David Kroll of North Carolina Central University writes in his blog:
My university just received approval to launch its first PhD program in almost 50 years. Neil Offen of the Durham (NC) Herald-Sun wrote a really nice article on this milestone, one of enough importance locally to garner the top of page one. However, the copy editor indicated in the header that the new PhD program was at the much larger system university 25 miles to the southeast, in a county not even listed above in the coverage area.
Here’s the top of Saturday’s A1 that David posted:
As you can see, the label says “N.C. State University.” Which, in fact, is in Raleigh. Not Durham. Completely different school.
How could such an error happen? David writes:
Back in August, the owner of our local newspaper decided to move copy editing over 600 miles away to the Owensboro (Kentucky) Messenger-Inquirer.
…I don’t blame the Herald-Sun staff at all. I assume that they sent out a perfectly accurate header with “NC Central University†and it was “corrected†by a Kentucky-based editor who had only ever heard of NC State.
Not an unreasonable assumption, perhaps.
Either way, the Herald-Sun needs a copy editor — in Durham or in Owensboro — who knows the difference between the hometown university and a larger one a half-hour’s drive away.
Find David Kroll’s entire blog post here. Find the original Herald-Sun story here.
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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 CBS local media. And the web operation for DC101 radio. And CNN and CNN Money and Fox News (and Fox News again) and the BBC 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 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 the White House. And city and county Boards of Elections. Both the state of Pennsylvania and its department of transportation. And road paving contractors. And the city of Norfolk, Va. And the Ohio Dept. of Transportation. And South African traffic cops. And gas stations. And billboard companies. And sign painters. And Home Depot and manufacturers of “hoodies.†And T-shirt designers. And more T-shirt designers. And Old Navy. 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 romance novelists. 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 (Hey! A repeat offender!), the Post‘s Express tab, the New York Times (Hey! Another repeat offender!), the New York Post, Wall Street Journal Europe, Newsday, USA Today, the Chicago Sun-Times (Yet another repeat offender!), the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Portland Oregonian, the Missoula, Mont., Missoulian, the Times-Record of Denton, Md., the Amarillo (Texas) Globe News, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Waynesboro News Virginian, the Virginian-Pilot, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Gannett’s N.Y. Central Media hub, the Carbondale, Ill., Southern Illinoisian and the Canarsie Courier of New York City. And the Associated Press. And Mann’s Jeweler’s Accent magazine. And Investment News magazine. And Time magazine.
