Thursday, September 26, 2013

Editing of stories is getting worse and worse

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

I can remember when The Record's local-news editors grudgingly gave a few paragraphs to report the death of a woman in her 20s who was killed by a car crossing Kinderkamack Road.

An elderly driver who died when his car ran off Route 80 and hit a tree got the same treatment.

Who were they? Did they have survivors? No, the editors seemed to say, the young woman and old man were just chopped liver.

Today, in marked contrast, a report on the Local front goes into great detail about the death of a successful Korean immigrant who was killed by a car as she crossed the street in Dumont.

Two reporters worked on the story, as did an assignment editor, news editor, layout editor, copy editor, copy desk supervisor and page proofer.

But the story has a hole big enough to drive a truck through:

Was Eun Ok Jo,  63, the victim, in a crosswalk when she was struck by a small Toyota SUV?

Shouldn't every story about a pedestrian killed by a vehicle include that information, especially in view of the relatively new and controversial crosswalk law, which has been the subject of numerous Road Warrior columns?

The Dumont police chief is quoted, but apparently the reporters didn't bother asking him whether Mrs. Jo was in a crosswalk or even whether there is one where she was hit by the SUV.

The L-1 photo caption says the woman was walking "at East Madison Avenue and Howard Street" when she was run down shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The story reports the vehicle has diplomatic plates, but apparently the reporters also didn't ask whether Lucy Camargo-Cortes, the driver, was speeding or talking on a cellphone nor did they make any attempt to contact her, even though the chief said the SUV is owned by the U. S. State Department.

This is another major editing lapse under  Production Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy editors.

She may have been out of the Woodland Park newsroom shopping for a new dress or having her nails done.

When Houlton ran the old features copy desk, she missed so many problems she earned the dubious title of  "Queen of Errors."


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