Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

It’s no secret that copy editing jobs are changing. But how well have college editing courses kept up?

Newspapers are dismantling copy editing desks  or realigning the way copy editors function. And newsroom cutbacks have hit copy editors particularly hard.

The number of copy editing, layout or online producer jobs dipped 35 percent between 2000 and 2015, according to the American Society of News Editors’ annual newsroom survey. Yet ACES: The Society for Editing is seeing record growth in its membership, which now tops 1,900. This suggests that editors are still working, but are using traditional editing skills on new platforms and in new venues.

"The survey also identified gaps between what professionals said are important skills and what academics are teaching. Among the biggest: curation, editing for the web and analytics."...