No matter how careful and talented a writer you are, you want an editor to give your story a careful reading. Here’s what a difference an editor can make.
An editor takes a red pen to a story draft. (Illustration by News Decoder)
At News Decoder, we share advice for young people from experts in journalism, media literacy and education. In this week’s journalism tips, News Decoder’s Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner explains the editing process and why it is important.
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Whether the person who edits your article or podcast is a media professional, your teacher or even a fellow student, it’s their job to make sure you publish the very best version of your story. You want to help them do that.
It’s the role of a journalist to gather information and create the news story.
Editors and producers will ultimately decide what stories will end up on a news site. In making that decision they consider a number of factors: how important or interesting a story is, whether or not it is timely and whether it is relevant to their audience.
They also need to consider whether the story is readable, clear and factual. They won’t want to publish a story that is a tedious read, confusing, disorganized or contains dubious information from untrustworthy sources.
You can make the editing process easier and build up a good reputation with an editor by considering all those factors before you submit a story draft.
By considering all these things in advance you can make that job easier for editors and build a great relationship with them.
What the editorial eye will spot
Once you submit a draft, there are a number of things they will look for:
This article and audio was adapted from an interview with News Decoder Educational News Director Marcy Burstiner, produced as part of News Decoder’s partner project Mobile Stories.
Mobile Stories is a publishing tool for young people. It provides guidance on how to create trustworthy news content while upholding journalistic ethics.
Tips for working with an editor
Redundancy: Did you repeat anything unnecessarily?
Accuracy: Did you make any factual mistakes or is anything misleading and can be read in a number of different ways?
Sourcing: Were you able to show where your information came from and did you get the information from credible sources?
Balance: Did you recognize multiple and opposing viewpoints or is the story one-sided and preachy?
Organization: Did you bury the most interesting or important thing way down into your story? Did you wait too long to quote someone?
Paragraphing: Are your paragraphs way too long? Long paragraphs are daunting to read, so try breaking them up. A paragraph can be a single sentence.
Language: Is the story full of jargon normal people wouldn’t understand or long words only highly-educated people would know?
Complexity: Is your story bogged down by too much information that isn’t really necessary?
Clarity: Can a normal person understand the story on a quick read or is it confusing in any way?
The editor’s role
Ultimately the editor’s job is to make the story clear and readable. And both those things are hard to spot when you are the writer.
Sometimes reporter balk at the suggestions editors make or the changes they insist must be done. When you have taken a lot of time and effort to report a story and have carefully worded and reworded your article it hurts to learn that it isn’t finished or that the editor thinks there are problems with it.
But journalism is a collaborative process. It’s your story but it is also the editors story and the publication’s story. Your name will be on it — we call that the byline — but it will affect the publication’s reputation and that of the editor. Editors can find themselves fired or suspended if they publish a story that should not have been published. That’s the negative side of it.
On the positive side, most editors genuinely want to make the story better — clearer, more powerful, a better overall read. And isn’t that what you want too? Over the course of my career, editors have saved me time and again by spotting mistakes I had inadvertently made. They have strengthened my writing and made me a better writer.
Now if an editor suggests or insists on a change you really think isn’t necessary or will harm your story then fight against that. But do so respectfully and professionally.
Ultimately the process isn’t meant to be fair. The editor has the final say. But if you can make a strong case and if you can show your editors why you care so much, chances are they will yield. Often this becomes a negotiation to find a way to word the material that satisfies both of you. But pick your battles carefully. No editor wants to work with a writer who fights every change or suggestion.
A good partnership between a journalist and editor will help you write a great story and help ensure it stands up to the scrutiny of your audience.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
1. What is one way an editor can improve your story?
2. If an editor wants change a story in a way you don’t like, what should you do?
3. What traits do you have that would make you a good editor?
Marcy Burstiner is the educational news director for News Decoder. She is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication at the California Polytechnic University, Humboldt in California. She is the author of the book "Investigative Reporting: From premise to publication."
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