Dear Washington Post Ombudsman, I Love You

Somebody at a newspaper has finally figured out that firing copy editors is probably a bad idea.

This from the Washington Post ombudsman (a job that I may or may not lust after):

Copy editors are the unsung heroes of newsrooms. Unknown to the public, and often underappreciated by their colleagues, they're the last line of defense against a correction or, worse, a libel suit.

They're skeptics who revel in the arcane. They know the difference between median and mean, and can speak knowledgeably about topics from Methuselah to the Milky Way. They write headlines, design some pages, check facts and make sure assertions are supported. They spend entire careers working horrible night-shift hours.