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Great readers keep us honest, always
Published Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Even though it is false hope, I’m eternally optimistic about one thing at the newspaper.
I always hope you won’t catch our mistakes — specifically, my own personal mistakes.
I’m a perfectionist. I hate to be wrong. I can’t stand for my errors to be pointed out.
And I have a bad habit of recognizing my own mistakes minutes too late.
I did it just last week. I typed “our” instead of “out” in a headline in large print on the front page of the newspaper. I typed it, and kept powering through the rest of the layout to be done. I was running late that night and deadline was looming. Most of us at the newspaper tend to do a large quantity of our work on adrenaline, and there’s no greater push than the final deadline of the night when the newspaper is in your hands.
The person responsible for proofing my “our” instead of “out” overlooked the error too. He also was facing his own deadlines for the sports section, and I imagine he was running on as much adrenaline as I was.
I completed the pages, and sent them to the press. I took a few minutes to breath, relaxed and let the adrenaline die down.
Then I started putting the information from the newspaper onto the Web site. A few minutes into the job I paused to browse the front page I’d built, just reading the headlines.
It felt like my heart stopped and my face went cold. I saw the headline error. I quickly listened for the presses to determine if it was too late to correct the oversight.
The presses were already running. I would have to deal with my error.
But, remember, I’m optimistic about these things. That night — even though I knew at the time it was a fallible thought — I said to myself “Awh, no one will notice.”
Wrong. I talked with an angry reader the next day who was ready to stop reading the newspaper altogether because of my error.
The lesson? We can’t sneak anything by you guys.
Tuesday’s edition of the newspaper contained a story written by a new member of our staff — Cassandra Mickens.
Cassandra started Friday, and we have plans to introduce her to all of you in this coming Sunday’s Business section with a small write-up and photo.
But, you — the reader — have already beat us to it. By 7:14 a.m. Tuesday morning one of our Web readers had posted a comment pointing out that Cassandra was new.
So since I’ve learned my lesson about “sneaking” things by you, I’ll go ahead and share a bit about some of the changes in our staff.
Cassandra is here as an intern. She’s only here for a short amount of time, and will return to the University of Alabama where she is nearly through with her master’s degree in community journalism.
Other new faces here include photographer Steve VanGunda, who came to Natchez from Oklahoma. He has family in town, though, and has visited Natchez off and on his whole life.
Jennifer Edwards started work here Monday and will be doing a mix of feature writing and graphic design work for us. Jennifer’s husband Jeff is our sports editor. They have two adorable daughters.
And on Monday, the last two pieces of our staff puzzle will join us.
Patrick Ochs, a recent graduate of Ole Miss, will be the sports reporter.
And Brian Reynolds, a recent graduate of the University of Alabama will be writing, designing and doing some Web site work with us.
The new faces fill some long-open positions and will help us better spread the workload so we can all focus on bringing a better product to you.
But, rest assured, I’ll make another typo soon. And I’ll once again hope you don’t notice.
Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by kpage (anonymous) on May 13, 2008 at 11:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Unfortunately we have people who loooove sweating the small stuff so much, they'll call little Julie and sweat over her error. People who sweat the small stuff must be moist, like humidity. I wonder if they mildew?
Posted by steve_o (anonymous) on May 13, 2008 at 11:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
6 new hires at the Democrat alone!!! I hope this is a steady upward trend for the area!
Posted by sammohon (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 12:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks for the info Julie and we, I hope all of us, realize that you are only human...it's nice for someone to admit it once in a while.
Good luck.
Posted by Peace007 (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 1:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Julie, the hardest thing for me is figuring out where to put the comas. In the past when I've pointed out errors in articles, I only did it as a joke, because I usually make millions of errors myself. I have a weird sense of humor, I suppose. Or maybe I just get "board". But, I've heard that misery loves company and people who constantly go around pointing out others faults are attempting to make themselves feel better by belittling others. I think you are doing a great job with your articles.
Please provide pictures of the democrat's new comers and the oldies too. It's good to see you all who put up your photo along with your article. I attended a function about a month ago and this guy came in with a big camera and took pictures. I figured he was with the democrat, but I haven't seen any of those pictures in the paper. If the democrat had pictures of the whole staff, I would have known for sure if that person was a democrat photographer.
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"time to breath"? (Sorry, couldn't resist that one.)
Peace, I would put comas in the ICU--they have no place in a sentence.
The occasional misspellings and typos don't really bother me, and sometimes can be comical (remember the prison guard being cited for "lude" behavior?). Factual errors I have problems with, especially since I am not in a position, most times, to know when a factual error is made--generally I must accept as true what I read in the paper.
Still, while it is true that we all make mistakes (yes, myself included), it is more difficult to blow off mistakes made by "specialists" in whatever "specialty" they happen to practice. Someone whose "specialty" is words and language would be expected to be nearly perfect when it comes to basics like spelling. Spelling CAN be perfect, after all. Grammar, especially English grammar, can be more slippery.
But I'll shut up and give you all and myself a little time to breathe before I go to work. Welcome to all the new folks!
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
(See, I made a mistake, too: I put "time to breath" in quotes; the actual quote was "minutes to breath." I'm getting slow in my old age.)
Posted by natchezsouthside (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 9:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
a suggestion. read everything backwards. you tend to catch more errors that way.
no big deal though--who doesn't make mistakes??
Posted by destiny (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I just figure that most people just don't have much to do but to point to other's mistake. By no means am I without flaws and just as you, when I catch them I'm more furious with myself than others could be. And terribly embarrassed when I don't catch them. Welcome and good luck to all the NEWBIES. Hope you enjoy your stay in Natchez.
Posted by dynagirl (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 4:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ugh, a new sports reporter from there??? Couldn't find anyone from the closest, award-winning J-school to come to Natchez, I guess.
There is a long tradition in Natchez of the Democrat having typos and the citizenry being outraged, or amused. There's a poem about it somewhere floating around. "many cose fiends as well"
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 4:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
it is such a wondeful article. She is such a nice girl.
Posted by Peace007 (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 10:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL, dang, you got me good right there. That was funny, I don't care who you are.
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on May 15, 2008 at 1:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Glad you took that in the spirit in which it was intended, Peace--just fun. Hope ur having a grate weak!
Posted by southernbelle (anonymous) on May 15, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Julie, don't be so hard on yourself . We make plenty of mistakes,also . It's called "just being human." It makes us like you even more . You are one of the best !
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on May 15, 2008 at 10:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Southern belle, was that last statement meant to encourage her or depress her...lol... " It makes us like you even more "
Just joking around on a rainy day. Have a great day and be careful driving, because the other guy may be talking on his Iphone or texting while driving at 75 mph in the rain....
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on May 15, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually it's kind of fun to "spot the errors", kind of like a word puzzle! LOL
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