Denver Post to cut possibly two-thirds of copy editors

Uh-huh. No problem ...

 

Is this some kind of joke?!!?!?!
'Sometimes reporters will edit one anothers’ work.'
Unbelievable!

 

That "Copy-editing DNA" is going to be a real solid defense in those libel suits.

Oh, and "assistant editors", kiss your overtime pay goodbye.

 

When my old shop was at full capacity, stories were not read 6-7 times.

 

If any good news came out of this it was that fewer people lost jobs than people previously thought...

I talked to a friend at The Post about a week ago and he said they are only a few years removed from regularly having six copy editors (four copy editors, two copy chiefs) working on Saturday and some Sunday nights.

 

I know of two people in sports took the severance package. Both had been there 20+ years. Not sure if there were any others in sports.

 

I assume you are referring exclusively to sports, not the entire newsroom.

 

You assume correctly.

 

One of the benefits a person can gain by working at a smaller paper is developing a variety of skills. At shops where I have worked, it is not at all unusual for someone to write a story, edit stuff and layout pages... sometimes in the same shift, certainly within the same week.

Although I never had the opportunity to take my own photos, I did learn to crop and tone in Photoshop.

It's not such a stretch for a reporter to become a good copy editor or vice versa. It's like moving from the outfield to the infield.... just you have to be able to learn a few new tricks. It's not rocket science. Sure there are always drawbacks to having 10 people to do the work of 20. But things like fact-checking, editing for grammar and punctuation, libel issue, writing headlines, etc. are things all professional journalists should be able to do.

 

I can see that. Six people on a busy night at a paper that size (especially if you are including agate) is not a stretch. Local copy to read, pages to design, photos to deal with plus the steady stream of live national wire stuff is a lot. IIRC, they used to have like a 30-page Sunday sports section a number of years ago. I'm guessing it's probably smaller now.

 

I've worked at places that would have 5-7 people reading copy on football Sundays or when there is any kind of big event going.