Category: Media

It’s no secret that newspaper copy editors work in obscurity. They toil at night, on weekends and over holidays, without even a byline to note their role in delivering the news to the publication’s readers. But as the industry moves toward consolidating copy desks across the country, these unseen journalists are becoming an endangered species.

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.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a century ago that free speech didn’t protect a person “falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” Now some news commentators are dusting off that memorable aphorism to suggest that the offensive film, “Innocence of the Muslims,” is not protected by the First Amendment.

Society of Professional Journalists – STL will host a happy hour Sept. 26, with the new editor of the Post-Dispatch……

The Democratic National Committee has had years to prepare for the 2012 convention. On Sept. 5, the well-scripted event was on track to set up the crowd for a rousing speech from President Bill Clinton. However, a voice vote on the party platform created quite a stir – and some outrage – from party faithful.