Finding last second mistakes will cost you at this paper

I also noted on one of Romanesko's links that the Tallahasee Democrat, owned by, surprise, surprise, Gannett, devoted its entire front page to a United Way ass-kissing story. Which, of course, by sheer coincidence, is a charity in which the Democrat's publisher sits on the board.

PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS!!!!!

 

I'd pay the $15 just to replate that front page with an "ADVERTISEMENT" banner over the entire thing after the publisher went home.

It wouldn't be the first time I've replated specifically as a protest to my bosses' actions.

 

This reminds me of one of the "motivational tactics" used at my previous shop, back in the Midwest.

At one of our weekly staff meetings, were surprised to see our publisher and pressroom manager in attendance.

Then, the pressroom guy wheeled in a chair from the hall stacked high with discarded plates ... all from corrections of errors reported by the universal copy desk! Not only did we not bring in any revenue to the company, but WE WERE DRIVING UP COSTS!

Had I known then that my future was short with the company, I would have mentioned the tons and tons of newsprint wasted by the press crew trying to get the four-color pages to "line up" each night.

Or, for that matter, the thousands of dollars wasted just because the publisher's job existed.

 

Oh, I've got to hear this....

 

This just in: Marines to have pay docked for bullets that miss, since missed shots means the soldiers need more bullets that that costs the taxpayers additional money. Get that shot right the first time, maggot.

 

Good grief. Places I worked never went this far, but one place required us to fill out a written correction form every time a correction was published. The form was then put in our personnel file for future review. After one nit-picky error, I wrote on the form "shit happens".

 

The ME and I disagreed on a story - he thought it should be A1 and I thought otherwise. When we reached a stalemate, I did it his way, but with the full intention to redo it my way once he left for the night. However, he didn't leave until after the color lock was due, so my swap ended up being a replate.

 

Roger Goodell just sprung wood. The NFL can dock players their pay for incomplete passes,drops, missed tackles and missed field goals.

Announcer: INcomplete! Off the hands of the receiver. Oh, that's going to cost him five large. What will his strippers do now?

Announcer 2: That wasn't totally his fault, though. It was a poorly thrown ball. That's on the quarterback.

Announcer: Yeah,but he's got to catch that.

Announcer 2: I agree. Fine them both, then.

 

Well, fuc

Sounds almost like a scene from the movie The Paper.

 

I'm sometimes prepared to defend stuff that's brought up here, just to be contrary. But this is dumb dumb dumb.

 

An update: They're still doing the fines, but now they have to comply with state law (how nice). Instead, they would get docked their pay in a future work week, or ... here's a fun one ... have the choice of quitting.

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/06/16/journal-inquirer-updates-its-errors-penalty-policy/

The ME did send a note to Romanesko explaining that it is done more for errors such as headlines, page folios, etc. instead of errors in copy.

In other words, an editor may catch a million errors by the reporter, but if he fucks up a story continuation line, he's out the cash.

Oh, and another funny thing. Romanesko left a Facebook comment about the ME's note that he had posted, in which the ME had written him asking to change a mistake because the ME had made a ... you guessed it ... a typo in his copy.

 

I hope the ME never hears the end of this ...