Could you come back? We're kind of busy

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:27 am

Every newly-hired reporter should spend the first month on the copy desk, working as a fledgling copy editor to get firsthand experience in everything copy editors do and know. (Don Fry, Poynter again).***Every "newly-hired" executive editor should spend the first month on the copy desk, maybe, but we really don't have time for "fledgling copy editors" unless they're going to stick with it.***[ June 22, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:51 am

The reporter visitors will probably write headlines and cutlines at first, equipping them to suggest them later.***You're kidding, right?***

thmrit · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 6:36 pm

I'm not sure it's such a horrible idea.
Either to have the new editorial executives or the new reporter to spend some time in the pits.
Most reporters seem to think our only role is to catch their "rare" error and gloat over it.
And of course we sit around for 8 hours getting paid for doing nothing so clearly we're a drain on the editorial budget.
I worked on a desk for over 2 years and one day the house columnist stopped and introduced himself with the apparent belief that I had just arrived.
Walking a few blocks in our shoes (always good to tweak a cliche) might give them a better grasp of why we aren't happy campers.

tommangan · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 6:59 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by thomrit:

Walking a few blocks in our shoes (always good to tweak a cliche) might give them a better grasp of why we aren't happy campers.<hr></blockquote>
Wait a minute, I thought we were all happy campers. Oh, wait, that's testy campers.

drew4au · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 7:23 pm

Maybe I'm just a slow learner (OK. Not maybe. I am a slow learner. Or "methodical thinker" as I prefer to think of it.), but if I were a reporter, starting me on the desk for a month or so wouldn't do much except give my friendly local slot editor conniptions every time I sent a story through. Probably, a month would give even a swift newbie with no desk experience time to learn the front-end system -- and that's about it. But could a reporter parked on the desk get a good sense about the nuances of editing? Odds are, no.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:39 pm

When I worked in Milwaukee, new reporters spent a one-week rotation on the copy desk. It was a big bleeping waste of bleeping time, and I will fight any jackass attempt to do it.They don't want to be copy editors; they don't like copy editing; they think they will never be copy editors (though many eventually will be); a lot of them don't understand or value copy editing.Let them be reporters. Don't send them over here until they burn out.

Testy Copy Editors

Could you come back? We're kind of busy

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