Swept Under The Newsprint

Update: It gets better! The Star's building is slated to be one of the targets in the local version of "Occupy Wall Street!" Maybe the unwashed hippies and their pals can take a break to copy-edit a little -- at least they could check the spelling and place names in the article the paper might write about 'em. It's the socially-responsible thing to do, right? At the very minimum, someone should have the grace to wedge a small, safe, non-vandalistic plastic fork in the building, 'cos it's done. End Update.

I should've asked Mom for yesterday's newspaper, then I could've scanned it. It is nowhere to be found on their website. (Nope, here it is, typo and all.) In an editorial yesterday addressing the renaming of Georgia Street in downtown Indy,* Our Local Paper (wholly owned by the blood-from-a-turnip experts at Gannett) managed to refer to it as "George" Street.

Nathan's got a scan of the article posted; I didn't imagine it. Guess they figured the rubes would never notice?

...In unrelated news, it was only a month or four ago that local newspaper pundits (for which read the paper's early-retired, surplussed and/or laid-off employees) were bewailing the decision to do away with copy editors/proofreaders. Gannett told 'em it was okay; in this modern computer age, they'd never be missed.

You betcha, George!

I'm all for removin' bloat, streamlining production and being all-around efficient, especially in these troubled economic times. But there is a bottom and I would suggest for a newspaper, it is reached when the lack of attention to detail starts to give the readership an impression of apathy.

As unlikely as it may sound coming from me, I agree with the Newspaper Guild on one thing: when Gannett reaches bottom, they can be counted on to start digging deeper. There must be a pony in there somewhere -- lookit the evidence!
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* Looks like they're gonna drop that notion, or try to sneak it in later when we're not looking.