• Sanjeevana

What a Copy Editor Does To a News Report

“No one killed Jessica Lal”. It was the headline of a report published on February 22, 2006 in The Times of India, Delhi edition, about the sloppy trial and acquittal of the main accused, Manu Sharma, and his friends in what seemed to be an open-and-shut case of the murder of celebrity model Jessical Lal in full public view at a bar in New Delhi. Lal, who was playing bartender, was shot dead when she refused to serve a drink to Manu Sharma, son of a politician and minister, on the intervening night between April 29 and 30, 1999. All newspapers carried the report, but this singular headline stood out and said it all.

That is the power a copy editor/editor has over a story. A play of words and an iconic heading was conceived. The trial continued for years, ending with the conviction of Manu Sharma.In 2011, a film with the same name,”No one killed Jessica Lal”, was released.

Welcome to the world of copy editing. If you have a penchant for learning something new every day, copy editing is for you. Never a dull moment as you shift through a deluge of information – what to keep, what to discard or where more details are needed. How to differentiate between what is and what seems to be. Is the information correct? Are any laws or social norms violated? Will the information foment social unrest, hurt collective or a particular group’s sentiment or is it an allegation levelled against an individual?

These are some basic questions a copy editor has to ask while processing news in order to ensure that maximum information is provided to a reader. Unlike other streams of editing, the information must be unbiased and free of any personal opinion of the reporter/editor that creeps into a copy. The bottom line is that the reader is the judge of the news item. Editing will require you to apply the skill on how to present a news report. Should one call “the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya” or simply “demolition of Babri Masjid”? Does the presidential order scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir actually mean abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution?

Sometimes, it is the use of just a word to encompass a world of meaning. A case in point is ‘Nirbhaya’, rechristening the victim of gang-rape in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012. She succumbed to injuries later. The case triggered a public outrage that reverberated across the globe. It jolted Parliament to focus on all Nirbhayas, many of whose cry for justice is smothered, and enact a stringent Nirbhaya law on sexual offences against women.

In a competitive world of delivering news first, TV and web are ahead of print. What print makes up for is providing details. Molding content to pack a punch is what a copy editor/editor does. Besides, the print media reaches deep into remote areas such as Mana, the last Indian village on the Indo-Tibetan border in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district or brings to light the discovery of a chariot dating to the Bronze Age in UP’s Baghpat district. It is for the copy editor to bring alive these stories, enhancing them with photographs, blurbs, logos and headlines.

Each day brings it unique challenges. A copy editor’s task is to cope with these and bring out an edition where maximum stories hook a reader’s interest. That is the ultimate goal of the copy editor.

Written by Robina Gagerna
former Assistant News Editor - Times of India
currently Visiting Faculty at Sanjeevana