THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160018
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
It's been a week of gremlins on our news pages: A headline from one story mysteriously appeared on another, paragraphs were repeated or disappeared altogether, a graphic ran with the wrong story, the ``(AT)'' sign vanished from three e-mail addresses for Santa, and so on.
Often, readers who call to point out these glitches ask, ``How could that happen?'' How could a headline about a 17-year-old charged with attacking his classmate on a school bus appear with a story on Ukrainians dismantling nuclear weapons? That happened last Sunday in the World News section.
``Somehow,'' said one caller, ``I think you've missed the bus.''
Not the bus, just the computer file name. Every item on a page - headline, caption, pull-out quote - has one of those. And apparently the name on the Ukrainian story was similar to that of the school-bus article. Somehow, a copy editor got the two mixed up.
Would a mistake like this have been less likely to occur in pre-computer days? Probably not. It seems like a light-year ago that we edited on paper, but it was only the '70s. Back then, the first few words of the headline would be copied on the story printout so they wouldn't get mixed up. They did anyway. In fact, type and photos not only ended up in the wrong place but sometimes upside down.
Then or now, the bigger question is why those kinds of errors don't get caught down the line. Technology has made life easier in many respects but it constantly creates new problems, too. Obviously, proofreading still has its uses.
A reader who pointed out several of the glitches this week added, ``If you are going to put in these corrections, please do not say they were production errors. It's human error due to lack of attention to detail.''
Of course, there's human error behind everything. Or is there? Last weekend several paragraphs vanished from a court story, and news editors still haven't figured out that one. Only the computer knows. . . .
PEARL HARBOR: NOT AN INVASION. Last week, I scolded the newspaper for running the wrong date of the Pearl Harbor invasion. Reaction was swift: It was not an invasion, said my callers, it was a bombing by Japanese planes.
Slip-up acknowledged - ``invasion'' was hardly the best choice of words. It conjures up images of enemy troops storming the beaches.
But, in my own meager defense, I will say that bombs are ``invasive.'' Besides, what about those Japanese submarines. . . ?
THE SYMBOLISM OF OUR LADY. A photo Tuesday of a religious icon, Our Lady of Guadalupe, drew a number of puzzled calls. The caption described the icon's copy, on display in Norfolk, as ``the image of a pregnant Virgin Mary.''
The callers were quite adamant that the image did not represent a pregnant Virgin Mary, that this was not a teaching of the Catholic Church.
But Sister Gayanne, director of the Divine Mercy Apostolate in Hampton Roads, told religion writer Esther Diskin that the answer can be found in the symbols and colors of the artwork.
In the image, said Sister Gayanne, who helped arrange for the display here, Our Lady of Guadalupe wears a black sash, an indication in Aztec Indian culture of the 1500s that a woman was with child. The colors of her cloak, a blue-green for royalty, indicate that the woman would give birth to a king.
RECYCLING REVISITED. About 10 months ago, I wrote a column about recycling in response to numerous reader inquiries. At that time, all newsprint (the paper in newspapers, including the green sheet and color comics) was accepted for recycling, but not coupons and other glossy ad paper.
That's beginning to change. At Virginia Beach recycling bins (but not curbside), you can leave ``glossies'' in the newspapers you recycle. Furthermore, the bins - at Beach public schools - now have separate slots for magazines and corrugated cardboard. All this was explained in a Beacon article last month.
``The doors have opened wide'' for recycled paper, said Debra C. Devine, recycling coordinator for the city of Virginia Beach. The reason: two new Virginia de-inking facilities, where newsprint and other paper is churned back into a wood-fiber slurry for reuse as newsprint, bags, boxes and other paper goods.
Not all local recycling programs are geared up yet for the change, but they're coming 'round. In Norfolk, glossies are being accepted at the Little Creek Recycling Center. But the curbside service offered by SPSA (Southeastern Public Service Authority) is still limited to newsprint - no glossies, please. The same goes for SPSA's drop-off centers. MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net. by CNB