Editing Example - President Obama's Healthcare Speech

Often when copy-editing or sub-editing for clients, part of the process is optimising word use and order so that the message is effectively communicated.

This photograph, uploaded to Flickr by the Whitehouse earlier this month, shows President Barack Obama and the head speechwriter, Jon Favreau, editing a speech on healthcare in the Oval Office on 9 September 2009.

The aim of the speech is to win solidarity and support for American healthcare reform. We can see that instead of using the word ‘compassion’ they’ve opted to explain what ‘compassion’ means, changing it to ‘concern and regard for the plight of others’. 

It is then explained that ‘compassion’ isn’t a political party issue – and personal anecdotes, such as the ‘compassion’ Obama felt in his mother’s last days, have been crossed out – but ‘part of the American character’.

This image is an excellent illustration of how a careful choice of words can bring about the unification rather than the fragmentation of the audience receiving its message. Thanks to photographer Pete Souza for such an insightful photograph.

(Source: Flickr)

The Wonders of WordReference.com

As I’m sub-editor for a national English-language paper in France – a job that I absolutely love – it’s important to have good sources for checking French translations. And not that I’m doubting the writers or anything, but I do like to check French translations for sense and spelling!

One of the most reliable web resources for checking translations is WordReference.com. Why? It gives you free, comprehensive information very quickly. When you enter a French word into the search box, you are taken to a page that lists, amongst other things, the English translation, associated words, related WordReference forum discussions and – this is very handy if the word is wrong in the copy – similarly-spelled words.

If you type an English word in to get a French translation you get all of the above, but also a ‘principal translations’ section that uses the word in context, which is very useful if it's unfamiliar. You can also click the ‘Écouter’ link to hear how it sounds, just for your own appreciation! Marvellous!

Sub-editors Care About Style: Style Guides

Usually when I take on work for a client there is a style guide to work with. I say usually because occasionally there isn’t, which is horrifying because I don’t understand how a publication can be produced without one!

In my experience the size of style guide often depends on how big the commissioning company is. Big corporations and publishing houses seem to create large, comprehensive style guides, while smaller publishers and companies have smaller guides or use pre-existing versions such as the online guide by the Economist. Online style guides from leading publications are presented in different ways. For example, at the Economist you’re presented with a table of contents whereas the guide for the Guardian offers an A to Z menu as does the Times.

Generally, if a publication is using an established style guide there will be decisions to be made on certain words. For example, if a British publication is italicising foreign words does it want the word ‘rosé’ italicised or not as it's so widely used in the UK?

Sometimes, despite using an established style guide, editors change style details according to their preference. For example, a client using the style guide from the the Economist could prefer to use ‘percent’ rather than ‘%’ and ‘million’ rather than a single ‘m’. As a sub it’s important to create your own word list and style guide for each publication and add to it as word styles are created. That way you don’t go wrong and it saves time.

At the beginning of the post I expressed dismay about subbing for publications that don’t have a style guide. Recently I undertook last-minute subbing work for a magazine that didn’t have one. It doubled the amount of time I had to spend on the job because I was looking back through previous issues to try and ascertain word styles. Did it capitalise job titles or not? Did it italicise book titles or not (the Economist does and the Times doesn’t)? When I sent back queries to the editor, on certain words I couldn’t find examples of, he told me there wasn’t time to deal with ‘that sort of thing’. If that’s the case then why doesn’t the magazine have a style guide?

While I didn’t charge more for the extra work (because it is a small, new title that needs encouragement) I did try to impress upon the client that having a style guide is of the utmost importance.

Subs care that the style is right and so should the editor or client! If it seems daunting for a publication to create one, it can always choose to follow an established online style guide and adjust according to preference – at least then there are rules to work by!

The satisfaction and pride of seeing words styled uniformly on a page is a huge part of what the sub’s job is about! If the copy isn’t perfect, it hurts – really!