[Ipg-smz] A question for everyone, particularly Esther Schindler

[Gabe Goldberg]

Related: I wrote for Washington Post for a while (Hi, Rob) including 
(back when this was a thing) writing nugget website reviews. One was a 
handyman/DIY site. Post usually ran graphics -- which of course I had 
nothing to do with -- with these; this one showed slotted screwdriver 
pointing at Phillip's head screw (or the reverse).

I GOT HATE MAIL. Dozens. Many dozens. "What kind of $%^^$# idiot are you 
to DARE writing about tools?!". If they weren't insane, I had a canned 
response: Don't blame me; I didn't see that until I bought the paper. 
That often led to funny/polite exchanges. But some responded brutally to 
that and some original notes were so bad I didn't engage. The Post made 
it worse by publishing letter-to-editor mocking the article/piece. I 
asked (Hi, Rob) Post to run correction/clarification/disclaimer that it 
was someone ELSE's bad idea of a joke but my editor (guess who) didn't 
think that would happen.

Same problem as author being blamed for hed -- readers can't grasp so 
many roles at work.

On 2/8/2019 10:46 AM, Joe Stanganelli wrote:
>
> I can top that: On a pub that no longer exists, the copy desk removed 
> a joke of mine (which, if that was the only thing they did, fine) and 
> replaced it with a worse, shittier “joke” that made no sense.
>
> It was so embarrassing that I never shared the piece on social, and 
> distanced myself from it.
>
> I don’t mind having my jokes removed; just please don’t change or 
> replace them.
>
> I’ve actually come to expect my editors to remove my jokes; these 
> days, I’m surprised when one gets through.
>
> One of the inventors of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing is named Jennifer 
> Doudna. In a piece I wrote a couple of years ago about patent rights 
> surrounding CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing, I used the subhed “Doudna, 
> Where’s My Cas?”
>
> I was shocked and disappointed in my editor.
>
> Joe
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> on behalf of Mac 
> McCarthy <mac.mccarthy at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 7, 2019 7:04:16 PM
> *To:* ipg-smz at netpress.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Ipg-smz] A question for everyone, particularly Esther 
> Schindler
> We had a copy editor at Infoworld, "Jill," who edited for space by 
> deleting the last sentence in a product review. Unfortunately, that 
> sentence was the punchline for a joke. When I complained, she simply 
> replied, "I didn't think it was funny."
>
> Editing can be maddening.
>
> Mac
>
> On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 3:58 PM Tom Geller <tom at tgeller.com 
> <mailto:tom at tgeller.com>> wrote:
>
>     Oh, I have a good one about deleted ledes. (Getting deleded?)
>
>     For my 2013 Lynda.com <http://Lynda.com> video course "Writing
>     Articles" (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/writing-articles), I
>     (of course) wrote a dummy article to study. Then in a video that
>     shows how to construct an article, I say:
>
>     "Then after everything else is done, go back and revisit that
>     first paragraph to make it even stronger. One common trick is to
>     simply delete that first sentence and then see if it's reads any
>     better. A lot of writers, including me, need a sentence or two to
>     get into the swing of things."
>
>     Sounds good, right? Except that the producers said, "O.K., do
>     that. Delete the first sentence." I... hadn't planned for that.
>     Luckily, the piece still worked without it. I schooled myself!
>
>     ---
>     Tom Geller  *  Writer & Video/journalist  * http://tomgeller.com
>            Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468
>                 Oberlin, Ohio  *  +1-415-317-1805
>
>     -- 
>     Ipg-smz mailing list
>     Ipg-smz at netpress.org <mailto:Ipg-smz at netpress.org>
>     http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org
>
> -- 
>
> Mac McCarthy
>
>
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>
-- 
Gabriel Goldberg, Computers and Publishing, Inc.       gabe at gabegold.com
3401 Silver Maple Place, Falls Church, VA 22042           (703) 204-0433
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gabegold            Twitter: GabeG0

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