Copy editing and the changing world

Journalism has been quickly evolving. The Internet has certainly taken off within the last decade. And with this medium of the Internet making and breaking careers, as well as being the place where many people get their daily information, there comes a lot of responsibility and also a whole new way of thinking. Amy Gahran raises an interesting point regarding the readiness of college students in the journalism world.

Will we be ready and prepared based on knowledge we are given and the way we are taught? Do we need to be taught with a greater emphasis on the changing world? Are things much more different now than they used to be, and do the professors teaching us get us ready for any difference that there might be?

Part of this whole process is copy editing. For most mediums, there are strict rules and regulations -- and rightfully so. A strict style is actually a major key to a publication's success. People always know where a newspaper stands in terms of style, and the consistency and focus on accuracy have been dependable for a long time. But in terms of the higher up curriculum, is enough focused on copy editing? Certainly, at the University of Illinois, there seems to be an emphasis on it. When writing for reporting classes, "style" is certainly graded, and the class I'm currently in right now is indeed an editing one. Editing is very underrated because without it, a good story might as well be no story; if everyone laughs at the one spelling mistake or the inconsistencies within a story, no one will focus on the tremendous amount of work that was done.

But I believe in most colleges around the country, including this one, copy editing is not something that's built into the system. Sure, we learn about the "AP stylebook," but we are not becoming experts on it, as we seem to be beginners. Even the top bright student in any given class sometimes can't catch 9 out of 10 or even 8 out of 10 copy editing errors, and the reason isn't because he or she is not intelligent. If copy editing were bred into early classes and if there was more of a focus on it, then other publications would be mightily impressed, and journalism as a whole would benefit.

Additionally, I want to get back to what I was talking about before regarding the way that mediums are changing. With the Internet, I have noticed that in many places, copy editing isn't really being used. Is there a difference because something is read off the Internet as opposed to the text being on a printed page? The answer is yes, but in terms of principle, value, and credibility, I want to say no. The Internet ought to be treated in a very serious way. There should be media classes regarding the Internet collaborated with copy editing and all of the other important tenants of journalism.

In a nutshell: There need to be more classes. Students should be given as much information from experts as possible. After college, and maybe one year of graduate school, the education in terms of the focus on a pupil stops. Moving away from the realm of copy editing, do we know enough about economics and business to write about other numbers? Do we know enough about history to refer to other events? What about science?

Here at Illinois, we are required to take a certain amount of hours of other classes. I think this system is fine as is. If we collaborate with other departments, as suggested by Gahran, then do we lose out on journalism itself? There are not an unlimited amount of hours; we can't take 30 hours per semester. I think the system that is set up regarding other departments is fine. Journalists are rarely "experts" in a beat they are covering, but the journalists are certainly good at interviewing and processing information. The journalism itself should be emphasized more by journalism schools, and students should take their other classes seriously so there is a foundation of knowledge to expand on. An ignorant journalist is a bad journalist.

I don't think the collaboration business is a good idea, but I am always up for keeping an open mind, and if something genius can be worked out that benefits all of us, then that information would be important to know and should be strongly considered.