This is yet another in a long line of examples illustrating the decline of copy-editing and fact-checking in the publishing world:
H/t
Gawker.
Given how shocking this is from an editorial standpoint, I wonder if anyone at NBC News really cares.
Here is an mp3 file of John Wallace's latest song, "Carry On".
"Carry On" by John Wallace |
File Size: | 5064 kb |
File Type: | mp3 |
Download File
Vanessa Hodja's attempt to get a summer job went awry when she attached the wrong file with her cover letter. Here is a screenshot of what she sent:
Yep. A picture of Nicholas Cage giving a creepy look generally does little to impress prospective employers. At the same time, it is endearing that she was willing to admit her mistake and post this online. (H/t
Daily Dot)
Here are the typical editing symbols used by most publishers:
All 8,000 of Maryland's Prince George’s County Public Schools' high school diplomas contained a spelling error which was not caught until graduating students called attention to it. The diplomas spelled the word "program" as "progam".
Surely, with 8,000 diplomas being distributed, some teacher, principal, or even school janitor should have noticed the mistake. However, none did, and at least one principal was still unaware of the error until asked about it by reporters.
While the typo probably originated in the school district's office, and the school district had to have signed off on the diplomas before they were printed, the printing company is taking the blame and is reissuing the diplomas at a cost of over $20,000.
This was an expensive mistake.
Details can be found
here.
Poynter notes that the Denver Post has eliminated all of its copy editors and is now having its journalists take their stories from "reporting to publishing" without having layers of multiple checking. Just before the Poynter story was posted, this
was a headline in the Denver Post:
Copy editors? Who needs 'em?
Here is a photo of the cover of the 2012 commencement pamphlet for the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. Can you spot the mistake?
This is a classic example of
Muphry's Law at work. Muphry's Law stipulates, among other things, that,
If a mistake is as plain as the nose on your face, everyone can see it but you. Your readers will always notice errors in a title, in headings, in the first paragraph of anything, and in the top lines of a new page. These are the very places where authors, editors and proofreaders are most likely to make mistakes.If Muphry's Law holds true, there is probably a typo in this post as well, but I have not found it yet.(Hat tip Huff Post)