Editing

Editing is the practice of amending and revising texts. In text-oriented cultures, editing is a discipline that exercises considerable power and shapes meaning.

History and scope of editing

In daily parlance, editing is typically understood to apply to written texts. However, in the ancient world, religious texts, folklore, and music underwent a form of editing. For instance, the Talmud records many discrete instances of editing orally-transmitted laws during readings of the Mishnah. According to historical-critical scholars, moreover, the Hebrew Bible was heavily edited and redacted from multiple sources. Furthermore, today editing is practiced for non-written visual and audio media, including film and sound recordings. Finally,

Sociology and professionalization of editing

In the ancient world, editing was a highly reputable activity for religious functionaries and scribes. In rabbinic Judaism, the rabbis who edited oral or written texts were respected more than those who memorized or transcribed texts. Interestingly, both the editing and memorizing rabbis shared the same nomenclature (tanna'im).

Due to the division of labor in modern industrialization, editing practices have become increasingly professionalized and specialized.

In Western countries, editors may rank low in occupational hierarchies or, as editors-in-chief and news editors, stand near the peak of corporate hierarchies, primarily in newspaper publishing and related media.

Editing methods and systems

• Proofreading
• Copy editing.
• Redaction and canonization as editorial practices.
• Document handling stages in modern publishing

Editors as managers and publishers

• Supervisory roles of editors
• Editors in book and Internet publishing
• Editors in news and related media