By I.J. Hudson
I apologize in advance and hope the whipping won’t last long.
I admit I made many mistakes during my 30+ years as a reporter, and more than a few mistakes got by my mind and the keyboard - and were caught by a producer, the executive producer, or an anchor.
Usually I spotted the major mistakes – generally by doing one simple thing – reading the copy out loud. It’s definitely worthy saying/writing again - reading the copy out loud!
The written word is passive (not in tense) for the most part. It just lays around on the paper, or on the screen, and waits for someone to come along and read it. The people who write those words often just do the same – just read them, (lips silent or moving) to get to the end of those words quickly. That passes for "editing." They have other things to do. The problem is that the mind tends to fill in omissions and correct mistakes. We know what we meant, so when we read it to ourselves, it sounds okay.
But this approach can mean a loss in accuracy.
Case in point: I looked at a tweet that linked to a story on a neighborhood news website. The tweet had an accurate date for the end of a project; the larger story it linked to did not. The story listed a completion date that was already four months in the past. Ironically, both the tweet and the story were written by the same person. Either the project was way overdue and the reporter didn’t ask why, or there was a basic mistake in the story.
Is this a big deal? Or is it just a mistake that should be expected with high throughput? Mistakes in basic facts are certainly a big deal if the reporter wants to be taken seriously by the readership and those in the journalism community. What will they think of a reporter that uses a date (already past) for a new project? What about the rest of the facts? Can they be trusted?
The core of journalism is facts – the basics. You must get them right, whether writing for the New York Times or the neighborhood blog.
I do empathize with upcoming journalists. The big difference these days is that the number of “fresh eyes” looking at your copy/script is a lot lower than a few years ago. I hate to use the analogy, “it takes a village...” But help is help, especially when you’re in a hurry. Thank goodness for the folks who caught my mistakes or spotted phrases that could be misunderstood.
IMHO, journalism is most successful when it’s a team sport. That’s when you have a better chance of your words saying what you mean. And if you don’t have a team to back you up --- at minimum, please read the copy out LOUD! Does it sound right? Does it make sense? Did you just read a date of August 2010 for an upcoming project and we just passed New Year’s and are in 2011? I’m thinking that shouldn’t sound right.
This is not criticism, just simple advice. Today’s reporter must write quickly, and rewrite and rewrite and read every word out loud to be sure the correct meaning is conveyed.
I was fortunate to have a lot of help. Your best help may be YOU, reading out loud.
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