The Makings of a Modern Newspaper- the Production of 'The Daily Mail' in Wartime, London, UK, 1944 D20471

A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the '' Herald Sun'' who began work there as a copy boy in 1972:

Reporters typed their stories on slips of butcher's paper...then a copy boy ran the story into the neighbouring subs'
sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...
's] room, hence the cry of 'copy'. Each slip of the story had about six carbon copies...stapled together and it was the job of the copy boy - or girl - to separate the original and run it to the subs, and then separate the carbons for distribution.

With the advent of new publishing and printing technology the position is now almost extinct, but in the first two decades after World War II, most editors of medium and large newspapers in the US still considered their copy boys indispensable to "getting the paper out". The position was also considered to be an important entry point for aspiring journalists, many of whom got their start as copy boys.

Former copy boys

Carl Bernstein Carl Milton Bernstein ( ; born February 14, 1944) is an American investigative journalist and author. While a young reporter for ''The Washington Post'' in 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward, and the two did much of the original n ...

* Charles Blackman *

Jimmy Breslin James Earle Breslin (October 17, 1928 – March 19, 2017) was an American journalist and author. Until the time of his death, he wrote a column for the New York ''Daily News'' Sunday edition.''Current Biography 1942'', pp. 648–51: "Patterson, ...

* James L. Brooks *

Lucien Carr Lucien Carr (March 1, 1925 – January 28, 2005) was a key member of the original New York City circle of the Beat Generation in the 1940s; later he worked for many years as an editor for United Press International. Early life Carr was born in Ne ...

* Robert Christgau *

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...

Larry Emdur Larry Emdur (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian television personality. Emdur is currently co-host of '' The Morning Show'' alongside Kylie Gillies, and host of '' The Chase Australia''. The duo also hosted the Australian version of ''Cel ...

* Tom Fitzgerald *

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

* Bruce Guthrie Guthrie, Bruce (2010)
''Man Bites Murdoch''
pp. 40; 64–71. Melbourne University Press * W. A. Hewitt *

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

Ed Koterba Edward Victor Koterba (17 May 1919 – 27 June 1961) was an American journalist known for his nationally syndicated columns "A Bit of Washington" and "Assignment Washington" as well as his investigative journalism for ''The Washington Post''. Li ...

Vince Leah Vincent Leah (November 29, 1913August 9, 1993) was a Canadian journalist, writer and sports administrator. He wrote for ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' from 1930 to 1980, and was credited with giving the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their team's name. He es ...

Claudia Levy Claudia Dale Levy (December 24, 1943Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Birth Index 1903-1997; via Ancestry – December 3, 2021) was an American journalist and union activist who worked at ''The Washington Post'' in the 198 ...

* Ken McKenzie * Leo Monahan * James J. Montague *

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program '' 60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 201 ...

* Francis Rosa * Robert Ruark * Maurice Smith * Gary Snyder * Robert Stone *

Gay Talese Gaetano "Gay" Talese (; born February 7, 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for ''The New York Times'' and ''Esquire'' magazine during the 1960s, Talese helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considered, along with ...

* Hunter S. Thompson * John Updike *

Jose Antonio Vargas Jose Antonio Vargas (born February 3, 1981) is a journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist. Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States from the age of twelve, he was part of ''The Washington Post'' team that won the P ...

Fictional copy boys

*Hap Hazard is "the demon copy boy of the Daily Star!" ( Ace Comics, 1940–1947) *Jerry Jones is a young copy boy at a New Jersey daily newspaper who works his way up to reporter in Josef Berger's 1938

juvenile novel Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

''Copy Boy'' *Virgil Ambrose Jeremiah Christopher 'Scoop' Jones, played by Joe E. Brown in the 1937 film ''

Fit for a King ''Fit for a King'' is a 1937 American film starring Joe E. Brown and directed by Edward Sedgwick. Plot summary Newspaper reporter "Scoop (term), Scoops" (Brown) is sent out on assignment, to investigate the failed assassination attempts on Arc ...

'', is a copy boy who is given his "big chance" to become a reporter. *Monty Milde, played by

Monty Banks Montague (Monty) Banks (18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950), born Mario Bianchi, was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the UK and the United States. Career Banks was born Mario ...

in the 1926 film ''Atta Boy'', is a copy boy on a large New York daily newspaper who is the butt of everyone's pranks but eventually beats the paper's star reporter at solving a kidnapping.Langman, Larry (2009)
''The Media in the Movies: A Catalog of American Journalism Films, 1900–1996''
pp. 28; 91. McFarland. *

Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Clark Kent, and has ...

in the 1938–1940 radio serial of '' Superman'' starts out as a copy boy at the ''

Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #23 (April 1940). The ''Daily Planet'' build ...

'' before becoming a cub reporter. *Rudy Rawls is a crime-fighting copy boy on the ''Daily Herald'' who "finds out that fists talk louder than words!" ( Headline Comics)Headline Comics (May-June 1946)

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

References

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Former copy boys

Fictional copy boys

References

Further reading