Patty Wharton-Michael
While also contributing to the journal Journalism & Mass Media Communication Educator, Patty Wharton-Michael is also currently a professor at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown.
Article Overview
In her article, Wharton-Michael found that because a newspaper’s credibility is so strongly dependent on errors in the text, the editing process is vital to success. Despite this belief however, it is unclear as to why newspapers are having increased grammatical and factual errors. Whether it be the difficulty of electronic editing or the deadline pressure, the cause is uncertain. One of the components that is believed to affect editing accuracy is the reading speed of the editor; the variables that supposedly affect an individual’s reading speed are included towards the beginning of the journal article. Results of the survey are also included in the middle of the text in the form of two different tables.
This study Wharton-Michael conducted proves electronic editing is not benefiting the copy editing profession, it is only hurting it. By using electronic copies, editors are no longer able to find as many grammatical mistakes as they did when using hard copies. This increase in errors is directly affecting the credibility of all newspapers, journals, magazines, etc. in a negative way. Relating once again to accuracy, electronic editing is indeed causing speed of publication to increase, but is also causing a decrease in accuracy of publications. In their article, Frank Fee, John Russial, and Ann Auman address why learning more about technology is vital to college students. Because if current editors cannot properly use electronic editing, those who can would be more marketable in the world of copy editors.
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