Eliminating corrections

[toivo99]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Don't publish.

 

[Starman]

Oh, I never make any miskakes anyway.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

 

[toivo99]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

They're the bosses. Since they make the big bucks, see what great ideas they have for eliminating mistakes, since they're the ones who eliminated your safety net.

 

[Batman]

What do you mean by eliminating the safety net? No copy editors? No Proofreaders?

I'm often the only one who reads my section, but I damn well read every word in it. If I miss deadline by 10 or 15 minutes to do it, so be it. I'd rather be a few minutes late than have to stop the press or explain to the boss what happened. If you've been having a lot of mistakes get through, you definitely need to slow down and look it over. After you've done that, look it over one more time.
Mistakes also tend to breed mistakes. You get so caught up in catching the out of place comma in the eighth graf that you miss the 48-point **** in the above-the-fold headline. Just take your time. Pay attention. These things can come in waves, so work your way out of the slump.

 

[playthrough]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

They're the bosses. Since they make the big bucks, see what great ideas they have for eliminating mistakes, since they're the ones who eliminated your safety net.

We had a run of mistakes at an old shop across all sections and the bosses instituted an internal form that had to be filled out if a correction needed to be published. You would have to list the correction, how it happened, how you'd prevent it in the future, blah blah, signed by you and your editor. Sometimes all you could say was "I screwed up" and "Will try harder in the future not to screw up."

I think the form was phased out after about a month.

 

[Ace]

I assume publishers don't care about mistakes anymore as they are eliminating the folks whose job it was to catch them. So don't fret and fix it on the web.

 

[Bronco77]

Start by focusing on display type -- headlines, then cutlines. The more obvious the error, the more likely someone is to raise a stink. Minor stuff like changing commas should be the lowest priority.

It helps to remember what a cantankerous copy editor I supervised many years ago used to say. He handled a gargantuan workload but was known to bust a headline from time to time. He'd own up to these mistakes, but if the higher-ups starting making too much noise about them, he'd say, "The only people who never make mistakes are those who don't do anything."

 

[Kolchak]

Our SE has been known to go into stories to proof them and ends up creating new mistakes. Sometimes this is done after the desk has already proofed and set the story.

So who would the SE blame for any of those mistakes getting through? The copy desk, of course.

 

[BDC99]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

They're the bosses. Since they make the big bucks, see what great ideas they have for eliminating mistakes, since they're the ones who eliminated your safety net.

We had a run of mistakes at an old shop across all sections and the bosses instituted an internal form that had to be filled out if a correction needed to be published. You would have to list the correction, how it happened, how you'd prevent it in the future, blah blah, signed by you and your editor. Sometimes all you could say was "I screwed up" and "Will try harder in the future not to screw up."

I think the form was phased out after about a month.

Yeah, an old shop of mine had us send a note to the executive editor explaining how the error happened. Ummm, I'm human and I ****ed up. What the hell is the point of that anyway?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Our SE has been known to go into stories to proof them and ends up creating new mistakes. Sometimes this is done after the desk has already proofed and set the story.

So who would the SE blame for any of those mistakes getting through? The copy desk, of course.

Boy I've seen that before, by sports editors and news editors and copy editors.

**** happens. Just try to be better. That's all you can really do.

 

[hondo]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

They're the bosses. Since they make the big bucks, see what great ideas they have for eliminating mistakes, since they're the ones who eliminated your safety net.

We had a run of mistakes at an old shop across all sections and the bosses instituted an internal form that had to be filled out if a correction needed to be published. You would have to list the correction, how it happened, how you'd prevent it in the future, blah blah, signed by you and your editor. Sometimes all you could say was "I screwed up" and "Will try harder in the future not to screw up."

I think the form was phased out after about a month.

we had something like that only we were never allowed to put down "I just screwed up." There had to be a reason. Lasted a year.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

For those who put out a section with no safety net, how do you reduce the number of mistakes made, especially on deadline?

You don't.

When the bosses complain, blame them for taking away your safety net.

A nice suggestion, but when it's my job on the line, it's still me that gets fired.

They're the bosses. Since they make the big bucks, see what great ideas they have for eliminating mistakes, since they're the ones who eliminated your safety net.

We had a run of mistakes at an old shop across all sections and the bosses instituted an internal form that had to be filled out if a correction needed to be published. You would have to list the correction, how it happened, how you'd prevent it in the future, blah blah, signed by you and your editor. Sometimes all you could say was "I screwed up" and "Will try harder in the future not to screw up."

I think the form was phased out after about a month.

we had something like that gonly we were never allowed to put down "I just screwed up." There had to be a reason. Lasted a year.

Should then put down, "The reason why this mistake happened is because I took less time to check things out. And the reason why I took less time is because I'm now doing the work of two people thanks to recent layoffs."

My thing about mistakes is that usually, I'd go a long time without making one, then make two in quick succession.

 

[Fredrick]

Really, truly, all newspapers should just cease printing if they insist on having no line of defense against typos, libelous material. I think it's scary as hell to think most newspapers are letting their reporters post stories un-edited and post their own headlines. I can't believe how reckless that is. Imagine if you were some rich corporate asshole who owned a newspaper. Would you trust some 22 year old kid to post his/her own stories on YOUR company Website? Or put it in your newspaper? I really truly find it impossible to believe publishers risk their reputations/fortunes daily by allowing unedited copy to go in their papers and on their Websites.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Hopefully, the corrections are for factual errors instead of grammar, etc. In which case, the solution is to develop system (not haphazard) way of fact-checking that works for you given your staffing limitations, or, less ideally, investing some free time in getting to know your locale better -- reading a history or two, visiting historic sites, getting out to some local cultural events such as plays and local bands' gigs. Fun and informative.

 

[babyjay newsignon]

As a copy editor, I know the whole "I made the mistake because you cut staff and there's no one else to edit me" reasoning sounds good, but it means NOTHING to a boss to hear that. Because you still made a mistake, and their point in the whole how-are-we-going-to-do-this-better-next-time exercise is to figure out how to avoid that.

Like someone said, triage the story. Double check the headline. Check it against the facts in the story. Check names in heads and cutlines against the story. Do the math any time there is numbers. A few years back, after a run of bad errors at our shop, the editor had reporters print out every story they wrote and underline every fact as they double-checked it, and turn that in to their editor. Time-consuming but effective if you're having a string of errors.

 

[DanOregon]

Read stories backwards. Finish with the headline. Try and incorporate time to proof in your schedule. Whatever deadline is. Move your own "up" 10-20 minutes for a final glance.

 

[BDC99]

As a copy editor, I know the whole "I made the mistake because you cut staff and there's no one else to edit me" reasoning sounds good, but it means NOTHING to a boss to hear that. Because you still made a mistake, and their point in the whole how-are-we-going-to-do-this-better-next-time exercise is to figure out how to avoid that.

Like someone said, triage the story. Double check the headline. Check it against the facts in the story. Check names in heads and cutlines against the story. Do the math any time there is numbers. A few years back, after a run of bad errors at our shop, the editor had reporters print out every story they wrote and underline every fact as they double-checked it, and turn that in to their editor. Time-consuming but effective if you're having a string of errors.

Do you work in the business or do you live in a fantasy land? Reporters checking facts? HA! Many of the ones I've worked with can't spell all the names right. I double-check as much as I can, but with about half as many people working on a given night than a few years ago, there isn't the time there once was to do that. And I doubt anyone would really tell their boss that mistakes happened because they have slashed the staff. The mistake likely happened because mistakes happen. Humans are imperfect. Sure, you can emphasize the need to make fewer mistakes. You will never eliminate them. Especially if your staff barely has enough time to think.