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There are a host of ills in the world these days but I get inordinately fired up when @virginianpilot alumni who worked there in “the good old days” 30-40 years ago criticize current staffers for a grammatical error that slipped into print.
I would love for a retired journalist to try to fill in for the PM @virginianpilot reporter who might visit a crime scene, tweet photos and videos and write 5-7 stories and briefs in an eight-hour shift.
I would love for a retired editor from the 1970s to spend their Saturday morning fielding calls about breaking news, then go to the office where you are metro editor AND the final copy editor on the entire local/nation/world section, line editing 3-4 stories and copy-editing 30.
I cannot forget the night of Feb. 13, 2016, where I line-edited a complicated transit story bound for A1, Scalia died and there was an 18-alarm fire (slight exaggeration) in Ocean View that couldn’t be extinguished because of winds and freezing lines. Plus slotting the paper.
All those decisions and phone calls re: coverage plus copy-editing a paper is way too much to put on one person’s plate. And that kind of stress and overworking is part of the reason I left @virginianpilot 18 months later.
And since I left three years ago, things are even harder on the reporters and editors who are still making a go of it @virginianpilot. The newsroom is even smaller. Reporters are stretched even thinner. More stories go uncovered. Readers notice these things. It stinks.
So if there is any fault to be had in a grammatical error that slips into print, it lies with executives who cut local newsrooms like @virginianpilot to shells of their former selves, overburdening staffers. And fellow newsroom alumni should recognize that and extend some grace.