By Tina Rodgers Lesher
Perhaps I am not the usual newspaper reader, as my background as a copy editor and editing instructor suggests I might look a bit too carefully at stories to see how they were written.
Of late, I have been cutting out articles to show in the event that I ever return to the classroom to teach News Editing. Just this week I read about a football player who suffered a hand injury when he punched an equipment manager. I wondered whether the equipment guy was hurt or not. But no reference was made to that in the articles I read.
How about the Zika virus that has generated so much press of late? First thing I want to see is a list of countries to be avoided by pregnant women and others who are worried about the outbreak. But no, many stories simply ignore a listing of those places. Talk about lousy reporting!
I actually chuckle at articles in daily papers in New Jersey, where I reside. If a reporter wants to get a quote from an expert on a political topic, he/she always seems to go to one professor, Dr. Brigid Harrison, from Montclair State. What about profs at other educational institutions? Are reporters taking the easy route by going to the same source all the time?
What fascinates me, too, are the obituaries carried in papers these days. In the journalism days of old, a newbie reporter would be assigned to the “obit desk” to learn how to write obituaries in a formulaic manner. The deceased individual was described basically in resume terms, from his academic and working background to a list of his survivors and information about funeral services. The obits were published free by the newspaper as the stories were viewed as official records. Now, families can pen the obits of their loved ones because the newspapers charge for the articles. So I read almost every day that someone died “surrounded by her loving family,” and I know that some of these families have been estranged for years. Then an obit might tell the reader that “Mom was the best cook, particularly turkey dinner, everyone loved her meals.” These words of someone grammatically challenged often do not even pass the editor’s desk. I get upset at this new style of obits, but I admit I laugh at some of the comments. Somehow, that does not seem to be the objective in the world of obituaries!
So here is my plea to newspaper editors: remember that your publications represent the last bastion of good writing, editing and reporting in America.
Well, they used to…