At one fairly large metro paper I worked (circ. around 125,000) just about every editor in every section had "started out on the copy desk." Phrases like "once you get off the copy desk" you may be able to afford a new car, etc. So as a copy editor there, once you found that out, your goal was to get off the desk ASAP. Every person in the newsroom had a business card with their title, but not the copy editors, they were told copy editor isn't a real title. At my next paper, copy editors were a heckuva lot more respected and well-paid, and the last candidates to get laid off or fired. First candidates? Rookie reporters. Also, we got business cards. Yahoo! But face it, the term "famous copy editor" is an oxymoron.
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