A challenge for anybody eager for a scavenger hunt: go to syracuse.com, the online Post-Standard, and read any article. Within two minutes, it is easy to find at least one mistake, be it a typo, grammar error or lapse in the almighty Ten Commandments for journalism, AP style.

There was a time when every reputable newspaper or news company employed several editors and copy editors to check articles to make sure the paper puts its best foot forward. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

According to the Columbia Journal Review, between 2005 and 2015, the United States decreased its journalism and editor jobs by about 38 percent. This is especially disturbing when it comes to the editing aspect of journalism.

The job of an editor is not often directly appreciated, but for a lot of editors, they do not edit for the recognition. Editors put in long hours of tirelessly rereading article after article until not even one error remains for the sole purpose of giving the reader a good impression of the news organization.

News companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post have held onto their editors for the most part, while smaller companies like The Post Standard have opted for saving money by cutting editing jobs. This leaves reporters to shoulder even more responsibility.

The average reporter interviews dozens of sources and writes several articles daily. Expecting them to then edit their own articles flawlessly is unrealistic. Any student who has gone through their own essay can attest to the blind eye they often have for their own writing. That is where editors come in, yet they are increasingly going underappreciated and being laid off.

Editing is the place where so-called grammar Nazis can flourish and stretch their critiquing muscles. Many may see these people as nitpicky, but those same people likely wince at or call out any obvious mistake found both in print and online on any professional platform. Most can think of at least one time where they have read an article, or even worse, a textbook, with a mistake in it that made them sigh in disappointment. 

Grammatical and stylistic mistakes are distracting and take away from the message a writer is trying to send. It is about time to reverse the trend of firing editors and instead welcome as many as possible. Sure, this means having to pay more people, but news agencies cannot afford to lose the skills editors provide.