Where do you go for your news? Somewhere renown for legitimacy like The Huffington Post and The New Yorker, or perhaps somewhere mainstream like Buzzfeed? No matter the reputation of the site I’ve noticed one recurring thing: errors. Grammar errors, spelling errors, syntax errors. These are all extremely popular media sites, used by millions of people every day, and yet there seems to be no one taking the time to proofread or edit their articles. Where did all the editors go? Are media sites cutting editorial costs or is the flow of content too great for them to handle? Do popular sites even have editors? Have we reached a point in our society where language standards are lacking to the point where it doesn’t matter? Do people even care? As a writer, this is a topic near and dear to me and I’m sure to a great many others on the Artifice because we aspire to self produce worthy content. Give me an article with a definitive answer about the decline in quality writing for various magazines/newspapers and whether it’s worth our time to try so hard? Has there been a recoil from dedicated readers over the decade or have such practices actually opened up their client base?
I have often been wondering the same questions and thoughts that you bring up myself. – Kevin Mohammed8 years ago
I wonder if it's related to the amount of students engaged in cyber cheating. – Tigey8 years ago
My local town newspaper let go of the editorial staff in order to reduce costs. Now the writers have to proofread their own articles, and naturally they miss errors. We tend to miss our own mistakes because we see what we meant to write. It's a shame that rising costs have driven smaller journalism outlets to eliminate staff, but the reasons behind bigger name outlets may be similar. – Lexzie8 years ago
What a relevant topic!! I cannot believe the amount of typos I find in articles, as well as grammar, spelling, and the lack of concision in these publications. I think this is an excellent topic, and I do hope someone picks it up. I would be curious to see what one does with this particular subject that is especially relevant in this "digital reliance," age.
– danielle5778 years ago
I think it could (like you mentioned) a cost-cutting measure to let writers edit their own work, or maybe many sites want their writers to use as much of their voice as they possibly can without hindrance. To me, it doesn't really matter though, as no written work is as good as it can be without another set of eyes looking at it. I wish there was a more definitive answer out there. – jlcook428 years ago
This is a super important topic! As someone that aspires to be an editor, I think it would be really good to know what's leading to the lack of editors and where the problem really lies – LilyaRider8 years ago
News production has taken on a 24-hour cycle which lasts three days. This time frame is how long the audience is interested in a topic and the follow up. Depending on how much money a cable news network can make and in these times of being cost effective, everything depends on the almighty dollar. Many in the press corps are concerned about their traditional news coverage declining even the Washington Post. On line news is taking over and it is likely that given the speed of technology that news in real time has trumped fidelity to concerns about traditional grammar rules. What is taking over is talking points and sound clips. Remember Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message?" That certainly has become true. – Munjeera8 years ago
