Editers? Who need 'em?

This sort of cutline information gets through to our desk on a regular basis. Sometimes we're able to dig up the IDs, sometimes not. Too often, we're told by people up the line, "We can't help you, so just write something generic." In the past, the latter scenario would have generated a nasty memo or temper tantrum from someone up the line. Now, sadly, it doesn't seem to bother anybody -- as long as we make our almighty deadlines.

 

When times got tough, nobody abandoned rules and standards faster than our corporate masters.

Decades of finely polished lessons, handed down with the spirit of
always aiming higher ... all dumped along with the deskers in the great purge.

 

Have worked with some of the better photogs in the business over the years, and don't recall one specifically who wrote publishable cutlines. It's not what they're good at or paid to do. As long as I have the basics, I'm good. But this is going to lead to every cutline saying "Joe Blow puts up a layup over Jay Shmoe in the first quarter of Friday night's game." Or something similar. If they're lucky. And that's a stretch. Have worked with copy editors who used this approach and it has driven me mad.

 

The good photographers I've been around know they have to get good cutline information, but after doing a good job of it for a month or so, they get lax to see what they can get away with. If the sports editor isn't a hardass and send a memo to the photo editor or take it to the individual photographer, the problem continues. You are right in that if nobody at the top cares to back the sports editor we'll be seeing some entertaining (not) cutlines in the future. A lot of photographers shoot for newsside as well as sports and they realize they can't get some cute shot of a mom and a kid in a park without getting names. The news editors in the past would be beside themselves in anger. ...


I just read the memo. They are going to have some major embarrassing gaffes in the newspaper.
* Editors (or reporters) will need to write a print headline for each story that designers can tweak to fit; it will not be the same as the web headline. Copy editors cannot write headlines for inside stories because they will not be reading them. We will also ask you to write a longer summary headline to give additional guidance to the designer; we will be adding a new field to your story templates to make this adjustment easier.
-- This is a good one, lol. If I were the writer I'd make it as boring as possible. The poor designer has to make it fit??? That means the designer is writing the headline, bean counters! Here's the best line in a memo of all time to show how far our business has fallen: "Copy editors cannot write headlines for inside stories because they will not be reading them." (heaven help us all).

* Photographers and photo editors will need to exercise a new level of care over photo captions, many of which will now be tweaked by designers to fit rather than written from scratch by a copy editor. They need to be tightly written, use correct grammar and agree factually with the story. We would like proper name spelling to be double-checked in captions as well; comparing to the story should be sufficient.
-- The designers, who do a fine job under pressure, are going to be asked to do a lot of stuff it seems. They will be pulling their hair out when they get some of these cutlines from photographers who in most cases are incapable of writing "tightly written cutlines with correct grammar that agree factually with the story." WOW. Good luck after laying off 11 copy editors. This is not going to end well (who the hell are the suits going to blame for all the errors; first on the pecking list is the reporter of course; sounds like the designer is going to get blamed for the other stuff; good like designers; your job suddenly has become worse than reporter on the list of worst jobs in the USA).

 

Used to be that newspapers could set themselves apart from the rest of the stuff on the web by saying they had standards.

 

Designers already are pulling their hair out after absorbing so many other production duties because most of the production jobs have been dumped, too.
At this point, accept defeat. Run whatever comes up the pipeline, and when the shit hits the fan, offer up a blank stare and say: "But that's what I was given."

 

Yeah. I am at that point. Had a wrong HS team winning in a subhead a few days ago. Five years ago, I would have been pissed and dissappointed. ASE brought it to me ... I pretty much shrugged. 45 inch roundup, last game in 30 min or less before deadline, one read, no time to proof? Yup. That's what you're looking at happening regularly.

 

It's funny-sad now when they look at the deskers like: "How the fuck could you let this happen?"

Turn it back around: "Well, we told you this is where it leads. And you knew that anyway. Why are you acting surprised?"

 

And it gets worse if your pages go to a design hub. Your designer one night could be a sports fanatic, the next it could be someone who needs to be told there's a difference between the New York Giants and San Francisco Giants. I've had to babysit too many of the latter.

 

The problem, of course, is that unless you have worked the desk, you have no idea what that means. It has always been the case. I have worked for too many SEs who have never been on the desk, including the current one here, and it is maddening.

 

It's not even that. I worked a design hub somewhat briefly (thankfully), and two of the papers we designed/edited were college hoops and NASCAR heavy, among other things. Those are not my strengths, and I'll be the first to admit it. I've spent my career in college football/baseball/NFL country, so even that was a culture shock. I also briefly worked a universal desk, which is also pretty much always a disaster waiting to happen. You want me to edit a business story? Suuuure. I'm a pretty good editor, but a really good editor need to have a decent grasp of the subject as well. And I'm only a really good editor when it comes to sports, and the sports I know well through experience.

 

We have a photographer who identifies all players by their number . . . even when they're in street clothes.