Sub Editing

This morning I read this interesting piece from the SMH Readers’ Editor about spelling and grammatical errors in copy.

I read it on an iPad on my way to work at news.com.au. These two facts are worth mentioning because they both reveal an important truth: I’m a product of the digital age. In six-and-a-half years as a journalist I’ve never worked at a newspaper. Nor a magazine. I’m a digital journalist and I’ve only ever written for online outlets.

The point is this: we don’t have the backbenches and traditional subs’ desks of old, which did a great job of picking up on mistakes. In the online game being first is everything. We’re all sticklers for clean copy and publishing stories free of errors and typos is paramount. But being first with a yarn is usually paramounter. I know that’s not a word. Just go with it.

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