With the July 4th holiday on our doorsteps, the legacy media in Maine is celebrating its own brand of independence – from the tenets of Journalism 101.
None other than the Bangor Deadly Snooze had a killer of a headline:
“Man thanked Maine deputy after the officer fatally wounded him”
Whoops.
But the Bangor Deadly wasn’t done yet with its homicidal wordsmithing.
The lead to the story was a virtual mirror of that awkward headline construction:
“A man thanked a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy after the officer fatally wounded him last October during a confrontation on a bridge.“
In our profession, that could well be a bridge to the publisher’s penthouse.
Now, to be certain, we as journalists all have our moments – when we find ourselves, if you will, going on a “holiday.”
But this one is a double firecracker of a fail.
Not only did the reporter go rogue.
Nope, that wasn’t enough.
Typically in newsroom protocol a writer’s attempts at greatness are then passed on to what’s known as a copy editor.
The title of “copy editor” is meant to evoke editorial oversight, redundancy meant to catch stuff like libel, slander, poor grammar, awkward phrasing, inconsistent narrative, etc., before the then-finished product goes to press.
“Copy editor” does not by any stretch mean to literally copy, especially when copying would entail repeating an obvious, embarrassing gaffe.
Not to nitpick, but… the correct course of action would have been to more clearly establish the sequence of events: “Man, who later died, thanked the officer who shot him,” for instance. Because, after all, dead men can’t talk, right?
In a case such as the latest slip, failing to pay attention can be deadly fatal.
No question, over at the Bangor Daily News they’re killing it.
Brought to you as a public service by The Maine Wire’s #QwikResponseTeam, a wholly-cloned subsidiary of the Portland Press Herald #GaffePolice.
