John Russial
Basis is 100 points
NOTE: These guidelines are designed to reflect the emphasis placed on various editing issues in many daily newspapers. Remember, however, that even though these criteria are rather detailed, they cannot cover all possible situations.
Editing
On the plus side:
Up to 5 points can be added per story or 10 points for a lab assignment for:
--thoughtful questions raised
--outstanding catches of fact errors or problems
--exceptionally skillful editing
--exceptionally good headlines
--exceptionally good layouts
--exceptional efficiency
Deductions
1 point
--Style error, typo
--Minor punctuation, grammar, usage errors
--Failure to tighten slightly wordy sentences
--Phrases or clauses with poor syntax 3-point maximum (1,2 or 3 off depending on seriousness)
--Misspellings (except names)
--More serious grammar, punctuation or usage error. (One that affects meaning is -3)
--Missing words
--Failure to tighten very wordy sentences
--Failure to recast very awkward or confusing passages 5-point maximum
--poor story organization (overall assessment for each story)
--problems with lead, such as highly questionable information
--minor hole--that should have been filled or questioned
--information that is unnecessarily offensive based on such criteria as race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age.
--inconsistency in spelling of names
--bad trim 5 points
--most misspellings of names
--fact errors that could have been caught by checking available references, such as maps, the Blue Book, almanac.
--fact errors that should have been questioned 10-point maximum
--really bad misspelling; e.g., consistently misspelling the name of a well-known figure
--fact errors introduced by copyeditor
--major hole, or omission of information
--any information that is clearly libelous
Headlines, decks and captions
5-point maximum
--A headline that is vague, somewhat misleading or difficult to understand; one that fails to reflect the sense or tone of the story
--A headline that is too short, without good reason
--A readout or deck that unnecessarily repeats the information in the head
--Usage errors
10-point maximum
--Spelling, grammar or serious usage error
--Inaccuracy
--Headline that is too long
--Libelous information
Page Design
1 point
--Error in marking page dummy or photo (e.g. failing to put the size or slug name of a photo on the dummy) 3 points
--Minor error in sizing or scaling photos
--Poor cropping or error of judgment in placing photo 5-point maximum
--Failure to leave enough space for a story (1 inch leeway)
--Unnecessary violation of layout or design guidelines
--Awkward, hard-to-follow type wrap
--Serious error in cropping, sizing or placement
--Problem in news judgment reflected in layout 10-point maximum
--Very serious cropping or sizing problem--one that causes a big problem on the page
--Serious error in news judgment reflected in layout Back to the class home page