Editors are now an endagered species?

Once respected figures in literary publishing, are editors in danger of succumbing to pressures of time and 'big books'?
Blake Morrison in the guardian gives his view in a great essay, drawing on some of the literary greats to support his view, that if an editor must cut, we should remember that butchers are not hte only profession to wield knives. Surgeons use them rather skillfully aswell.
Black day for the blue pencil