Slashing 18 words can make the difference in getting a story to fit the space. On deadline a story sometimes has to be trimmed by, say, 17 lines out of 62. When that happens reporters who are around can do it themselves. Otherwise their copy gets cut by a copy editor, who try as she may doe snot know the story as well and may make cuts that the writer (whose name is on the piece) will dislike.

The best way to do this is by tightening paragraphs that have a few characters or words in a line, known as “killing widows and orphans.”

Each line saved means about five words so when a line has just two letters or one word, tightening one or more sentences saves more ideas.

The question to ask is the reporter’s reason for making sure print matches online, instead of letting online run longer…..his policy? Management policy?

Or is this, as at most newspapers, an automated function so that when the print version is updated the online version is automatically updated to match the changes, including cuts for space.

During a day’s press run there will be various editions of the same issue and they will not match because over time the available facts change. The article on the sports contest that was half over for the bulldog edition will, by the four star final, be over and the story revised to show the final score and interesting plays in the second half.

Cutting political affiliations or business connections may make the print it the space, but is usually not the smartest thing to cut. But cutting details is a reality and on deadline the quality of choices made on what to cut may not be the most carefully thought through…..