The University of Iowa needs a copy editor to check the names on the backs of the school’s basketball jerseys.
The name is Josh Oglesby. Not Ogelsby.
This picture was taken and tweeted last week at the U of I’s media day by Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
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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 Charlotte’s WBTV. 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 Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill., the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle, the Seattle Times, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Portland Oregonian, the Durham, N.C., Herald-Sun, 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.
You have got to be kidding. Is this what journalism has come to? Unemployed has-been journalists nitpicking across the Internet for copy editing errors…
It was disturbing to see this blog post about the Hawkeyes, but it’s absolutely terrifying to see that this same kinda crap has been going on for almost 18 months. Isn’t there something better (for society, the world) that you could do with your time?
It’s not that journalism is dead (or even dying). It’s that guys like you had it easy for too long, living off the fat of classified ads and real estate inserts. The Internet as turned up the heat, and your response is to retreat into petty absolutism.
God bless Craigslist for kicking the legs out from under print journalism. Maybe copy editors (as a singular occupation) will go the way of wheelwrights and phrenologists, and we can see Mr. Apple on Sundays at Living History Farms.
Why hawkfan2004 needs a copy editor:
“The Internet as turned up the heat”
You have got to be kidding. Is this what trolling has come to? Unemployed, angry Internet commenters getting irate as their team becomes the butt of the joke for once…
It was disturbing to see this comment about someone complaining about the drive for improved and more copy editing, but it’s absolutely terrifying to think that he (or she) represents the general opinion on the role of copy editors.
It’s not that copy editing is dead (or even dying). It’s that even though most people will never care if the word only is used in the right place or if a story has been rewritten in order to improve clarity so that the reader will have a better understanding of the topic being discussed, it still matters. And we see that displayed in the near-daily postings of simple mistakes such as the misspelling of a player’s name (or the misspelling of a team name — looking at you, Kentucky and the Washington Nationals). These obvious mistakes bring about laughter from both the copy editing community and beyond, but it’s also a reminder to stay vigilant and do the best job you can. Being laughed at by your readers is usually not the goal of a publication.
Craiglist, unsustainable business models, you name it have kicked the legs out from under print journalism, but the strong members of the industry are evolving — revamping the print product or taking their efforts online. Writers, photographer, videographers and, yes, copy editors are finding new and better ways to tell stories and reinvigorate journalism. Maybe the Hawkeyes (as a marginal basketball team) will go 11-20 again this season and miss the tournament for the sixth straight season, and we can see hawkfan2004 on the sidelines crying into his media guide … which was hopefully cleaned of errors — names and all — by a diligent copy editor.
We’re here to discuss journalism, news presentation and occasionally advocate for readers or for journalists or even for accuracy. Not to make personal attacks. There are other web sites where you can spew that kind of garbage.
hawkfan2004 most definitely crossed the line — especially with his second response. Banned.
Sigh. I think I know that guy.