http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/424102/returning-copy-desk-briefly-kevin-d-williamson This is a glorious exhibition of writing by a New York Times writer. A National Review editor identified a few errors and shortcomings, and sent the marked up copy back to the old gray lady. The paper's editors and management should be ashamed for accepting the submission. This rubbish writing style pervades the print media today. Is there no pride in one's work any more? My wife and I cringe when we see such poor writing and copy editing. For ~30 years my wife was an award-winning writer, copy editor, and paginator for a local paper (50k circulation). I wrote monthly columns for a USA magazine (9 yrs) and then an Australian magazine (8yrs), an international annual media reference (6 yrs), short pieces for a monthly Times-Life newsletter (2 yrs) and a feature article for the Sunday New York Times. And I wrote for two business management series publishers (Auerbach and Faulkner) for 7 years. Who were the editors that were the toughest on me? The Time-Life staff sormetimes requested two or three rewrites to clarify material and make the pieces tighter. I have never forgotten those lessons, and I thank them to this day. FWIW, I do admit to occasional errors due to the silly autocorrect in this tablet. I don't always catch the substitutions that sneak in.
These days news belong to show biz more than real news contents written with literary style. That art tends to be lost so it's a pleasure to read something like that.
Entertainment media is a bad example for the writing market as a whole. Most of them are clickbait articles anyway and the writers are not out for any awards but regardless the act of writing is an art form and there are levels to get to before you can even call yourself a professional writer. Don't worry about it though as there are still some good ones lurking around like in the New Yorker or what have you.
I don't worry about the clickbait writings published on the web, but I do expect writers and editors at major national and international newspapers to hold themselves to higher standards. There is no excuse for letting this piece go to print.
The world of media in general, is going through a bit of an identity crisis at the moment. With the internet these days, media companies have to find the fine line between quality material and timeliness of their pieces. I'm finding that with the rise of more instant "sources" of information like Twitter out there, being the first to the punch is currency at the moment. It's in these moments where research, grammar and spelling can fall to the wayside I'm afraid
It's not a question of finding quality material and the timeliness of the piece. There is no excuse for national and international newspapers and press services to accept such trash, nor for copy editors to fail their appointed responsibilities. Is clarity of expression too much to ask for?
No I completely agree with you there, I didn't want to use the "I" word (incompetence), I just wanted to provide some sort of possible rational explanation for this. Since it is currently an ongoing trend in the market, so there have to a few key drivers of such a trend. I think another thing that could be affecting the industry is a lack of consequences. Articles with misleading and/or incorrect information are consistently finding their way into our news stream, and all these guys have to do is either take down the story or change a few phrases. Neither of those things really force the news and media agencies to re-evaluate themselves
