NEOMG institutes zero-tolerance typo policy

[Walter Burns]

The Northeast Ohio Media Group (the non-union content providers for Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer) has a typo problem. The content chief has this to say:

Even better, ask a colleague to read your stuff before you post it. Or your spouse. Or your significant other. I can’t tell you how many times my wife has caught typos in my stuff. In a pinch on something really important, you might even send something to Andrea, who, it turns out, is the most eagle-eyed finder of typos I’ve ever met. She’s merciless.

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2014/04/02/northeast-ohio-media-group-knows-it-has-a-typo-problem

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/04/02/northeast-ohio-media-group-content-chief-institutes-a-zero-tolerance-policy-for-typos/

Of course, this is the same organization that laid off a third of its unionized newsroom personnel less than a year ago. So the upshot is, "Have someone read your stuff, but **** if we're going to pay for it."

 

[MisterCreosote]

Your spouse? Are you ****ing kidding? I'm assuming "Andrea" is this dickbag's wife? I'm sure she appreciates the extra work whose only compensation is "love."

Funny thing is, I'd fully support something like this (more likely a three-strikes-you're-out rule), but if I did, I'd make damn sure the resources were there to comply.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Does you spouse get a W-9 form for serving as a freelance copy editor?

 

[YankeeFan]

Does you spouse get a W-9 form for serving as a freelance copy editor?

Intentional typo?

 

[Steak Snabler]

Dammit. Should have got her to look over it before I posted.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Andrea sounds like a *****, giving it away like that.

 

[Alma]

IMO, Advance has no idea what it's doing. Great papers in great cities will just have to wait it out until the Newhouse family gives up.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I gotta say, as chicken****, clueless and tone deaf as it is, asking your spouse to do it beats asking randoms off the street to volunteer for four hours a night. [/crossthread]

 

[EStreetJoe]

It's a problem at Advance papers - or any paper - that allows the reporters to post stories directly to the website without it going through a copy desk first.

 

[Drip]

It's a problem at Advance papers - or any paper - that allows the reporters to post stories directly to the website without it going through a copy desk first.

This will not end well.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

So what if I had my wife, who is dyslexic, look at my copy and she puts a typo in there? Do I get in trouble then?

Just another manager with too much time on his hands who has to look busy to justify his salary.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Will my health insurance plan cover it when my wife kicks me in the nuts for asking?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Will my health insurance plan cover it when my wife kicks me in the nuts for asking?

They have to, thanks to Obamacare.

 

[SnarkShark]

Zero tolerance means consequences, otherwise it is tolerance. So, what happens when the first typo publishes?

Firing? Suspension? Lethal injection?

 

[dirtybird]

Zero tolerance means consequences, otherwise it is tolerance. So, what happens when the first typo publishes?

Firing? Suspension? Lethal injection?

Your spouse gets called into the editors office for a stern reprimand and gets his/her pay docked.

 

[Football_Bat]

NEOMG doesn't have a typo problem. It has an editing and proofreading problem. Only problem is, they fired all the proofreaders and half the editors.