[LINK] OT - The Age - copy editing

Jan Whitaker jwhit at janwhitaker.com
Fri Jul 19 08:48:50 AEST 2013


[vent]
One would think that if a news company really wanted to convert 
readers to pay for their online news service, they could at least 
spell and get the grammar right. I don't buy the print version, so 
can't do a comparison, but I would imagine the printed version 
doesn't get out with the number of errors in the online version.

I get a kick out of catching the problems every day on the front 
page. You don't even need to open an article and in fact, often the 
article doesn't have the same problems as the front page presentation.

Speculation of why this is happening:
- those in charge of creating the content for the front page aren't 
100% literate -- possibly of the younger generation from a tech 
background who didn't get English writing skills
- English as a second language and therefore can't recognise the errors
- too much crappy web-writing exposure where spelling and grammar 
really don't matter
- too much crappy reliance on predictive text
- not aware of spell-checkers to find the problems before posting

Today's examples so far:
"Renting houses too costly for unemployed, with little low-cost 
housing in areas work." -- figure that one out
"Don't tresspass, Maccas protesters told"
"Putin-foe Navalny sentenced to prison" - bit dodgy hyphenated word
[rats - they spotted this one and fixed it]: Labot parachutes 
candidate into Bennelong

[/vent]



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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