Sunday Times, November 4, 2018
Two examples of complete lack of interest in the words. How can you have a piece about expensive and good-value champagnes without quoting prices? It is meaningless.
As for Federer and his twins – how can you say that one pair are identical and not specify whether the others are or not? (They aren’t – all you need to do is look at a picture.) One of the arts of subbing is not leaving the reader asking questions.
Sunday Times, November 4, 2018
If you get a ‘delayed drop’ story, where the reader is meant to wonder what is happening until the joke is revealed, don’t ruin it by giving it away in the headline.
An alternative for this might be
Who’s terrifying
Oxford’s finest?
Daily Express, November 3, 2018
Leaving aside the mysterious process by which a story about an actress eating an onion was judged important enough to feature in a national newspaper, here is an example of ‘inelegant variation’, the expression coined by Keith Waterhouse for a contorted effort to avoid repetition. For a selection to which this has now been added, see ‘The Compleat Sub-editor’ in Style Matters http://stylematters.margaretashworth.com/the-compleat-sub-editor/
The Times, November 3, 2018
Two cliches for the price of one, and neither worth using. This is a good example of a useless intro that can simply be lopped off to make a much better story. All you need to do is insert ‘in fees’ after ‘cut’ and change ‘voters’ to ‘parents’ to give you:
The cut in fees apparently mooted by the Augar review might appeal to parents. But it could be catastrophic . . .
Press Gazette is proud to announce the finalists for the 2018 British Journalism Awards for public interest journalism.
Chairman of judges, Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford, said:
“As the Cairncross Review continues its work examining the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK, the work on display here provides ample evidence of the tremendous good which our industry does. And it shows the vital importance of finding a sustainable future for robust probing journalism which holds power to account in the digital age. This is what Dame Cairncross needs to protect.”
Extracts from Press Gazette on its journalism awards, October 2018
Press Gazette is the trade publication for journalists. I suppose that since standards of journalism have slipped so disastrously over the last ten or 20 years it is only fitting that the editor-in-chief of Press Gazette should display his own ignorance. When a woman is appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) she is addressed or identified as ‘Dame Firstname’, not ‘Dame Surname’, in the same way as a man who has been knighted. Thus this reference should be ‘Dame Frances’, not ‘Dame Cairncross’.
Warrington Guardian website, October 21, 2018
One thing subs should always be aware of is the unfortunate juxposition of stories, as here.
The Times, October 18, 2018
A strong contender for Worst Headline of the Year Award. How often do police not use cars in a raid? When they ride bicycles? Go on horseback? Perhaps tanks? In the old days this would be thrown back at the sub with some abuse. My attempt would be
The Climbing Squad
As for the copy, anyone who does not realise that he or she has repeated ‘force’ within nine words really should not be in the job.
Take a Break, September 27, 2018
Scars do not heal. Wounds heal, leaving scars, which may or may not fade.
Mail Online, September 30, 2018
This was sent to me by a Birkenhead native, outraged that his home town is now considered to be in Liverpool. The two places are on opposite sides of the Mersey, so this is like saying that Grimsby is part of Hull, or that Portsmouth is on the Isle of Wight.
I imagine the error arose because the sub saw ‘Merseyside’ and ignorantly equated that with Liverpool. Personally I would not consider it necessary to add ‘Merseyside’ to Birkenhead. The rule of thumb used to be that if a town had a football team you did not need to give the county. Birkenhead has a football team but it is called Tranmere Rovers, and it is obviously asking far too much for a Mail Online sub to know that.
The Times, September 29, 2018
I can’t believe that no one said ‘Well, how long has she been Prime Minister, then?’ As ever, it took me 10 seconds to find the answer, which yesterday was two years, 77 days. There really is no point to the item without that, is there?