Still too many mistakes in your paper

Sep 12, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
On June 13, this year, I published a letter in this newspaper with the caption, “An appeal to the publisher of Kaieteur News, Mr. Glen Lall.” Here is a section of that letter,
“I haven’t done the research but I honestly believe there isn’t a newspaper in the world with such incompetence among its proof readers as in the Kaieteur News. Both senior editors, Mr. Adam Harris and Mr. Nigel McKenzie can testify to the years of complaints I have made against these proof readers including as recent as last month
The brutal fact is Kaieteur News is in need of proof readers who can do proof reading. Those that the paper has at the moment cannot do the job and Mr. Lall should read the Riot Act to them. I don’t think any self-respecting newspaper would and should tolerate the level of dereliction of duty in the proof reading department as we see at KN
Each day I make mistakes in my column. This is only natural. You have to do research, you have to change entire paragraphs as you type, you have to keep thinking so as to avoid libel and mistakes are bound to be made. The person to spot those mistakes is the proof reader whose only job is to detect the mistakes and in my columns the errors are always typographical or just carelessness in spelling.
Yet these harmless errors go undetected every day in my columns and in the news sections. And I mean every day. I cannot and no one should expect the editor to discern all the little faults because he has to edit the entire newspaper and write news items too and do the editorials. He is bound to overlook some mistakes. My understanding is that the proofreaders come in the afternoon and they divide the newspapers among themselves, how then can they miss so many mistakes every day? I appeal to Mr. Lall to confront this embarrassment.
I can safely say that I am extremely liberal man who does not believe in punishing workers for a first time offence. I cannot support termination of employment as the only method of punishment. But in all sincerity, the Kaieteur News should not accept this permanent horror show from its proof-readers.
The proofreaders are humans and are bound to miss some mistakes from time to time. But as a columnist with Kaieteur News, I can say without fear of contradiction that everyday these proofreaders do not detect the slipups that me, other columnists and the journalists make on a daily basis and this objectionable situation must be confronted. The ownership, staff and readers of the Kaieteur News deserve better.” (end of quote)
After publication of that missive, many of the staff said to me that I should have kept my anger in-house. I was advised that I should have dealt with it as an internal matter. Many of these voices did not know that throughout the years I have made my feelings known. Everyone has a breaking point. I also wanted to make the issue public so it could engender widespread conversation at the newspaper. Since that June 13 letter, nothing has changed
Here are some more egregious examples of hopeless and incompetent proof-reading. Here is what appeared in my column yesterday; “…desperation was dissolved through illegal and illegal migration….” It should have read “legal and illegal migration.” In another section of the column given the context used, the word should have been “inconclusive” not conclusive. Any competent proof-reader could have picked that up.
Here is another example of horribly incompetent proof-reading in the same column’ “…like what they in other countries.” It should read; “like what they see in other countries.” To any competent proof-reader, the grammatical vacuity was so obvious.
Yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News was 32 pages. Each proof reader will take 16 pages and read them. That is what they will do when they come in the afternoon. My column yesterday had four terrible lapses by the proof-readers. And this unacceptable situation doesn’t slow up. It has not over the years. It continues in the same vein.
The editor, Mr. Harris, arrived back from holiday at his desk two days before he edited my column. Obviously he had things to catch up on and lots to do so not detecting my mistakes was understandable. How do you explain the proof-readers missing four mistakes in a column of less than 800 words? Again I appeal to Mr. Lall; do something, please!
Frederick Kissoon

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