Herald typo brings
laughs, gripes
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September 3, 2011 |
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Bonners Ferry
Herald editor Julie Golder |
In an article at the top of page B1 in the
September 1 Bonners Ferry Herald, editor Julie
Golder made not one, but two identical typos.
Some readers thought the typo hilarious, but at
least one apparently called to give her a stern
chewing-out. It's easy to laugh or complain
until you know what was going on behind the
scenes.
It was a typo of only a single letter, but it
was a good one.
Instead of the Bonners Ferry BaDgers, the
article referred to the Bonners Ferry BaNgers,
which most might think a bit of a stretch as
those two letters aren't close to one another on
a QWERTY keyboard.
Problem is, Julie couldn't use her usual
keyboard, as Frontier internet had been down for
more than 20 hours, right at deadline crunch
time, due to an equipment failure that took many
customers off-line from Coeur d'Alene to the
Canadian border. Recovery was sporadic, and,
unfortunately, the Herald was one of those
places restored last.
Typically, Herald articles are composed in
Bonners Ferry and, through the Hagadone news
network, the articles are laid out in Sandpoint,
and the paper published in Coeur d'Alene. With
the Herald off-line and the drop-dead deadline
looming, Julie resorted to an extreme measure,
re-typing those articles that needed to be in
that Thursday's edition on her Blackberry, then
sending them to the Daily Bee office in
Sandpoint via cell phone.
As most know, it's a little bit harder to type
on a tiny cell phone keyboard.
Many Herald readers are also unaware that Julie
had been out of the office for several days to
attend services for her father-in-law, Mel
Golder, who passed away in August 17, and not so
long after she lost her own father, Bill
Masterson, who died November 11.
The unintended typo was apparently met with
severe chagrin by at least one reader, as it
prompted Julie to write on her Facebook page,
"To the person who needed to complain about a
mistake I made in today's paper, your complaint
was not invalid, it just didn't warrant the
rudeness or require the unbecoming anger. I pray
this person can find happiness and I also pray
this person never has anything worse to complain
about in their lifetime than a typo."
People do take their news seriously, and what
reporters and editors do for a living is a
serious business, as it relies on trust.
Reporters and editors take that trust extremely
seriously, but despite best efforts, mistakes do
creep in. Perhaps the classic that every photo
journalist learns is the front page photo of a
major daily showing a new sign going up over
Toppenish, Washington, many years ago,
inadvertently cropped so that only the fourth
through the seventh letters appeared.
While not so famous, another "good" one appeared
on this site when the "i" was inadvertently
omitted from the word "recital," giving the
whole story unintended meaning. Fortunately,
these pages can be corrected ... once a
newspaper is printed, the mistake lives on
forever.
Print journalists also face the relentless
pressure of deadline; something news has no
respect for as it happens when it does. There's
both "deadline," when editors want everything so
that they can comfortably proof and have ready,
and "drop dead" deadline, the last moment a
reporter can squeeze something in.
"Stop the presses!" is a cry heard only in
movies.
Good journalists, especially those dedicated to
small towns, also take seriously the obligation
to get out the news of greatest importance to
their readers, and, as Julie did last week, they
go to great lengths to get stories of importance
"put to bed" so readers have the information
they need to keep abreast of what's going on in
the community.
Reporters take pride in sniffing out those
stories and presenting them to their audience in
the most timely fashion possible through the
strictures of their particular media ... or
getting "the scoop."
But news is news, and sometimes reporters can't
be there ... and actually work together to help
ensure that news gets out. The scoop is fun, the
news is important.
You'll see a few stories in the Herald lately
that were published here first ... Julie knew
she wouldn't be here to report and asked if
there were objections to her using them ... there were, and are,
none.
To journalists who care about their community
and the people who read, hear or see what they
produce, it's the story of importance that
matters most, and getting that story out to the readers
and viewers who need it
that is of the highest importance.
If there's a Bonners Ferry Banger, though, I
have to think it must refer to the smokies
served up at games by the Badger Boosters ...
they're so spicy good, they'll bring tears to
your eyes! |
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