They spend most of their time, seated – in the old days, they often had an ashtray full of cigarette butts by their side. They seldom raise their heads or their fingers from their keyboards. But when they do, it is either to check the news headlines on a television screen or to take another endless sip of tea or coffee. Reporters, writers cordially resent them and their-know-it-all air; in return, they despair of the former – when will they ever learn, they wonder.
These individuals have one of the most unenviable jobs in the world—to correct other people’s mistakes. They strive to make things look spotless — better, brighter, ironing out the creases and imperfections. The original backroom boys (once upon a time, they were consigned to the basement), anonymous and mostly unsung, they are, collectively, known as a block of wood — the Desk — because they spend their working lives behind one.
They don’t hit the headlines, they write them.
By now, you ought to have guessed the subject of this month’s Readers’ Editor column: the editors and sub-editors — those low-profile, quiet, shy or reserved and unassuming individuals without whom journalism would be a Facebook post, at best a blog.
Why write about them now? Well, for a variety of reasons. As Readers’ Editor, I am glad to say I receive few complaints about genuine errors at ThePrint – factual, or grammatical. Most mails concern readers’ opinions of other opinion pieces or news developments. That’s good news for ThePrint because it suggests we don’t make too many mistakes. If that’s so, it’s largely due to the Desk, which bears final responsibility for whatever is published.
In this age of fast and loose communication, especially on social media or WhatsApp chat groups, the timeless principles of journalism, that of balance and fairness need to be reinforced, not discarded. And, it’s the Desk’s job to press ‘pause’, long enough for them to scrutinise, to question and to look at the flaws before anything goes public.
‘It’s about very strongly intermediated journalism,’ says ThePrint’s Managing Editor Y.P. Rajesh. ‘Also, you need it to be legally, clean.’
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The gatekeepers
Editors are laconic but eloquent, even proud of their role. Here is how some described it: ‘we are mimics’; ‘we are silent generators that keep the show going; ‘we are surgeons who cut out the bad parts’; ‘we are the brain behind the voice’; ‘we stand guard’; ‘we are the final checkpoint’, ‘we make a copy shine’.
Well, they do all of that and much more. As gatekeepers of journalism, if editors fail to add an important fact, link, statement or quote, they are in trouble. The reporter may get away with a reproof but the buck always stops at the editor’s desk. They are the ones who get yelled if a) it’s plagiarised, b) its headline is poor, c) it has factual errors, d) it’s too long, it’s too short, it meanders, it’s biased, it doesn’t make sense, or worst of all, it’s wrong. ‘Treat everything as a lie’, is one of their mottos.
‘It’s a tough, thankless job,’ said one editor, wearily. Oh that’s the other thing: editors keep long hours. At newspapers, their day begins only at 5 pm and their night can end in the early hours of the morning. At online 24×7 online news portals, they have shifts; at ThePrint, too, they have shifts but all of them will tell you that they work way past their time out.
Picture them: hunched over their desks, nosing through “copy” – any article is always “copy” to them — looking for mistakes. Editors and sub-editors see to it that a story actually tells a story and tells it clearly, so that the reader, any reader, can understand it.
They dot the i’s and cross the t’s; correct spellings, grammar and language, confirm facts, names, places, dates, data, quotes; rewrite and sometimes even write reports, opinion pieces, features. They ‘line edit’, reading each and every word carefully — what a proof reader of yore used to do.
At newspapers, they design pages, too; at online and at ThePrint, they give headlines, strap lines, key words, add links to related stories, they even publish the articles they edit.
Importantly, at ThePrint, editors at sections like Opinion and Features, “ideate” with writers, understand what they are trying to communicate and often, communicate it for them—they literally put words in our mouths. That’s where the mimic comes in. “You have to be master of disguise,” says editor Neera Majumdar who’s been at ThePrint for five years, “And something of a mimic — you have to acquire the language and stylistics of the writers as well as their thought patterns. We have to reflect the sentiment of the piece, to make it better.”
Editors have to deal with reporters’ tantrums and objections over changes they have made and their maddening habit of not responding to repeated phone calls or mails; reporters contend with the ‘editor-knows-best’ attitude of Desk people.
Also read: How Shekhar Gupta Cuts the Clutter and what people tell ThePrint about it
The keywords: patience and diligence
My experience with editors has been excellent. I’m always grateful that someone’s looking over my shoulder, nodding in approval or snorting in dismay. I know that when the article is published, it will be fine because it has passed the editors’ scrutiny. Even as I write this article, I am comforted by the thought that other eyes will see it, tell me how to improve it, cut out the fluff, repetition and sharpen its thoughts. Also, I challenge myself to send in copies that are error-free. The day that happens, I, will, well, do somersaults.
But it’s the conversation over ideas, and as editors of ThePrint say, “the unique argument” of the article that’s so crucial – it helps me sort out my head.
If anything, editing for an online news portal like ThePrint is even more demanding — speed is of the essence. ThePrint’s editors will tell you that each piece requires a strong opening, with its main thrust in the first few paragraphs, short sentences, energetic writing and plenty of key words. No space or time for ‘throat clearing’ here. If you do that, the editors will spit it out.
Also, ThePrint’s relatively young – many of its reporters are on their first jobs and in their 20s. They are full of energy and enthusiasm but inexperienced. So the Desk plays a crucial role in making their copy print-worthy — it requires enormous patience and diligence. You have to respect what they do and at ThePrint, one way to do that is to give them bylines at the end of each piece they edit.
Also read: One year of being ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor – my job, your mails, our stories
All for good journalism
Over the decades, journalism has increasingly become a byline empire where the reporter is king. But the editor was and still is the power behind the throne. The chief sub-editor used to decide what did and what didn’t get published. The Desk would literally ‘spike’ stories. They decided which reports got pumped up and which were relegated to ‘News Briefs’.
At magazines such as India Today, they would pick apart the reporter’s pieces and reassemble them in their newsmagazine style – often, the published article bore no resemblance to the original copy.
And you thought your job was tough?
Which begs a few questions: first, what qualities make an editor? Begin with a “zero ego” — no peacock characters need apply. A nose for news, an obsession with correct language/grammar, an irritating habit of being right, an attention to detail and the patience of a saint— all help on the job. Otherwise, welcome to high blood pressure!
Why would anyone in their right minds want to be an editor? Some love words, some news, some the satisfaction of putting out a good piece, some because they get to read and know more than most people, certainly more than reporters, some are just plain shy and like to work behind the scenes: they read voluminously, books, newspapers, magazines, agency copies from Reuters, PTI, ANI, etc — they enjoy the perspective of a “big canvas”, a window to the world.
They are not after fame and glory but a clean copy. And yet, where would good journalism be without them?
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)