Thursday, December 13, 2007
Busted headlines on blogs
If newspapers decide that blog posts on their sites don't need editing, what about the headlines on those posts? Who will write them, and who will check to make sure they accomplish what headlines are supposed to accomplish?

This example of a misspelling in a blog headline is especially unfortunate because the post after this one is from the newspaper's expert on grammar. And yes, readers noticed, as evidenced by the first comment here.

Previous post on this topic here.
 
posted by Andy Bechtel at 1:53 PM | Permalink |


3 Comments:


  • At 2:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

    The error is multiplied by how long it takes the blog host to correct the spelling error. My experience is that readers are tolerant of typos if you respond quickly when they point them out.

    This one you refer to was posted at 7 a.m. today. A commenter on another N&O blog pointed it out at 8:24 a.m., the host of the grammar blog responded with a laugh at 9:06 a.m. It's now 2:30 p.m. and the typo has not been corrected.

    I'd hope that someone at the N&O would tell the blog host to fix the error or get someone else to fix it.

    John Robinson

     

  • At 9:37 AM, Blogger Andy Bechtel

    John,

    I agree. The longer the problem is there, the worse it gets, especially after it is publicly pointed out by a reader.

    Alas, the N&O still has not fixed the problem, two days later.

     

  • At 12:01 PM, Blogger KI Clergy

    Andy - The problem is exacerbated by newspapers that have inconsistent correction policies. As I wrote in a recent blog post, newspapers should ensure that they have a correction policy that addresses both online and print products.

     
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