Duties and Responsibilities of a Newspaper Sub-Editor-Explained!

The sub-editor is mainly responsible for the manner in which a journal or a newspaper is made-up, sent for printing and offered to the public. There is no doubt that the sub-editor must be a man of high ability and judgement.

He must know thoroughly the news value of every matter which comes into his notice. He should have the ability to see the importance of even a small paragraph and the competence to reduce a lengthy paragraph to its deserving size.

A sub-editor may not generally do much of original writing like an editor, but he should be an expert in revising the news articles as well as supervising the work of those who do the writing work.

media.jsonline.com

Thus, a sub-editor must possess the capability either to reduce or to expand a subject matter according the needs of his newspaper.

All sorts of news go on trickling into the sub-editorial department all the time. It is just like a raw material out of which a sub-editor produces a finished product (the news to be published in the newspaper).

The sub-editor has the power of life or death over all the newspaper’s material that reaches him. Thus, the responsibility of the sub-editor is really enormous. A newspaper receives its copy from a variety of sources like reporters, correspondents, telephones, news agency reports and verbal communications. All this information is filtered by the sub-editor.

The sub-editor is actually responsible, more than any other person for what the paper looks like and stands for to the readers.

There are many ways in which a sub-editor can leave the impression of his personality on the newspaper. The format of a paper is in reality determined by the sub-editor. The sub-editor has the nose for selecting the right type of news.

It is the task of the sub-editor to decide as to what is going in for tomorrow’s newspaper and in what form. In fact, the sub-editor with a wide experience in his work is the most suitable person to become the editor in due course of time.

There is always a big pile of news reports and other communications lying on the table of the sub-editor. He is also pressurised by the printing department for the copy.

He has to attend to his functions in a very quick manner, using his best judgement as to the relative urgency, importance and desirability of printing particular news of article.

The sub-editor has to separate the grain from the chaff out of the great number of news material lying on his desk. He should have an eye for accuracy. He must check the facts of a story and look out for the errors, if any.

If there are certain facts which are missing, he must ask these from the reporters. The sub-editor has to read every story and sometimes contrive to make it interesting and newsworthy.

A newspaper receives the news from two sources, one from the paper’s own correspondents and the other from the various news agencies.

Generally, out of these two sources preference is always given to the news brought by the paper’s own correspondents, because a good report under the headline ‘from our special correspondent’ indicates the initiative and enterprise and adds to the prestige of a newspaper.

Sometimes, a newspaper may receive a number of versions of a particular story from different sources. The paper’s correspondent may give a different story where as the news agencies may give their own accounts.

The sub-editor has to put all these conflicting accounts into one coherent and wholesome story. If the reports contradict or conflict with each other, then he has to believe the story put in by newspaper’s own correspondent.

It is thus the responsibility of the sub-editor to make the story clear. He should see to it that the news story is based upon facts; it is as complete as possible and is clear from every angle for easy understanding.

A sub-editor checks the news stories one by one. He goes through every single line of the copy. Then he adds a catch line, if the reporter has not already provided a suitable one. He also writes a suitable headline for the story.

This is a very important and difficult duty of the sub-editor. After this, he edits the story, cutting the unnecessary matter and trimming the length to the right size according to the space where it has to be printed.

He checks the spellings of names and places so that these are not printed wrongly. A sub-editor also has to correct errors of grammar, capitalisation, punctuation and abbreviations. He cannot afford to allow even the most minor error in the newspaper.

When a sub-editor feels that the intention of the writer of a story is not clear or the message of the story is very vague, then he can refer the copy back to the reporter and ask him to rewrite the story.

Sometimes, he may have to refer to books like ‘who’s who’, encyclopaedias, telephones and civic directories, alamanacs etc., to confirm the facts of a story. He may even have to telephone the source of the news item to seek any clarification regarding which a doubt creeps up in his mind.

The sub-editor has to take into consideration the policy of his newspaper before allowing a news item to be published. He has to breathe life into some dead matter lying before him so that the story is made lively. Sometimes, he tones down a story, if it is too dangerous, to make it safe.

He has also to decide the suitability of the news stories and articles on the merits of their news value to the particular paper.

He has to reject a superfluous article and prune another to its justified size. He is always on the look out to print a news story which is a scoop, well ahead of his rivals.

After deciding the main contents of his newspaper, the sub­editor has to use his utmost skill in their make-up and display.

This is just like the window dressing of a shop which is fully stocked. It is a very important function of the sub-editor. He has to be careful that in the final rush no mistake creeps into the print and no paragraph gets mixed up or overlooked.

The maximum attention a sub-editor has to pay is to the layout of captions and the main news page. Balance and proportion are the qualities which should be aimed at before anything else.

The principal test of sub-editorial capacity in the art of make­up is, of course, the appearance of the main news page. It is the page which the majority of the readers read first of all. Some very busy readers only read this page and no more—they simply turn the other pages.

Although the eye may be arrested by the heading of the principal news, yet the total effect of the whole page should not be crudely sensational.

Infect, the make-up of the first page should be in such a way that a reader is helped to find at a glance how the world has behaved during the last twenty-four hours.

There is no doubt that the make-up of a newspaper is the reflection of the sub-editor’s appreciation of news value.

Sometimes, the value and significance of a new feature is largely neutralised by an ineffective handling of make-up.

Side by side with the presentation of the news, a sub-editor should also know something about the gathering of news and arrangement of regular feature.

He should be fully acquainted with the reporters and correspondents employed by his newspaper as well as with the regular contributors who write special features from time to time, which are published in his newspaper.

The sub-editor should also know the principal news agencies which supply news stories to his paper. At present, more and more news is supplied to the newspapers by one or the other national or international news agencies.

The sub-editor should also be acquainted with the important photographers and photographic agencies which supply photographs of important events and news items to his newspaper in fact; now-a-days every big newspaper has its own staff photographers, who cover the special functions and events for their newspaper.

By knowing these sources of news as photographs, a sub-editor can contact them in case of any contingency without any difficulty.

Of course, many of the troubles of the sub-editor will be lessened, if the correspondents and other contributors take a little more pain to make their copy readable.

If the reporters and writers try to follow the style in which their writings are presented finally in the newspaper, then they can greatly save a good deal of unnecessary work and worry on the part of the sub- editorial department.

Sometimes, a contributor or a correspondent may even have a complaint against the sub-editor, who may not be sufficiently acquainted with the importance of the material. Every sub-editor should be careful in the use of scissors and the blue pencils, so as not to give any cause for complaint later on to the conscientious writers.

There is no doubt that ultimately the public is the best judge of the work of a sub-editor. The good work done by him in the selection of the news and views will be much liked by the readers of his newspaper, whereas any fall in its standard may result in a reduction in its circulation.

It is, therefore, the duty of every good sub-editor to do his best to put as much exclusive news in his newspaper as possible as early.