Editing
Introduction
Sophomore year, I joined Ladue Publications eager to tell stories. I thought that it’d be a supportive community. I was wrong. By my second story, the copy editor in chief made me sob in the middle of class, making me feel as though I couldn't meet the publication's standards. At that moment, I almost gave up on journalism entirely. But I didn’t, and reporting has since changed my life. As the executive editor in chief, I now aim to give my staff members what I didn’t receive — a forum that fosters a love for journalism through trusting relationships. I do so by providing support at every step. I remember how it felt to be in a newsroom where each member fended for themselves. Now, every conversation I have with a staff member ends with the same words: “Let me know how I can help.” By constantly being available, I aim to create an environment in which edits are not felt as a personal attack — instead, they allow staff members to seek advice and grow.
Identifying Stories
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As executive editor in chief of a publication that services 1,313 students, my primary objective is to cover a diverse range of viewpoints with each story. While Ladue Publications had a blacklist prior to my senior year, it wasn't quite as in-depth as the one pictured below — instead, it was a Google Doc that made it difficult to track the diversity of students we had covered. So, I took it upon myself to create a spreadsheet that listed every student, teacher, club and class at Ladue High School to ensure we were covering as many people as physically possible. (Solely club coverage is pictured due to privacy concerns.)
Blacklist
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Story Pitch
After consulting the blacklist, I run a publication-wide story pitch to make sure no two reporters cover the same topic or group. Since last year, Ladue Publications has utilized a "shark tank" story pitch, in which staff members enter a room and "pitch" their story concepts to EICs. Then, both groups work together to refine and improve the story ideas, ultimately emerging with topics that are adequately in-depth and nuanced.
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Ladder
Once story concepts are solidified, I work with each publication's managing editor in chief to create a ladder that details the month's assignment and page breakdown. When I entered my role of executive editor in chief, I revamped the ladder so it included finals from each editor in chief (scroll the spreadsheet), which was previously absent. This streamlined our reporting process, ensuring that the editors in chief of each publication were in constant communication.
Editing Copy
The most important thing to me while editing is ensuring that the piece stays fully within the author's voice. As an editor, it's often difficult to differentiate between stylistic and grammatical/AP style edits. That's why, for most every copy edit I make, I provide some sort of reasoning. Should the writer disagree with my edits, I look back at the story to see if it's a nonnegotiable grammatical edit — otherwise, I let it go to ensure I'm not unnecessarily rewriting stories.
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I also intentionally make comments rather than leaving suggestions. This simple shift goes a long way. Too many writers blindly accept suggestions without truly understanding the nature of the comment. By prompting each one to be read, I ensure that my edits are a learning moment for the writer.
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To fully comprehend each story that I edit, I give the piece three read-throughs.
First Read-through: I read the article without making any edits.
Second Read-through: I edit for AP style and grammatical errors.
Third Read-through: I make comments on the story's form, asking questions about quote order and sources to ensure that the story is well-researched and credible.
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For examples, hover over the colors present in the documents below. Items in this color are made during my second read-through. Items in this color are made during my third read-through.
Editorial
In an editorial, I look for two things: a crystal clear call-to-action and research-backed claims. No piece will ever be fully convincing without both. This article, about society's emphasis on romantic relationships, had the potential to achieve both items but originally wasn't quite there. Through comments that acted as guiding questions, I worked to make edits that allowed the writer to think critically and improve their piece.
In-Depth
As an in-depth story is often the longest type of story we produce, I pay specific attention to the piece's form and structure while editing. Unless these two components are absolutely perfect, many readers will disengage and thus not read the story to its completion.
Editing Design
Unlike copy, my design edits are not fully formulaic as each page has a different starting point. Infographic edits differ from spread edits, which differ from page edits, and so on. However, I look for a few things when ensuring that each page upholds journalistic standards, particularly regarding spacing, hierarchy and simplicity.
Spread Design
This year, Ladue Publications has worked to create cohesion in our newsmagazine, the Panorama. We particularly attempted to achieve this through "[blank] to Know" pages — recurring spreads in each section that gave an overall update on the topic. Because these spreads filled a template with their content, they often didn't have many structural edits. However, this spread in particular did have some spacing and style guide errors, which I corrected. When editing design, I also make sure to look for small copy edits — things we didn't catch on the Google Doc — which are some of the comments on this page.
Page Design
A page like this has significantly more structure edits, since the designer isn't drawing from anything that's already created. That's why this page has so many versions — the iterative process, especially in editing design work, is invaluable as it shows variations and opens up the realm of possibilities.