Halp us, Noo Yorke Timez, weer Innernet dummys who kant spel
Classic. Even when the NYTimes admits its faults, the Internet gets blamed. Public Editor Clark Hoyt writes about the massive amount of misspellings that the Old Gray Lady sees fit to print:
The fact is, The New York Times misspells names at a ferocious rate — famous names, obscure names, names of the dead in their obituaries, names of the living in their wedding announcements, household names from Hollywood, names of Cabinet officers, sports figures, the shoe bomber, the film critic for The Daily News in New York and, astonishingly and repeatedly, Sulzberger, the name of the family that owns The New York Times.
The Times has given Gen. Douglas MacArthur the middle initial A at least 25 times since 1987, though he had no middle name and didn’t use A, B, C or S, all of which have been ascribed to him.
So, you ask, what’s the big deal? Doesn’t The Times have more important things to worry about, like getting it right on Iraq and Iran and the presidential campaign?
Yes, a great newspaper has to get the big things right, but it also has to pay fanatical attention to thousands of details every day to prevent the kinds of mistakes that start readers wondering, “If they can’t spell his name right, what else is wrong with the story?”
Or, as Joe Lelyveld said in 2000, when he was executive editor of The Times, “When it comes to accuracy issues, tolerance and the larger view can be dangerous to our health.”
At a retreat of senior editors of The Times, Lelyveld called on them to “sweat the small stuff.” He bemoaned “the malignancy of misspelled names,” pointing out, among other things, that The Times had misspelled the first name of Madeleine Albright, who was then secretary of state, 49 times, despite running three corrections.
Unfortunately, the cancer appears to be getting worse. When Lelyveld spoke in mid-September, there had been 198 corrections for misspelled names in The Times so far that year. Through yesterday, still in early August, there had been 269 this year. And the mistakes keep coming.
The exasperation has spilled over onto the copy desk. John Hinderaker noted it in “They Can’t Spell, Either” last week:
Whoever runs the Corrections section at the New York Times is getting a little exasperated. Here are two items from today’s corrections:
An article in some copies on Wednesday about Congressional efforts to pass legislation to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers misspelled — yet again — the surname of the attorney general of the United States, in three of four references. He is Alberto R. Gonzales, not Gonzalez. (The Times has misspelled Mr. Gonzales’s name in at least 14 articles dating to 2001 when he became White House counsel. This year alone Mr. Gonzales’s name has been misspelled in February and March, and in two articles in April.)
An article on the Street Scene page in Business Day on Friday, about the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s entry into bankruptcy law practice, misspelled the name of another law firm that recently lost a bankruptcy specialist. It is Willkie Farr & Gallagher, not Wilkie. (The Times has misspelled the firm’s name in at least 50 articles since 1958. The “Willkie” comes from Wendell L. Willkie, who joined the firm shortly after losing the 1940 presidential election to Franklin D. Roosevelt and remained there until his death in October 1944.)
Shakespeare couldn’t spell either; but then, he was writing fiction.
Heh.
Now, we all make mistakes. But when a sloppy typo or misspelling appears on my blog, it is my fault. When you leave ghastly typos and misspellings in the comments section, it is your fault.
But when asked who’s to blame for so many spelling blunders getting past the NYTimes’ layers and layers and layers of editorial oversight, guess who’s to blame?
It’s our fault!
I asked Greg Brock, the senior editor in charge of corrections, why he thinks so many names are misspelled in the paper, especially when The Times has so many layers of editing. In theory, every article is read by at least five people after a reporter finishes it, though stories written or changed for later editions often get far fewer checks. Brock said that when he looks into mistakes he gets several common responses:
¶Reporters say they were operating from memory and didn’t bother to check. That’s what one writer said after misspelling the name of Julianna Margulies, the television actress.
¶Reporters assume that a name is spelled the “normal” way and don’t check. That’s what happened with the obituary of Neal Shine, the former publisher of The Detroit Free Press, whose first name was not Neil, as it appeared in the paper. Shine hired me in 1968, when he was the city editor of The Free Press, and he would get infuriated by errors like this.
¶Reporters checking names on the Internet are carelessly misled by other people’s misspellings.
Oh, snorty-snort-snort.
“Reporters checking names on the Internet are carelessly misled by other people’s misspellings.”
Dammed Whirled Wyde Webb! How dare we mislead those poor NYTimes writers.
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They won’t even take responsibility for their own spellchecking?
That’s a new level of awesome.
“great newspaper” – where?
Ha-ha-ha!
My eeeeeeeeevil plan is coming to pass…
Mwahahahahaha!!!
Did you spall chek that?
noe
This is all a hate-monger blog plot to get the poor people in Florida confused. They’ll be looking to vote for Hillary Clanton, but the ballot will say Clinton. Out of confusion, Pat Buchanan will get 20,000 votes.
Hey! I happen to be from Florida. My chad was not hanging!!!
O RLY??
…
This has the potential to keep me entertained all day…
boo frickin hoo
NYT lookie here , it’s SHILLARY ! add that to yer lexicon.
maybe they’re all under 25 and only know how to ‘text’… POS.
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that’s ‘parent over shoulder’, not what you were thinking.
Dito
Since they are so easily misled, maybe we can devise a plan to lead them from the far left back to the middle….or just a bit right, since we’re going through all the effort anyway.
My final masterstroke has been executed as planned. Not quite as powerful as a fully armed and operational battle station, but still enough to deal with their pitiful little band.
And now, adieu! I retire!
TNR’s bff: STB…
We all have typos on occasion (I had a doozy in a blogpost recently), but they’re quickly fixed when people point them out, or we notice it ourselves.
However, in the case of the Times, it’s just plain sloppiness or–dare I say it–lowered standards as a result of affirmative action.
Anyone remember Jason Blare? Oops, I mean Jayson Blair.
I yoosed ta knowd whowta speille butt i din fergetted watt it be wuz.
I lined my bird cage with the NYT and he stopped talking. I am not sure if he is confused or just got dummer!
Raceist…
Typical of liberals…they screw up and blame someone for their lack of responsibility.
If I can’t spell a word, I don’t go to the Internet first. I go to this handy little thing called a “dictionary”.
I know that’s so 20th century, but it works.
And if I do use the Internet, I check at least three different sources for spelling before I publish it.
If I make an error, it’s mine. Period.
I blame Boosh.
This is too much fun.
I lol’d…
Mishel,
Yu hurt us blogahs wen yu say we kant spel or tawk guud. Wy, I hav sumthing liyk 13 yeers of publik edukashun beehind me.
huuk’d on fonix wurk’d for me…
NYT Headlines Tomorrow:
“Luner Rowver to Retireds Augast 31st”
Damn… These are starting to hurt my brain…
You should run spell check – it’s free!
If they taught spelling at these journalism institutes of higher education, instead of filling their heads with liberal garbage – perhaps they wouldn’t have to worry about things like this.
Basics, people….basics…..
hukt on fonix werked fur me!
I think this shows the general level of intelligence (schooling) of the so-called journalists. Send them back to 6th grade…..never mind that thought. All they will come back with is how to put a condom on a cucumber.
NYT SPORTS:
“Metkees to Meat Yanktropolitans in World Series”
I think we should adopt
ebonixebonickseboneixah, heck – english.I feel sorry for the people doing the Crosswurd Puszel.
I smell a rhat
Ow…
I gots my degreez and lerned spelllin from my lolz cats.
Yu peepel shud bee ahshaimed. Makein phun uf the NYT. I halv nefer sceen thees sew kald miss spelengs….Git a jowb, an leive thim alowne.
BruHaHaHaHa!
Howdya ’spect ‘em to spell right, when dey can’t f@#*in’ tawk right? [said in my poorest NY accent]
These are the people that are smarter than us?
It’s not just spelling (and grammar), folks. I emailed the “accuracy” desks of USA Today, and my own local, The Honolulu Advertiser, regarding the incorrect annual temperature data reported in their August 9th’s “Climate model predicts hot decade”. (Thanks to MM for highlighting this in her “Hot News” blog.)
The silence is deafening!
Blame the internet? If you use Google and search for “alberto gonzalez” the first two hits are for “Alberto Gonzales” at Wikipedia and the biography of “Alberto Gonzales” at whitehouse.gov. Yesterday when I Googled “Steve MacNair” it asked me “Did you mean: steve mcnair”, which of course I did.
And it’s not like Google is a puppet of the vast right-wing conspiracy to be avoided at all costs.
I blaim Boosh and Rohv, a plaht I tell ya a plaht!
Just to keep things somewhat fair(except print media is diff)David Asman on Fox news just called fred Thompson “Jim” and said there were still 21 hostages remaining since the release of two. He should be more well informed there are 19 Hostages remaining, two killed.
One spelling mistake here and there is ok . . . we are human. But continuous mistakes makes me think that the Times lacks the necessary attention to detail. If they are so rushed to print that they cannot check the spelling of names, are they too rushed to get to print to adequately check their “facts”?
Fare end bellenced!!!
I called man-bear-pig and he said the NYT bought spelling credits from his company so it is okay!
NYT motto:
“Hukt awn fonix werks fer mee.”
Headline:
NYT calls Michelle Malkin a “fiurkrakur”
Lol Soapy, thats wut the Gooze Crik Terrorwrists er sayun…. just fiurkrakurs.
Re:On-my-soap-box
I don’t anyone likes him, dude.
I wont say anything, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I’m guilty.
twoninerkilo
We are all guilty, I think that is the point. You owned up to it. Now, newspapers with editors and loads of fact checkers and spell check on computers – there is just not much of an excuse. We do not even need to mention how bad the NYT really is.
All that being said, join in if for no other reason – spelling doesn’t count!
They misspell “Republicans are not evil” too.
Chronic wide-spread misspellings and improper grammar and usage have been the albatross around my neck for many, many years. Now it’s driving me to distraction! As we all know, automated spell-checkers do not catch anomalies like the differences among “there,” their,” and “they’re” either. And most grammar checkers only suggest that you “may” want to say [whatever] a different way. Usage correction is non-existent.
Here in Memphis, we have what used to be one of the nation’s finest newspapers, but not any more. Not only have they drunk the liberal Kool-Aid, but also upon calling one of the editors to point out a glaring mistake and asking about proofreaders, he said, “Oh, we don’t use proofreaders anymore.”
Citing my long history in journalism (now retired), I was offering my services as a proofreader. He wasn’t interested.
BTW, the error I was pointing out was a photo of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The caption read: “Bill Gates.”
Sheesh!
leepro
Then you can appreciate our paper having “Boituaries” in stead of Obituaries! Frankly, I like Boituaries better. It makes me feel like as long as I live here, I will never end up as a dead person.
Blogggosfhere godess:
Shareeha creep is worsless than exection!!!!!!
Thanc you fur keeepen us informed Mechel!!!!!
/s/
hosea
leepro…
that is just so sad…
the scariest thing is… how many people are really noticing?
of course they did away with proofreading… the average american can no longer read.
err.. btw.. can we get a spell checker button here Rick?
If they was a spell-checker on this thread it would have had a meltdown…