Being An Editor Isn’t As Glamorous As The Movies Make It Out To Be
Last summer, as a freshman, I joined The Reporter as a briefing writer and soon became a news writer. In August, I was promoted to Arts & Entertainment editor.
Considering my burning passion for pop culture, I knew becoming A&E editor would allow me to explore what I loved most.
Since then, I’ve managed a section of about 10 writers. I assign, edit and write content for the section.
Movies paint the life of an editor as glamorous, but I’m here to break it to you—it’s far from it.
Being an editor consists of making writers’ stories make sense, guiding them and having lots (and I mean lots) of patience. That can be very difficult.
Most of the time, writers come into The Reporter with ZERO experience and while some turn out to be great, others don’t.
But there’s a difference between not turning in great work and not caring.
During my 10 months as editor, I’ve dealt with many bizarre excuses and situations.
Normally I give writers three to four days to come up with two or three story ideas to send me by Saturday afternoon.
Most of the time they send me their pitches with no problem, but there was one time when I got a text at around 11 p.m. on Saturday from a writer. Turns out he was too busy planning Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend to send me his ideas.
Outraged, I thought to myself: “this can’t be happening.” In addition to my responsibility as editor, I have a boyfriend, school, and a job but I still complete what I commit to.
Telling me that you didn’t have time to think about story ideas because you were planning Valentine’s Day is like someone calling their job to say they can’t go to work because they have to plan a date for their significant other.
Another writer only wrote twice for A&E because I discovered—before the articles printed—that she had copied and pasted paragraphs from numerous articles she found online and claimed it as her own.
She then texted me asking if I would edit her blog for $5 an article.
About two weeks ago I received an email from Live Arts Miami—Miami Dade College’s platform for artists to take part in community-based programs and performances—stating that one of my writers had reached out to them in hopes of writing about a performance they are organizing.
Mind you that writer never pitched me that story nor showed much interest in the section.
When LiveArts Miami tried to get in contact with the writer, he never answered.
As editor, my job is to assign you stories and guide you through the process. His actions were not only unprofessional but also made The Reporter look bad.
I know that writing is not easy, but editing is just as hard.
Don’t get upset if I end up rewriting your entire article so it reads like an actual article. I’m sorry if I made your article make sense. It can take longer to edit a poorly written piece than it would to report an article myself and write it.
So, do us a favor: proofread your article, use words correctly and learn some basic grammar skills.
Regardless of the stress some writers have caused me, I’m thankful for the opportunity to edit and lead my section. Don’t mind my rant, I’m just letting a little steam out.
