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 poli ...

. 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 The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'' who began work there as a copy boy in 1972:

Reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
s typed their stories on slips of butcher's paper...then a copy boy ran the story into the neighbouring subs' sub-editor's">Copy_editing.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Copy editing">sub-editor'sroom, 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 * Charles Blackman * Jimmy Breslin * James L. Brooks * Lucien Carr * Robert Christgau * John Curtin * Larry Emdur * Milton Esterow * Tom Fitzgerald (journalist), 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 Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

* 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 leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

* Ed Koterba * Vince Leah * Claudia Levy * Ken McKenzie * Leo Monahan *

James J. Montague James Jackson Montague (April 16, 1873 – December 16, 1941) was an American journalist, satirist, and poet. Renowned as a "versifier", Montague is best known for his column "More Truth Than Poetry", which was published in a wide number of ...

* Andy Rooney * Francis Rosa * Robert Ruark * Maurice Smith *

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate ...

* 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), Esquire'' magazine during the 1960s, he helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considere ...

* Hunter S. Thompson *

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

* Jose Antonio Vargas

Fictional copy boys

*Hap Hazard is "the demon copy boy of the Daily Star!" (

Ace Comics ''Ace Comics'' was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned by King Features Syndicate, followi ...

, 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 literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

''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 comedy film starring Joe E. Brown and directed by Edward Sedgwick. Plot Newspaper reporter "Scoop (term), Scoops" is sent out on assignment, to investigate the failed assassination attempts on Archduke Jul ...

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

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

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 Superman, Clark Kent ...

in the 1938–1940 radio serial of ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' 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'' #9 (November 13, 1939) – Underworld Politics ...

'' 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 use ...

References

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Former copy boys

Fictional copy boys

References

Further reading