THE TRUTH ABOUT EDITORS 

A Presentation by Chude Jideonwo, Managing Partner of Red Media Group. Delivered at Pan African University, Lagos Nigeria. Wednesday, April 10, 2013.

WHO IS AN EDITOR?

THE TRADITIONAL SENSE

Being an editor, in the ultimate sense (i.e. editor-in-chief), requires a particular type of person- • Someone who can see the big picture, • Someone who can connect the dots, • Someone who can tell stories.

IT IS A POSITION YOU MUST TAKE TIME TO ASSUMEBeing an editor is like being a manager – a process of experience and talent turning into skill. Even the editor of Teen Vogue, is not a teenager.

THE STORY: WHAT IS YOUR STORY?

1. Identifying the strongest angle and structuring the story

2. Developing a keen sense of the story

• An editor, like many leaders, needs to have his feet firmly on the ground and his eyes focused firmly at the stars. This means he needs to have the ability to see the world as it is, as well as capacity to envision the world as it can be.

Eg Thisi s the classic confglict between what you want to say andc what your audience wants to hear.

TYPES OF EDITORS1. Sub editor2. Copy editor3. Desk editor4. Editor at large5. Standards editor6. Managing editor7. Etc

THE ABUSE OF THE EDITOR

Unfortunately in this era of bloggers, where the blogger is the writer, the reporter etc, people begin to think that if they can write, they can edit. This is a tragedy because in the first place, many can’t write. Nothing is more offensive to the editor attacked daily by bad writing and journalism than to be told by a writer not to edit her work.

Some of them haven’t won any awards, some haven’t written for any credible media. All they have is just a Facebook comment from friends and maybe a fake award from a fake international poetry association!

Achebe had an editor until he passed, same as Fareed Zakaria or Maureen Dowd. Even Editors-in-chief have their work edited.

It’s like a musician says he doesn’t want a producer or an actor saying she does not want a director. The problem is the general perception that an editor is a person who just writes edits and slashes words. And the nature of the writing eco-system.

THE DISCIPLINE OF AN EDITOR

• Being an editor requires both precision and soul as well – which is a difficult mix. On a movie set it’s like being the producer and the director.

• She is as much concerned about word counts and deadlines as about the way the pictures lie on the pages, as well as the fonts.

• In fact, she is also the production manager – with responsibility fo5r budgets, human resources etc.

GOOD OLD JOURNALISM STANDARDS

• Balance• Fairness• Consistency• Grammar

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN

PRECISION AND SOUL

NEWS PAPER VS MAGAZINE VS BLOGLearn to understand

the times

SKILLS FOR THE “OGA ON THE TOP”

Amongst other things -

1. Emotional intelligence (managing creative – and sometimes conceited – people is no easy feat)

2. Working under pressure/deadlines3. Follow the money4. Stay ahead of trends e.g. Tina Brown

of Vanity Fair/The Talk/Newsweek/Daily Beast. She is the quintessential.

An editor should have been a writer (even if not the best).

BREAKING INTO THE MARKETFirst write, write well, get to be published, grow, learn to lead – on creativity as well

as management.

END