The jobs and responsibilities of the subeditor are many.

In a newspaper, for example, they include: making stories fit the allocated space; pulling together several related stories into one; ensuring the structure of the stories is right; checking and correcting the spelling, punctuation and grammar; ensuring the facts are right; writing headlines and subheads; writing captions (if they have not been written by others); and checking that material is not likely to be defamatory. Someone has to do a design for the page as well (within the constraints of the space available, since the advertisements will already have been marked out).

Subs and line-up subs in radio and television have similar tasks but obviously there are differences because the delivery media involved are different. But their responsibilities are no less. Subs do a very important job and it follows they are very important people if they do their job well.

Their importance is no better illustrated than in the memo below – which “fell off the back of a truck” at work one day. The points made by the editor who wrote this memo indicate just how important subs are.