People rely on journalists to provide information about the world for them. This drives journalists to be as reliable and accurate as possible, both with the news and the writing. This means that a journalist will try to make sure that their spelling and grammar are perfect, as people will notice mistakes. Unfortunately, when journalists, or anyone else, worry about mistakes, this tends to make them nervous. When someone is nervous, they do not think properly and may make more mistakes. In addition, this can also lead to mental problems, as this consistent worry can lead to stress. This was shown to be true even in younger ages.
In reality, journalists should not be afraid of making errors in writing. They should just write the story the best way they can, as calmly as possible. A clearer mind could easily lead to making less mistakes, as there is less stress, and errors can be caught after the fact, when they are being checked for distribution.
In fact, making mistakes may help one become better at catching them. As Craig Silverman said, "mistakes are bad, but also instructive." As I said before, when one is finished writing their story, they should check for any grammatical errors. As they see the grammatical errors they make, they slowly become more and more familiar with them, until they come to instinctively know the error and avoid it. In fact, by intentionally making the error outside of the story, the learning process may become even faster.
Fear for mistakes can cause problems, both in the story and for the journalist. Instead of spreading a message that writing needs to be perfect, journalists need to know that nothing wrong will come from a mistake and that making mistakes is part of a process that wil make them better writers
I went online and found three mistakes in Canadian newspapers:
The Edmonton Sun and QMI industry printed the sentence "The cards went missing sometime after Jan. 2, when eBay seller Yetman sent them from his home in Newfoundland to a seller in Ontario." I added the bolding on the words. I am not sure, but I believe that one of the "sellers" is actually supposed to be buyer.
The National Post released a headline saying "Name released in conncection with shootout that killed officer." This headline features a mispelled word: conncection instead of connection.
The Vancouver Sun also had a mispelling: " An ex-Mountie already charged with impersonating a police office to allegedly get access to information about the Bacon brothers has been arrested again." Again, the bolded section is added by me. Either office is supposed to be officer or the man impersonated a room...
No credit could be found for the picture. The picture can be found here
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