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Media Text Editing Workshop

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Media Text Editing Workshop

Read each media-text extract closely. Edit for accuracy, clarity, coherence, audience and persuasive effect—not simply to make the writing sound more formal. Where a question asks you to rewrite, more than one answer may be effective; the answer gives one possible model.

Diagnose the draft

A community news website is preparing a short opinion article about single-use coffee cups. The writer's first draft appears in the questions below.

1.Draft extract: “Coffee cups are a massive problem and heaps of people use them. They are bad for the environment, and councils should do something about it soon.” Which change would most improve this extract as an evidence-based opinion article?

Add several dramatic adjectives to make the problem sound urgent.
Replace broad claims with specific, verifiable evidence and clarify the proposed action.
Make every sentence longer to sound more authoritative.
Remove the opinion and leave only a list of facts.

2.Rewrite this sentence for a local news audience, replacing vague language with precise wording while keeping the writer's concern: “Heaps of takeaway cups get thrown away every day, and they are really bad for nature.”

3.An editor sees this sentence in the draft: “A recent study proves that every disposable cup takes exactly 500 years to break down.” What is the most responsible editing decision before publication?

Keep it because a precise number always sounds convincing.
Check the original study, the material being discussed and the conditions; revise or remove the claim if it cannot be verified.
Change “500 years” to “a very long time” and keep the rest without checking.
Attribute it to “experts” without naming a source.

4.Read the two sentences: “Some cafés offer a discount for reusable cups. Disposable cups are convenient when people are in a hurry.” Add one sentence between them that creates a logical connection and acknowledges the tension between convenience and waste.

Revise for audience and impact

The same article must work for readers who may agree, disagree or know little about the issue. Strong editing anticipates their questions and avoids overstating the case.

5.Edit this sentence to make its claim more balanced and credible: “Reusable cups will completely solve the waste crisis in Australia.”

6.The paragraph says that reusable cups can reduce disposable-cup use. The next sentence introduces a practical concern: some customers forget to bring one. Which opening best signals this shift?

Furthermore, customers sometimes forget them.
However, a reusable system also needs to account for customers who forget their cups.
In conclusion, customers sometimes forget them.
Similarly, customers sometimes forget them.

7.A draft aimed at local café owners reads: “Café owners who still hand out disposable cups clearly don’t care about the planet.” Rewrite it so it remains persuasive but addresses café owners respectfully and recognises possible practical constraints.

8.A writer has used the phrase “everyone knows” to introduce a claim about how many takeaway cups Australians use. Explain why an editor should question this phrase and name one useful replacement strategy.

Make the final pass

Editing includes sentence-level checks as well as decisions about evidence, structure and audience.

9.Proofread and edit this sentence for grammar, punctuation and clarity: “The council have announced its plan, it will trial cup return bins at three locations next month.”

10.You are preparing an opinion article for a local news website. Write two specific questions you would ask yourself in a final edit: one about evidence and one about whether the writing suits its audience.