Editors
: Continuing on my snit fit about the editing job I got from Nieman Reports…
: Dave Winer says we don’t need no stinking editors.
: Dan Gillmor says we are our own editors.
: Tim Porter says bad editors are everywhere.
: Ed Cone says we can all stand a good edit.
: Cyberwriter says “recht hat er.”
: Mike says in the comments: “Oh fine, now you’ve burned your bridges and you’ve lost out on the audience of 500 who read the Nieman Report and will have to fall back on the 10,000 who read your blog. Smart move, Mr. Blogger-guy.”
: An important note: Only once before in my (long) career have I seen an editor try to insert her or her own agenda into a piece I have written. The prior case (a story I have told here before): The editor in chief of Time Inc. tried to turn my positive review of a miniseries about Alger Hiss into a negative review so he could defend his mentor, Whitaker Chambers. I put my career on the line over that and threatened to resign; my editor put her career on the line backing me; we won. The top guy admitted that he had gone too far.
That’s important to note because American journalism is not filled with editors rewriting and perverting the writing of reporters (as, I think, some assume happens habitually under the reign of powerful editors like Howell Raines). If that happened, the writers would revolt (their principles and egos are that strong).
: David Galbraith fantatizes:
I have this fantastic image of a drab, librarian-type cowering behind a stack of old books, dust flying, as a 6′ 4″ Jarvis in a don’t give a damn suit slams his original manuscript on the top of the pile. Weblogs allow you to do that – but without getting dust on your jacket.
: Did somebody at the wall street journal edit den beste? He wrote fewer than 200,000 words!
: Canadians are Smug says:
All I can think is, what an excellent time to be a young journalist. The ground is shifting beneath the feet of journalism, and such earthquakes are an excellent time to move forward while the old guard nonchalantly reports “Ground seen shaking”. All the ridiculous gargoyles adorning journalism’s ivory tower are going to fall off.
