Ever since newspapers mostly did away with sub-editors some while ago as a cost-saving measure, standards of written journalism have visibly declined. Poor punctuation and clumsy use of language have become more commonplace. Sub-editors used to play a vital role, helping reporters to become better writers and thus journalists.
Nowadays, authors are supposed to check their own output.
Even with the best will in the world, it is sometimes difficult to stop errors in one’s own copy.
That being said, there is an absolute howler in today’s online edition of the Shropshire Star, as per the screenshot below
Unless young goats really are to used to promote the safety of Newtown’s women and girls, which is not readily apparent from the subsequent copy, one would think that checking a headline before hitting the ‘Publish is a skill that should be taught on journalism courses. 😀
The headline has since been corrected.