I get e-mails
every once in a while telling me that a word is misspelled in a
certain story or that a fact is wrong in another story.
And there is no
excuse for errors.
However, I want
to explain the process a story goes through before it is
published.
A story is read
about seven times before it goes to print. It is first read by the
writer and then by the assigning editor. It is fact-checked by a
copy editor and a copy desk chief. The desk chief sends it to the
production department, where the story is laid out on a page. And
then Lyndsey Lewis and I and another copy editor read the
story.
Even when a
story is read that many times, errors can still get
through.
Our copy editors
try to analyze every detail of a story, details that most people
don't think twice about. They argue among themselves about hyphens
and commas and apostrophes (oh my).
Copy editors are
the safety net of our newspaper. Besides catching
spelling errors and fact errors, they are there to help keep
our newspaper out of legal trouble - constantly on the lookout for
libelous statements.
Copy editors
deserve more credit than they get, and if I were to come up with
the next national holiday, it would be Copy Editors Day.
As much as I
hate making mistakes, I'm convinced people learn better by making
them.
Mistakes are
embarrassing, and no one likes to be embarrassed.
There are
certain mistakes I've made that I remember very well, such as
misspelling the word "illustrative" in a second-grade spelling bee.
Because of that, I only placed third in the spelling bee. But I
haven't misspelled illustrative since then.
As hard as we
work to keep mistakes out of the paper, we are not perfect. And
when we do make mistakes, we regret it.
If you see any
errors in the Alligator, please let us know by sending an e-mail to
by calling 352-376-4458.
