The copy editor’s lament: in song

A TUNEFUL lament to the copy editor is doing the rounds on the internet, penned by a Christopher Ave, political editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in the USA.

Says Ave: “I’ve never been a copy editor. But I’ve worked with many over the years in my newspaper career, and they strike me as having the most under-appreciated job in the newsroom. And sometimes, with the emphasis in gotta-post-right-now online journalism, I think we’re all forgetting how important their jobs really are.

“With all the layoffs, buyouts, furloughs and other horrible things going on in the industry, I decided to write a song from the viewpoint of a copy editor losing his job. The lyrics are fictional, but the sentiments, I’m afraid, are all too common these days.”