Five Must-Have Qualities for an Editor

chillibreeze writer — Sooraj Singh

The Oxford dictionary defines an editor as “a person who is in charge of and determines the final content of a newspaper, magazine, or multi-author magazine”. The role of an editor differs—what is required while working for a newspaper or magazine is different from what is needed for a book editor.
Whatever be the job, it goes without saying that a strong command of the language is a must.

In a news organisation, a reporter is expected to bring in the news—the facts and the figures. His writing skills, however, may not be good. In fact, at times the article may not even pass muster. That’s where the editor steps in. S/he has to present the story in the most reader-friendly manner—maybe by changing a few words or, if required, rewriting the entire copy. The editor should have the ability to make an article speak to the reader.

Equally important is the editor’s ability to spot errors, not only in terms of grammar and spellings, but also facts. This calls for a good knowledge of the subject s/he is dealing with. In a news organization, keeping abreast of happenings is of paramount importance. Spotting factual errors, giving value additions and providing more visibility for important points are all easier for an editor who is up-to-date with the news.

Comprehending the writer and understanding the reader are qualities that an editor must possess. While making the copy readable, he has to ensure that the crux of the story is not changed. Similarly, understanding his target audience will help the editor a lot. Working on a political newspaper and a fashion magazine require completely different sensibilities.

Often, an editor will have to put together a story which comes from different sources and reporters. And more often than not, the amount of data at his disposal will be huge. The skill an editor must possess here is to be able to figure out the importance of different points, collate data from these different sources and put together a comprehensive and complete article. After he works on it, the article should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It should read as one cohesive piece.

Deadlines are sacrosanct in a news organisation. The editor must have an idea of the time it would take to complete his task and then space out his work in such a way that he would have enough time to do a revision or two. However well written a news item is, it doesn’t serve the purpose if it doesn’t reach the press on time. And finally there is one ground rule I keep while editing a story—don’t change anything if you can’t make it better.

 

 

 

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in January, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

 

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How to Edit Indian English

 

 

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—About our writer: Sooraj D Singh has a PG Diploma in journalism. He has been working in the media for 16 years. He has worked with The Week, The New Indian Express and the Times Of India. He has experience in feature and business writing, news reporting, and editing. He was a part of the team that launched the bi-lingual portal manoramaonline.com, and has headed the editorial team of the portal’s English site. He shuttles between Kochi and Chennai.

 

 

 

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