How would you handle this?

What do you do when an EDITOR makes a mistake?

So I covered a game. The next day, I look at the paper and not only is a name I spelled correctly in my copy misspelled in the headline, the inset bug has the wrong score.

I raised hell. The only problem? It was an editor who made the mistakes. I got an apology and a "we'll try harder next time."

Is there anything I can do other than find a new job?

 

Does this happen often? All of a sudden asking if you need to find a job after a incident like this is jumping the gun a little. Mistakes do happen you know. Have you never made one?

But, at least the editor is trying hard!

 

I woul suggest getting over it. Editors -- though it's hard to believe -- are human. They are going to make mistakes. Even at the paper you bolt to.

You have a right to be angry because it makes you look bad, but this happens to varying degrees all the time. If you can't deal with that, you aren't going to last in the business.

But pitching a fit won't help. Whenever something like this happens, go to the sports editor and point out the desk's (or his) mistake without screaming.

You also should forward any nasty calls/emails you get that suggest you don't know the score of the game.

 

I've got 10 years in this business, so I'm not a new to this. It does happen fairly often at my shop because I've got a guy who just isn't careful when the clock is ticking on deadline, and he's bringing down the rest of us.

How do you approach someone who is technically above you on the totem pole and tell them to start doing their job better? That's what I'm needing help with.

Have I made mistakes? Hell yeah.

 

Put it this way: would you want to read about an editor who had a writer make a mistake and immediately ask for assistance firing him?

 

Geez, though. It's bad enough when an editor makes a legit mistake in his or her copy.

This person CHANGED a name and score. You have to be pretty fucked up to go in and change something to make it wrong.

 

You can accept the apaology for an honest mistake.

 

Where does it say he changed a name and a score? The original post says he spelled a name wrong in a hed and put the wrong score in the score bug. Inexcusable mistakes, but legit mistakes.

And Moonlight, it's not your place to tell this guy he has to do his job better. It's your SE's job to find out who made the errors and address the issue. If he can't do that, he shouldn't be a SE.

 

Unless you honestly thought you knew the correct spelling.

Or you made a typing mistake in editing.