rewrite man

The rewrite man (rewrite person) is a newspaper 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 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 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 would telephone into the newsroom and dictate th...