Effective Editing

Book excerpt: Journalism -- the Fourth Estate -- has established itself as an integral part of our society. Happenings in India during the British Raj and post-independence are the best testimony of it. Editing is the most significant part of journalism. It plays a significant role in determining the quality of a newspaper or magazine. The purpose of the book is to describe the job of editors and list skills that make them successful. It will assist all those who are in the profession or are thinking of joining it or have entered it with high ambitions. Practicing journalists aiming to move upwards will also benefit from having a point of reference and a source of idea. The book will be extremely useful for students of media and journalism. The book will help journalists to perform their job better equipped and ensure that they commit fewer mistakes. They would learn the art and science of effective editing and would not find the language of their colleague alien. They will understand the way things have been done in the past and also learn the newer ways of doing editing. The art of editing falls into two categories: journalistic skills to do the job; and editing skills that make the unintelligible readable. In the past, most of us learnt it through a painful process of trial and error. We don't want the new comers to suffer from that pain and therefore this book Communication Skills: Effective Editing.