Denver Post to cut possibly two-thirds of copy editors

One of my internships was as a copy editor. It wasn't supposed to be, but they had two people quit right before I arrived and they really had no choice... As a writer, I learned more in three months editing than I could have in 10 years just writing...

Don't ever take copy editors for granted...

 

Industry management spits and farts in your direction.

 

"How hard can it be?" - Only said by someone who has never done it...

 

Typos and grammar be damned, losing just one libel judgment for, say, $10 million will wipe out whatever the Post saves through the elimination of copy editors.

This is about the dumbest decision a major metropolitan newspaper can make.

 

I agree the decision to cut copy editors is beyond idiotic, but how many $10 million libel judgments have there been in the last decade?

 

You're looking at the trees, Mizzou, not the forest.

That said, the St. Petersburg Times lost a $10.1 million judgment in 2009 when a jury said the newspaper libeled a local cardiologist. Although the verdict was later vacated by an appeals court, with "the media" being held in increasingly low regard by so many people today, it's only a matter of time until a judgment of that magnitude sticks. Bet on it.

 

I commend you for still getting it but I don't see how it's worth it for anyone any more with previous page cuts and now everything that's been detailed today. I saw a Saturday issue at the end of February and I swear the sports section had six pages. On a Saturday at the peak of the winter season? I get the paper on the Kindle and some early week days it takes me about five minutes to go through the whole thing.

With this new news you almost have to wonder if they're actually trying to off the print edition.

 

The libel lawyer was here giving some talks recently. Just for the hell of it, I asked whether the courts weigh that we now have half as many people as we once did. Answer: Nope.

 

You know, media companies might simply have to be more vigilant about training the remaining people -- particularly the younger, less experienced ones -- about libel law.

Some cost involved, but cheaper than the copy editors.

I'm not defending this, but if you're the company, you might have to think hard about some mandatory training or whatever.

 

Greater than the chance of a libel lawsuit is the chance that a writer will write something that pisses off one of the paper's top advertisers. That will be fun to see.

 

And don't newspapers have insurance for that, same way doctors have malpractice insurance?