The Top 10 New York Times Stories I Edited This Summer
- Sarah Bahr
- Oct 12, 2019
- 7 min read
I’ve been busy writing some fascinating freelance pieces this fall, but, as per usual, you can’t read them until November, December, January — or even March. So, in the meantime, here’s my latest NYC Top 10 list: My Favorite 10 New York Times Stories I Edited This Summer.
I think I’ll go at this countdown style and start with #10, saving my top story for last.
10. “48 Hours with Daniel Roseberry”
What it is: A story and accompanying slideshow for T Magazine showcasing 48 hours in the life of Daniel Roseberry, the artistic director of the Parisian House of Schiaparelli, in the lead-up to his haute couture debut.
Favorite line: “The whole concept here is the idea of dressing for the end of the world,” Roseberry says. “When you’re in a place where everything is falling apart around you, my instinct is to retreat into and create a new reality inside the imagination.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: Prior to editing this piece, I knew next to nothing about the world of high fashion (hello, Kohl's and H&M closet), but I enjoyed the learning curve. I love day-in-the-life diaries that give you a glimpse at someone’s workflow and daily routine (which is why I’m a big fan of The Cut’s “How I Get it Done” feature). And please ask me about all the expensive clothing lingo I Googled while editing this story (still waiting for the perfect opportunity to break out 'atelier' and 'faille' in casual conversation).
Read it: https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2019/07/01/t-magazine/fashion/48-hours-with-daniel-roseberry.html
9. “How to Plan a Wedding. (Or, You Could Just Elope.)”
What it is: A step-by-step guide to planning a wedding you love, featuring a 12-month timeline that takes you all the way from engagement to the altar (while staving off bride-brain insanity).
Favorite line: “If you want a wow factor like a rainbow-bagel food truck, or a chicken that plays tic-tac-toe with guests, book it six months in advance. Otherwise, someone else will get the chicken first.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: While I’m not getting married anytime soon, I learned that I’m not just quite hip enough if my special day doesn’t include either of the above two items — forget my wedding day, I’m ready to rent a rainbow-bagel truck for my graduation this spring! This was a longer-term project, and I greatly enjoyed learning about a subject I knew next to nothing about, having neither planned a wedding nor participated in one (not counting flower girl-dom when I was 7). I also had fun punching up the language in a few places to be more magazine-like and mirror the author’s voice in the rest of the piece — something I don't get to do in an international or politics-desk story, for instance.
8. “‘The Daily’ Social Plan”
What it is: “The Daily” is The New York Times’s daily news podcast hosted by political journalist Michael Barbaro. It provides context about popular stories — for instance, a “Why China Went to War With the N.B.A” episode on Friday, and an “Is the U.S. Betraying Its Kurdish Allies?” one on Tuesday. I got to handle the social plan — Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — for the promotion of a week's worth of episodes.
Favorite part: Tweaking a tweet or Instagram caption, then seeing it show up on an account with millions of followers.
Why I enjoyed working on it: I have lots of experience working in the social media sphere — I’ve worked as a social media manager for several IUPUI groups, as well as written Tweets and Facebook posts to promote stories on Indianapolis Star accounts. So I was excited to get to do that on the biggest scale I’d ever worked on. I enjoy social media story promotion because it forces you to be concise — what is the story really about? — and allows you to have fun with how you attempt to convince people to click on the link.
7. “It’s a Beach if We Say So: Lost Scenes From Downtown’s Hipster Landfill”
What it is: A look back at Battery Park, when the area had a beach (I know, what?!).
Favorite line: “If you’re not prepared for it, an old photograph of the Twin Towers can do a number on your heart.
That’s partly why Fred Conrad’s picture of the sunbathers is so eerie and disquieting: We know something the sunbathers don’t.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: Jeff Giles is one of my favorite writers I edited for this summer. When a story is already factually and grammatically solid, then you have the chance to play with style. His writing sparkles, and I didn’t do too much to this story — the best thing I could do was to let it breathe. Also, the accompanying photos are marvelous.
6. “Warren and Harris Rise in Democratic Primary, Challenging Male Front-Runners”
What it is: The first front-page story I edited!
Favorite line: “Together, the two senators have functioned as something of a political pincer, squeezing Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders from the left and the relative center, and endangering any hope of an easy march to victory for either man.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: Aside from relishing the pressure of front page-ness with this piece, in general, I enjoyed how much editing stories for the Politics desk made me a more informed citizen. I mean, I followed political news prior to this summer, but editing at least one political dispatch pretty much every day dialed me in to the minutiae of the campaigns of the Democratic candidates. It was fun to internalize random tidbits about each candidate from reading so much about them — since politics stories often require a quick turnaround, knowing the essentials about a candidate is important to get an article published in a timely manner (and avoid any factual errors).
And back to the front-page aspect: While it wasn’t my byline on the cover of the paper, it was surreal to rewrite a sentence and then have it show up on A1 the next morning (Me: *Grabs a copy of the paper* “That’s my sentence!”).
Read it: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/07/us/politics/kamala-harris-elizabeth-warren-democrats-2020.html
5. “Flying With the Hurricane Hunters Into Barry’s Heart”
What it is: An immersive story about a team of researchers who took a direct flight into the core of Tropical Storm Barry on a data-gathering mission (and took a New York Times reporter and photographer along with them).
Favorite line: “When people ask me what it’s like, I tell them, ‘Think about putting a GoPro in the dishwasher — and then running it,’” said Cmdr. Nathan Kahn, one of the pilots. “That’s what you see.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: The combination of text, photos, and video made for an immersive reading experience, and I enjoyed helping to fine-tune the language of the “You are there” details and moments.
4. “Iran, Supreme Court, Giant Squid: Your Friday Evening Briefing”
What it is: The New York Times’s Evening Briefing newsletter, which hits inboxes around the country around 6 p.m. every weekday. Each edition spotlights 10 of the most important/interesting/fun stories out of the hundreds the paper publishes each day (my theater essay was featured in one edition in August!). Of the many newsletters I had the chance to edit this summer, the Evening Briefing came my way most frequently, and often on a tight deadline — a few times as tight as five minutes for a 1,000+-word briefing (speed-read Spidey skills, activate)!
Favorite line: “A phantom of the deep has re-emerged ...
‘My heart felt like exploding,’ one researcher said.” (in reference to a giant squid)
Why I enjoyed working on it: I’ve gotten the Morning and Evening Briefings in my inbox every day for more than five years, which made this yet another "pinch me" editing experience. These are also challenging because you never have a lot of time to edit them, which makes prioritizing crucial — Which facts look suspicious? Should you expend two minutes decluttering that marathon sentence or splitting that gonzo paragraph, or should you scrutinize the content? In an ideal world, you’d of course do both, but when it’s already 6:15 p.m. when the Briefing comes through, knowing which parts of statements are most likely to be suspect is rather important (as, since you’re the last set of eyes on the newsletter before it hits the world, if something’s wrong, it’s on you!).
3. “A Job ‘Unlike Any Other’: Maggie Haberman on Covering President Trump”
What it is: A Q&A with Maggie Haberman, a dynamo New York Times White House correspondent (and frequent thorn in Donald Trump’s side).
Favorite line: “I generally travel to Washington, D.C., a few times a month.” (I hadn’t realized she wasn’t based in D.C. In the digital world, reporters no longer need to physically be at the White House to cover the doings of its occupants!)
Why I enjoyed working on it: Haberman was one of the “superstar” reporters I had the chance to edit for this summer. This piece provided neat insights into her life as a regular person raising young kids while also aiming to be the last person to leave the office and wrangling the Twitter tornado.
2. “Why a Race-Baiting Trump Is Courting Black Voters”
What it is: Another front-page story. This one is about how President Trump vilifies black Americans and seeks to divide people along racial lines, yet also claims to be a champion of their economic interests.
Favorite line: “Even as the president sows racial disharmony, telling four Democratic congresswomen of color to ‘go back,’ and saying ‘no human being’ would want to live in the ‘rat and rodent infested’ city of Baltimore, his re-election campaign is spending money on social media to put Mr. Trump before the eyes of black voters.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: Scrutinizing the language in and packaging of this story was a fulfilling challenge. The first priority, of course, is to present the facts and be fair to everyone involved, which encompasses not only the copy, but the photo captions, headline, and social media promotion plan. I was happy with the way it turned out.
1. “A Boy Who Had Spinal Surgery in the Womb Stands on His Own Two Feet”
What it is: My favorite feature I edited this summer, about a boy who had an operation in utero to minimize nerve damage caused by severe defects in tissue around his spine, and who is now learning to walk and talk.
Favorite line: “Charley Royer, 17 months old, has such a swift, strong kick that putting a pair of pants on him can turn into a wrestling match.
His mother doesn’t mind. Far from it.
‘Things that might annoy other parents, I’m so thankful for,’ Lexi Royer said.”
Why I enjoyed working on it: Denise Grady was quite possibly my favorite writer I edited for this summer. The first time I read this story, I knew I had something special on my hands, and recognized it was now my job not to screw it up. I enjoy editing features because they have a longer lead time, giving me the chance to occasionally do some structural editing. In this case, that involved condensing and re-working the end of this piece. It’s stories like this that remind me why I love journalism.
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