Last Updated: January 31, 2000
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David Barry
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Dave Barry on editors - and why they're usually wrong
`Columnist Dave Barry, a speaker at Thursday morning's session on good
writing, talked with the ASNE Reporter's Curtis Esquibel.
Q:
If you were to describe a typical newsroom environment to an unfamiliar
audience, how would you depict a typical editor?
A: I would
describe a typical editor as a guy who considers himself well-dressed if
all the coffee stains on his shirt are the same shade of brown.
Q: What is your most memorable editor-to-reporter encounter,
and how did you work through your dilemma?
A: I've had some real screaming matches with editors over the
years. I was always absolutely convinced that I was right, but when I look
back on these conflicts from the perspective of an older and wiser person,
I realize that, more often than not, the editor was wrong.
Q: Did watching "Titanic" remind you of a situation or experience
at any of the newspapers where you've worked?
A: "Titanic" reminded me of a time in the early 1970s when I
was a reporter at the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., and I went
out to cover severe flooding caused by Tropical Storm Agnes, and I wound
up clinging to a light post on the streets of Downington, Pa., trying to
keep from being swept down Brandywine Creek by what I believe I later described
as a "raging current." Fortunately, there was no iceberg.
Q: What are the qualities of a good editor?
A: I think that a good editor has common sense, good spelling
and grammar skills, consistency of judgment, a very solid understanding
- preferably from experience - of what reporters go through to get their
stories, a sense of humor, the ability to be outraged and the feeling -
no matter how many years he or she has been at it - that there is no more
interesting place to be than at a newspaper right before deadline.
Q: If you could give one piece of advice to editors, what would
you say?
A: My advice would be: Always listen to the reporter before
you decide what the story is.
Q: How important is the relationship between reporter and editor?
A: I think the reporter-editor relationship is crucial. Each
side needs to feel that it can criticize, and be criticized by, the other,
and that the purpose of the criticism will always be to make the story
better.
