Finding last second mistakes will cost you at this paper

[DeskMonkey1]

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/03/13/connecticut-paper-to-charge-reporters-15-for-errors-that-require-a-press-plate-change/

I typically look at our paper in a web browser after the plates have been made and about once a week find something that either I or another editor didn't originally catch. Sometimes big, sometimes minor but if I knew it was costing an editor or reporter money, anything short of "Dewey defeats Truman" I would just zip my lip

 

[Baron Scicluna]

AS one the FB commenters pointed out, now their journalists will keep silent and save the $15. Brilliant move.

Seriously, how much brains or talent does it take to be a newspaper executive? Want to cut down on wasting plates? Just don't allow them unless absolutely necessary, like a headline typo or something like that.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I just looked it up: According to this, it's illegal to dock employees' pay for "cash shortages, loss of equipment, misconduct, the destruction of company property, and various other occurrences."

http://wagehourlaw.foxrothschild.com/2011/02/articles/exemptions/you-break-it-you-bought-it-is-not-the-best-policy-in-the-workplace-the-pitfalls-of-docking-employees-pay/

Sounds like this idiot is about to break the law.

 

[RickStain]

If it's a minor mistake, then I say too damned bad, should have caught it earlier.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If it's a minor mistake, then I say too damned bad, should have caught it earlier.

Great. You make a mistake, and you work for free as punishment. Glad to see you've joined the 18th Century.

 

[RickStain]

If it's a minor mistake, then I say too damned bad, should have caught it earlier.

Great. You make a mistake, and you work for free as punishment. Glad to see you've joined the 18th Century.

I meant the mistake gets printed. No replating for typos in body type.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If it's a minor mistake, then I say too damned bad, should have caught it earlier.

Great. You make a mistake, and you work for free as punishment. Glad to see you've joined the 18th Century.

I meant the mistake gets printed. No replating for typos in body type.

OK, that clears it up. ****, at the risk of a fine, I wouldn't even replate if a headline was mispelled, or if a curse word gets into print.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I hope Some ****er reappears in a photo cutline there one day.

 

[MileHigh]

No need to stick around and look at papers to make sure everything is OK. Once it's gone, it's gone. Only to appear on Romenesko the next day.

 

[awriter]

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/03/13/connecticut-paper-to-charge-reporters-15-for-errors-that-require-a-press-plate-change/

I typically look at our paper in a web browser after the plates have been made and about once a week find something that either I or another editor didn't originally catch. Sometimes big, sometimes minor but if I knew it was costing an editor or reporter money, anything short of "Dewey defeats Truman" I would just zip my lip

I could see the copy desk turning it into sort of a drinking game. Editor A makes a typo in a headline. Editor B sees it. But rather than make the change, resulting in a $15 fine, Editor A has to buy Editor B beers instead.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

If they put in mug shots in crime stories, they should insert one of the editor by mistake. Then claim that they thought about changing it, but didn't want to be fined.

Also, as Romensko pointed out, it's the same idiot that said that newspapers were failing if they marketed to single mothers.

 

[MisterCreosote]

"...a plate change required to fix mistakes for which there’s no good explanation may cost the responsible employee, whether editor or reporter, a payroll deduction for the cost of the plate."

I'm guessing he won't consider "because it's wrong" as a good explanation for going back and fixing mistakes.

Either way, I think I'd pay money to hear this dickhead try to adjudicate one of these cases.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

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!!!!!

 

[MisterCreosote]

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.

 

[I Should Coco]

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.

 

[DeskMonkey1]

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.

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

 

[micropolitan guy]

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.

 

[Mark2010]

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 "**** happens".

 

[MisterCreosote]

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.

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

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.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

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.

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.