Why newspapers should love their copy editors

By Ken Robertson, Herald Executive Editor

Reporters sometimes have a hard time believing it, but the best friend they can ever have is a sharp copy editor.

I was reminded of that again Monday when I was reading a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. A couple of folks from George Mason University were arguing for accountability as the federal stimulus money is spent across the nation.

Their article started out this way:

“President Barack Obama has promised a full accounting online of where his $787 stimulus package is spent ....”

That no one at the Wall Street Journal had noticed a key word — billion — was missing shocked me. Yes, I’ve seen both “billion” and “million” go missing in the Herald’s pages, and both of them trade places at times when they shouldn’t.

And yes, much of my job every day is to preach quality control and teach about the ways good copy editing ensures accuracy.

But I’m still shocked when I see such lapses, especially from a national newspaper with a staff of copy editors that must number in the scores.

How can it happen? Perhaps the editor’s brain knew the number so well that he or she automatically inserted billion while reading. Perhaps an editor rewrote a bit of the text for clarity and billion disappeared. Perhaps the authors never put it in to start with. And perhaps I can’t even guess what really happened.

But I know what the effect was on me. Likely I’ll soon forget the point of the authors’ argument, but I’ll long remember the lapse. And the authors will remember it even more vividly.

They finally get a shot at the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page. And someone’s careless lapse blew it.

Ken Robertson: 582-1520; krobertson@tricityherald.com


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