Here’s a gem from the Paisley Daily Express. You’ll want to read the whole thing, but especially the sixth paragraph. [Update 1: for shame! They killed the story. But you can still see the page thanks to the might of the Google cache]
Now, on first reading you might think this is a terrible journalistic lapse. The journo friend who sent me the link certainly thought so. But might it be a radical departure in style… a deliberate use of the kind of language many readers might use to describe the story? And might newspapers sell more if they dropped the standard bag of cliches, and started writing like this?
[Update 2: given they've whipped the story off their site, it appears that this was a lapse, or that a highup at Scottish and Universal newspapers - the paper's owners - took fright and demanded it be removed. If you know what happened, do let me know...]
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « Friday afternoon school assembly humour
- » Death of the Scottish press
- BROWSE / IN Press & publishing
- « The 50,000th edition of the Guardian*
- » Death of the Scottish press
COMMENTS / 13 COMMENTS
andy added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 5:12 pmI’m guessing on a work experience kid whose overseer was off sick that day. But yes, twatting marvellous stuff.
Shaun added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 7:16 pmHire them..then fit a webcam at Guardian towers.
Claire added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 9:24 pmI’m so proud of my local paper. It’s class…
REG CROWDER added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 9:45 pmLet me think about it. Uh…maybe. I HAVE seen worse. And it WAS clear. And I have this gut feeling that it WAS accurate. Hmmm…
Graham added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 10:30 pmTBH I think what happened is that someone wrote a draft of the piece in their own voice and hit publish without realising they hadn’t edited it. I prefer your explanation Neil, but I would not be at all surprised to see the piece republished when the editor notices.
chris added these pithy words on Jul 18 07 at 10:42 pmIt’s wonderful. It’s the future. Who says all newspapers have to toe an invisible register line?
Alan Connor added these pithy words on Jul 19 07 at 1:24 pmFrom Bart’s Inner Child:
Bart: Lis, everyone in town is acting like me. So why does it suck?
Lisa: It’s simple, Bart: you’ve defined yourself as a rebel, and in the absence of a repressive milieu your societal nature’s been co-opted.
sunnynick added these pithy words on Jul 19 07 at 9:00 pmHas Graham (post above) ever worked at a newspaper? We don’t just “hit publish” like web-based amateurs.
Graham added these pithy words on Jul 19 07 at 10:41 pmAdmittedly that would be “on” a newspaper, not “at” one sunnynick.
Suw added these pithy words on Jul 20 07 at 10:09 amWhatever it was, it’s gone now - someone obviously realised that things were amiss. I feel like I missed out…
Linda added these pithy words on Jul 21 07 at 1:35 pmI really liked that - I can remember a few sleepless nights worrying I had ‘changed it back’ after messing about with copy, possibly to include the word “twat.”
Thankfully it never got through. I can just imagine the bollocking that would have followed.
Jamie added these pithy words on Jul 24 07 at 3:45 pmFantastic. I pity whoever received the monstering though…
Gareth added these pithy words on Jul 30 07 at 12:39 pmI once worked as an online reporter for a now-defunct Scottish business newspaper, and our copy went online without going through the subs.
Which meant the article I wrote about the water regulator referred to it as Oftwat until a kind reader pointed out the error 0_o
SPEAK / ADD YOUR COMMENT
Comments are moderated.
Your comments