A great story can still die on the editor’s desk, buried by a bad assignment, a gap nobody caught, or a draft that went out before it was ready.
Editing isn’t about fixing typos. It’s about making the calls that decide whether a story actually happens.
In one week, John O’Neil, former editor at The New York Times and Bloomberg News, kicks off a FREE, four-week course: How Editors Make the News Happen: A Practical Guide to Newsroom Editing Beyond Copy Editing.
Here’s what each week covers:
Week 1: How assignments get made, how editors sort story ideas by news value, urgency, and feasibility, and how they turn them into a clear plan.
Week 2: How editors debrief reporters, spot gaps or fairness issues, and turn raw reporting into a focused story.
Week 3: How stories move from draft to publication, including substantive edits, display decisions, and coordination with copy editors, visuals, and audience teams.
Week 4: How editors catch and correct errors, fairness issues, and ethical problems before and after publication.
Along the way, you’ll hear from guest speakers at The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Kyiv Independent, Epicenter-NYC, and more.
Great editing is more than fixing typos; it’s about making decisions that shape how news is reported, produced, and understood.
Join How Editors Make the News Happen: A Practical Guide to Newsroom Editing Beyond Copy Editing, a four-week online course organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. Instructor John O’Neil, a former editor at The New York Times and Bloomberg News, will guide journalists through the many roles editors play in a newsroom, from evaluating story ideas and making assignments to coordinating reporting, visuals, deadlines, and publication.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Explain the major roles editors play beyond copy editing.
- Assess story ideas based on news value, feasibility, timing, staffing, and audience needs.
- Make clear assignments and work with reporters to develop focused, fair stories.
- Coordinate reporting, visuals, deadlines, and publication decisions.
- Identify and respond to issues involving fairness, accuracy, standards, and ethics.
The course combines practical guidance with real-world newsroom examples to give you an inside look at the conversations and decisions that shape how news gets made. No previous editing experience is required.
This course is designed for early-career editors, reporters considering a transition into editing, journalism students, established journalists, and communications professionals interested in understanding how newsrooms work.
Enroll now to build the skills you need to turn reporting into strong, accurate, and meaningful coverage.