Category: Journalism 4406

I sure spent a lot of time on the copy desk this past week. I picked up a Labor Day afternoon/evening shift (in exchange, I got a shift in October picked up so I can go home and cheer on the Tigers at Sanford Stadium!), which turned out to be fairly calm. I worked on the print desk, and we left before 11 p.m. The copy that night was fairly clean, too. The biggest error I remember was in an AP story about the 50th anniversary of lava lamps, in which the inventor's name, among other things, was spelled incorrectly. Luckily, he's prominent enough that even the Encyclopedia Britannica had an entry about him. I returned to the desk the next day for my usual 3-hour shift. The most memorable…

Week Two on the desk was a bit less hectic than Week One. Tuesday's editing went fairly smoothly, and the only major question I remember having was in a crime story. The headline said "charged," but the story said "arrested" — and though these two crime terms sound similar, they're not quite the same. One can be arrested but not necessarily charged. I talked with the reporter, and after I explained the dilemma, we cleared it up: The person was just arrested on the suspicion of the crime. The crime section is one of my weaker ones in terms of copy editing, so I'm glad I got a refresher on some of that terminology so early on. Thursday's editing session contained more confusion, particularly with two stories. One was about…

As part of my copy editing class this semester, we're asked to write weekly reflections about our work on the Columbia Missourian's interactive copy editing and print desks. I've decided also to post those here. My first week at the Columbia Missourian was an adjustment from this summer, for sure. I have to learn the Missourian's stylebook and unlearn the Orange County Register's. I'm reading about Boonville and Columbia instead of Buena Park and Corona Del Mar. And although there are still plenty of City Council meetings, council members have different names, and issues such as fire pits on beaches wouldn't be an issue here. But working at any copy desk provides opportunity for valuable experiences and lessons. An experience Tuesday afternoon served as a good reminder to be persistent…