and identify inserts that were not produced by the newspaper's regular staff. What characteristics suggest these are out-of-town products? Does this Sunday edition also contain inserts that were produced by the newspaper's regular staff? How can you tell?