We Regret the Error, Kevin Penny

I tend to find errors in all sorts of media; however, the ones that strike me as the most outlandish are the ones found on television. When you think about it, these people are just reading verbatim off of a teleprompter AND they have the stories on their table (unless those piles of paper are just props, I couldn't tell you); so how could they botch their lines? Stress, mood, health, and many other factors most likely take part in the lead-up to these classic lines:

To be fair, I can't blame all of them on Fox News...

Craig Silverman, award winning journalist and author, once stated that "the best course of action is to help mitigate the fear [of errors] by teaching practices and introducing tools that help prevent factual errors.". My belief is that to err is human; therefore, it is only natural that we will find mistakes in even the most professional literary works. I do give credit to the anchors that grace the screens; it is probably a daunting task to stand in-front of a camera and speak to thousands of people every night. But in my opinion, many of the errors shown are due to people with their minds in the gutter.

In regards to Canadian errors in media, the Canadian paper "The Edmonton Journal" has many grammatical mistakes within the confines of their website. These mistakes are as such:

• "The budget also includes money for education, enforcement and speed survey research to determine the effects of the change" BY KEITH GEREIN, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM

This list is improperly punctuated; there should be a comma after enforcement.

• "... the estimated 750,000 northern Alberta passenger arrivals and departures that should be going through Edmonton, the people who will drive or fly to Calgary every year to catch international flights." BY DAVE COOPER, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM

This sentence is a run-on sentence and should be split into two, such as "that should be going through Edmonton. Instead, these people will drive or fly to Calgary every year..."

•"Chileans desperate for food and water swarmed soldiers as an army helicopter touched down in the ruined coastal town of Constitucion" BY TERRY WADE AND IGNACIO BADAL, REUTERS

They should change this to "Chileans that were desperate for food and water," because in its current state it sounds like every Chilean in sight was trying to swarm the soldiers.

I will admit to having many mistakes in my writing, but the only way I get better is by practising. Talent does not spring from nowhere; it must be worked on in order to achieve the closest possible perfection in ones work. It might feel like that scene from Karate Kid where you do not understand why you have to paint an old mans house or wash his car; but, as you hone your skills, errors will appear in your work less frequently while your ability to proofread and edit will increase. Like Craig Silverman avidly believes, "making errors is the best way to learn information that you want to learn."

K. Penny

Image is a screen capture from Google.com; taken Sept. 27, 2009

Video from Youtube user RobinhoSudani