The production process

Tomorrow is deadline day -- e.g., production day -- for our weekly print product. My neighbors have feverishly been reporting and putting the finishing touches on their stories, while I've been editing them.

Like a lot of publications, there are multiple mini-deadlines within the deadline. Non-timely pages get sent first -- some as early as today. Each page goes through about five sets of eyes before it gets sent to make sure there are no mistakes.

I was pressed into service as a copy editor today, being about the fifth set of eyes. By that point, you're checking for AP style errors (my students are rolling their eyes right now, I'm sure), small mistakes and inconsistencies in print, checking headlines to make sure they fit and also finding ways to cut lines if a story is a few lines over.

On our student publication, we're often guilty of "little mistakes." I'm sure every publication is guilty of the same -- bad folio dates, incorrect page numbers, XXXes where photo credits should be, missing captions, missing credits, stories being chopped off. They come in the "wait-til-the-last-minute" deadline frenzy because everyone is just trying to get the paper out. It's the little mistakes that we don't think about until we see them in print, and my students joke that they see me pop another gray hair.

The IBJ has a nice little checklist that we all could incorporate. Before any page is sent, an editor must doublecheck the folios, page numbers, headlines, jump lines, graphic credits, photo credits, bylines and make sure there aren't any major conflicts with ads that might be embarrassing (or appear to compromise journalistic integrity) later. Not only that, but each one must be signed off on by the editor.

If we have a mistake in the Crimson Messenger, it's pretty easy to point fingers. If there's a page checklist, someone -- an editor, for example -- has signed off on the page. Therefore, there's accountability and responsibility in getting it perfect.

Remember, in journalism, being 95 percent correct is not an A. It's an F. Our credibility is the No. 1 thing we have, and those smal mindless mistakes can ruin our credibility. Students are naturally wary of paperwork -- especially the creative students we tend to have in our classes. But small checklinsts and pieces of quality control are vital to making sure we maintain accountability and perection, which helps us maintain our credibility.