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THURSDAY'S
OPENING SESSION
Hope amid
the turmoil
Industry changes mean challenges
for copy editors,
but not all is gloom and doom, speakers at opening session say
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| One of
the highlights of the opening session was the announcement of
winners in ACES' anual headline contest. Rachel Dunn of the Los Angeles Times
was in attendance to receive her Division I plaque from the
chairman of the division's judges, Douglas Backstrom of the
Chicago Sun-Times. For more coverage of the headline contest,
click here. |
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By Katherine
Drouin-Keith
The Miami Herald’s executive editor had the
pleasure of seeing a conference hall packed with people poring
over his newspaper Thursday.
Trouble was, all those people were copy editors.
“Let’s just keep whatever you find to yourselves,” Anders Gyllenhaal
joked at the opening session of the 11th American Copy Editors
Society national conference in Miami.
The conference opened with Gyllenhaal’s speech and a
welcome from ACES President Chris Wienandt of the Dallas Morning
News. The session also featured the winners of the ACES headline
contest; reports from the conference, membership and auction
committees; ACES election results; scholarship winners; and a plea for donations
to the group’s Education Fund.
Gyllenhaal, a member of the Pulitzer Prize board as well as
the uncle of actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, touched on some
of the big changes facing copy editors, among them the Internet
and 24-hour news cycles as well as the challenge of increasingly complicated
design presentations. At the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, where Gyllenhaal worked
before the Herald, a major redesign meant more work for copy editors, a change
noted with resignation by a senior staffer, who said at a meeting,
“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Gyllenhaal said.
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| Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal
of the Miami Herald welcomes copy editors to South Florida. |
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But another anecdote Gyllenhaal told offered some hope.
At one newspaper, an editor who was displeased by its headlines
wrote a rulebook and also hired a consultant to work with the
copy desk. The consultant looked at the rulebook, told the editor,
“No wonder your headlines suck,” and threw the book out, Gyllenhaal said.
Now is the time to throw out the rulebook and pay more attention to detail
than ever before, he concluded.
Wienandt, who followed Gyllenhaal, also noted that things are
unsettled in the news business, with buyouts and ownership changes
shaking up many newsrooms. But ACES can continue to do what it’s
done, he said: Educate copy desks and also educate managers about
what copy editors do. And he encouraged conference attendees to bring what
they learn back to their newsrooms. “What happens here should
not stay here,” he said.
In response to feedback, ACES has added sessions on management
and small staffs to the conference. Recognizing copy editors’
characteristic early-morning brain fog, the vice president for
conferences, Deirdre Edgar of the Los Angeles Times, noted the
free coffee available from every day from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. “We do this for
you,” she proclaimed, getting loud applause. (There’s tea, too.)
Wienandt said ACES also is updating its training CD, has expanded
its newsletter and is building an endowment fund for its scholarship
program. The group is also moving closer to hiring an executive
director to bring more professionalism and continuity to the
organization, and is working on updating the surveys on the state of copy
editing that led to the group’s founding 10 years ago. “With
luck, and work on our part, the results will make managers more
aware of who we are, what we need from them and what we can do
for them,” he said.
Noting a decline in ACES membership from about 900 last year
to 760 this year, membership Vice President Zoe Cabaniss Friloux
of the Rocky Mountain News said copy editors must encourage their
co-workers to join ACES. “It’s important that we not only maintain our
membership, but increase it,” she said.
Katherine Drouin-Keith
is an assistant editor at Newsday. |
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ABOVE:
ACES scholarship winners were honored at Thursday's opening
general session. From left are Krysten Chambrot (University
of Missouri-Columbia), Amy Goldstein (City University of New York), David
Ok (University of Texas at Arlington), scholarship committee
chairwoman Kathy Schenck (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) and
Aubespin Scholarship winner Matthew Dulin (University of
Houston). Another scholar, Megan Crockett (Central Michigan University) arrived
at the conference later in the day.
LEFT: Aubespin Scholarship winner Matthew Dulin of the University of Houston. |
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| The audience
listens to Merrill Perlman (New York Times) speak from the
back corner of the room during the Q&A portion of the opening session. |
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RETURN TO WWW.COPYDESK.ORG
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ACES President Chris Wienandt
delivers his State of ACES speech.
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STATE
OF ACES
The text of ACES President Chris Wienandt's address to the opening
plenary session of the 11th ACES conference, Thursday, April
19, 2007, in Miami:
Now we are 10.
The American Copy Editors Society was chartered almost exactly
a decade ago. That fall, the fall of 1997, we had our first conference.
I remember getting fliers in the mail about it. And fliers forwarded
to me from other people in the newsroom. It sounded like a pretty
neat deal -- a bunch of copy editors coming together to discuss
their common concerns for a couple of days. I wanted to be there, and I told
my managing editor so. And to my surprise, he said I could go
-- if I would do a presentation there.
Well ... I figured if that was
the price, I could whip something up. The trick was going to
be getting on the program. So I thought up some ideas and with
much trepidation, called Pam Robinson.
She didn't know me from Adam, of course. But I described what
I had in mind -- a workshop on how to maintain accuracy while
railroading copy. Pam must have been desperate for presenters
-- she gave me a spot.
Little did I know what I was getting into -- but that's another
story.
But what a conference that was, and a good number of the people
who made that conference a huge success have been with us ever
since -- Hank Glamann, of course, one of the two founders of
the organization; Bill Connolly, Alex Cruden, John Russial.
Bill even gave the keynote speech at the banquet -- "It's a
Great Time to Be an Editor." He might choose another title if
he gave that speech this year -- but maybe not.
Times are unsettled in the news biz, that's for sure. Buyouts,
ownership changes, and trying to sort out how print and online
journalism fit together -- these are some of the challenges we've
faced during the past year.
ACES can't do anything about buyouts and ownership changes,
I'm afraid; if you know how we can, see me right after this session!
But we can continue doing what we've done well for the past
10 years -- educating copy editors, educating managers about
copy editors, bringing you all together so you can help be part
of the solution.
We're constantly looking to the future. This year more than
ever -- we're offering a multi-day series of sessions to help
us all come to terms with ... you know, that Internet thing.
We hope that our speakers' ideas, plus the ones you bring to the discussion,
will lead us to a new understanding of what lies ahead.
And we're listening to you when you say you want more sessions
for smaller staffs, and more information on how to be a better
manager.
As you know, the conference isn't the only thing ACES does.
We're also in the process of updating our training CD, and we
hope to have a brand-spanking new version out in the next few
months. We're moving deliberately, but we're moving, on improving our
Web site. In the past year, we've made a big effort to give you more industry
news and other material -- in fact, anyone who wants to contribute
to the Web site is more than welcome to volunteer. Something
else you can see me about after this session (or any board member).
Our newsletter is getting better and better, and bigger and
bigger. The ACES Education Fund is reality and is in the process
of building an endowment to fund our scholarship program.
We also are moving ever closer, we hope, to hiring an executive
director to bring more professionalism and continuity to the
way the organization runs day to day (it does, you know).
Finally, we're working on updating the surveys on the state
of copy editing that led to the founding of this organization
10 years ago. With luck, and work on our part, the results will
make managers more aware of who we are, what we need from them,
and what we can do for them.
And I guess that brings this speech full circle.
On behalf of the board, the speakers, our competition organizers,
and everyone else who has worked to bring this year's conference
to reality, I wish for you a very fruitful and inspirational
three days here in Miami. Be sure to take what you learn here
back to work with you. Spread the knowledge. And spread the word about ACES. |
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