Posted on: Sunday, September 12, 2004
AFTER DEADLINE
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Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor
"Don't you people ever proofread the paper?" the caller asked without any preamble early Thursday morning.
The answer, of course, is yes. And the rest of that answer is that despite our best efforts we sometimes miss errors.
In this case, the mistake caught by our reader was in a caption in "Windward People," an inserted section for our Windward O'ahu readers done by a sister company, Custom Publishing Group.
The caption incorrectly said Bryan Clay had won a bronze medal in decathlon in the recently completed Athens Olympics. He, of course, won the silver medal.
The proofreading question is one I hear every so often when something wrong or stupid has slipped through. Even with the most vigilant proofreading that will happen.
Every page in the paper with editorial content is proofread. Page proofs are pulled after stories have been copy edited, headlines have been written and the final design process is completed.
The pages are checked by copy editors for a number of things, including the correct date, typos and dropped lines. Editors also make sure captions are under every photo and stories jump to the pages we say they do.
We also try to catch anything that may slip through the cracks because several people have worked on different parts of the product.
For example, our day copy desk is asked to match any references to TV shows and their air times against the daily TV grid. If they don't match, they are required to find out which is correct.
Proofreading is a critical part of the process in any publishing enterprise. A good proofreader knows he or she is the last set of eyes on a page before it is sent off to the press. It is a responsibility that is taken seriously.
• • •
In a brief story and a headline this past week, we did not follow our long-standing policy on descriptions of positions on the abortion issue.
We do not use the labels "pro-choice" and "pro-life" to describe the opposing positions on abortion. We ask writers to use phrases such as "abortion-rights advocate" and "anti-abortion activist."
Many causes and issues have labels attached to them. But too often that context carries negative or prejudicial meanings. For that reason, it is our policy to avoid such labels. We also ask our reporters and editors to avoid political labels such as "conservative," "left-wing" and "moderate." It is far better to spend a few more words to more precisely describe a person's views on specific issues than to attach a label.
Reporters and editors have been reminded of the policy.
• • •
Attention Jumble fans. Last Sunday's Jumble, today's Jumble and the answers for both are in today's Classified section.
In putting together the Sept. 5 Classified section, the paginator inadvertently pulled up the incorrect Jumble for Page G2. It was the puzzle dated Sept. 12 instead of Sept. 5.
Unfortunately, on G4, the paginator pulled up the answer for the Sept. 5 puzzle. So the answers did not match the scrambled letters in the puzzle on page G2.
We apologize to all our puzzled puzzlers.
Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at 525-8033 or aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com.
