Stefan tells stories, writes about stories and tells stories about stories.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
"That apostrophe on page three was disgraceful."
There's an old saying that circulates around news rooms:
Lawyers hang their mistakes, doctors bury theirs. Journalists put theirs on the front page.
Leaning on personal experience, working for a daily, regional newspaper has some odd quirks.
I imagine that if I worked at a bank, I would not attend many dinner parties wherein other guests would go from strangers to vocal, venomous critics of my workplace immediately upon introduction.
When I unexpectedly became a journalist at the age of 18 I did a bit of amble googling on the subject. I remember reading a list of 'most hated professions' and learning that journalists placed behind only politicians and used car salesmen. I brought it up at parties and worried at the lack of laughter it produced.
Newspapers are a shared touchstone within a small community, something everyone is aware of. They are public property and rightfully so, as they strive to connect.
Newspapers have errors in them. KFC runs out of chips (a lot). Lawyers lose cases. But it must be something about the public nature of newspapers that allows people to unabashedly voice their disgust to the people who work there.
When you give someone the wrong change in your role as a bank teller, it's likely that only two or three people will ever find out.
When you make an error within an article, you've done it in front of about 10,000 people. You will undoubtedly run into one of them at a restaurant, and they will loudly question your ability to type while others laugh into their napkins.
Errors will happen, and papers must be printed, so a choice needs to be made between being paralysed by the fear of error and getting on with the job.
While in Daylesford recently I overheard a woman ask a young man where he worked, was it the newspaper? No, he replied, he worked for the Council.
"God, that's the only place bloody worse," she said.
It's good to know that 'sledging the local' is a nationwide sport, and that there's always farther to fall.
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2 comments:
It can also be symptomatic of the conflict between quality and quantity. The more work output that is demanded can put pressure on fact checking, error-checking, ensuring the full story is investigated, and that the right people are sought for their authoritative and learned opinions, in order that the public are fully informed of the issues at hand.
And then no matter how many times you may check your story, the simple typo can slip through every person in the production line - the subs, the compositors, the printers. And if you haven't a dedicated proof reader, we'll you are playing with fire as well. Then there's the sub that will change your tireless efforts, and screw it up. It can be a minefield - that's life.
But when you can actually say my story did some good, it actually helped somebody...you'll still be hounded down because of a wayward apostrophe.
B.
And don't forget that even when a story went according to plan, it's still hard to step back as the writer and notice anything but all the things you could have done better.
But when, on those rarest of rare occassions, you can step back and see your story has done some good, or if someone tells you as much, it's worth all the trouble. It doesn't happen very often, but it gives you the strength to laugh off the apostrophe gags for a few more weeks.
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