Many years ago at a cocktail party two of my Reuters colleagues were approached by a mingling stranger who was making, well, cocktail party conversation.
My colleagues were both general news deskers in New York which, at the time, meant mostly editing overseas copy for consumption by US media, and occasionally, doing some ad hoc reporting around town.
Mingling stranger to Reuters Colleague #1: "You work for Reuters, really! What do you do?
Reuters Colleague #1: "I'm a correspondent." (A bit of a stretch, although both were at a senior pay grade classified "correspondent.")
Mingling stranger to Reuters Colleague #2: "And, are you a correspondent too?"
Reuters Colleague #2: "Oh no -- I make the correspondents look good."
Well, as pompous as the remark was it had its basis in the truth (because he lives, basic decency prevents me from relaying just how umpompous an utterance this was, relatively speaking, for this staggeringly pompous person).
The essence of being a good editor is making sure that a reporter's work makes as good a read as is possible while remaining true to the reporter's vision. Part of that task is remembering that you aren't the writer -- if you want that, take a pay cut and work lousier hours (I mean away from AZ, which is a veritable commune in the salary and benefits department).
It's easy to cross the line, to be tempted to sneak a bit of one's own voice into someone else's work. It's tougher to nurture the voice in others or know when to leave well enough alone. I'm not sure that it is a lesson an editor ever learns in all of its fullness. But I guess wouldn't know because the best editors don't become household names.
My understanding of the basic role of an AZ editor is to be a mentor to reporters: to help them with whatever they need, at whatever the stage, to begin, flesh out and finish an assignment, using whatever passes for my expertise. My own approach is to be 100% available and only slightly proactive, to allow the reporters to be the reporters.
So, be prepared to be autonomous and to show initiative -- and to ask for help when you need it. We have a pretty good Bat Signal here and I'm prepared to be as involved as necessary.
But you are the reporter. I'll do what I can to help you move upfield, but you have the ball.
Is it too late to advise you to be careful what you wish for?
