PREFACE

So embedded is the computer in today’s newspaper practice that it is hard to imagine how life was without it. Writers and production journalists alike have learnt to love their screens and keyboards. Above all, it has revolutionized the editing process. For the subeditor the computer is the ultimate tool that gives visual control of the product in a way that was impossible under old-time printing

What it does not do, of course, is to replace the creative skills it takes to edit the modern newspaper to the standard that its readers – and owners – have come to expect. In New Subediting I have taken advantage of a timely new edition of my much used textbook on the subject to reassess these skills in the light of the very latest advances in computerized editorial systems, and to examine what the systems builders have to offer.

The chapters that follow spell out in detail what today’s young sub needs to know across the varied spectrum of computer-led editorial production. They examine and draw lessons from work in contemporary newspapers in text and presentation. They consider multi-skilling, and define the varied techniques of copy-tasting, the handling of news and features material, headline writing, and the use of typography and pictures to build attractive pages on screen.

Nor is language neglected. New Subediting takes account of the development of English as a vehicle of mass communication in an important section on word usage, polishing and fault-spotting.

Finally, it makes the point that previous editions of this book have made – that technology, however, advanced, exists to serve the purposes of editors and journalists and that, in whatever language or country, a newspaper is only as good as the creative skills of those who write, edit and put it togehter.

F.W. Hodgson
Ninefield, Sussex
September 1998