Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Editing For Beginners
Editing For Beginners
Editing For Beginners
&
Production
Print Journalism – 1
Remove mistakes
(of fact & language)
Ascertain liability
(responsibility of
source, writer)
Requirements
Ensure objectivity and legal clarity
Decide length and display
the uniformity of
fonts and type size,
spacing, indentation,
space adjustment
etc. can give the
looks of a properly
fixed copy.
The craft of editing
A good sub-editor knows that editing
craft demands responsibility more than
style.
Neatness has
Has the
patience and
respect for
others’ work
Copy testing
This step means taking a decision on
the usefulness of a given item
Item is tested for its-
News Value
Libel
Slant
Colour
Advertisement
interest
How to test
News value:
Defamation, deliberate or
intentional content to
damage someone’s
reputation
How to test
Slant:
Misinformation to favour a
particular viewpoint
How to test….
Colour:
To use language so as to
make it appear different
from what it actually is
How to test….
Advertisement matter:
Any matter that is in the nature of
the publicity of a commercial item or
organisation.
Its not news if…
Items that:
praise or condemn one item,
company, activity over the other
make unnecessary reference to the
brand name of an item/company
give information which is not
essential in public interest
identify brands with a motive
The language
In view of English
being a foreign
language adopted as
our own by us - it is
common for writers/
reporters as well as
sub-editors to commit
and come across errors
of language in daily
work
Importance of language
Writing for a mass medium must
convey meaning to an extremely
diverse audience
For mass circulation the writing has
to be readable as well as correct
Correct writing must never be
pompous
Readable and meaningful writing
need not be incorrect
Always remember
The tense-
past, present, future –
never use together in one
sentence
Always remember
Pause –
Prepositions –
Joining and
collation
Re-writing
Alert application of mind
Clarity and maintaining of
chronological order are the two
main features of a good continuity
exercise
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