Copy desk news at the Post

The Washington Post has created a new position: assistant managing editor for copy desks. The job goes to Don Podesta, the deputy AME for planning and administration.

This means the Post's 80 or so full-time copy editors will belong to one department now. Editor Leonard Downie Jr. says this should "improve copy editor hiring, career development, quality control and recognition for outstanding work."

Podesta has been at the Post since 1981. "It's great to get back into words," he said. "I really care a lot about the English language and about accuracy."

"The work that copy editors do is hard work, and it's undervalued," said Podesta, who has been a copy editor on The Post's foreign desk as well as for papers in Minneapolis and Miami. "It's going to be an interesting challenge to raise their profile and improve their lives."