The Washington Post needs copy editors to catch typos in headlines on its web site.
A former colleague writes today:
Just thought I’d pass this along. I found it amusing.
I found this error on the WaPo homepage. Fifth headline on the left.
Here’s a screen cap of the entire page, moments before noon today.
And here’s a closer look at the error.
My friend writes:
When you click on the story, there’s a different, correct headline. But this headline is on the main Washington Post page as of 11:49 a.m.
An bit later, she wrote a second time.
Oh! At 11:55, they attempted to fix it. But it’s still not quite right.
Here’s a closer look at the second version. Which is, in fact, the way the blurb still looks at this very moment. And it’s nearly 1:30 p.m. [UPDATE: Ditto, as of 2:50 p.m.]
They fixed the “widespreak” typo. But the verb is still wrong.
I’ve emailed them about this. It’s just so sloppy to fix one part of the headline but not pay enough attention to fix the whole thing!
Sloppy is right. We’re seeing more and more of this as newspapers cut back on manpower.
Lesson learned: Don’t trim your desk. Unless you feel like this sort of thing does not undermine your credibility.
Thanks to my former colleague — a fabulously talented young copy desk staffer. I’ll keep her name out of his, just in case her current bosses don’t appreciate her catching Washington Post errors in her spare time.
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You know who else needs a copy editor?
Local TV news operations. Chicago’s WMAQ-TV in particular. And Harrisburg’s Fox43 TV news. And Local 15 News in Mobile, Ala. And other local TV news operations. And CNN and CNN Money and Fox News (and Fox News again) and German news channel N24. And Martha Stewart’s TV operation. And the Disney Channel. And creators of mobile apps. And Google News’ ‘bots. And Baseball jersey manufacturers. And T-shirt designers. And more T-shirt designers. And Georgetown University. And Kansas State University. And the New York Jets, the Minnesota Vikings, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals (boy, do they need a copy editor). And the National Hockey League. And Fox Sports. And college athletic department ticket offices. And the Virginia general assembly. And college alumni magazines. And pharmacies. And the makers of Sudafed. And Borders bookstore. And the U.S. Postal Service. And government agencies and political candidates. And Tea Party candidates. And city and county Boards of Elections. And the state of Pennsylvania. And road paving contractors. And the city of Norfolk, Va. And the Ohio Dept. of Transportation. And South African traffic cops. And billboard companies. And sign painters. And Home Depot and manufacturers of “hoodies.†And rubber stamp designers. And glass etchers. And Starbucks. And restaurants, breakfast joints, Chinese restaurants and cake decorators. And more cake decorators. And drive-in movie theater managers. And South Africa’s New Age and Sunday Independent newspapers. And Dublin’s Sunday Business Post. And newspapers in the U.K. And the Washington Post, the New York Times (Hey! A repeat offender!) the New York Post, Newsday, the Chicago Sun-Times (Another repeat offender!), the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Missoula, Mont., Missoulian, the Times-Record of Denton, Md., the Amarillo (Texas) Globe News, the Waynesboro News Virginian, the Virginian-Pilot, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, and the Carbondale, Ill., Southern Illinoisian. And the Associated Press. And Mann’s Jeweler’s Accent magazine. And Investment News magazine. And Time magazine.
