Ok, NYT. 50 copy editors who on a daily basis provide an important task to the function of the paper? OR ONE David Brooks who basically writes the same opinion article twice a week since forever? Read more

The truth is, I think, two things: Writers are sensitive. No one really LIKES criticism. Even, and maybe especially, warranted criticism. We writers are kind of primadonuinas at times, and often argue with the copy editor. (Folly, at best.) Copy editors have a very hard job — and then they have to deal with us… Read more

I work for a paper with a daily circulation of 3K. We also put out a second paper twice a week. We have 8 staff members. It’s a stressful job at times because we wear several different hats. We’re definitely understaffed compared to a paper owned by the same company just 20 miles down the road. We laugh when they say… Read more

I had a summer internship on one of the Times copy desks a few years ago, so I’m still in contact with people who work there. There have been at least three rounds of layoffs or buyouts since I left. My former supervisor took a buyout and went into retirement. I loved the people I worked with and I felt I contributed… Read more

I wholeheartedly agree. A copy desk saves the newspaper. It used to be proofreaders who did that but now, with machines taking their place (poorly), it falls upon the copy desk to save the integrity of the paper. Having been associated with Mel Frishman at The Miami News, I hope that someday there are more like him. Read more

Great piece, Diana. I’m another reporter who owes his career to the copy editors who put up with the garbage I sent to them on deadline each and every night. Read more

The ugly secret of newspapers is that copy editors do a great deal of what non-journalism people think reporters or other editors, with fancier titles, do. They have for generations caught typos; deleted potentially horrifying factual errors; made 20 inches of bloated copy into a tight, bright, and juicy 12; noticed… Read more

Great stuff! As a former copy editor who worked in newspapers for close to 20 years, it’s much appreciated. Read more

Printing costs: okay, fine Read more

My major was in English Journalism with an emphasis in copy editing. I worked and studied directly under one of the LA Times’ copy editors. It will never cease to amaze me how many folks there are who claim to ‘know’ so much about media while not having the slightest idea about how a coherent story even ends up before… Read more

Ugh, so true. My mother has had to deal with this over and over again in her field, too; she’s been Admin to CEOs and CFOs for decades — setting/maintaining/constantly reshuffling everyone’s travel and schedules, setting up entire board meetings... the amount of work she’s described to me always sounded to me like her… Read more

All they have to do is switch to a video-only product. Deliver DVDs of the latest Tom Friedman commentary instead of print newspapers and voila, problem solved. Hey, everybody’s doing it! Read more

This is great, Diana. And I couldn’t agree more about newspapers trimming the fat in all the wrong places. Read more

Maybe this sounds pathetic, but I am so grateful to have this space to get out what I have been feeling through this. I was sexually assaulted by a guy who I was in love with when I was 19. We had had sexual contact in the past. He was a master of “negging” me. I had zero self esteem. One night we were drinking… Read more

Don’t feed the trolls, Diana. Your reporting on these cases is nothing short of heroic. “every article has been like this”? Read more

Last few juries I was on, holy crap we went long for minor cases. (restraining order violation and DUI) Read more

Then don’t read them. Read more

I was on a sequestered jury once, and honestly.... on the outside you can pretty much see that this is cut and dry. When you are on a jury, especially a sequestered one, all you know is this case, and all you’ve heard is this case. It’s literally all that’s in your head, along with the rules you are given. It’s… Read more

When I first moved to LA in 2001, one of the very first stories I ever heard from someone else in the entertainment business was from a producer who told me his girlfriend worked around Bill Cosby and had been invited to Cosby’s house for dinner. “Bring a friend” Cosby had said. So she brought her boyfriend (this… Read more

I want to give her 10 Mother of the Year Awards. What a phenomenal advocate for her daughter. Brava, Gianna Constand! Read more