A former Journal editor chimed in after seeing the following errors and omissions in the paper on one day in April. I have omitted the names of the reporters involved as some of the information that was excluded should have been caught by copy editors, but most of the ones who would know the info are enjoying the sunshine somewhere warm after taking the buyout.Here's the info sent to me in an e-mail. I know the editor who sent the info, but they have asked me not to print their name:
Page 1 - Feature on remains (including wedding ring) found of airman killed in WW II. And nowhere in the feature is there any mention of the widow. Dead? MIA? Who knows? Strike one.
Page 3 - Feature on Charlie Bell visiting Flint Central to be tested for high blood pressure. (Reporter) writes he was a member of the Flintstones who got to the Final Four in 1999. And no mention that he was on the NCAA championship team in 2000 and also the Final Four team in 2001. Strike two.
Sports front - game story on Tigers. sentence ends, then it's a jump. And when you get to the jump, the story picks up in mid-sentence and Leyland is talking about Guillen and Cabrera. And unless you already were aware of it from someplace else, there's no way you'd know he was talking about them switching positions in the field from now on. Strike three.
Another great day at the new FJ.
Page 3 - Feature on Charlie Bell visiting Flint Central to be tested for high blood pressure. (Reporter) writes he was a member of the Flintstones who got to the Final Four in 1999. And no mention that he was on the NCAA championship team in 2000 and also the Final Four team in 2001. Strike two.
Sports front - game story on Tigers. sentence ends, then it's a jump. And when you get to the jump, the story picks up in mid-sentence and Leyland is talking about Guillen and Cabrera. And unless you already were aware of it from someplace else, there's no way you'd know he was talking about them switching positions in the field from now on. Strike three.
Another great day at the new FJ.
This from another former editor (not same as above):
There was a story in Saturday's Journal about our church's 50th choir festival coming up. I see that (former freelance reporter) has been brought back to help fill the post-buyout talent abyss. (Editor's note: I removed the story link because the Journal links are only good for two weeks and its maddening to click on them only to find nothing at the other end)
So why am I complaining? Our choir director's name is Mark Riddles, not Mark Reynolds. Sigh ...
Eds. Note: Maybe they are missing a few of the "characters" who left. Naaah, everything is wonderful.
2 comments:
And don't forget the photo of the bedraggled drunk lady -- Journal editors thought she was Sandra Bullock and wrote a cutline to that effect. That was good enough to make the "Tonight Show!" Perhaps remaining Journal staffers could each sell a bag of plasma per month and the proceeds could go toward Internet service. Then when there is a question about a celebrity's identity, an editor can do a Google search.
FYI - Some Flint Journal stories stay up "forever" - the ones posted on the blogs. Wish I could tell you an easy way to know which stories those are.
And on corrections - did you know many folks don't seek corrections as they see it as a waste of time? Talked to someone today whose event is next week, not tonight as the newspaper reported.
Now if it were a wirestory it could be in the paper mutiple times. See tonight's story about gluten-free food. Tonight it is on the horoscope page. Last time it was on the food pages.
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