John Russial
John Russial is a contributing writer to the academic journal Newspaper Research Journal. John also takes part in videos with John McIntyre examining the effects technology has had on copy editing. The videos discuss anything from the required education, the hiring process, and the solution to this epidemic.
Article Overview
After surveying 155 newspapers in the United States, Russial found that even though many newspapers still edit online works, several do not. One of the major reasons for not editing online publications is time. Today’s society is accustomed to
breaking news in the blink of an eye, and editing slows down this process. When it comes to the major news, many are not concerned about the grammar of the report but the substance of the piece. Towards the beginning of the journal article, Russial presented the six questions he asked the various newspapers concerning copy editing of online publications. A couple pages later, he included bar graphs that correspond to each question in order to present the results to readers in a more favorable manner.
Russial's article reveals that one reason copy editors are being replaced by technology is the fact that copy editors take too long to edit a piece. In order to please the "sooner the better" society, newspapers have neglected the editing side of publication. It is no longer seen as important to be grammatically correct if that means it is going to take longer for the news to come out. But when did we as a society begin to prefer speed over accuracy? The Science Editor article further articulates the point as to why copy editing is so important to the publishing process--because in some cases, accuracy is far more important than speed.
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