A reporter’s-eye view of editing

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/19/a-reporters-eye-view-of-edi.html

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I swear that this has happened to every sports game summary story I try to read. Obviously the outcome is probably your lede, but after that there’s no reason the rest of the game should be presented out of order and yet it almost always is.

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Poor subs. They’re all but extinct now.

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As a newspaper editor, I highly approve of this post. Thanks for sharing!

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How curious that the New York Times rules didn’t know how to spell “lede” (cf rule #1)

(Hoo-boy, ex-newsroom flunkie and ex-editor here…If I could do a decent Archer imitation I’d start singing Danger Zone right now ; -)

I’m in the Howard Owens camp on this one: Lede is a fairly recent piece of jargon, with no real legitimate claim to being the One True Word. Ready? Fight!

(But here’s something beyond debate – the best. lead. ever.
He coulda been a credenza. )

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i see the joke here is that editors make arbitrary and unreasonable changes to the otherwise-impeccable writing of reporters. in my experience editing at a newspaper, reporters were rarely competent writers. that’s why the paper hired editors.

If you-all consider 50+ years ago, ~1965, to be “fairly recent” well then gawd-bless ya, sez i.

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