Depleted newsrooms are every day illustrating what a lack of copy editing does — a slow sapping of quality and quality control. It doesn’t mean no news is gathered or that the language is destroyed, but the effect might be more insidious. Only the most able-eyed and loudest notice, and their noise is often dismissedContinue reading “Society’s quality-control problem with editing”
Category Archives: fact-checking
Why LinkedIn’s "Top CEO Names" list isn’t very useful
LinkedIn is getting a lot of buzz from the data on names it pulled from its admittedly impressive trove of executives and professionals. It’s always fun to play with data, and there are amusements, such as restaurant workers being decidely French in their first names — or aliases. But, really, what does it mean thatContinue reading “Why LinkedIn’s "Top CEO Names" list isn’t very useful”
So, you messed up: 3 tips for handling corrrections
Another recent item in need of a correction, from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans: http://imgur.com/KlyzZ The mistaken reporting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ death may have you thinking that only big news organizations working in real time can make such mistakes. But such wrongheaded errors are often not caused by deadline pressure and erroneous sources (norContinue reading “So, you messed up: 3 tips for handling corrrections”
When editors must say, "You don’t know what you’re talking about"
My professional copy-editing work includes a daily publication looking, through brief summaries, at the nuclear energy industry. Editorials and guest columns on the idea of nuclear energy are a major part of industry news because, well, there hasn’t been a new nuclear plant built in a while. Often, those op-eds are by experts in theContinue reading “When editors must say, "You don’t know what you’re talking about"”
If journalists don’t pay attention, who will?
Journalists are rightly called watchdogs of government, the rich and the powerful. They needn’t be the only source of investigative efforts, but their profession lends itself to the task. However, with slashed budgets and an emphasis on providing what the reader wants (or, more often, what we think the reader wants), much of the watchdogContinue reading “If journalists don’t pay attention, who will?”
James daSilva 