EDITING
Whether I help figure out the most meaningful structure, find a better quote or alter the tone, I love talking through stories. I always stress the importance of taking constructive criticism well because I've learned valuable ways to improve based on the feedback other editors have given me.
WHAT I LOOK OUT FOR
Here's a brief overview of the three main things I go through while editing a story
1
STRUCTURE& FOCUS
I always read through the whole story before making any edits to understand the main structure right off the bat. I make mental notes about the flow. Is the focus clear and early? Does the story move in an order that makes sense? Are there any important sections that should be moved to the top? Unimportant sections that should be omitted or moved down? These are the more major edits that need attention first, and typically are resolved through a FaceTime call to explain things thoroughly without rewriting it for them.
2
SECTION
This year, the other editors and I decided it would be beneficial for each staffer to write the section at the top of their doc so we can edit based on that. While editing new staffers in specific, I pay attention to section-specific changes I could make. For example, news stories are typically strongest with one sentence ledes and feature stories should have ledes that are interesting, while still serving a purpose.
3
VOICE
Establishing voice in a story is a difficult task — every writer needs to find it on their own so that it's unique to them. But as an editor, I recommend spots in their story where they can show instead of tell or add in a more interesting sentence structure. I found my own writing voice by reading good writing, so I also send examples of really strong writers for staff members to look at to pull inspiration from.
THE PROCESS
Here's part of a Webex call with a staffer to share the process I'd go through while talking about a story.
ORIGINAL
AFTER MY EDIT, FINAL
MAIN EDITS:
1) Structure: The flow of the story could be rearranged to strengthen her focus. She could also expand upon several points made in the story.
​
2) Statistics and outside information: Adding information from research studies could provide outside sources that prove her points.
3) Wording and grammar: A few wording alterations could ensure everything is clear. AP style issues could also be corrected.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
ONLINE EDITING
Even though I edit stories for both print and online, my job as an Online editor is to check the site for errors and ensure consistency in our style.
Headlines and tags are a crucial part to gaining readership on a story. While site checking, I pay close attention to these, but I don't just fix them behind the scenes, I text the person so they can learn.
To keep things consistent, our headline format is always "Teaser: Teller". The original headline for this story didn't t spark any curiosity with a creative teaser or ell the reader what they were in for.
The original categories on this story were mostly there, but she forgot the category A&E because it related to a movie. Correcting the category helps ensure it is on the correct landing page.
This staffer originally did not put many tags on her story, so adding more that relate to her story can help it pop up on Google and get more readership.
SELF-EDITING
After receiving feedback from multiple teachers and editors over the years, I've learned where my weaknesses are and how to work on them. Every draft I write can be improved somehow, so here are some of my stories and how I'd fix them.
BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES
FIRST DRAFT
Going into this news/feature story, I planned for my focus to be on students in the East community and how they were going to implement shopping at black-owned businesses. To correlate with this, my original lede portrayed a senior at my school who was impacted by social media posts. But shortly after thinking through this story, I knew the focus would be stronger if I altered it.
FINAL DRAFT
After a few edits, I reconsidered my story and changed it towards a focus on why the black-owned businesses deserve to be supported because of their discriminatory history. To check myself before publishing, I went through my own self-editing process one last time. The lede served a purpose of establishing a school tie and the need to shop at black-owned businesses, while still hooking the reader with the curiosity of why. The new structure and the quotes from business owners added crucial aspects, and made the transition into statistics stronger.
ALONE & ABROAD
IMPROVEMENT
Old stories sometimes make me physically cringe — but they're clear evidence of the writing voice and journalistic skill set I've developed over the years.
To the right was my first news-feature story. Looking back, I would've altered the lede to be more applicable to the dangers I discuss later in the story. Ledes should always serve a clear purpose, and this one doesn't do that very well. I also think it would be stronger if I found other sources who experienced violence in foreign countries so they could tell me about their story firsthand.
