Stand and Deliver!

Newspapers are dying. As publications shrink in number - and size! - freelance sub editors and writers like me find themselves being more 'free' than 'lance'. I've even found myself, on occasion, competing with people who have served as my editor at magazines that have long-since ceased publication.

So it's good to know that occasionally, when civil unrest is rearing its ugly head in the form of protests-cum-rioting, and the global financial crisis continues to bite, the greater population may be kept docile with the bread-and-circus spectacle of sporting events. And, if promoted the right way, the entire process can lead to greater advertising revenue for publications.

See today's Manly Daily for example, with the Sea Eagles Special  8-page wrap-around. Nice big pictures as the team heads into the game that will decide whether they make the grand final. Heaps of ads for companies who want to be associated with the kind of good spirits that lead to people spending again.

Everything’s great, isn't it.

Except that such an undertaking means more work.

And the bigger workload means proofreaders and sub editors have to be more diligent.

Or they would be, if newspapers still had 'em. In many instances, they were the first line of cut-backs when print media began shrinking.

So there can be the potential of a publication - The Manly Daily, say - going to print unfinished, incomplete, with the placeholders - like the lorem ipsum text serving as the editorial - showing where actual content ought to go. That’s what happened with today’s editorial.

Likewise, the puff boxes designed to draw you to key content still remain empty, their summaries incomplete.

The best bit is the is the blurb just to the right, alerting readers to the online edition: “It’s all there,” it tells us. "Every page, every edition is online…”

It most certainly is. Peruse this edition online (screen shot below) and you find these careless errors still intact:

And while you’re looking, notice another howler in the subheading beneath the ‘College campus at Corso’ headline on page 3:

This situation is not ideal. There needs to be someone on the staff to ensure this doesn't happen.

Of course I've offered my services.

I keenly await a reply.