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Don't Newspapers Have Editors Any More?


MikeRivers

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The short answer is no. They sometimes run the article through a spell checker and maybe a grammar checker. The problem is those tools don't understand the context of the line, word, sentence & etc so those types of errors fly through the editing process without being caught.

 

We had a local fishwrap that was such a hoot to read because of the spelling and grammar problems. It became a running joke but the actual news the paper put out was pertinent and up todate for our area. It was with great regret we saw it purchased by another newspaper and watched it crumble to a mere ghost of what it had been. The outcome was the majority of subscribers left and went to another local area newspaper that started a section for our local area.

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It's awkward. And, more interestingly, one more character than the more direct, easy to understand: 

Obama faces a skeptical public on strike


One presumes that the upending is in order to put the key word, strike, at the beginning of the headline. But if the point was to convey the meaning quickly without ambiguity, it's a fail.

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daklander wrote:

 

 

The short answer is no. They sometimes run the article through a spell checker and maybe a grammar checker. The problem is those tools don't understand the context of the line, word, sentence & etc so those types of errors fly through the editing process without being caught.

 

I've been noticing this sort of thing in trade magazines over the past few years. Hardly an issue of Mix or Recording goes by without something in an article that makes me say "WHAAAAT?"  The grammar is usually OK, it's the technical stuff that's either just plain wrong, or needs more of an explanation to interpret the statment correctly. I've offered myself a job as technical editor but they all say they already have one.

 

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blue2blue wrote:

 

 

It's awkward. And, more interestingly, one more character than the more direct, easy to understand: 

Obama faces a skeptical public on strike

 

One presumes that the upending is in order to put the key word, 
strike
, at the beginning of the headline. But if the point was to convey the meaning quickly without ambiguity, it's a fail.

 

That's not so hot either. I guess they didn't want to make it take more than one line and didn't want to use a smaller print, but what's not clear is that this is a defensive strike against Syria, not workers not working in protest of a policy. Sometimes you just need all the words.

It might be more obvious if there hadn't been for the front page news last week about the fast food workers striking for higher pay. We all shouldn't have to recognize and interpret  military lingo (which I guess is what "strike" in this context is.

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