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Bullshit and laziness

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Alma, May 19, 2012.

  1. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    If I were the boss I would not fire someone over that if it was a one-time isolated event and the reporter had otherwise displayed good judgment, attitude, and work ethic. If this guy was, say, a young reporter who felt terrible about that having gotten in print, I would make sure he'd learned his lesson, chalked it up as a teachable moment, and expected the guy to do good work and never make a mistake like that again in his life.

    On the other hand, and I hope that is the case here, if the guy was a mediocre performer with a bad attitude and a history of doing very dumb things, then axing him over this would have been easy.
     
  2. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Nope, automatic firing offense. Some things just are, and this just is
     
  3. JosephC.Myers

    JosephC.Myers Active Member

    Nice. Exhibit 'A' of why you should always read the whole story when you're editing someone else's copy.
     
  4. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    It can be.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    As Dooley said, the writer and the two people who read it have to be fired immediately.

    I understand the frustration and I'm guessing most of us have gotten to the point of being that frustrated with a coach, but you just don't ever type those words even if you intend to delete it seconds later.

    At my first job, (pre-wide use of Internet) they used to post similar fuck-ups like this on the bulletin board, not errors, but examples of people doing stupid/careless things that wound up in the paper.

    It was a nice reminder not to fuck around.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I'm guessing "bullshit" shows up on most spell checks.

    If you're doing a read on a story and you don't run a spell check, you should be fired anyway.
     
  7. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    I think the two people who supposedly edited the story should be fired as well.
     
  8. JosephC.Myers

    JosephC.Myers Active Member

    There's something to be said for that, especially the one who made the quote about not really liking sports. I mean, who is dumb enough to really say that after all the crap hits the fan?
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Anything short of three people getting fired is unacceptable.
     
  10. schiezainc

    schiezainc Well-Known Member

    I think you've got to fire all three people simply because it's an unacceptable lapse in judgement and leaving these people on, like it or not, would open your company to a lot more criticism and/or potential problems down the line than it's worth.

    Especially the copy editors. How can you miss something like that? Worse, how can you admit that you don't even read sports stories? I HIGHLY doubt this is the first time these "copy editors" skimmed a sports story because of a lack of interest and, therefore, they're not doing their job and should be fired. If this writer had written something a lot worse than this, this company could have been f-ed and that alone is enough cause to can the three of them.

    There are far too few opportunities out there nowadays and far more quality candidates than open positions to allow these types of f**k ups to go unpunished.
     
  11. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty New Member

    yes. there is no other option.
     
  12. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    Maybe, but not all. That's how I once listed that a girl won the "shit put." Spell check didn't get it and my eyes were shot by the end of that shift and no one caught it. This was an honest mistake, though, considering that I and O are next to each other on the keyboard. And at the time, I couldn't get anyone to check sports copy if I had put a gun to their head (actually, I still can't because no one else will stay in the news room until 11 p.m. but I'm very paranoid about that phrase reappearing now).

    But yeah, in this case, no excuse. At the least, the writer gets fired and the others get a week or so off with no pay. Minimum.
     
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