John McIntyre (copy editor)

John E. McIntyre is an American journalist and copy editor. McIntyre is a cofounder and two-term president of the American Copy Editors Society.[1]

John McIntyre
Born
Kentucky, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMichigan State University
Syracuse University
Occupation(s)Copyeditor and journalist
EmployerThe Baltimore Sun (1986–2009, 2010–2021)
Organization(s)Co-founder and former president of the American Copy Editors Society
Notable workThe Old Editor Says and Bad Advice

Life and career

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McIntyre was born in Kentucky and grew up in Elizaville, in Fleming County, Kentucky.[2] He graduated from Fleming County High School in Flemingsburg, Kentucky in 1969. He then earned a bachelor's degree in English from Michigan State University in 1973. From 1973 to 1979 he attended Syracuse University, earning a master's degree in English but leaving without completing his doctorate.[citation needed]

From 1980 to 1986 McIntyre worked as a copy editor at The Cincinnati Enquirer. He became a copy editor at The Baltimore Sun in 1986. On April 29, 2009, McIntyre was laid off by The Sun.[3] He was rehired in 2010 to serve as the newspaper's Night Content Production Manager.[4] He retired from The Sun in 2021,[5] after accepting a buyout from the newspaper's new owner Alden Global Capital.[6]

In 1997, McIntyre helped to found the American Copy Editors Society, and subsequently served as its president for two terms.[1] McIntyre is also an affiliate adjunct instructor at Loyola College in Maryland. He published a parody video titled "Trigger Warning" for his students on Facebook in 2016, which warned them about the tedium and difficulty of the material. It was criticized by some students who felt that it trivialized trigger warnings.[7][8]

McIntyre maintains a blog called "You Don't Say" on the Sun website, discussing a variety of topics including grammar usage, journalism, and copy editing. The blog received an average of 20,000 to 30,000 monthly pageviews in 2017. His online following grew after posting a video on the grammatical use of the singular they which received over 1 million views.[9] His blog has weighed in on various topics related to grammar, such as the controversy over the trademarking of Cafe Hon[10] and "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Word Crimes".[11]

He is the author of two books published by Apprentice House Press at Loyola University Maryland, The Old Editor Says: Maxims for Writing and Editing (2013)[12] and Bad Advice: The Most Unreliable Counsel Available on grammar, Usage, and Writing (2020).[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Can you outsource this? The brainy copy editor behind the headlines". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  2. ^ John McIntyre: Night Content Production Manager. Archived 2012-11-02 at the Wayback Machine The Baltimore Sun
  3. ^ Spaulding, Stacy (February 2016). "The poetics of goodbye: Change and nostalgia in goodbye narratives penned by ex- Baltimore Sun employees". Journalism. 17 (2): 208–226. doi:10.1177/1464884914552267. ISSN 1464-8849. S2CID 144503201.
  4. ^ Updated 2010-04-27T17:20:45Z. "More fired journalists return to their old newspapers. John McIntyre gets hired back at the Baltimore Sun". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-06-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Henry Fuhrmann, Times editor and 'word nerd' who fought for fairness in grammar, dies". Los Angeles Times. 2022-09-15. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  6. ^ Dieterle, Marcus (2021-06-21). "Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette staff members accept buyouts as Alden takes over". Baltimore Fishbowl. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  7. ^ "How a Professor's 'Trigger Warning' Went Terribly Wrong". Teen Vogue. 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  8. ^ Lee, Jarry (2016-09-13). "This Professor Sparked A Debate For Giving A "Trigger Warning" To His Class". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  9. ^ Vinciguerra, Thomas. "Revenge of the copy editors: Grammar pros find internet stardom". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  10. ^ Goldfarb, Bruce (2014-04-16). "Café Hon, Gordon Ramsay and the fight to liberate a word revisited". Baltimore Post-Examiner. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  11. ^ "Language Log » John McIntyre's notes on 'Word Crimes'". Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  12. ^ Wilson, Bradley (March 2014). "Book Review: The Old Editor Says: Maxims for Writing and Editing, by John E. McIntyre". Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 91 (1): 215–216. doi:10.1177/1077699013519923. ISSN 1077-6990. S2CID 143677177.
  13. ^ Casagrande, June (2020-07-16). "A Word, Please: Hunting down the incorrect 'zombie rules' of grammar". Daily Pilot. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
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