Fraters Libertas

Where Have All the Gatekeepers Gone?

Gone for proofreaders, one by one. At least according to reader George from Excelsior. He comments on yesterday's post about the Star Tribune's Gearin/Gaertner follies:

As a former journalist (1961-1968), I can't figure out where all of the editors have gone. That is ... editors who could edit ... as opposed to those who merely are proofreaders. I remember editors who had a fundamental understanding of reporters' jobs, because they had been in those shoes, and would question whatever in an article didn't ring true. In other words, they had a nose for anomaly. And it certainly stands out as an anomaly that a judge would risk prejudicing a case by making contact with a victim's family. But you need to know that might be out of the ordinary.

It's not as if they didn't have enough gatekeepers. I imagine the editing process is about the same today, albeit the technology has advanced from pastepots and No. 1 pencils to advanced computer systems. That article would have followed this path ? to an assistant city editor (at least), a news editor who assigned space and headline, copy editor who was responsible for style and content and a copy chief to review the copy editor's work.

When I was an ink-stained wretch, we had a copy chief who was an astute investor. With his knowledge of the market, every now and then, he'd catch an error, just because of his special understanding.

An editor like that saved my buns when I was working at a small newspaper part-time during my senior year of college. I had gotten the pallbearers transposed in a pair of obituaries. An editor of long standing in the community--hell, lets be honest, she was a proofreader--knew enough about the locals to spot my error, because she recognized some of the names and knew who likely would have been associated with whom.

I suspect one problem is editors who are not grounded in beat reporting. That may explain why nobody in the editorial chain had enough of a nose for anomaly to sneeze when he or she read what the judge was alleged to have done. Every newspaper used to have reporters on police and/or courthouse beats; I don't think that's the case any longer.

If you want an example of what good can come from turning an experienced city-hall reporter into a columnist, read John Kass in the Chicago Triune. (Registration required but worth the trouble.) Kass knows city hall inside and out and does a great job of following corruption and Mafia issues in the city. There's nobody local to compare with him, let alone measure up. He also writes about the White Sox and other issues, but really comes into his own when he's tracking corruption to the mayor's office, whom he often calls "Little Big Man."