Think like readers, edit like journalists
At the Washington Post, readers are calling attention to minor errors that they say are affecting the news organization’s credibility. The public editor, Andrew Alexander, makes that point in his column under the headline, “As errors grow, so does a credibility gap.” Readers rightfully complained about the wrong use of a word in a headline, [...]
Make writing tight, logical: Video
Sometimes we read something and it stops us — for the wrong reason. It doesn’t make sense. We list some of these “favorites” in our book, including such things as “an almost infinite list.” But something can’t be “almost infinite.” Obvious as that is, we’ve seen this one quite a few times over the years. [...]
More views: Leaner copy desks
A quick post to bring your attention to an article published on vocus.com about the connection between mistakes in news products and leaner copy desks. The article was written by Katrina Mendolera, editor in chief of inVocus, who earned her master’s degree at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. We have posted before about [...]
Train yourself for smaller copy desks
Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander recently wrote about readers’ concerns about errors in the paper and on the Web site. The causes are obvious and have been much discussed: Fewer people have less time to read more copy. Some copy isn’t reviewed at all. At ACES, Neil Holdway’s recent post discusses the “good old days,” [...]
