Editing

Module 1

What is editing? – Rules and principles of editing – Editing personnel – Organisation of a news desk – Editing
wing in general – Planning and preparation by the editorial team

Module 2

News room operations – news processing – editing for clarity and accuracy – objectivity – fairness – stylebook –
handling reporter’s copies and agency copies – press releases -- translation

What is editing?

Editing can generally be described as the process of preparing language, images or sound for presentation
through correction, condensation, organisation and other modifications. A person who edits, either
professionally or as a hobby, is called an editor.

In the context of print editing, which generally constitutes newspapers and magazines, editing involves more
than making sure words are spelled correctly, language is used properly and punctuation is in the right place.
These, however, are important details that separate a polished publication from a sloppy one. Editors act as
gatekeepers of an organisation and hence should have a clear idea about the rules and policies of an
organisation. They should also be good listeners as the writer should be heard first.

The goal of an editor is two-fold – To capture the essence of the story and to entice the reader into reading it.
The editor must understand the story first, if he cannot understand, then how can the reader understand? The
editor should also be able to create interest in the reader to read the story completely.

Rules of editing

1. Reads the story for clarity of language and meaning and rewrites when necessary.
2. Shortens the story while retaining the essentials and maintaining coherence.
3. Combines one story with another, or perhaps combines running reports from several news agencies,
correspondents and reporters to produce a single intelligible report from different and sometimes
contradictory messages.
4. Saves the space when verbosity creeps in.
5. Corrects the grammar and checks the stylebook.
6. Checks apparent error for facts.
7. Checks for legal errors (libel, contempt of court, etc).
8. Checks for taste.
9. Adds important background facts and provides answers for any implied questions.
10. Writes headlines which attracts the attention of the reader and also writes sub headings if necessary.
Basic principles of editing

1. Give the main points of the news in the first paragraph (the inverted pyramid style of writing).
2. Check out whether the 5 W’s and 1H is there in the story (Who, what, when, where, why and how).
3. Give very attractive headlines which fits in the space allotted for that story.
4. Check and recheck names, titles, facts, figures, dates and addresses. Whenever in doubt, either crosscheck
with the reporter or check with a reference book or manual.
5. Check that the story is balanced.
6. Use short sentences and short paragraphs.
7. Repeat names in court reports rather than referring to them as ‘accused’ or ‘witnesses’.
8. Always crosscheck spellings of foreign names.
9. Avoid the use of jargons. Simplify technical terms used in science, medicine, engineering, etc, so that it is
understood by the common man.
10. Do not begin sentences with words like ‘despite’ or ‘because’.
11. Do not use vague phrases like ‘a serious charge’ or ‘a certain offence’.
12. Use concrete words – words which make the reader see, hear, smell and taste.
13. Be careful about pronouns. The misuse of relative pronouns and punctuation are the most common
grammatical errors in news stories.
14. Editorializing any trace of personal opinion or a value judgement should be eliminated from the copy unless
it is a feature or a news analysis.

Skills to be possessed by editing personnel

1. Communication skills: Editing personnel should be able to speak as well as write well. They should be able
to read well as write well. They should be able to write in various styles, very freely and in a way that will
create interest in the reader.
2. Social skills: Editors are tactful, good at negotiating and have respect for other’s views.
3. Cognitive skills: Cognitive means involving conscious mental activities such as thinking, understanding,
learning and remembering. Editors are good at abstract, inductive and critical thinking. They quickly
identify the essence of a piece of writing and grasp underlying concepts and themes.
4. Reading skills: Editors must have great reading skills so that they can easily gain meaning from text.
5. Imagination and initiative: Editors perceive how to transform raw text into an effective publication by
imagining the reader’s needs. They are resourceful in solving problems and finding information.
6. Concentration, perseverance and attention to detail: Editors engage with complex written materials for
days and weeks at a time. They are methodical and meticulous, performing tedious, repetitive tasks with
painstaking ease.
7. Managerial and administrative skills: Editors are good at organising, prioritising, and meeting deadlines.
They keep track of the numerous multi-stage projects over extended periods.
8. Team players: Editors collaborate well and they expect the reporter or the organisation or the publisher to
take credit for their work.
Organisation of a news desk

A newsroom is the place where journalists – reporters, editors, photographers, producers and other staff work
together to gather news to be published in a newspaper or a magazine. The organisation of a news desk starts
with a sub editor at the base of the diagram. A sub editor edits the story and checks the grammar, spellings and
factual errors. He also checks for punctuations, gives the story a headline and finally checks for objectivity. A
sub editor is also responsible to make pages for the newspaper.

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editor

News Editor

Department Editor/ Desk Chief

Chief Sub Editor

Senior Sub Editor

Sub Editor

Picture Editor

Page Designers

Senior sub editors are the next in the line and they head a group of sub editors. Their main responsibility is to
monitor the functioning of the sub editors and check the edits made by the sub editors. In addition to this they
are also responsible to edit stories and make pages. Chief sub editors monitor the work of the senior sub editors
and sub editors. They distribute the work passed on by the desk chief to the senior sub editors and the sub
editors. They also crosscheck all the stories edited by both the senior sub editors and sub editors. They also
assist the desk chief to finalise and prioritise the content for a page.

The department editor or the desk chief is the head of each desk. A newspaper will have various desks like a
local desk, state desk, national desk, international, sports, business, entertainment, etc. Each desk will have a
desk chief who heads that desk. He will have a team of chief sub editors, senior sub editors and sub editors to
assist him in his operations. He is the person who finalises the contents in his page and also selects and
prioritises the contents for a page.

News editor is the link between the bureau and the desk. He works right from the morning coordinating the
functioning of various bureaus. He lists out important events in the day and passes it to the respective desk
chiefs for their information. By evening he prepares a final list of important events of the day, special stories to
be taken in a page and also coordinates the functioning of the photographers. The final list of important events
to be taken in a page is passed on to the respective desk chiefs before they start their work in the evening.
Managing editor is the second highest rank in a newspaper organisation. He manages the work of the editorial
department and is also responsible for the financial part of a newspaper. He also heads the advertising and
circulation sections of a newspaper and manages its smooth functioning. He also crosschecks the various news
in the day’s newspaper to see whether any harm is done to the paper’s advertisers.

Editor-in-Chief is the highest in rank in the newspaper. He need not always be a journalist. He can also be the
owner of the newspaper. The editor-in-chief checks out the overall functioning of the newspaper office and he
is responsible for all the content that appears in the newspaper.

Picture editor is usually a senior photographer who helps the news editor to coordinate the functioning of the
various photographers. The picture editor is the person who selects which all pictures have to be taken from a
pool of photographs. The photographers submit the pictures taken in a day to the picture editor. He checks the
pictures for clarity of elements, quality and whether the picture s genuine. He also crosschecks the pictures
when they appear on a page. When cropping is done, he checks whether all the essential elements are present.

Page designers are usually artists who design the pages in a newspaper. They assist the sub editors and senior
sub editors to make pages. They make attractive designs so that the newspaper looks fresh and distinct from
the other day’s newspaper. Their main responsibility is to make the newspaper interesting to read by bringing
out fresh designs.

Editor-in-Chief

Kingpin of a newspaper.
Editor takes all important decisions related with the publication of news and expression of opinion, vital
national and international issues.
It is the editor who can be sued for libel, be summoned before courts and legislatures.
Every newspaper in India under the law is required to print the name of its editor.
Most leading newspapers opt for editors from among proprietors. There are instances where journalists
also become editors.
Looks after the business aspects and editorial functions of the newspaper with the help of the managing
editor and news editor.
Editor-in-Chief is not the person who writes the editorial.

News editor

Plans a daily newspaper.

Central position in the actual production of a newspaper.
News editor is in charge in a newsroom and its major responsibility is the selection of news to be included
in a daily newspaper.
News editor is answerable to the editor-in-chief. He allocates tasks to the news team and instructs the
reporters on which angles should be highlighted in reports.
A good news editor is what makes a great newspaper. He assigns priorities and decides what all news shall
appear where and how.
 The task of conceiving the morning news conference and the evening editorial meetings is also entrusted
with the news editor.
The news editor in consultation with the bureau chief will decide what news stories will be covered and
what in detail.
He is also the authority to stop the printing of a newspaper in order to accommodate important breaking
news. He must scan all incoming news and issue directions for appropriate editing.
Dummy for the first page is directed by the news editor.
A news editor is usually a senior journalist who has years of editing and reporting experience.

Editorial department of a newspaper

Editor-in-Chief

Resident Editor

Managing Editor

News Editor

Bureau Desk

Bureau ChiefDesk Chief

Special CorrespondentsFeatures Editor

Chief ReporterChief Sub Editor

Senior ReporterSenior Sub Editor

ReporterSub Editor

Cub/Trainee ReporterCub/Trainee Sub Editor

Resident Editor

The edition of a newspaper is headed by the resident editor. A senior journalist is chosen from among news
editors. Plays the role of the editor-in-chief for editions that are located far away from the newspaper’s
head office. Eg: The Times of India has its editor-in-chief in Mumbai and the Kerala edition published from
Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode is under the supervision of the resident editor for Kerala who
sits in Kochi.
Resident editor controls the news editor, desk chief and bureau chief.
Bureau Chief heads the bureau. Special correspondents are very senior reporters who do much specialised beat
reporting and writing editorials. Chief reporters, senior reporters and reporters do beat reporting as well as
general reporting.

Planning and preparation by the editorial team

The sub editor also known as copy editor plays a major role in the editing process. A sub editor is the presenter
of news. He must have a lawyer’s analytical approach and quick mindedness which enables him to understand
the story quickly. A sub editor should select important points from a mass of material sent by the reporters,
condense them and shape them in a logical and interesting way.

All news stories which have to appear in a daily newspaper must go through the hands of a sub editor. The chief
sub editor distributes the copies among the sub editors for editing. The first task of a sub editor is to check
whether the story has value. The second task is to ensure the story is accurate, fair, clear and complete. If the
copy has no news value, then it is not worth printing, no matter how accurate or well-written the copy is.

The most important task of a sub editor is to make the news more meaningful to the readers. Polishing the
language, writing headlines, selecting and fitting the news into the available space and designing a page and lay
outing it, etc are aimed at making the news readable and appealing to the readers.

After editing, the copy is submitted to the senior sub editor for his approval. Any more errors are checked and
the final copy is passed on to the chief sub editor who again scrutinises the copy and hands it over to the desk
chief to be in the newspaper page.

The dummy page would have arrived by then and the desk chief with the help of the chief sub editor distributes
the edited stories which have to be placed on a page. He also mentions which the lead story is as well as the
prominence each story should get on a page. The sub editor under the supervision of the senior sub editor and
with the help of the page designer completes the layout and submits the page for approval. The desk chief, chief
sub editor and senior sub editor checks through the completed page and after making the final corrections if
any is approved by the desk chief and the page is cleared for printing.

The editing process

The main consideration in editing is to tell the story in the fewest possible words. Condensation is essential
because there is more material than can be used. The second consideration is clarity, which is obtained by
avoiding complex sentence structure and complex words. Use familiar words instead. The third is forceful
expression. The sub editor must constantly seek the most effective way to express ideas. The fourth aspect is
accuracy. This means looking out for small factual errors, which if not eliminated can create blunders.

Editing involves more than making sure words are spelt correctly, language is properly used, punctuation is in
the right place, etc.

Editing requires good language skills. News should be edited lightly. Do not over edit a news report by rewriting
the whole story. Let the reporter have his individuality. But in extreme cases where stories have to be rewritten,
this has to be done. If a story is written very poorly, send it back to the reporter and ask him to write again.

There might be instances when the structure of the content or the story has to be changed. This can be done in
order to maintain the flow of the story.

The sub editor should also check out for missing content in the story. Read and re-read the story and check for
logic. If it doesn’t create sense, contact the reporter concerned and ask for the expansion. For long stories,
wherever possible, provide sub heads so that it becomes easy for the reader to extract information out of it.

Essential elements of every news story

Every news story should have five essential elements – accuracy, clarity, attribution of source, fairness and
objectivity.

1. Accuracy: The facts in a story should be correct, down to the minute details. A reporter must be precise
with every bit of the details of a story. Readers tend to judge a newspaper’s readability by their own
experiences with its record of accuracy. News stories with mistakes are a sign of a lazy reporter.
2. Attribution: Source identification should be specific as possible. Use the person’s name if possible, not
merely ‘a spokesperson’. A reporter should not invent news source or attribute information to such vague
quarters like ‘an informal source’, ‘a confidential observer’, etc. The source from which a story’s
information is obtained must be clearly identified. Failure to do so will definitely create suspicion in the
minds of the readers.
3. Clarity: Each and every element in a news report should be clear. They should never leave any doubt in the
minds of the readers. All implied questions should be answered and the reader shouldn’t be given vague
information.
4. Fairness: News stories should be fair in their presentation of information. They should not serve the vested
interests of groups or individuals. When a person criticises the behaviour or opinions of another person in
a story, basic fairness requires that the person criticised must have an opportunity to respond.
5. Objectivity: Writers should try to keep their personal opinions out of a news story. In general, readers are
unable to detect the reporter’s political beliefs, religious affiliations and social attitudes. Every reporter
will have his personal beliefs, interests and involvements, but these should not be allowed to creep into the
story.

News processing

Editing begins the moment a reporter composes a story. This process continues till the report appears on a
newspaper. The copy editor or the sub editor at the desk cares for language, the clarity of thought and
expression and accuracy. The sub editor who plays a major role in the editing process is describes as ‘the most
useful person in the newspaper. The various steps involved in the editing process are:

1. Ensuring accuracy
2. Trimming unnecessary words
 3. Protecting and polishing language
4. Correcting inconsistency
5. Making the story conform to style
6. Eliminating libellous statements
7. Eliminating passage in poor taste
8. Making a story readable and complete
9. Writing the headline
10. Editing pictures and designing pages

Ensuring accuracy: Good reporting is the key ingredient in ensuring accuracy. But the person who edits also
shares this responsibility. Sub editors ensure accuracy by checking and rechecking the facts and if needed they
would seek clarifications from the reporters about the information in a story. Carelessness can lead to blunders
and embarrassing mistakes. They can greatly tarnish the reputation of a newspaper.

Trimming unnecessary words: Unnecessary words, adjectives and adverbs should be trimmed. If an event is very
interesting, it is sufficient to say interesting. Similarly, destroyed is better than totally destroyed. Meaningless
phrases should be eliminated. For example, the following phrases could be replaced with the words given in
brackets: a great number of times (often); a small number of (few); at regular intervals of time (regularly); made
an investigation of (investigated); placed its seal of approval (approved), etc.

Protecting and polishing language: Editing involves polishing the language. An editor should have a thorough
knowledge of the grammar and language issues. He plays a major role in protecting the language against abuse.
People at the desk should know how to spell, should be able to make sure that a story is written in proper
language, to reorganise and clarify passages and to protect the meanings of words. Clear writing, correct
spelling and grammar contribute to the ready communication of ideas.

Correcting inconsistencies: Inconsistencies within the story should be detected and corrected. Inconsistencies
in a story can confuse the reader.

Eg: INSAT 1A launched in 1982bended its life prematurely, whereas INSAT 1A launched in 1983 was a grand
success.

Here the sub editor should detect the mistake that INSAT 1A cannot be launched twice. It was INSAT 1B which
was launched in 1983. So that mistake should be corrected.

Making the story conform to style: The word ‘style’ in newspaper jargon refers to the consistency provided by
rules of usage in a newspaper. Newspapers adhere to the rules of style to avoid inconsistencies that would
annoy the reader. Adherence to style rules gives the newspaper a sense of consistencies that would be absent if
goodbye were used in one story and goodby in the next. Similarly it would annoy the readers if a newspaper uses
A. B. Vajpayee in one story, A B Vajpayee in another and Mr A. B. Vajpayee in yet another occasion. Stylebooks
provide guidance in spelling, word usage, punctuation, titles and many other areas.

Eliminating libellous statements: Libel is written accusation. The editor must know the libel laws of the
country. Libellous/defamatory sentences/statements should be eliminated. It is the duty of the sub editor to
ensure that the stories are free from such statements.

Eliminating passages in poor taste: Most reputed newspapers have policies banning offensive words or
language in their newspapers. For example, by convention, reputed newspapers will not publish the victim’s
names and other identity in a story on rape. Madhyamam newspaper does not publish film advertisements and
also photographs of skimpily dressed men and women as they consider these items in poor taste.

Make the story readable and complete: A story that is readable and complete has the following characteristics.

a. It is precise
b. It is clear
c. It has a pace appropriate to the content
d. It uses traditional devices that lead the reader from one thought to the next
e. It appeals to the readers senses.

Writing the headline: A copy editors first task is to correct and refine the copy. The second task is to write a
headline that attracts the reader’s attention, summarises the story, depicts the mood of the story and helps to
set the tone of the newspaper.

Editing pictures and designing pages: An important event in the editing process is the packaging of news
stories in a page. Designing the page aids the reader to read faster and read more of what is written. The
packaging or designing of a newspaper is considered as important as its contents.

Quality of writing depends upon the reporter, but the sub editor can do much to help. Good editing
complements good writing. Occasionally, good editing can save mediocre writing. Poor editing can make it
worse or destroy it.

How to edit a story?

Editing is also called as copy editing and a sub editor is also called as copy editor. The story which you take for
editing is called a copy. The following are the steps that you follow while editing a story:

1. Read the story in total

Understand what the reporter is trying to convey. Also check what supporting items you have for that story like
pictures, captions, information boxes, etc. You should crosscheck all these elements together and check
whether they all get together. Are the byline and dateline correct? Look for bad or missing punctuations,
grammar and spelling errors, incomplete sentences, repeating words, improper day references, etc. Double
check names of persons and places. Be sure to run a spell check at the end as everyone is bound to make
mistakes.

1. Let the writer keep his or her voice

You may come across a copy that is poorly written and there rewriting becomes necessary. But editors should
make note to change only what is necessary and not edit just because your job is to edit. Leave the story
untouched if it is a clean copy. A clean copy is a story that has no mistakes and adheres to the stylebook.
 1. Edit the captions

Crosscheck names, places, events, organization titles, etc in the story. This can be done by crosschecking with
the reporter. The sub editor can also make use of the newspaper library or even check the internet.

1. Headlines

Make sure that the headline accurately reflects the main point of the story and whether there is any possibility
to give sub heads. Spell check the headlines and the sub headlines.

1. Is it really ready to go?

Check and re-check the story that you have edited. Check again for factual errors. If you are waiting for some
missing information, file the story only after the reporter calls you back with the missing information.

1. Review the final product

You will now have the final product with you – the headline, the lead, the text of the story, the picture which has
to go along with the story and the captions. Crosscheck whether everything fits together. Have a final read with
all the elements placed together.

Apart from this, a sub editor should also help in the page making process. Each sub editor will be assigned a
page and the desk chief will hand over the dummy page and the set of stories. The dummy page is the page
which will have the advertisements marked on it. You will know the space allotted for each story after you get
the page designed by the page designer. This is when your editing skills become handy again. There could be
circumstances when you have to trim the story or even the headline to fit in the space available. At this point
also the sub editor if forced to exercise his editing skills.

Stylebook

Every newspaper has a style of its own. The stylebook contains the do’s and don’t’s – the codified guidelines –
which all editors and reporters follow with enough care. The standards are set in so as to ensure uniformity in
writing styles. This consistency will impart a newspaper quality, shape and identity. The stylebook is also
considered as the journalists Bible. The stylebook contains the history of the newspaper – right from the
beginning to where it presently stands. It also contains the rules and regulations of the organisation, the
company policy, the politics followed by the newspaper, the sacred cows and also the hierarchy of the
newspaper. The spellings which a newspaper uses will be distinct. All that will be mentioned in the stylebook.
Also some newspapers use appellations like Mr or Mrs whereas some newspapers do not use them. So is the
case of abbreviations – full out a name first and then abbreviate. Eg: Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO). Then there could be a set of words which a newspaper will never use. You should also avoid redundancies
as that will create confusion and boredom. The stylebook will also have details about the fonts that can be used
for typography, the size of the headlines, the size of the body text, captions, where to place photo credits, etc.

Handling reporter copies and agency copies

Close to 80% of the newspaper content is supplied by the reporters of that particular organisation. Handling
reporter copies is fairly easy as all reporters are aware of the stylebook of the organisation he works for. But
still, you have to apply all the rules of editing when editing a story and double check whether the story follows
the stylebook.

Another source of news is the content newspaper organisations get from subscribing to news agencies. Some
popular international news agencies are Reuters, Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Presse (AFP). The
biggest news agency in India is Press Trust of India (PTI) followed by United News of India (UNI).

Newspaper organisations subscribe the services of the news agencies and the agencies provide news from
across the globe. The reports supplied by the news agencies are called agency copies or wire copies. A lot of
attention is required when editing agency copies. Such copies would be written in a style which conforms to
their agency and not our newspaper. So it is the responsibility of the sub editor to check and rewrite the agency
copy to ensure that it is in accordance with the stylebook of the newspaper organisation.

Press releases

Press releases are another source of information. They are circulars made and distributed to newspapers or
reporters. Press releases or news releases are information sheets sent to the newspaper offices by individuals,
public relations departments of private companies, clubs, governments, trade unions, political parties, etc.
seeking free publicity through newspapers. They are also called hand-outs. Press releases are not written by
journalists and hence they might lack structure. So a sub editor must read it in full, understand the essence of
the content and then write the story in a structured manner and following all the principles of editing and the
stylebook of the newspaper. Press release could be in local languages and these should be translated into the
language of your newspaper before you can use it.

Translations

Translating content from and to your local language is another job of a sub editor. This especially happens when
you are working for regional newspapers. While translating, you are supposed to read the whole story and
understand its essence and then translate rather than going for word by word translations without
understanding the meaning.

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