Cheap journalism, ‘sloppy’ journalism

Back in the fall, Gannett made the decision to cut its copy editors from The Cincinnati Enquirer staff. Forward three months, and here is editor Carolyn Washburn complaining about “sloppy copy” from her staff. What a surprise.

Just a reminder that clean and accurate copy starts with each reporter and photographer sending clean and accurate copy along to their producer or coach… then that producer or coach reviewing to make sure it’s all good before sending it along to digital publication or the Studio.

I’ve been communicating one/one as I see things, especially things that can still be fixed.

I know we aren’t at full staff. I know our workflow is different.

But I need to share these examples with you now and ask each of you to take full ownership of your own clean copy.

I know none of you want this either. So the only way to fix it is for each one of us — me included — to pay special attention to our own work. (I even made myself spellcheck this email.)

She then listed many errors that any copy editor worth his or her weight in salt should have caught. With “newsroom leaders” having silly titles like storytelling coaches and strategists, it’s no wonder mistakes are falling through the cracks. How can they not? The simple fact is that not all reporters, and I would say only a limited few, are equipped to even begin to try to edit their own work, and even the most steely-eyed editors need a second person checking behind them. Pick your metaphor. Reporters editing their own content is like building contractors performing their own building inspections and then issuing the permits. In no scenario does the work come off looking polished, much less professional.