Example of News Journal Idiocy #2,097,498
Headlines are supposed to accurately reflect the content of the story. Yeah, you want to grab their attention, but you cannot do it by devising a headline that is false after you read the story. For if you do that, then all you are as a news organization is a tabloid.
Case in point:
The two headlines make me think current Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (D), a rising young star in the Democratic Party nationally, will be traveling to Minneapolis to speak at the Republican convention. That is what I thought when I read the headline. I was shocked, and so I went into to read the story further. And the truth is that FORMER Lt. Governor Michael Steele (R) will be at the GOP convention. That make sense, what with Steele being a Republican and all (although half of all Republican elected officials in the country are refusing to attend the convention because of their fear of being tarred with Bush and the GOP brand).
Bad News Journal. Bad.
GOD how I wish we had a decent newspaper in this state.
Drew Volturo is doing some decent reporting at the Del State News, but a whole newspaper devoted to getting shit right would be a boon to this state.
Um…how about the fact that they can’t spell Lieutenant correctly?
ditto on Duffy’s comment.
Also the NJ got the first VP from Delaware wrong.
http://delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080821/NEWS02/808210374&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
The election of 1820 is the only contest that Goldstein knew of in which a Delawarean received electoral votes for vice president. That was Federalist Daniel Rodney, a former governor from Lewes who received four out of about 230 electoral votes. His votes came from Delaware electors, he said.
“Of the original 13 states, only Delaware, Rhode Island and New Hampshire have never had a major national party vice-presidential candidate,” Goldstein wrote in an e-mail. “Delaware should not feel too bad; around 20 other states are in the same boat. On the other hand, it’s one of the states which has been part of the union the longest [although always one of the smallest states].”
The Federalists not a major party? Don’t tell that to Alexander Hamilton or John Adams. Geez.
As a former copy editor there, the spelling of lieutenant really stings. The copy desk has been cut to the bone; the night desk has gone to a “universal rim,” meaning the news and sports copy desks are no longer separate. The features department is down to three reporters and three editors; when I left that department in the mid-90s, there were 10 reporters and three editors.
The cuts at the NJ will only get worse; the paper is scheduled to lose 4 newsroom jobs in this week’s Gannett purge. Unless anyone out there thinks newspaper advertising will pick up in a down economy while people are fleeing the medium, the same might come down the pike next year.
Egad, this is bad, especially when some people read only the headlines. And the mis-spelling irks me.
On another note, do people know that the daily hard copy went from 50 cents to 75 cents ? That’s quite a jump! And they no longer have a newspaper box at the Claymont train station (which is usuall full at about 500 cards daily).
I feel bad…there are many good people there, but the quality is really slipping. If you’ve ever had a Letter to the Editor mangled, you know what I mean.
Shirley – Slipping? The News Journal has always been a joke. Back in high school I was managing editor for our school paper. We specifically used The News Journal as an example of what NOT to do.
Wow, Al, that’s bad. I haven’t worked in a newsroom in at least a dozen years. The idea of the news & sports people being at one desk is mind-boggling.
In defense of the headline, though, “former” might not have fit or something. But they could have used Steele’s name. I’d think most ppl would have recognized that. It’s still a lousy headline.
Mike: What school was that?
I should say “we used mistakes from the News Journal as examples of what not to do.”
Al – It was AI DuPont way back in 00′-03′
lie-tenant
Appropriate description of a politician.
A caretaker of the lies, told to the people.
Freud is right. Dreams, spelling, …
Mike: Was Barbara Roewe still the adviser then? I used to speak to her class back in the 80s-early 90s. I still stay in touch with her. In fact, through her I still serve as a judge for the Delaware high school journalism contest.
Nope, never heard of her.
Damn, time flies. It’s still a very good high school paper, by the way.
Thanks Al. I know that when I was there we sometimes had what I’d consider too many errors because we were rushing to get it out. I think they’ve now streamlined the printing process, which is good because getting everything sent to the printer was a huge PITA. We had it printed someplace down state, and once I had to drive down in a monsoon and bring back a few thousand copies.
Vicky Zwolak is the adviser now. She really takes it seriously and is also an excellent english teacher.
Actually, I think her last name is Kohl now. My little sister is a staff reporter for the Tiger Pause right now.
“Al Mascitti // Aug 21, 2008 at 9:00 am
As a former copy editor there, the spelling of lieutenant really stings. The copy desk has been cut to the bone; the night desk has gone to a “universal rim,” meaning the news and sports copy desks are no longer separate. The features department is down to three reporters and three editors; when I left that department in the mid-90s, there were 10 reporters and three editors.”
This explains why 95+% of the national news comes from the AP wire and only edited to fit the space available. I do have the paper delivered each day. There’s some things that aren’t available in the on-line edition.