A copy desk future?

Today’s copy editors face the prospect of being tomorrow’s unemployed as the copy desk goes the way of the pica pole and proportion wheel. Just as technology made those ancient tools of the trade obsolete, it has contributed to the decline of the position itself. As more of the job has been mechanized, copy desks have begun to resemble assembly lines. With the growth of centralized editing hubs, where copy for multiple newspapers in a chain is edited and pages are designed, copy desks might better be called copy finishing plants.

Dealing with the shrinking copy desk

Today’s copy editors face the prospect of being tomorrow’s unemployed as the copy desk has begun to go the way of the pica pole and proportion wheel. Just as technology made those ancient tools of the trade obsolete, it has contributed to the decline of the position itself. As more of the job has been mechanized, copy desks have begun to resemble assembly lines. With the growth of centralized editing hubs, where copy for multiple newspapers in a chain is edited and pages are designed, copy desks might better be called copy finishing plants.

These changes have implications for the future of journalism on paper and online, and for how we teach future journalists.

“The role of the copy editor today is to move copy as they get it,” David Arkin,

vice president of content and audience for GateHouse Media, said when he announced the company’s plan to centralize design and copy editing.