You are on page 1of 20

Glossary of editing terms

Writing for journalists - Wynford Hicks, Sally Adams, Harriet Gilbert, Tim Holmes

A
Audit Bureau of Circulations: source of independently verified circulations Advance: text of speech/ statement issued to journalists beforehand Advertorial: advertisement presented as editorial Agencies: news agencies Agony column: advice column, agony aunt Ampersand: & symbol Angle: particular approach to story Attribution: identifying the journalists source of information o quote

B
Back issue: previous issue of publication Backgrounder: explanatory feature to accompany a news story Banner (headline): headline that runs across front page Beat: American word for special area / topic covered by reporter Bleed: (of an image) go beyond the type area to the edge of a page Blow up: enlarge part of photograph Broadsheet: large-format newspaper

B
Blurb: displayed material promoting contents of another page or future issue Body copy: main text of story Body type: main typeface in which a story is set Bold: thick black type, used for emphasis Box: copy enlcosed with rules to give it emphasis / separate it from main text Brief: short news item

B
Bureau: news office in foreign country Byline: writers name as it appears in print at the beginning of story

C
Caption: text relating the photo to a story, caption story: extension of caption into standalone story Crop: cut a photograph for better effect Centre spread: middle opening of a tabloid or magazine Character: unit of measurement for type including letters, figures, punctuation marks and spaces Chequebook journalism: paying large sums to do stories

C
Chief sub: senior sub editor in charge of others City desk: financial section of British national newspaper. US: covers home news, as in India Classified advertising: small ads classified by subject matter, grouped in separate section Clippings/ clips: american term for cuttings Cuttings: stories cut out from newspapers and filed electronically under subject

C
Close quotes: end of section in direct quotes CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, K black Colour piece: news story written as feature with emphasis on journalists reactions Colour separation: method by which the 4 process colours CMYK are separated from a colour original Column: standard vertical division of a page; regular feature by a encouraged to be opinionated or entertaining

C
Contact sheet: photographers sheet of small prints Copy: text of a story Copy taster: Copyright: the right to reproduce original material Correction: published statement correcting errors in copy Credit (line): name of photographer as it appears in print next to their work

C
Cross-head: line or lines, taken from text, set bigger and bolder than the body type and inserted between paragraphs to liven up page Cut: shorten or delete copy Cut-out: illustration with background masked, painted or cut to make it stand out on the page

D
Dateline: place from which copy is filed Deadline: time a story is due Deck: originally one of a series of headlines stacked on top of each other; now used to mean one line of a headline Delayed drop: device in news story of delaying imp facts for effect Descender: the part of a lower-case letter (ex: j, p) that sticks out below the x-height in a type face

D
Desk: news paper department Deskman: American term for male sub Diary: list of news events to be covered Diary column: gossip column Display ads: ordinary

E
Edition: version of newspaper printed for particular geographical area or time

F
Freelance/ freelancer: a self-employed journalist who sells material to various news organisations

I
Imprint: name and address of printer and publisher Mug shot: photograph showing the head and sometimes shoulders of a person

L
Lead story: main story on page Leader: editorial Listings: lists of entertainment and other events with basic details- cinema and tv

N
Nibs: news in brief

P
Peg/ news peg: reason for publishing a story at a particular time Press release: written announcement or promotional material by an organization to the media

S
Stet: ignore deletion or correction (Latin for let it stand)

W
White space: are on page with no type or illustration

You might also like