Reading the Charlotte Sun Newspaper

Today’s Charlotte Sun front carries an image apparently drawn by the late Chuck Jones and a “Leap year observation” by his character, M.J. Frog. Frog is a Warner Brothers product, licensed and copyrighted. Perhaps the Dunn-Rankins received permission to reprint the character, but there’s no indication of this in the box. Given the paper’s on-going reliance on plagiarism and fake journalism, Old Word Wolf is justifiably suspicious about the paper’s legal right to use the image in its commercial enterprise.

Today Comes Only Once
There’s a long-standing tradition in English (where sense is largely based on word order) that adverbs go next to the verb or adjective they modify. Charlotte Sun headline writers show they don’t get it when they write “Today only happens once very four years.”

A careful writer would have written “Today happens only once every four years.” The quality of “only” is ascribed to “once,” not “happens.”

But the genuinely careful writer would have turned on her logic detector and realized the whole sentence is bogus. Today happens only today. In four years, there will be another today, but it won’t be today’s today.

Lawhorne’s Law: Only Fools Know Just One Way to Spell a Word …

A local housing complex is named Wood Park Pointe. Lawhorne likes the superfluous “e” so much he renames the complex Wood Parke Pointe in this morning’s story — but not until the second graf. In the lede, he retains the preferred spelling. And the headline writer can’t be bothered to remember that he wrote a headline last week, spelling the name one way then and another way now. Silly man. He thinks Lawhorne knows whereof he writes.

Today’s Charlotte Sun front carries an image apparently drawn by the late Chuck Jones and a “Leap year observation” by his character, M.J. Frog. Frog is a Warner Brothers product, licensed and copyrighted. Perhaps the Dunn-Rankins received permission to reprint the character, but there’s no indication of this in the box. Given the paper’s on-going reliance on plagiarism and fake journalism, Old Word Wolf is justifiably suspicious about the paper’s legal right to use the image in its commercial enterprise.

Today Comes Only Once
There’s a long-standing tradition in English (where sense is largely based on word order) that adverbs go next to the verb or adjective they modify. Charlotte Sun headline writers show they don’t get it when they write “Today only happens once very four years.”

A careful writer would have written “Today happens only once every four years.” The quality of “only” is ascribed to “once,” not “happens.”

But the genuinely careful writer would have turned on her logic detector and realized the whole sentence is bogus. Today happens only today. In four years, there will be another today, but it won’t be today’s today.

And another stoopid headline:

“More than one in every 100 Americans is behind bars”

First, the headline closely echoes the precise wording of the story’s lead, failing to reflect that most of the AP report, as it appears in the Charlotte Sun, dwells on the cost of incarceration and explains steps some states are taking to slow the growth of inmate populations. The sleepy editor read only far enough to construct a plausible headline, completely failing to capture the nature of the story. All he did was repeat the stupidity of the lead: how many more than a hundred is “more than one in every 100?” Two? Twenty? Ninety nine?

Update: OWW just read the Pew Center of the States study this news is based on. The study reports the U.S. incarceration rate, overall, is one in 99.1 adults. That’s less than one per 100, not more. I blame Pew Study writers more than the AP, however. The document itself in several places uses the phrase “more than one in a hundred” when referring to the 1-in-99.1 figure. But even if a source is imprecise, that doesn’t reduce the reporter’s obligation to accuracy. A Correction is Posted In Comments.

Lawhorne’s Law: Only Fools Know Just One Way to Spell a Word …

A local housing complex is named Wood Park Pointe. Lawhorne likes the superfluous “e” so much he renames the complex Wood Parke Pointe in this morning’s story — but not until the second graf. In the lede, he retains the preferred spelling. And the headline writer can’t be bothered to remember that he wrote a headline last week, spelling the name one way then and another way now. Silly man. He thinks Lawhorne knows whereof he writes.

Lawhorne, again. No mention of when the DeSoto County Commissioners approved a concrete plant, when they heard dissenting public input, when the plant owners pleaded their case, when Elton Langford recused himself, when the 3-1 vote was held. When, when, when. It’s journalism, John. (Thursday a.m. update: after an Miss Media-gram last night, somebody added “Tuesday” just in time to make the print edition; the Web story remains incomplete.)

Shame on Sun editors for slapping this sorry thing up on the Web without even a tweak. A commissioner’s name is misspelled; the company owner’s first name is “Edwin,” not “Edmin,” as Lawhorne keeps reporting; the quotes are meaningless, and the general writing is awful. The reporter has completely buried the real news.

Let’s take a look at what’s really of interest in this story.

Lawhorne thinks a 40-acre parcel was so important it should be written into the lead. No, John. Twenty one neighbors signed a petition against the plant but commissioners offered up a split vote to approve it anyway — creating an exception to existing zoning — because “it’s a good asset” to the county. That’s the lead, John.

Then, even a cub reporter would have told readers why Elton Langford recused himself. A diligent reporter would have reported how many local folks might expect to find jobs at this “good asset” — whose owners live in Sarasota. A real reporter would have used the day between when the news happened and when it was published to research the taxes the business might be expected to contribute to county coffers. He would have zipped over to the state’s databases to find out what other companies the owners run (one that’s registered and active). A real reporter would have described what the heck batch concrete is and a little bit about the market for it. He would have asked the owners, “Why DeSoto?” and “Where is your other business located and what does it do?” A real reporter would never let the commissioner get away with calling this company a “major corporation” without substantiation. How major? Public or private? (privately held family firm; husband and wife are the principals.)

Dear John: There’s a large community out here that cares about what goes on in the county. You, however, regularly place yourself and your “news” into the service of those you perceive to be powerful and important. You are a toady, not a journalist. The Sun should be ashamed and Miss Media calls for your retirement.

After deep-sixing “Arcadian” in favor of generic “Our Town” banners for the various local fronts of America’s Best Community Daily, the old name is suddenly resurrected this morning.

Old Word Wolf rattled the pages in delicious anticipation of real, local news. She snapped the crease out of the fold and … gasp! … the top local news is Clinton and Obama had a debate — in Cleveland.

Oh, well. OWW challenged the cubs to a breakfast debate about “local” and heard a quick consensus: If it has a Cleveland dateline, it isn’t.

Those Pesky Five W’s, Again …

Ever the optimists, the folks in charge have handed “Police Beat” to John Lawhorne. Not one of our ace reporter’s entries in this much-read section includes mention of “when” except one. It’s the fifth item in Neighborhood Watch: “A caller reported his boat had been tied to the docks and it was gone this morning.” Now that’s timely news.

Why is OWW so grumpy about this? Here’s why: One of this morning’s timeless items reports “a truck was reported to have hit a pole with wires fallen onto the road.”

Ignoring the awful grammar, readers legitimately wonder if that happened yesterday, the same day most of south Florida suffered a power outage. Folks south of Arcadia endured a three-hour blackout — but they have no news about whether this was the result of the truck hitting the pole down the road or was part of the regional news story. The Five W’s help readers make sense of their little corners of the world. OWW will continue being grumpy until Lawhorne learns this little bit of journalism.

In the Zone …
Charlotte Deputies set speed, light-running zones Let’s see: a 55 mph zone is where we travel 55 miles an hour; a pedestrian zone is where we walk; a school zone is near a school. The cereal set can be forgiven for giggling at the sleepy, careless copy editors who repeatedly (as in every single week) post headlines that says exactly the opposite of the facts. Accuracy anyone?

After deep-sixing “Arcadian” in favor of generic “Our Town” banners for the various local fronts of America’s Best Community Daily, the old name is suddenly resurrected this morning.

Old Word Wolf rattled the pages in delicious anticipation of real, local news. She snapped the crease out of the fold and … gasp! … the top local news is Clinton and Obama had a debate — in Cleveland.

Oh, well. OWW challenged the cubs to a breakfast debate about “local” and heard a quick consensus: If it has a Cleveland dateline, it isn’t.

Those Pesky Five W’s, Again …

Ever the optimists, the folks in charge have handed “Police Beat” to John Lawhorne. Not one of our ace reporter’s entries in this much-read section includes mention of “when” except one. It’s the fifth item in Neighborhood Watch: “A caller reported his boat had been tied to the docks and it was gone this morning.” Now that’s timely news.

Why is OWW so grumpy about this? Here’s why: One of this morning’s timeless items reports “a truck was reported to have hit a pole with wires fallen onto the road.”

Ignoring the awful grammar, readers legitimately wonder if that happened yesterday, the same day most of south Florida suffered a power outage. Folks south of Arcadia endured a three-hour blackout — but they have no news about whether this was the result of the truck hitting the pole down the road or was part of the regional news story. The Five W’s help readers make sense of their little corners of the world. OWW will continue being grumpy until Lawhorne learns this little bit of journalism.

In the Zone …
Charlotte Deputies set speed, light-running zones Let’s see: a 55 mph zone is where we travel 55 miles an hour; a pedestrian zone is where we walk; a school zone is near a school. The cereal set can be forgiven for giggling at the sleepy, careless copy editors who repeatedly (as in every single week) post headlines that says exactly the opposite of the facts. Accuracy anyone?

I don’t know who Barden Winstead of Rocky Mount, N.C., or Chris Barone of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, are, but they both write a lot like Scott Wadsworth of Port Charlotte. Word-for-word alike, in fact.

Wadsworth is a financial consultant in the Port Charlotte office of A.G. Edwards. He’s too busy to write his own financial advice column. The trusted advisor, however, is not too busy to use a column someone else wrote and tell Charlotte Sun editors to put his by-line and photograph on it. At least the guy in North Carolina had the class to attribute his column to “A.G. Edwards.” Wadsworth didn’t bother with this nice detail. And, for his hubris, he loses all credibility. I mean, if one steals copy …

The fine print at the end of Wadsworth’s column doesn’t say “this column was originally written by so and so,” or “this column originally appeared in such and such.” It urges readers to contact Wadsworth by phone or mail — for honest advice, one presumes.

At the very least, alert newspaper editors should have but a big black box around the copy and clearly labled it “advertisement.”

I don’t know who Barden Winstead of Rocky Mount, N.C., or Chris Barone of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, are, but they both write a lot like Scott Wadsworth of Port Charlotte. Word-for-word alike, in fact.

Wadsworth is a financial consultant in the Port Charlotte office of A.G. Edwards. He’s too busy to write his own financial advice column. The trusted advisor, however, is not too busy to steal a column someone else wrote and tell Charlotte Sun editors to put his by-line and photograph on it. At least the guy in North Carolina had the class to attribute his column to “A.G. Edwards.” Wadsworth didn’t bother with this nice detail. And, for his hubris, he loses all credibility. I mean, if one steals copy …

The fine print at the end of Wadsworth’s column doesn’t say “this column was originally written by so and so,” or “this column originally appeared in such and such.” It urges readers to contact Wadsworth by phone or mail — for honest advice, one presumes.

At the very least, alert newspaper editors should have but a big black box around the copy and clearly labled it “advertisement.”

No one saved John Haughey from himself today: “Albert Joerger hopes to wade into the surf before taking the cold, brisk plunge into regional water issues Tuesday … But it’s unlikely he’ll have much of an apprenticeship before he must sink or swim.”

And no editor bothered to clarify this mystery meat: “Girle, Harris rally for FLW victory.” The story is about a fishing tournament. The letters FLW are never explained. Who Girle and Harris are remains a mystery. They get first names and cities in the second graf but really, nothing more than fish, fish and more fish — nothing that says they’re famous enough to get their names in headlines, much less the front page banner.

A Florida college graduate in the employ of a daily newspaper describes the action in a front-page photo today: Braves’ first-baseman Tyler King stand his ground to stop a infield grounder from the Marlin’s from getting on base Saturday during the DeSoto County Youth Athletic Association baseball opening day jamboree at the Brewer Sports Complex in Arcadia.

And that cutline appears on the Web as well, so two editors dropped the grammatical ball.

And when school-board elections roll around, two who need to be shown the door: “My personal belief is creationism and I believe it should be taught along with evolution because our students should have a choice,” said DeSotoCounty School Board member Karen Chancey. And fellow board member Deborah Snyder “shares Chancey’s beliefs,” according to a Wednesday story in the DeSoto Sun.

Children should have a choice. Hmmm. Let’s teach astrology along with astronomy. Let the kids choose. Let’s teach alchemy along with chemistry. Let the kids choose.

No one saved John Haughey from himself today: “Albert Joerger hopes to wade into the surf before taking the cold, brisk plunge into regional water issues Tuesday … But it’s unlikely he’ll have much of an apprenticeship before he must sink or swim.”

And no editor bothered to clarify this mystery meat: “Girle, Harris rally for FLW victory.” The story is about a fishing tournament. The letters FLW are never explained. Who Girle and Harris are remains a mystery. They get first names and cities in the second graf but really, nothing more than fish, fish and more fish — nothing that says they’re famous enough to get their names in headlines, much less the front page banner.

A Florida college graduate in the employ of a daily newspaper describes the action in a front-page photo today: Braves’ first-baseman Tyler King stand his ground to stop a infield grounder from the Marlin’s from getting on base Saturday during the DeSoto County Youth Athletic Association baseball opening day jamboree at the Brewer Sports Complex in Arcadia.

And that cutline appears on the Web as well, so two editors dropped the grammatical ball.

And when school-board elections roll around, two who need to be shown the door: “My personal belief is creationism and I believe it should be taught along with evolution because our students should have a choice,” said DeSotoCounty School Board member Karen Chancey. And fellow board member Deborah Snyder “shares Chancey’s beliefs,” according to a Wednesday story in the DeSoto Sun.

Children should have a choice. Hmmm. Let’s teach astrology along with astronomy. Let the kids choose. Let’s teach alchemy along with chemistry. Let the kids choose.

Local writer Jon Sica, who hasn’t yet met a cliché he couldn’t work into his next story, keeps all who follow the local comprehensive land plan apprised of its status. Factually stated, the plan is on the desk of a review committee within the Florida Department of Community Affairs up in Tallahassee. It’s being examined for compliance with state growth-management regulations.

But Sica has a better description — and it’s such a good cliche he can’t stop using it. As of Feb. 1, the plan was in “bureaucratic limbo.” The next day, Sica upgraded it to “bureaucratic purgatory,” where it it has remained ever since: Feb. 13 status: still in “bureaucratic purgatory;” Feb. 17 status: “bureaucratic purgatory;” Feb. 22 status: “bureaucratic purgatory.”

If Sica did little Googling he’d find the phrase on more than 6,000 pages found by that one search engine alone. It’s not original; it’s not informative after (perhaps) the first use. And, by the fifth trot around the track, the writer is simply telling readers he’s too lazy to actually write this story.

Web Hed Gem O’ the Day:

Officer Tasers pit bull answering knife-throwing call

Some dog.

OWW doesn’t usually do typos; it’s hard putting out a newspaper every day and no one’s perfect. But this one is in the banner, in red, and no one noticed it right over the brag.

And finally, we saved the best worst for last.
Business editor Bob Fliss has been hanging around Tallahassee and sending local news home. Problem is, he didn’t hear about the reporter’s rule that the writer is not the news, should stay in the background, and never, never comments on the daily events in the course of basic reporting. But, Bob’s got a different style.

The story on Friday was a lawmaking committee is weighing a bill that would punish drivers who read, type or send messages on a “wireless communication device” while operating a vehicle. Fliss wraps up the newsy tidbit thus: “From personal experience, I know that even trying to read newspaper headlines during a red light doesn’t work. Trying to do so while actually driving is madness. Holder’s bill may be a small step toward getting folks to calm down and pay attention to their driving.”

Fliss should calm down and pay attention to the basics of journalism. Save personal anecdotes for a blog and leave them out of the news columns.