One of my great pet peeves, of which, I admit, I have too many, is when jargon appears in a story I’m editing.
On the times that happens, the big vein in my forehead throbs and somewhere a cardiac surgeon gets a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Most of the copy editors here jump all over jargon like a lion on a pudgy antelope, creating something readable from bureaucratese or PR-speak. Admittedly, it’s not a common problem, but when we see a reference to groups that want to effort vertical integration to achieve synergy, we try to make it understandable to a general audience.
That said, there’s a benefit to it within an industry. Jargon sets a common language and can streamline communication.
Journalism is no different. We have our own terms and phrases that make perfect sense to us but could mystify outsiders. In the interest of demystifying, here are some of them and what they mean.
art — the photos that go with a story
catch — when a big error is kept out of the paper
cutline — what normal people would call a caption, the words underneath the art
flow — making sure stories and everything else that goes in the paper is where it needs to be to make deadlines
groundbox — the strip across the bottom of Page 1A that tells you about stories inside or ones coming up
hole — something missing from a story
jump — the part of the story that continues from the front of the section
lede — (pronounced “leedâ€) the first sentence or first few sentences of a story
mug — a small picture of someone’s head, hopefully including the face
newshole — the space left on a page after the advertisements have been placed
nut graf — the paragraph that summarizes what a story is about
rim editors — the people who perform the initial copy editing
skybox — the flashier cousin of the groundbox. It runs across the top of Page 1A
slop — when a story is too long to fit in the newshole, the amount that doesn’t fit
slot — the people who check the work of the rim editors
specs — what designers give copy editors so they know how big and how many lines to make the headlines
style — see posts here, here and here
tagline — the information at the end of a story that tells you how to contact a reporter
traffic cop — the person who ensures flow is met
That’s just the surface. If demand warrants it, later I’ll explain folios, ears, legs, slugs, widows and other terms that make you wonder whether people were inhaling too many ink fumes when they created them.
9 Comments
What part is the “flag” and which is the “masthead”? Seems newspaper and newsletter terms differ.
What part is the “flag” and which is the “masthead”? Seems newspaper and newsletter terms differ.
What part is the “flag” and which is the “masthead”? Seems newspaper and newsletter terms differ.
Speaking of “catch,” how did that rather big story get on page 2 last Sunday (I believe) stating that Queen Elizabeth was about to celebrate her eightieth birthday and sixtieth wedding anniversary? I believe most of us Americans know that the queen will be 82 in 2008, that she has already celebrated her sixtieth wedding anniversary. Moreover, I read only a few days ago, maybe in the Eagle even, that the queen has now become the oldest British monarch, having surpassed Victoria’s 81 years, 200-and-some days.
Michael–
I, too, have stylebooks and read them everyday.
I was wondering how the headline “A white sight outside” got into the newspaper a couple weeks ago? It seemed a bit un-PC to me.
Your friend, Bill
(the one with the new stylebooks)
None of this matters. Did you see the Wall Street Journal article about how badly the parent company of the Eagle is doing?
When is your new publisher going to start laying people off?
Lonny,
The general newspaper use of flag is for the name of the paper across the top of Page 1A. The masthead is the box that contains a list of company officers, which we run at the bottom of Page 2A.
Bill,
The story was wrong. According the official Royal Family Web site (www.royal.gov.uk) the Queen is 81 this year and she and Prince Philip were married in 1947. I’ll make sure we run corrections on the item. Thanks for pointing it out.
Bill,
It was really unfortunate word choice on that headline.
Art,
I try to avoid idle speculation, so our publisher’s plans are something you should ask the publisher.
Michael
Golly, Michael, maybe you will get to keep your job because you “try to avoid idle speculation.” I would ask the publisher but no one knows where she is. I have heard that she is not sure she is going to be able to do what is required to turn the profits around.
When I went to journalism school, we were taught not to write “may” heads. When I see one (and I’ve seen many lately) I am led to think that the rim editors were asleep and the copy editor was lazy.