Life being a sub-editor. Review on General Tips on Media

Sample this

Sub-Editor- “OH NO! Not Again…Ma’m please put me on a different page this week.i m tired of editing copies for this page”

Editor- “No, I have to make u learn….u will be editing copies for Page 2 till the time I m sure of ur editing skills.”

Confused?…this was an excerpt from the-usual-every-Friday-conversation at the News Desk between the poor sub-editor(that was me) and my very sweet Editor(no flattery here.after all she gave me my first lessons in editin and made me learn it!)

Every Friday when our editor prepared the duty sheet, Page 2 was one page nobody wanted their names against. Afterall it was an indication of one thing that u still have a long way to go, as far as honing ur editing skills are concerned.it was a learner’s page! And when on Page 2, u have to be in the office at 2.30 pm.when the whole desk used to come at 4.30 in the evening.(nw that was sumthin nobody wanted)

I know by now the-millon-dollar question must be doing rounds in ur mind…Wat made that page so special…not anything less than the Big Daddy.that me and my folks were scared of…Answer lies in just one sweet word…’The Reporters’!

Okay let me not brood about them…also no umbrage meant but in terms of news copies, Ingredients were sent and it was left to the desk’s recipe to prepare it into a scrumptious meal to be served to the reader next day!

And so how it was…my Editor made sure to put my name against that ‘most loved’ page so that as a trainee I learn the secret recipe(read editing) by heart and should master the art of preparing the palatable meal(read news reports).  To say the least, I guess bitter lessons are learned the harder way.

I may no longer be with the job but being a sub(sub editor) proves to be really hard sumtimes as the knack for editing seldom leaves you. From the local pamphlet(screaming about newly opened coachin center in my neighbourhood) to the contents on the bottle of cough syrup.everythin with little or no scope for editing catch my attention.from checkin out for grammatical mistakes to spellings to even the alignment…ouch! Experience of workin as a sub hurts!

But I guess this is wat the job entails; a sub end up subbing every damn thing on this earth…nothing can escape that mind which is thinking of how to present the copy in a better way most of the time…

So for the time being this is how I want to present my copy…it is now very much open for u guys to sub it(edit) in the comments section…