My stupid local newspaper

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This isn’t really pit-worthy, and I readily acknowledge that I (at age 49) am a hopeless old fuddy-duddy when it comes to correct grammar and usage. I readily acknowledge that in modern newsrooms (at least in the ones of dinky little daily papers like ours), there is no such critter as a proofreader. There may be some folks holding the title of copy editor, but I have no idea what they are doing with their time.

Glaringly awful headlines have been appearing with greater and greater frequency. “City council members poo-poo budget concerns.” Really?!? Shit!

I have long complained about their use of “bust” as a verb in any context that did not refer to a drug arrest. Someone besides me must have complained about this, because the 72-point headline after Ohio State lost to Illinois was “Buckeye bubble bursted.”

Just this morning was this gem, headlining an article about deer in the city limits: “Residents complain of oversaturated deer.” Maybe we can build them a little shelter outside of town where they can get out of the rain, and we’ll solve two problems at once.

2

You should write an editorial or letter to the editor where you quote the deer statement. Write an impassioned call to action to save the wet deer. See if it is over their heads and they publish it.

3

Great idea!
:smiley:

4

We’ve got a similar paper where I live.

Basically, what it comes down to is that some local newspaper owners have no real training in journalism, nor do they know how to edit. They also tend not to pay well, so they attract people fresh out of school or stringers looking for a little extra money covering the same high school games they’d’ve gone to anyway. Since the editing is abysmal, the writers don’t really learn how to improve. Lather, rinse, repeat.

And the focus is often on ads, with news to fill the unsold ad space.

Robin

5

Remember when that funeral home in Georgia was found to have been dumping the bodies out in the back 40? The front page above the headline here was “Grizzly find in Georgia”.

6

Damn, those bears are smart! In Georgia, though, it should have been black bears. :wink: