Posted by Bill
Given how many of us at VisiTech PR have professional roots in the news media, it was heartening recently to see this dose of reality from The Miami Herald, noting that a local teacher tasked to review the paper found an incredible 133 grammatical errors in one edition. Ironically, it’s good that at a time when most of the discussion about improving or “saving” the news industry centers around who should pay to keep daily newspapers in business, at least one venerable paper is willing to self-examine a fundamental aspect of its product: Grammatical accuracy.
Clearly the newspaper copy editing profession has seen better days. Along with cutting positions in administration and elsewhere in the newsroom, financially pressed mainstream newspapers typically now operate with significantly fewer copy editors than in years past – and readers are noticing. According to the 2009 edition of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual “State of the Media” report:
Copy desks are smaller, younger, less rooted in the community. Readers notice a rising tide of typos and substantive blunders. It is truer than ever that if you are a local mover and shaker you need to make a point of not dying on a Sunday – the skeleton crew putting out the Monday paper won’t know who you are.
