[Tim]

Seriously - this person is constantly screwing up English at the ND. This gaffe was in over the weekend -

"The museum is located next door to the Hair Cuttery, where song of hair dryers frequently fills the air, but the sound of gunfire makes an appearance only on special occasions."

where song of hair dryers

Huh? Wouldn't that be THE song of hair dryers? And don't they have proof readers at the ND?

Where's the multi-faceted Roger K when you need him.....

[MC Born & Raised]

Is it considered irony that Deb's name is spelled wrong in a post criticizing her English skills?

[Tim]

Is it considered irony that Deb's name is spelled wrong in a post criticizing her English skills?

Of course! But I don't make a living writing English - she does.

So, with all due respect - bite me.

[MC Born & Raised]

Not to make this a big problem, but what do you do for a living? Do you ever make minor mistakes? In the grand scheme of things, a missing "the" maybe isn't that big a deal. Our mistakes are highlighted because lots of people see them, but they're still just mistakes. Hopefully I don't come off as sensitive. I have no problem taking heat for legitimate mistakes (accuracy, etc.), but a missing "the" seems nitpicky.

[Tim]

Not to make this a big problem, but what do you do for a living? Do you ever make minor mistakes? In the grand scheme of things, a missing "the" maybe isn't that big a deal. Our mistakes are highlighted because lots of people see them, but they're still just mistakes. Hopefully I don't come off as sensitive. I have no problem taking heat for legitimate mistakes (accuracy, etc.), but a missing "the" seems nitpicky.

This girl constantly makes errors in the News Dispatch. Hence, my comment. Were this a one-time thing I wouldn't have mentioned it. It's also baffling how these gaffes make it into print. Wait - do you work at the Dispatch?

BTW - you asked what I do for a living. I'm a professional musician. People in my line get fired for habitually making mistakes.

[CaddyRich]

This girl constantly makes errors in the News Dispatch. Hence, my comment. Were this a one-time thing I wouldn't have mentioned it. It's also baffling how these gaffes make it into print. Wait - do you work at the Dispatch?

BTW - you asked what I do for a living. I'm a professional musician. People in my line get fired for habitually making mistakes.

When it comes to the N-D, the omission of the word "the" is like a deck chair on the Titanic being out of line by a millimeter.

[Tim]

When it comes to the N-D, the omission of the word "the" is like a deck chair on the Titanic being out of line by a millimeter.

Nice burn.

[MC Born & Raised]

I do work for the N-D, and I really don't mind being everyone's favorite punching bag, but I don't think most people realize the circumstances we've worked in the last year or two in terms of staffing. I'm not making excuses, there are no excuses for mistakes, but it's really easy to criticize without knowing the whole story. Again, I'm not trying to sound overly sensitive and I apologize if it comes off that way.

[Tim]

I do work for the N-D, and I really don't mind being everyone's favorite punching bag, but I don't think most people realize the circumstances we've worked in the last year or two in terms of staffing. I'm not making excuses, there are no excuses for mistakes, but it's really easy to criticize without knowing the whole story. Again, I'm not trying to sound overly sensitive and I apologize if it comes off that way.

I mean no malice. But come on - this is like Albano's saying there are only bugs on their pizza once in a while. This young lady consistently makes mistakes. If print is your business you're going to be called out for this stuff. If staffing problems prevent the elimination of these errors the slings and arrows are a direct result of that.

[CaddyRich]

I do work for the N-D, and I really don't mind being everyone's favorite punching bag, but I don't think most people realize the circumstances we've worked in the last year or two in terms of staffing. I'm not making excuses, there are no excuses for mistakes, but it's really easy to criticize without knowing the whole story. Again, I'm not trying to sound overly sensitive and I apologize if it comes off that way.

Please don't take it personally - I like your work. Without putting on your bus driver's hat, what are some of the problems? Do you need writers? I didn't major in Journalism, but I could probably knock out a couple stories...

[MC Born & Raised]

We're dealing with issues any other paper is dealing with right now. Cutbacks in staffing mean an increased workload for everyone. And I'm not talking about a small increase, either. The problem is because we were smaller than others (Times, Post, etc.) to begin with, the cutbacks have hit us a bit harder in terms of how many warm bodies are available on a daily basis to put the product out.

One of the unfortunate consequences of that is sometimes things slip through the cracks. Again, not making excuses, just stating facts.

I really didn't mean to turn this into a big thing, just sticking up for a colleague a bit. Seeing someone get taken to task for a missing "the" just raised a flag with me, that's all. It's all good. Our readers hold the right to criticize us for whatever they wish and I'd never begrudge anyone that right.

[Tim]

We're dealing with issues any other paper is dealing with right now. Cutbacks in staffing mean an increased workload for everyone. And I'm not talking about a small increase, either. The problem is because we were smaller than others (Times, Post, etc.) to begin with, the cutbacks have hit us a bit harder in terms of how many warm bodies are available on a daily basis to put the product out.

One of the unfortunate consequences of that is sometimes things slip through the cracks. Again, not making excuses, just stating facts.

I really didn't mean to turn this into a big thing, just sticking up for a colleague a bit. Seeing someone get taken to task for a missing "the" just raised a flag with me, that's all. It's all good. Our readers hold the right to criticize us for whatever they wish and I'd never begrudge anyone that right.

I clearly said this was not about just one missed word.

Maybe if the ND stopped paying people who aren't very good at English...

[MC Born & Raised]

I clearly said this was not about just one missed word.

Maybe if the ND stopped paying people who aren't very good at English...

Cool, we're doing cheap shots now? Awesome.

[JHeath]

<blowing the referee's whistle>
Alright, guys. Back off...I'm going ask that this end here. Let's all play nice, and give each other a little respect.

[Dave]

I spent a couple of years in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, and have family members who are still in the journalism/publishing area. So I have a passing interest in the field.

One of the trends I've noticed in publishing lately has been that when management decides it needs to cut staff, they often start with proofreaders. Hey, everyone can check their own work, and everyone has spellchecker these days, right? Bad move, in my humble opinion. If you write something, you very well may miss the occasional grammatical (yes I used spellchecker for that) error, and spellchecker catch can't order words wrong in. Or omitted words, for that matter.

I won't get into such obvious stuff as working under a deadline, which just makes the job harder for folks putting out a daily paper.

I even had to edit this post.

This post has been edited by Dave: Aug 4 2009, 10:24 AM

[lighter]

My understnding is they have, slowly, cut the N-dispatch staff in more than half during the last 5 years, and more than one persin has left without another job lined up -- at least 4 in the last 3 years did that, from what i have lerned from a person i kknow in the know.

i think the main employees are OK. Mr. Parkhouse and the sports section are alawaays good. The news section, though however seems like its rudderless. It hasn't been good for years but it seems like it has taken a nosedivee in the last 2 years.

my understnding is they have been slowly taken over my the Laporte paper and there leadership has been awful for news and for morale. Chris S. isn't a good journalist and everyone their knows it. What i lerned from someone i kknow in the know is he's the worst type of boss. Clueless about the product but certain he's right. Like that dimwit from "the Office" except, not funny.

typos & misspellings are forgiveable, god knows i think that. but it's like last month with those 3 fugitivees and the N-dispatch and H-argus did nothing on-line. In 2009, that seems like it should be some sort of journalistic sin. The N-dispatch had a chance to help people stay informed and yet evryone here went to a bunch of on-lne sites from south bend to nwi.com to wndu. I counted a total of less than 10 N-dispatch articals from that break-out, and more than most were 12-18 hours later then the other web sites. was that done to make paper advertisers happy?

Mr. Parkhouse, if i had a vote, i'd make you the main editor in charge there and kick Chris S. down the rails back to wherever he's from. and i'd see to it you had cash to hire back the 15 or so people whove been fired or not replaced.

way it is, though, they'll probably push you out the door next and get rid of sports altogether. maybe they can replace it with something like chess club articals or old women bingo.



can we

[Tim]

My understnding is they have, slowly, cut the N-dispatch staff in more than half during the last 5 years, and more than one persin has left without another job lined up -- at least 4 in the last 3 years did that, from what i have lerned from a person i kknow in the know.

i think the main employees are OK. Mr. Parkhouse and the sports section are alawaays good. The news section, though however seems like its rudderless. It hasn't been good for years but it seems like it has taken a nosedivee in the last 2 years.

my understnding is they have been slowly taken over my the Laporte paper and there leadership has been awful for news and for morale. Chris S. isn't a good journalist and everyone their knows it. What i lerned from someone i kknow in the know is he's the worst type of boss. Clueless about the product but certain he's right. Like that dimwit from "the Office" except, not funny.

typos & misspellings are forgiveable, god knows i think that. but it's like last month with those 3 fugitivees and the N-dispatch and H-argus did nothing on-line. In 2009, that seems like it should be some sort of journalistic sin. The N-dispatch had a chance to help people stay informed and yet evryone here went to a bunch of on-lne sites from south bend to nwi.com to wndu. I counted a total of less than 10 N-dispatch articals from that break-out, and more than most were 12-18 hours later then the other web sites. was that done to make paper advertisers happy?

Mr. Parkhouse, if i had a vote, i'd make you the main editor in charge there and kick Chris S. down the rails back to wherever he's from. and i'd see to it you had cash to hire back the 15 or so people whove been fired or not replaced.

way it is, though, they'll probably push you out the door next and get rid of sports altogether. maybe they can replace it with something like chess club articals or old women bingo.
can we

Deb?

[Tim]

Cool, we're doing cheap shots now? Awesome.

Oh, you're not sensitive at all. Come on - you're saying the ND has cash-flow problems. So maybe having a person on staff who doesn't do her job very well is downgrading the paper's credibility.

I love the ND. I live in Japan and read the ND on my cell phone every day on the way to work. It's a valuable asset for Our Fair City. That's why I'm appalled when a newspaper prints obvious mistakes.

[Ang]

I have to agree with Tim on the Deb issue. Really. Her stories can be tough to read sometimes. But, I'm also with Parky on the short staffing issue. Proofreading your own stuff is not good because your mind knows what's supposed to be there and often misses the mistakes. When someone else proofreads your stuff, they will see what's not there because they didn't write it to begin with.

Maybe you all at the N-D could take turns proofreading each other's stuff?

[Tim]

I'm going to start posting these salvos of stupidity as Deb's Follies - from today's ND -

""I was in junior high then (when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima)," she said. "I had become friends with a Japanese girl at Girl Scout camp, and (when the bomb was dropped), I remember wondering whether she still had family in Japan."

Gee - when the bomb dropped? Really??? Isn't that what the WHOLE ARTICLE is about?

Pathetic.