Help for job hunters

There's a new copy-editing-related question at the Detroit Free Press' Jobs Page blog.

Can you tell me if it is standard practice for copy editors to acquire copies of unedited versions of stories that have already been published in the paper for purposes of adding to a work portfolio or as part of a job application?

You'll notice in Joe Grimm's response a couple of typos, just as you'll notice them in some of my posts, too. This has been covered a million times before, but it deserves a mention here, too.

One of the nicest things about blogs is their immediacy. But one of their biggest drawbacks is that they seldom get a second look before publishing. For blogs that mention copy editing, that looks especially egregious. But, hey, everyone needs an editor.

That being said, I am surprised that a blog linked to a newspaper isn't forced to go through some sort of editing. I can only surmise that the paper differentiates between readers' blogs and industry blogs. Or maybe it's never come up.

Just call it a lesson in how errors can detract from a message. Still, as blog readers, we must be able to get it over it long enough to glean something interesting from these sites.