War of Words: NYT v. WSJ in Copy-Editing

Journal Wins by Early-Round K.O.

Media Bistro ran a story today about a spat between The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal over The Journal running a story and not crediting The Times for breaking it.  Bistro Writer, Chris O'Shea calls that and other disputes between the print-journalism behemoths, "meaningless."  I'm not too sure about that.  Scoops still mean something to the folks digging them up, as well they should.  Maybe someone should start looking at the big boys' copy-editing.

It's easy to kick back and pick on The Times for oversights in editing and proofreading as I have recently.  I'm not the one battling high-pressure deadlines every day.  I recently ran into a copy of The Journal, though, and while reading about a half-dozen or more articles in it, I did not come across any

Copy-Editing Problems at the Times?

This from a recent article in the NY Times:

In Britain, reducing carbon dioxide emissions was one of the few policies supported by political parties of both the right and left, which both accepted that climate change was a serious problem and saw clean technology investment as a growth opportunity rather than an onerous obligation.

Guys, guys, guys!!  I've got better things to do.  Break it up into two sentences next time.


...And furthermore, what really disappoints me is that the mistake is very, very similar to the problem we covered last weekend! 


...If Judy Prebish was over there, somebody'd get busted down to society page copy boy! 


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NY Times Paywall? So Far, So Good.

This is a great sign for journalism.  Ideally, the rest of the industry will follow suit in descending order of prestige and size, or everybody just do it all on the same day...

http://www.businessinsider.com/time-for-a-lot-of-people-to-eat-crow-the-new-york-times-paywall-is-working-2011-6#ixzz1Oho6d8NC


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Dr. Jack and a Note on Grammar

Thoughts on The Times

Dr. Jack
Saturday's New York Times included an obituary on Dr. Jack Kevorkian.  A Times obit is the best condensed, easily digestible biography you'll ever read.  It's one of my favorite things about the paper.  I have a single reflection on the hotly contested issue of Kevorkian's work.  Every person over the age of

(Of Course I Did)

From The Skipping Record Dept.   

The headline, the photograph, the predictable narrative of futility, the matter-of-fact brevity.  The level of accuracy with which the various elements of the article compliment each other is uncanny.  The hallmark nondescript style of the photography, with its deceptively understated, slightly

"And such talk, as they say, is cheap."

From the "Bulls-Eye" Department:

Linked below is Ted Koppel's recent Washington Post Op-Ed piece in which the reigning heavyweight journalism champ delivers a pinpoint knockout blow regarding the Keith Olbermann situation and what it signifies for the big picture of cable and internet journalism.  In an inspiringly well-written analysis, Koppel cites

Football Helmet Impact Measurement Tech

Here's a very interesting article from today's New York Times by Alan Schwarz on the HIT system, an electronic device that measures and records force and location of helmet impact in football players.  North Carolina University leads the way in utilizing the technology:


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/06helmets.html?_r=1&ref=sports




 "That's it, baby!  If ya got it..."  (I felt compelled.  Hhhhawww.  Do I hear an echo?)
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Charlie Don't Surf

"Duplicity--the refuge of the weak and the cowardly."

                                --Joseph Conrad

          I'm concerned that in the long run, this gentleman will not receive proper literary due outside of Poland and maybe San Francisco.  It is quite possible that, had I never seen Apocalypse Now, based on Joseph Conrad’s short story, Heart of Darkness, or hadn’t attended the University of Toledo for a total of 2 quarters, the gifted author may have never appeared on my reading list radar.  One of the two instances in which I recall the title and author being mentioned was, of course, in reference to the movie.  It was in some obscure interview with Francis Ford Coppola, the director of the award-winning film.              
          I was strictly a news reader until the last couple of years.  I would read 80% of the front section of the New York Times in one sitting.  It’s like a current history lesson and you will see items in it that you won’t see anywhere else.  Then, for some not clearly identifiable reason,I switched to mainly reading books, originally planning to