The copy chief is the night editor, overseeing and coordinating a staff of copy editors, proofing their work and editing all copy that appears in the newspaper. As a salaried employee, hours will vary, but the copy chief must be able to work two or three nights per week from 3:30 p.m. until around 1 a.m., at least 20 hours per week. The copy chief will be specifically expected to:
- Become extremely familiar will the rules of Emerald and Associated Press style, as well as with the rules and restrictions associated with headline writing, and constantly refer to reference materials to verify facts and spelling in stories
- Edit all stories that appear in the paper, correcting inaccuracies, wordiness, poor organization, bad grammar, punctuation or other writing errors
- Be available to edit breaking news stories throughout the day before they are posted online
- Write display text, headlines, summaries and captions for the Opinion page, and for other sections as needed
- Monitor the news daily to keep abreast of issues that need to be covered and see that no pertinent news is missed
- Set individual goals each term to improve journalistic skills and help others set goals each term to improve their journalistic skills
- Identify stories needing major revision, possibly recommending to hold them
- Identify libelous or potentially libelous stories and alert the editor in chief or managing editor
- Critique and correct each issue of the paper, both before and after publication
- Pay attention to consistent problems, such as a writer who keeps making the same mistakes, a style rule that is repeatedly violated or inaccuracies created by the copy desk
- Record any fact error caught during the editing process on the CQ Report, and e-mail the report to all writers each week
- Assist managing editor in monitoring article comments as necessary
- Attend required staff meetings
- Paginate the Opinion page
- Ensure a PDF is uploaded online for Western Oregon Web Press
- Upload each day’s content to www.dailyemerald.com/admin
- Issue Twitter alerts linking to ODE stories after they are uploaded for the night
- Attend budget meetings at 3:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday
- Complete other duties as assigned
Direct supervisor: Managing editor
