# Rewrite man > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rewrite_man > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Rewrite_man.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewrite_man > Source revision: 1152387380 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Journalist who writes stories from information reported by others Journalism News Article (Headline · Byline · Dateline · Report · Special report · Exclusive · Interview · Column · Editorial · Op-ed) Writing style (Five Ws · Inverted pyramid) Index of journalism articles Beats Arts Business Data Entertainment Environment Fashion Local Medicine Music Politics Science Sports Technology Traffic Video games War Weather World Genres Adversarial Advocacy (Interventionism) Analytic Blogging Citizen Civic Collaborative Comics-based Community Database Enterprise Explanatory Feature story Gonzo Human-interest Immersion Infotainment/Soft media Interpretive Investigative Long-form Narrative New Journalism Opinion Peace Sensor Underground Visual Watchdog Ethics and standards Broadcast Chequebook Churnalism Codes of ethics Culture Editing (Copy editing · Corrections · Fact-checking · Spiking) Fake news (Websites) Horse race Journalese Media bias (False balance) News values (Above the fold · Man bites dog) Objectivity Pink-slime Scandals Sensationalism Sources Tabloid (Television) Yellow Journalism school (Student publication) Challenges Decline of newspapers (News desert) Fourth Estate Fifth Estate Editorial independence (Independent · State) Media capture · Media plurality Freedom of information Freedom of the press (Defamation · Safety) Source protection Public relations Media manipulation Media relations News embargo News leak News propaganda (Model) Press conference (Media scrum) Press gallery Press line Press pass Press pool Press release Sound bite Spin Spin room News media Newspapers (Newspaper of record · Middle-market · Newspaper formats · Broadsheet · Tabloid · Online · Extra edition) Magazines Broadcast (TV and radio) Digital Multimedia (Video) Documentary film/television News agencies Alternative media Nonprofit Public service Public broadcasting Newsroom Journalist (Staff writer · Correspondent · Photojournalist · News presenter) Columnist Editors (Editor-in-chief · Managing editor · Political editor · Editorial board · Assignment editor · Duty editor · Public editor · Editor-at-large · Contributing editor) Weather presenter News bureau News director Pundit Stringer Journalism portal Category: Journalism v t e The **rewrite man** (**rewrite person**) is a [newspaper](/source/Newspaper) [reporter](/source/Reporter) who works in the office, not on the street, taking information reported by others and crafting it into stories. It is rarely used as an actual title, however. The term is something of a [misnomer](/source/Misnomer) since rewrite men or women do not just "rewrite"; they take notes gathered by on-the-scene-reporters, information gathered by telephone, or information from [wire services](/source/News_agency) or clippings from other newspapers, and combine them as they write each article. The job has lost much of its importance due to technology that allows reporters to write and transmit articles from the field. In the pre-computer days of newspaper work, however, it was vital. At the most extreme example, reporters on [deadline](/source/Time_limit) would telephone into the newsroom and dictate their notes to an editor – hence the movie cliché of reporters rushing to telephone booths and shouting "Get me rewrite!" into the phone. A rewrite man didn't leave the office. He, or in rare instances she, would take calls from reporters who quickly needed to relay information for a story.[1] Sometimes an entire front page, with [bylines](/source/Byline) from several different reporters, will have actually been written by a single rewrite man working with an editor. Some rewrite men spent all or most of their careers in the job; [others](/source/Jacob_Scher_(journalist)) learned how to do it while acquiring additional skills. Rewrite men are common at large national magazines, where reporters handle the reporting of the story while a writer takes the material and writes the actual article. In this case, the reporter will put all the information and quotes gathered into a multipage file which is then given to the writer. In cases of a story in several areas, several reporters will give their files to the writer. *[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))* magazine also used to engage rewrite men almost exclusively, although it has all but abandoned the practice as of its 2008 redesign. One example of a legendary rewrite man was the late Phillip O'Connor, who worked for 40 years for the [Chicago Sun-Times](/source/Chicago_Sun-Times) and [Chicago Daily News](/source/Chicago_Daily_News).[2] Among the last of his breed, O'Connor was known for his speed and accuracy in compiling a story in less than 15 minutes under deadline pressure.[2] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ncs-import. ["Rewrite men are legends of journalism history"](http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2001/aug/29/rewrite-men-are-legends-of-journalism-history/). *www.nevadaappeal.com*. Retrieved 2023-04-27. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) ["Phillip O'Connor, 84; longtime Sun-Times rewrite man"](https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2015/12/18/18586101/phillip-o-connor-84-longtime-sun-times-rewrite-man). *Chicago Sun-Times*. 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2023-04-27. ## Sources - Pérez-peña, Richard (December 18, 2015). ["Get Me Rewrite!"](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/insider/notes-from-the-rewrite-desk.html). *New York Times*. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rewrite man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewrite_man) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewrite_man?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.