At least three heavily trafficked websites -- The Huffington Post, Jim Romenesko and Charles Apple -- are reporting The Greenville News accidentally (?) published an Associated Press story today that included the word "fuck" where the third paragraph should have been. The mistake has spurred a lot of tweets, too.
One theory, floated in a reader comment on Romenesko, is that the snafu occurred because the News pages are designed and built at the Louisville, Ky.-based News Design Studio hub -- presumably the last bulwark against such mistakes.
The bigger question, of course, is how it got into the story in the first place.
Louisville is one of five such hubs being established to handle page production for virtually all the 81 U.S. community dailies.
This is the second time in a week that the South Carolina paper has carried a prominent error. Last week, the News published a quasi-advertorial on its homepage with the misspelled word, "Ulitimate."
One theory, floated in a reader comment on Romenesko, is that the snafu occurred because the News pages are designed and built at the Louisville, Ky.-based News Design Studio hub -- presumably the last bulwark against such mistakes.
Louisville is one of five such hubs being established to handle page production for virtually all the 81 U.S. community dailies.
Obviously the reporter needs to open a Facebook account so his writing will be more civilized.
ReplyDeleteThe Arizona Republic rolled out its Facebook-for-comments story today.
Way to fall on the sword for corporate John.
ReplyDeleteSwear words are not acceptable but errors and spelling errors have become commonplace and are basically accepted. Our readers are very good at finding errors, perhaps we should ask for volunteers proof readers?
ReplyDeleteExpect a lot more of these mistakes as we continue to farm out to disinterested/unconnected/far away "hubs."
ReplyDeleteWhen design is done in house, there's a sense of pride. There's knowing your readership and having an honest-to-goodness connection with the paper, the people who work there, and the readers.
It honestly looks to me like this was someone's "test" to see if they could slip it through the system. A truly unfortunate choice of test words, but I'm amazed it went through. 3rd graph? A stand-alone, uncapitalized word? No one saw it? Never mind it being The Big Curse Word.
And as always, you never type anything into the program that you wouldn't want to see in print.
I'm curious as to how the process works for papers designed at the design studios. I'm under the impression that copy editors read stories and then send them to designers, who essentially don't have to read them. But then does anyone proof the final page? Is it at the newspaper site or the design studio site?
ReplyDeleteI am a copy editor and designer who might eventually have to move to a design studio if I want to keep a job, so I'm just interested in hearing more about the process and how it is working out.
Can I comment... Oh FUCK!!! lol
ReplyDeleteOK, I am 1:49, and I realize now this is a wire story, which does get copy edited at the design studios. I'm still curious about how the proofing process works when pages are complete, or if they just get sent on their way. And in general how things are working there.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but inserting fuck into a wire story is not a "mistake," nor was it inserted there by corporate. It was put there by some dumbass who won't be employed much longer.
ReplyDeleteThere is still local copy editing, but the studio sends final pages to the printing press operation. In house, we give a final page OK, but the design studio has the ultimate control.
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong I laughed at this? It looks purposeful though. Then I imagine someone reading it with the word purposefully there and laugh even harder. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.
ReplyDelete1:44 p.m., our readers are very good at pointing out errors in stories, especially on the web. That's what half the story chats were about sometimes! But since most of our chatters have said they abhor Facebook, those numbers will go way down now.
ReplyDeleteSo true, 1:46. Advertisers complained angrily to me when design began to go out-of-state and out-of-continent. I very much sympathized with them, but explained I was just a lowly cog.
ReplyDeleteAs for typos, I often as not landed in hot water if I corrected a misspelled word in a customer's copy. Why? "Because that's what the customer submitted!" Amazing, the rationale at my site.
I'd reply along the lines of, gee, a professional offering customer service: "Does the customer want to shell out big bucks to appear to be illiterate?" Some superiors objected; some approved -- I never knew if I would receive thanks for catching and correcting a literally obvious error or if I would get chastised for doing so.
Did wonders for motivation and morale... but that's the Gannett way.
And even though some grateful customers would call me and thank me personally for seeing a gaffe that they had accidentally missed, I'd suggest they relay their appreciation to my superiors instead.
Bottom line, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that madness anymore. Life after Gannett is good.
2:31, no, life after Gannett is not good. Fuck. It's fantastic!
ReplyDeleteIn a follow-up, Romenesko says he spoke briefly with Greenville News executive editor John Pittman about the f-word appearing in his newspaper today.
ReplyDeleteFollowing is the rest of Romenesko's post:
“I’m shocked and saddened by it,” he said. “I’m personally calling everyone who complained.” He said 18 people have called so far. (I talked to him at about 12:40 p.m. ET.)
I asked him if the Gannett copy desk in Louisville was to blame, but he wouldn’t comment. “We’re the ones who published it. We’ll let other people speculate what happened and how.”
Pittman said there’s an investigation to find out who’s responsible.
Thank goodness print doesn't have the FCC on our backs. Sports guy reads that off the teleprompter at KARE and we'd be fined big time.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sure the press operators din't see it ( yea right) I no they did, and said i don't get paid to proof it, my job is to print what they give me. I would not have shut the press down, just laughed my ass off all night during the run. That's what Gannett is getting know, people who just don't give a shit any more. Good one, way to go guy, super job, bet the color and registration was spot on though:)
ReplyDeleteDesigners are supposed to rim/compile the wires. With how understaffed both sides are, those rarely get read by anyone. Not surprised something like this happened.
ReplyDeleteNow we get to see if CCI is worth what we paid for it. They should be able to do a version history on the story and see when and who inserted the word. Every other editorial system can provide that information. It should already be known who did it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure of the evidence that makes one jump to the conclusion this was on purpose. I've seen similar errors, before, when someone thought they were commenting in "notes" mode but were, instead, just typing in colored type. At a non-Gannett paper, a copydesk person had an inappropriate note to another copy editor show up in print because of such an error.
ReplyDeleteInteresting note: Cincinnati has decided that it no longer edits wire copy. Just shovel it into the paper. (This of course is preparation for sending it to Louisville to be shoveled into the paper.) Although I doubt that "f*ck" was in the original AP story ...
ReplyDeleteWell here in the Fox Valley the Gannet papers online are all going to Facebook log-ins for commentary, removing the ability to be anonymous. Since they care so little for their customers on the whole, I am not surprised that they had this mistake in their papers.
ReplyDeleteIt really has seemed for a long time that actual journalism and ethics in journalism has been not even secondary, it has been tertiary. I will no longer log onto the Paper sites, as I refuse to let Gannet or Facebook track me.
Perhaps "fuck" is just the reporter's filler-copy until he/she thinks of something better? ;) (Or maybe it's a statement as to how great the design mill, er, um, studio idea is going so far.) I work in one of the design studios and I can only tell you it's a nightmare. One of the worst experiences I've ever been a part of in all my many years of journalism. It works like this: Design Studio managers all go home, as a designer works his/her ass off every night (along w/ meagerly staffed copy-desks), trying to make deadline while the system crashes, photos are never toned w/out having to call RTC (the system hasn't been fixed yet), among 10 or 15 other workarounds because the CCI software is garbage and IT won't help. Yeah, there's a great idea -- let's take the industry standard (Adobe products), get rid of it -- then cut the desks dramatically, invent do-nothing manager positions like "team leader" and let's have bosses for them too, make sure all of them go AWOL when actual work has to be done -- and then force those copy-editors and designers to work like children in sweatshops stitching cheap clothes, right before announcing furloughs and pay freezes.
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ReplyDeleteCatch me if you can. ;-))
ReplyDeleteLet the witch hunt begin!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make a guess here -- the copy editor was working on the story when some disappointing news came over whatever instant message program he uses. He meant to reply "fuck" but clicked on the story page instead of the AIM program by mistake. He typed, he hit enter, he didn't see where the word actually appeared because he was zoomed out. Then he hit "send page."
ReplyDelete8:51PM, I agree with your guess.
ReplyDelete8:51 hit it on the head. which is why no profanity in e-mail or IM, ever!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAll these comments obscure a very basic issue: however it happened, whoever did it, whether it was intentional or not, the reason it is in the paper is a failing of frontline newsroom staff to do their jobs when signing off on a page. It is the greenvillenews' paper and no matter what else is going on it is their staff that should be making sure that they thoroughly proof and review the pages before pushing the button! This is especially critical when your pages are being constructed offsite. It is easy to blame unpopular policies, procedures, systems and consolidations. But the truth is much more basic and simple. Do your job.
ReplyDeleteJim, you need to start a place for discussion of the design studios - how they are working out and what the local people think about them
ReplyDelete9:55 - fewer and fewer people are left at the newspapers to do the job of careful proofing - and CCI is so cumbersome more time is wasted processing stories than in editing and the time between final proof and typeset is getting more compressed.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the reason, today at most newspapers, the most editing on copy ever done is the obligitory (usually) spellcheck at the end of the night.
ReplyDeleteAnd as we can plainly see, "fuck" is certainly spelled correctly, so no one would have caught it.
I am surprised at so few complaints (if the editor is being honest) phoned in to the paper. Maybe that is a bad thing if so few people actually read the paper!
Also, such humiliating errors at Gannett papers are now the norm. Remember that the Ohio Chillicothe paper was the one that said in an ad "Every bitch is unique" insteed of "Every birth is unique." And the worthless editor there is still there.
No one at the top at Greenville is getting canned because no one cares at Gannett. No mistake is humiliating enough for this company.
No mistake was humiliating enough for you, 11:18. We have to wonder how many people like you are still in place.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for the other design studios, but at the one where I work the wire teams rims and slots every story. Then the news editor at the home paper is told the page is ready to be inspected. When the okay comes back, that's when the page is typeset.
ReplyDelete10:02, I agree! I would definitely like to have a place to discuss the design studies and hear more about how they are going. I know a lot of people are very upset about them, so I'm never sure how accurate information is that I hear. I also hear something different every week about what's going oh and have no idea what to think.
ReplyDelete@ 6 p.m. thanks for sharing your sorry circumstances. It should be a cautionary tale to those who think the design hubs are a good idea. But they seem to have blinders on. For one, I have never been able to figure out why so many work during the day and so few at night, when the actual production work goes on to get the newspaper out the door. And we have so many workarounds at my site it's actually laughable.
ReplyDeleteAsk Mark Morneau why you have CCI, he's the only one that wanted it.
ReplyDeleteSince they can't figure out wh did it. Everyone gets a week off with no pay in 2012. That will show them.
ReplyDeleteMost overblown story ever. Who the fuck cares.
ReplyDeleteCome on we know most final page proofs are scanned for headlines, subheads and captions you just assume all copy is fine at that point. Greenville editor has much more to worry about that being shocked by this
Hard to read every proof when there are still 10 pages out and its 5 minutes to deadline...well, if deadline hasn't already passed, that is. But that's just par for the design studios and CCI.
ReplyDeleteRe 8:51 p.m.'s comment: sure, that might be what happened. but would a more diplomatic editing comment have been any better if it ended up in the middle of a story? "this is confusing." "our story 2 days ago said the opposite." "we reported this yesterday. is there a new angle?"
ReplyDeletethe point is that something got into print that shouldn't get into print. and that's because too few people are in too much of a hurry.
but don't those gannett-wide mandated typefaces look great?
Too few people with too much s--- to shovel. Standards and product skip.
ReplyDeleteI would love to know how this happened. I tested this in a file, and spellcheck at my office picks up the f word and suggests "funk" as a replacement.
ReplyDeleteBrings back memories from not so long ago. At the Home News Tribune in New Jersey, a high school wrestling story actually included the phrase "sucking c**k". This was when the individual papers had their own copy desks.
ReplyDelete(Asterisks inserted to get this post past Internet filters)
As far as log data goes, it was lax at my job. Policy was that one must be logged in as one's self, but in practice that lasted two weeks. Tops. It was whatever workstation was up and connected.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, the management types who were responsible to enforce policy (and failed by resorting to the same sloppiness themselves, thereby making it a universal "norm"), boy, would they love to look up the database and see "who" was logged in during whatever transgression.
I always logged in as myself... maybe depart for a second to have a quick face-to-face with someone relevant to the job at hand, since a supervisor sure as hell wasn't going to do it... come back, and unbeknownst to me someone else had used workstation.
When I brought this aspect up at one of our meetings, my immediate supervisor glared at me and said, "We don't have time for nitpicking."
A five-second procedure. But they had plenty of time to check those log-ins and without question, hall someone into their office. And if that person was exonerated, left it without a single apology.
I think this speaks to the "inappropriate word," itself. I think by now that all of these issues echo down the vacant halls throughout the failing properties.
And I very much agree with the poster who said someone probably saw it and said "It's not my job."
That's what you get when your corporate culture, in all its consolidations and the pink-misting of entire careers, abuses staff and destroys cohesion.
Or as I liked to say when my department was laid off, as one rah-rah exec scolded the unwashed: "There is no 'i' in 'team.' "
To which I replied, "No, just one in 'Indiana' and 'India.'"
Reminds of the time I worked on a weekly and a careless writer told of the suicide of a "farmer went behind the barn and shit himself to death."
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