Jobs / Design, media, and writing / 27-3041.00

Editors

Plan, coordinate, revise, or edit written material. May review proposals and drafts for possible publication.

US jobs
91,690
Median wage
$77,920 a year
Job family
Design, media, and writing

Can agents do the work of editors?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Design, media, and writing:

  • Task levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OSWorld-Verified includes tasks in image, slide, and document apps, and the best agent passes 90.2% of all its computer tasks. No task-level benchmark in our collection scores the quality of design or writing work.
  • Project levelNot yetOn the Remote Labor Index, which includes graphic design, video, 3D, audio, and web projects from freelance platforms, the best agent completed 15.8% of projects to a standard a client would accept. GDPval deliverables score higher (84.9% wins or ties against professionals, reported by OpenAI), but those tasks are one-shot and fully specified.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in design, media, and writing, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • 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.
  • Monitor news-gathering operations to ensure utilization of all news sources, such as press releases, telephone contacts, radio, television, wire services, and other reporters.
  • Review and approve proofs submitted by composing room prior to publication production.
Other job titles for this occupation (52)

Acquisitions Editor · Assignment Editor · Business Editor · Features Editor · Legal Editor · Newspaper Copy Editor · Opinions Page Editor · Publishing Editor · Science Editor · Sports Editor · Acute Editor · Advertising Editor · Art Editor · Book Editor · Communications Editor · Content Editor · Continuity Editor · Continuity Reader · Development Editor · Dictionary Editor · Digital Editor · Editorial Assistant · Editorial Specialist · Fashion Editor · Food Editor · Greeting Card Editor · Index Editor · Magazine Editor · Make Up Editor · Manuscript Editor · Manuscript Reader · Market Editor · Medical Editor · Newspaper Editor · Newspaper Managing Editor · Newspaper Photo Editor · Online Content Editor · Opinion Editor · Photo Editor · Production Editor · Publication Editor · Publications Editor · Reviewer · Rewrite Editor · Scientific Publications Editor · Script Editor · Slot Editor · Society Editor · Story Editor · Story Reader · Technical Editor · Telegraph Editor