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Editor

Academic programs / Undergraduate degrees / Career opportunities / Editor

Editor

Explore employment trends, required job duties and skills for this career. ASU offers a variety of degrees that can help you prepare for and meet your career goals. Visit ASU's Career and Professional Development Services to learn how to develop your career plan.

Potential job titles in this career
Acquisitions Editor, Assignment Editor, Business Editor, Features Editor, Legal Editor, Newspaper Copy Editor, Opinions Page Editor, Publishing Editor, Science Editor, Sports Editor

* Additional schooling, certification, or degrees maybe be required for some of the potential careers that are listed.
What will I do?
  • Verify facts, dates, and statistics, using standard reference sources.
  • Write text, such as headlines, stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.
  • Read copy or proof to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.
  • Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.
  • Develop story or content ideas, considering reader or audience appeal.
  • Allocate print space for story text, photos, and illustrations according to space parameters and copy significance, using knowledge of layout principles.
  • Confer with management and editorial staff members regarding placement and emphasis of developing news stories.
  • Oversee publication production, including artwork, layout, computer typesetting, and printing, ensuring adherence to deadlines and budget requirements.
  • Supervise and coordinate work of reporters and other editors.
  • Assign topics, events and stories to individual writers or reporters for coverage.
  • In this career, it is important to know
    Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    It's useful to be good at
    Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

    Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

    Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

    Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

    Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

    Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

    Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

    Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

    Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

    Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
    Employment trends
    Location Pay period 2025
    10% 25% Median% 75% 90%
    United States Hourly $19.83 $27.55 $37.46 $51.01 $73.90
    Yearly $41,250 $57,300 $77,920 $106,100 $153,700
    Arizona Hourly $20.36 $27.06 $30.33 $40.26 $52.45
    Yearly $42,360 $56,280 $63,090 $83,730 $109,090
    2025 Median%
    United States $37.46 Hourly $77,920 Yearly
    Arizona $30.33 Hourly $63,090 Yearly

    Employment (2025)
    105,000 employees
    Projected growth (2025 - 2035)
    Projected job openings (2025 - 2035)
    7,900
    * Data obtained from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

    Frequently asked questions about degree programs

    Accelerated programs allow students the opportunity to expedite the completion of their degree.

    Accelerated master's

    These programs allow students to accelerate their studies to earn a bachelor's plus a master's degree in as few as five years (for some programs).

    Each program has requirements students must meet to be eligible for consideration. Students typically receive approval to pursue the accelerated master's during the junior year of their bachelor's degree program. Interested students can learn about eligibility requirements and how to apply.

    Concurrent degrees allow students to pursue their own personal or professional interests, earn two distinct degrees and receive two diplomas. To add a concurrent degree to your existing degree, work with your academic advisor.

    Joint programs, or jointly conferred degrees, are offered by more than one college and provide opportunities for students to take advantage of the academic strengths of two academic units. Upon graduation, students are awarded one degree and one diploma conferred by two colleges.

    ASU adds new programs to Degree Search frequently. Come back often and look for the "New Programs" option.

    ASU Online offers programs in an entirely online format with multiple enrollment sessions throughout the year. See https://asuonline.asu.edu/ for more information.

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