| My First Job ...
Sherrie Marshall, executive editor, The Macon
(Ga.) Telegraph
My first job was as a copy editor at the Minneapolis Star
(now the Star Tribune). Frankly, I had focused on reporting
and writing in college and hadn't given much thought to editing.
I had a lot to learn. I had patient teachers and co-workers,
and I sat at their sides to absorb all I could. But there
were a lot of fairly new people on the desk at the time, so
I had to learn how to get feedback the best way I could. At
the end of each shift, I would merge into a file copies of
the work I had edited to see what changes had been made by
the slot. For a while, the copy-desk chief would go over my
work with me at the end of the shift. Pretty soon, though,
he had other chores to tend to, and I kept up the practice
of reviewing my work at the end of the night. If I didn't
understand why a change had been made I'd ask. I still recommend
this practice to beginning copy editors.
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My
First Job archive
Ronnie Agnew, executive
editor, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.
Caesar Andrews,
editor, Gannett News Service
George Benge, news
executive, Gannett Co., Inc.
Peter Bhatia, executive
editor, The Oregonian, Portland
Michael Chihak,
publisher and editor, Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen
Bill Church, executive
editor, Star-Gazette, Elmira, N.Y.
Don Flores, executive
vice president and editor, El Paso (Texas) Times
Karla Garrett Harshaw,
editor, Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun
Bennie Ivory, executive
editor, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Sherrie Marshall,
executive editor, The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph
E.J. Mitchell,
managing editor, The Detroit News
Ricardo Pimentel,
columnist, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix
Africa Price, managing
editor, The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun
Mark Russell,
assistant managing editor, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
John Quinn, senior
advisory trustee, Freedom Forum
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