Corporations today seem to assume that editors and proofreaders are obsolete. After all, Microsoft Word has built-in spell checking, as do many other apps. Who needs an employee with writing ability?
I found this whopper on ABC News without even trying. It confused me at first until I realized that the journalist goofed.
In the picture caption, it is claimed, "The longer the ring finger compared to the index finger, the longer the penis, Korean researchers say."
The first line of the article reads, "The longer a man's index finger when compared with his ring finger, the longer the length of his penis, according to Korean researchers."
Either the Korean researchers need to make up their minds, or ABC News needs to hire a proofreader.
I'm sure the glaring mistake will be corrected by somebody at ABC News, but not before thousands of people have already read it.
Downsize at your peril, corporate America. Not every job can be farmed overseas or replaced by technology.
There is an urgency to being the first on top of a story. I know all too well that is not possible to achieve perfection in a short amount of time on a consistent basis. Only with reflection, which requires time, is it possible to detect and correct mistakes and oversights, and even then there is always something that seems amiss. Humans are by nature pragmatic and imperfect creatures who create things that work, but are not necessarily elegant or without flaws in their first version. That is why new versions must be generated all the time.
I am sure the journalist in question would have preferred a seven-day grace period in which he could examine his articles prior to their publication. But is it possible in a high-turnover, high-pressure media company? If the answer is no, then such a company had better hire a team of proofreaders and editors for the sake of quality control.
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