Specifically, is it better to have been a reporter before becoming a copy editor, or can a career copy editor have just as much perspective and garner just as much newsroom respect as one who has "worked their way up"?<p>As an example, I'll offer myself and one of my co-workers. I'm in my fourth year as a copy editor, after having worked 11 years as a reporter. I've worked at several newspapers in the region and as such developed a word-of-mouth reputation as a solid journeyman scribe -- no Pulitzer Prizes in my future, but somebody who carried the freight and delivered the goods in low-maitenance fashion. In fact, even though I'd hired on at my current paper for a desk position, they initially tried to land me as a reporter. So when I edit copy, reporters tend to come to me with their questions about how to organize facts or how to turn a certain phrase, etc. This is a sore point with my copy-desk counterpart, who has in her fifth year as a copy editor but has never been a reporter. She feels "disrespected" because the writers go through her and come to me. It's hard for me to explain to her that there's an indelible bond of sorts between those who have "been in the trenches" and have a shared experiences, sort of like Vietnam War veterans or something -- people who haven't fought in the war can't speak credibly to the experience, even if they know the history and strategy and hold a certain rank of authority. But she takes this as people assuming that I'm superior to her, and as my own assumptuon that my skills are superior to hers, when I can't really say that's the case. She's really pretty good, and she does outrank me in the newsroom hierarchy largely by virtue of the fact that she's been here a year longer than I ... but she just lacks that "Band of Brothers" quality that would get her the respect she thinks she deserves.<p>What do you think? Is it really better to be a copy editor who's been a reporter? Does that make for an inherently better copy editor? Or is it all a matter of perecption. And if so, is it a VALID perception? What's your own experience in this regard ... have you ever had to confront this issue?
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