Contemporary Editing

Welcome!

Welcome! This is the companion website for Contemporary Editing, 3rd Edition by Cecilia Friend and Donald Challenger. Contemporary Editing offers a forward-looking introduction to news editing, providing instruction on traditional newsroom conventions along with a focus on emerging news platforms. This comprehensive text will walk you through the fundamentals of everything an editor does, addressing essential copy-editing fundamentals such as: grammar and style; editorial decision making; photo editing, information graphics and page design; and new-media approaches to storytelling. This new edition offers expanded coverage of web publishing and mobile media, helping you build solid editing skills for today’s evolving media and news forums.

On this website, you’ll find the tools you need to master and practice the concepts of Contemporary Editing.

What you will find on this website:
Students

• Exercises
• Editing 2.0 exercises
• Practice quizzes
• Essays for editing practice
• Editor’s bookshelf (reading suggestions)
• Glossary of key terms
• Frequently misused words
• Guidance on how to count headlines, and how to size photos using a proportion wheel
• Summary of key grammar and punctuation rules

Instructors and lecturers

• Exercises with answers
• Sample syllabus

What people are saying about Contemporary Editing, 3rd Edition
“When I think editing, I think ‘core skills’—and this book delivers. Contemporary Editing helps to build a strong foundation for students with its laser focus on accuracy, ethics, mechanics and, perhaps most importantly, critical thinking. And its use is not limited to news editing. This is a toolbox, not a textbook.”
(Susan Brockus Wiesinger, California State University, Chico)

“In one compact, must-have, A-to-Z guide, Cecilia Friend delivers everything you need for empowering gutsy, integrity-driven editing in the lightning-fast newsrooms of the Digital Age. From words (with a chapter devoted to grammar!) to visuals, from newsroom ethics to industry standards and practices, Friend’s book will create first-rate editors who employ healthy skepticism, remain passionate about quality and maintain unswerving loyalty to accuracy. With its compelling real-world examples and insights from professionals in the industry, Contemporary Editing, 3rd Edition is a durable, relevant road map to navigate editors across all media platforms.”
(Rebecca Dyer, Arizona State University and The Arizona Republic)