tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086537183354417004.post7993446681178127184..comments2023-09-16T13:22:55.052-04:00Comments on freefromeditors: Fixed on fixin'Jim of L-Townhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03941398804273985677noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086537183354417004.post-15650315199920459082008-03-01T16:45:00.000-05:002008-03-01T16:45:00.000-05:00Again, Jim's hit the nail on the head about the Jo...Again, Jim's hit the nail on the head about the Journal's correction policy. <BR/> No journalist wants to make a mistake in a story -- I know I had hard time sleeping at night after I got something wrong in an article, and I think any conscientious reporter has to feel the same way. <BR/> But the Journal management response to mistakes with its ridiculous corrections policy is sort of like how your old third grade teacher dealt with you when you misbehaved. It's a kind of punishment aimed at embarrasing reporters, like having to write 50 times on the blackboard "I will not act up in class," <BR/> That may have worked when you were 9, but reporters are adults. <BR/> The clown running the newsroom wants to know how reporting mistakes are made? How about brutally long hours (for which reporters are not paid)? How about exhaustion from having a nearly impossible assignment workload, since the Journal staff is a shadow of what it once was? Is that enough of an explanation? Might unrealistic demands for copy on daily deadlines with almost no one to do the work have something to do with the number of errors?<BR/> Instead the Journal take the old military approach: The beatings will continue until morale improves. Or the insulting approach: Hey, we'll have a drawing! Win a free gas card worth a 1/4 of a tank fill-up!<BR/> Insulting, yes, Also unrealistic. But then those in management think that bullying is management, or a that a chance at a prize is the way to reduce corrections. Of course, thinking people (read: reporters) find this belittling..<BR/> Mistakes are a part of human existence, there's no way an ever-diminishing number of reporters and editors at the Journal can put out hundreds of thousands of words on a daily basis and not make mistakes. Of course, a professional staff should strive to do better and improve, but the fact is until the world ends and every ascends to perfection, there are going to be mistakes, no matter what dumbass corrections policies the Journal editors put into effect in a ludicrous effort to wipe out mistakes.<BR/> On top of that, there's also the wonderful double standard wherein only reporters make mistakes, not editors. I can't tell you how many times reporters find things in their copy changed and made wrong. Good luck in getting the editors to admit that they did it. But the way the Journal writes corrections, it almost ALWAYS appears to be the reporters' fault, even if it was editors or copy editors who did it.<BR/> Let me leave you with an example of a real conversation between a Journal reporter and an editor -- we'll call him John -- from a few years back:<BR/> Reporter: "John, you changed my story and put a mistake into."<BR/> Editor: "Well, I didn't like your lead so I had to change it."<BR/> Reporter: "Yeah, well, you must not have liked the guy's name, either, because you changed that, too, and got it wrong."<BR/><BR/>The Boston MonkeyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086537183354417004.post-42407132167988458082008-02-28T20:34:00.000-05:002008-02-28T20:34:00.000-05:00Inky: You are sooo right. No one is perfect. I wo...Inky:<BR/><BR/> You are sooo right. No one is perfect. I worked for an editor for more than a dozen years who saved by behind way more than she ever hurt it.<BR/> The greatest trait that she had was that she would consult and talk to you before, during and after an edit.<BR/> When an editor collaborates with a reporter there is room for productive discussion and compromise. The end result is a winner for the newspaper and the readers.<BR/> Also, as you point out an apology goes a long way.Jim of L-Townhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03941398804273985677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8086537183354417004.post-50525122739882400172008-02-28T18:46:00.000-05:002008-02-28T18:46:00.000-05:00One of the hardest things to do when you are an ed...One of the hardest things to do when you are an editor is to look a reporter in the face and admit that you edited an error into his or her story. The payoff is that when you do, not only will you have done the right thing, you will have that reporter's respect forever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com