L.A. Daily Journal eliminates copy desk?

<a href="http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/04/expect_more_tpyos_at_dail_1.php">I've never heard of this paper, but this sounds like a recipe for lots of corrections, typos and various other mistakes.</a>

 

It's a legal paper read more by insiders than by you and me. One of the comments on Romenesko seemed to buy this approach, basically making the assigning editors more accountable for basic copy editing of hoped-for cleaner copy.

 

Because of a lack of resources, the universal desk at my shop has gone to almost all production, leaving the assigning/metro editors to handle the bulk of editing.

 

You'd think a legal journal, of all publications, would be wary of the potential for litigation. A single out-of-court settlement, let alone an actual jury award, could cost more than the collective annual compensation of the paper's copy desk. Heck, the very act of eliminating the safeguard of the copy desk could pillar a lawsuit.