Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander discusses how the Post‘s cutbacks have resulted in fewer copy editors and a growing number of errors, grammatical, typographical, and factual. “Copy editors are the unsung heroes of the newsrooms,” he writes. “Unknown to the public, and often underappreciated by their colleagues, they’re the last line of defense against a correction or, worse, a libel suit.” He adds, “They’re skeptics who revel in the arcane. They know the difference between median and mean, and can speak knowledgeably about topics from Methuselah to the Milky Way. They write headlines, design some pages, check facts and make sure assertions are supported. They spend entire careers working horrible night-shift hours.” And we do our best not to misspell public.
