STL Social Media Guy

As I said in an earlier post, I’m writing a column for the fall edition of the ASNE’s quarterly magazine, sparked by the media buzz over the future of editors and copy editors in these tough times.

I get 800 words (and I’ve gone a smidge over), but here’s what I’ve written; feedback welcome:

* * *

In the frenzy following a fatal shooting in the Kirkwood, Mo., city council on Feb. 7, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s web site briefly confused the name of killed officer Tom Ballman with the name of another nearby St. Louis suburb: Ballwin.

Within minutes, said Continuous News Editor Amanda St. Amand, three readers pointed out the mistake. “They were very observant, very quick to point it out,” she said. “And we were happy to fix it.”

For some journalists, that’s evidence that newsrooms are either too fast to post news online or too slow to put editors between reporters and the web. For others, it illustrates a strength web sites have over the printed newspaper: Readers can get involved in shaping — even editing — the news in almost real time.

In fact, in a tough newsroom economy, the question seems to be asked more frequently: Can we afford editors anymore? The answer: Yes, but not the way we’ve grown used to using them.

Columnist, BuzzMachine.com blogger and City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis may take a position some say is extreme: Cut layers of editors, involve readers more.

“The task of editing online is no longer about managing a scarcity of space,” Jarvis said, “but instead about making the best use of resources, finding new external resources and improving quality.”

And don’t just involve readers, but tell them so, up front. “I’m saying that we need a new attitude of collaboration,” Jarvis said. “And the public will help us correct errors we didn’t see and help us make stories more complete.”

Trade publications and business journals have chronicled the efforts by some newsrooms to outsource copy editing to India, flatten organizations or chop positions.

At the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida, the “flattening” started near the top, when managing editor Sharon Rosenhause retired and editor Earl Maucker cut the post entirely.

Maucker concedes newspapers have built a “bureaucratic process” in the editing ranks over the years. But, he said, some of the biggest disasters in journalism occurred when that process was subverted or circumvented.

Old-style newsroom workflow certainly contributes to that “bureaucratic process.” Line editors coach writers and assign stories. They advocate for the stories and their reporters in news meetings, where stories are pitched for prime play. By the time the story makes it to the desk, they’re no longer objective about the story.

Meanwhile, deadline looms.

“People who write will take every last minute that they are allowed to,” said John McIntyre, assistant managing editor for the copy desk at another Tribune Co. newspaper, the Baltimore Sun. “I would look at how the editing process could be streamlined. One of the ways to do that is to impose a fairly strict deadline structure.”

McIntyre knows the industry is changing and staffing must change with it. But he also advocates for the craft of copy editing — one that looks vulnerable as some organizations have outsourced the job.

McIntyre argues the process exists to bring fresh eyes to a story before it goes in print — a medium he says readers expect to be “vetted, verified and gone-over.” “The line editor is intimately involved with the reporter,” McIntyre said. “He has all that context in his head. The important thing is to have a copy desk that is independent.”

On the other hand, Maucker said, “critics would argue that you get too many fingers in the process and it becomes enormously labor intensive. I don’t know if there’s a right answer or a wrong answer.” He acknowledges that the status quo won’t work — especially when his own newsroom lost 52 positions in July through voluntary and involuntary layoffs.

Meanwhile, Maucker also applauds the newsy feel and the immediacy he often finds in the Sun-Sentinel’s many blogs. Sure, he says, he’s troubled by the errors that pop up and the subjective reporting, “but I find the writing to be brighter, more entertaining.”

So, what’s it all mean for the future of newsrooms (and editors’)?

– The numerous layers of editors can’t continue.

– Invite the newsroom to help redesign the workflow. Jarvis suggests this: Pretend the presses will be sold and the operation is online only. Does it change the process? If staff is involved, they won’t be surprised by the changes.

– Develop an editing structure that eliminates the artificial divide between line editors and copy editors. Make every editor the readers’ advocate.

– Find a way to invite readers to be partners in our work. We can’t deliver perfection; we never could. If readers know we’re listening, they’ll talk to us.

– Really rethink newsroom organization, paying particular attention to deadlines. Every story doesn’t need to arrive on the final print deadline. That old-style workflow forces redundancy. By the way: Online should be primary, especially for breaking news. Once again, there’s a deadline every minute.

“We’re changing and we have to be thoughtful about that,” Maucker said. “Doing it under economic crisis isn’t the most thoughtful way to go, but it’s forcing us to make decisions we should have made a long time ago.”

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