Doesn't anyone proofread anymore?

[kayakjohnny]

I'm seeing this same mistake all over the place and it's getting very annoying.

This is the AP for crap sake....


http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/John-Elway-Denver-Broncos-close-to-reuniting-010211?gt1=39002

DENVER (AP)

Hall of Famer John Elway is expected to rejoin the Denver Broncos as their chief football executive by midweek, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said on Sunday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal to bring Elway back to the franchise hasn't been completed.

Team spokesman Patrick Smyth said reports that the team had already reached an agreement with Elway were premature.

''Talks with John are progressing, but nothing has been finalized at this point,'' Smyth said.

The Broncos have won just one playoff game since Elway retired in 1999 following his second straight Super Bowl title and haven't reached the postseason in five years.

Elway's first order of business will be to search for a coach. The Broncos (4-11) fired Josh McDaniels last month in the midst of their worst skid in four decades and in the wake of the Spygate II videotaping scandal.

They have won just one playoff game since Elway retired in 1999 following his second straight Super Bowl title and haven't reached the postseason in five years.

...............................................

Notice anything similar between graphs 5 and 7?

Yes, of course you did.

What, are they now outsourcing editing?

This crap is getting old.

Sorry, kind of a petty rant.

[rurallib]

1. gno.

there, isn't

[petronius]

2. It's not a mistake. They just want to reiterate that the Broncos really really suck

In case anyone missed the point the first time...

;)

[jobycom]

22. +1

[abq e streeter]

3. My fave proofreading fail, and surprised to have found out I'm not alone in still remembering this:

from wikipedia re: Dave Bennett:

He has attained a (virtual) cult following among sports hobbyists because of a copy error on his 1964 Topps baseball bubble gum card, No. 561. The ambiguous copy on his rookie card reads, "The 19-year-old righthanded curveballer is just 18 years old!"

[pinboy3niner]

4. Good one!

I remember another old one in a profile on actress Kim Novak. The story reported that on the weekends she could be found sitting in front of the fireplace "with a good boob."

[abq e streeter]

7. Referring to a boyfriend or agent no doubt, although she certainly did have a nice set of...

um, never mind.

[abq e streeter]

5. And another I distinctly remember and wish to hell I'd saved:

the lead story in the Chicago Sun-Times sports section in about 1967 about the previous night's Blackhawks-Bruins game , where the Hawks won despite Boston having taken "47 shits on goal".

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. uv corse not. This is the day of texting and other ignorant communication. Grammar is optional,

asking people to spell correctly or form coherent sentences that come from coherent thoughts is elitist and oppressive and makes little Dakota feel bad.

And we live in a country in the most important thing ever is that little Dakota never feels bad about him/herself.

[Brickbat]

8. You can't spell CRAP without AP. And yes, most newspapers have made huge cuts to their copy desks.

It's usually the first place to go in a newsroom -- after all, they're not producing content. The powers that be are willing to risk at best embarrassing typos and at worst a libel suit to notch some short-term savings.

I'm a professional copy editor who has worked for several newspapers and is now freelancing. What, me bitter?

[Chan790]

12. This is going seem silly but...

are there major universities near you or even community colleges? Go to the office that approves campus flyers and the departments and ask to put up a flyer advertising proofreading services (and reiterate repeatedly that you're a professional copy editor & would NEVER write a paper for a student.)

The going rate for a professional to copy-edit a doctoral or master's thesis is upwards of $80. Not bad for a few hours of work and I often find that I can get more work the last 2 months of 2nd semester than I can accept. (and I'm no pro...just a fairly-skillful writer/editor.)

[Brickbat]

14. Not silly at all; thanks for the thought.

I generally have as much work as I want, though, and academic work is not my strength. All that fiddly footnoting!

[madinmaryland]

9. Fox. What do you expect. nt

[pinboy3niner]

10. "Crap yourself in a blanket," "huge dick for entertaining" and other typos...

memorialized at HuffPo:

The Most Ridiculous Newspaper Typos Ever (PICTURES)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/the-most-ridiculous-news_n_579913.html#slide_image

[Ptah]

11. Here's an example from ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/17593/washington-beats-oregon-for-elite-lineman

A day after upsetting Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl,
touted defensive lineman Danny Shelton (Auburn, Wash.)
committed to Washington over Oregon following the
Offense-Defense All-American Bowl at Myrtle Beach, S.C.


Danny upset Nebraska, then committed to play football for Washington.

:rofl:

[MorningGlow]

13. IMO proofing is a lost art

And I'm a writer/editor and have worked as a proofreader.

As for the example you posted, AP stories are filed at top speed, and the stringers have to proof their own work (always a bad idea). Usually those of us on the receiving end of these stories clean them up quite a bit before running them.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. My fave

I cut this out of the paper and saved it.


GAMBLING GROUP MEETING

Alumni of Grambling State University will have a meeting on Tuesday Sept. 1, at blah blah.

:rofl:

[Skittles]

16. nope

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/31/AR2010123102817.html

[ashling]

17. I ask this question all the time

I teach college students

[pinboy3niner]

18. Decades ago, in college...

...I was writing for the student paper. The copyreading prof would mark up each edition with all the errors he caught and post it on the bulletin board.

On one front-page story I wrote, I found it marked up all to hell on the bulletin board. The only trouble was that every single error the prof noted was introduced by the copyreaders! To my shame, I never spoke to the prof about it, though I should have (and I don't remember why I didn't).

The prof, Roy Copperud, was very well known as an authority in the field, and it was amazing to me that his students could be so screwed up.

[jmowreader]

19. Some of us do...

About four months ago, one of our papers put a story about...well, I don't remember WHAT it was about...in their paper. The layout guy put the paper together quick, sent it to me and went home. About 20 minutes later when I got time to work on his pages, I called him back up: "Joe? You gotta go back to the shop. The story you put on page 10, you also put on page 12."

Two weeks ago, we ran a story about a couple new books about Jackie Onassis' career as a magazine editor. We put it in the paper on Saturday. Once again it was a great story, because they tried to put it back in the paper on Sunday.

[raccoon]

20. ITA--with the sucky job market now, I don't know why publishers can't find good proofreaders.

As you say, the jobs may be outsourced. To people who know English as a second language, yet.

[Dulcinea]

21. Nope.

All the copy editors have been let go due to budget cuts.

[jobycom]

23. They don't punctuate, either. nt

[Bertha Venation]

24. In no way is this a petty rant.

I'm with you. So is Mrs. V. She reads the Washington Post front to back every day, and at least three days a week I hear her mutter, "they've fired all the copy editors." One sees it frequently, too, in graphics during TV news (that is, TV "news" infotainment). It's very frustrating.

[Kat45]

25. I don't think so. I've worked as a proofreader and rarely find work now.

I think a lot of publications and such don't bother hiring proofreaders anymore, and if they do, it's contract or temp work. I also think that ever since spellcheck came into existence, a lot of folks think they can get away with just using that. Doesn't work out so well since if it's an existing word, it passes spellcheck even if it's not the correct word in context.