There are several poorly written articles circling the bowl on a daily basis, and this may end up being yet another one, but it's alarming to me that professional journalists consistently botch spelling and grammar. It used to be newspapers, magazines, and books served as an example of the proper use of punctuation, word groupings, grammar, and synonyms. Not anymore.
On any given day, I challenge you to count the number of typos or grammatical miscues in your local fish wrap. In the past, you'd be lucky to find one per month. Nowadays, you'd be lucky NOT to find one per section. Online versions are worse, but that is likely due to the push to get more and more content live. That said, is it too much to ask of someone paid to write for a living to pay attention to the squiggly lines in the word processor? Those lines are trying to tell you something! At least pay them some lip service, and double check your work before you submit it to an editor. Speaking of an editor, what are these people responsible for now? In the old days, they served as quality control, but today they seem to be more interested in cranking out material to meet a deadline. Quality doesn't seem to matter anymore and we, the public, don't seem to care because we still read the stuff even if it is sub par without complaining loud enough for anyone to hear us.
Another reason sub par material may have become acceptable is the big business management approach of the major literary outlets. When larger companies attempt to manage numerous resources by stretching everyone thin in the interest of "productivity," things naturally slip through the cracks. I run a small business so if a larger firm came to me and offered to buy me out for a nice chunk of change, I'd have to listen. It would be nice if there weren't so many mergers and spin-offs of media outlets, but that is the world we live in today.
You regularly hear phrases such as instant gratification, microwave society, what have you done for me lately, etc. when describing the order of the day. They all apply, but are we in such a hurry that we can't take a little more pride in the work we produce? I would hope the majority of people would be embarrassed by producing a widely viewed article or literary piece peppered with poor grammar and/or spelling errors. The good old days of looking to print media as an example to follow are long gone, but I wish they'd return at least in this aspect.
Roger Bauer is Founder and CEO of SMB Consulting, Inc., a leading small business consulting firm specializing in business and strategic planning, marketing, sales, SEO, and technology. To learn more, point your browser to http://smbconsultinginc.com
Effective Writing: Where Have You Gone? - To learn more about this author, visit Roger Bauer's Website.
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Roger Bauer
(Visit Roger's Website)
Roger Bauer is Founder and CEO of SMB
Consulting, Inc., a nationally recognized
small business consulting firm
specializing in sales and marketing
development. Roger also hosts a weekly
marketing radio show featuring some of the
top minds in marketing. To learn more,
point your browser to smbcon
sultinginc.com or
radio.smbconsultinginc.com
His firm is also responsible for producing
The SEO Bible which can teach anyone how
to become an effective search engine
optimizer. You can learn more about that
at the-seo-b
ible.com
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