At the Columbia Missourian Sports Desk, copy editors sift through local, national and international sports stories to make sure that they’re well written with clean and accurate copy. We also make sure that they have accurate statistics and they have relevant headlines.
Here is a spreadsheet on which I record everything I’ve edited so far. Though for the first four shifts, I was unaware “Time Started” meant the time I actually started to look at stories. I thought it meant the time the asset started. So here is the spreadsheet with my struggles included:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ls4rMQgJM7-ekQH_ubDFXgql-MLM7H4rqIAx4iDPNUA/edit?usp=sharing
Here are my weekly reflections in which I describe my experiences on the sports desk:
Danny Stewart- Week 1 Reflection
Danny Stewart- Week 2 Reflection
Danny Stewart- Week 3 Reflection
Danny Stewart- Week 4 Reflection
Examples of Edits During A Shift for Web
1) Surging Columbia College basketball prepares for meeting with Stephens
In this story, I edited a lot of syntax and diction issues. I also changed the headline by deleting “women’s” because the Columbia College men wouldn’t play Stephens College, an all women’s school.
2) Lacrosse players show up, No. 5 Cougars show out in 85-80 win
In this story, a lot was reworded. There was also a few grammar things here and there that needed fixing so I did that.
3) Bet with tennis star comes full circle for MU student ahead of Super Bowl 52
My fellow editor, Jason, showed me how to add tweets into the story, so I added two to this story. I also tweaked some grammatical things in this story by adding words (seen after a + symbol) and removing words and letters. It’s also the cutest story ever.
4) Jimmy Garoppolo reaches record five-year deal with 49ers
I removed a lot of unnecessary info from this NFL Roundup. I really cut down and cut out a lot so that it could fit in print as well as still be considered as a roundup. I also added the photo of Jimmy Garoppolo to give better context with headline. This was also the first case in which I was reminded that I needed to put my name in notes mode so that people could tell I was the copy editor. That continues from here on out. (Ignore my mute button)
5) COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Bridges lifts No. 4 Michigan St. past No. 3 Purdue
I had to completely rewrite the Texas Tech-Kansas State section in this story because a women’s game was written about underneath the men’s subhead. It took me forever to correct it because I had to double-check scores and stats for that game to make sure everything was 100% accurate. I became a reporter again doing this one. (Pictured Below)
Print Editing and Headlines
1) “Izzo: Mum’s the word at MSU” and “Temple tops Wichita State”
Link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_308a6b44-c708-508d-8824-53d8ca6cc25a.html
I copy edited both of these headlines and the stories for print. I also wrote the breaker for the Izzo story and shortened it for print as well.
PDF: Page B3 | e-Edition | columbiamissourian.com Feb. 2-3, 2018
2) “Racial profiling still affects NFL players” and “Gronk ‘ready to roll’ for Super Bowl 52”
Link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_6568fbda-ede7-5565-b8b7-05109f930cd6.html
I copy edited both of these headlines and stories for print. I also edited the photo captions for these two stories as well.
3) “Cougars have high hopes for season”
Link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_a60822ee-3ab9-53ef-8d11-73e673bcca64.html
I copy edited this story, headline, and photo caption.
PDF: Page 3B Feb. 9-10
4) “‘Good chance’ Porter Jr. returns to Tigers this season” and “Porter Jr. just wants ‘to play basketball'”
Links: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_ac591d30-8801-5f55-8ee2-119f0411c0fd.html and https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_5a7e93f0-5f32-5023-a7af-aa7cfec7331d.html
I copy edited and rewrote the headlines for the Michael Porter Jr. story on consecutive pages.
PDF: Page B1 | e-Edition | columbiamissourian.com Feb. 11, 2018
5) “Tide tame No. 15 Tennessee”
Link: https://www.columbiamissourian.com/eedition/page-b/page_703a5158-c06f-55f2-b4a5-ecf54aa427db.html
This is my pride and joy of my print headline writing. The headline is beautiful alliteration. I also wrote the breaker which has an Alabama pun. I also copy edited the story and the photo caption.
PDF: Page B1 | e-Edition | columbiamissourian.com Feb. 11, ’18
Working at the sports desk hasn’t required me to post anything to social media yet because the sports desk has its own social media account. The TA’s for the reporting class take care of the social media posts.
The Danny Diaries 