The graphics staff at CHUM (CityTV, Bravo!, Space, et al.) have really dropped the ball in the last few months. Hardly a promo goes by that doesn’t have at least one major error in its onscreen text. One of the first I noticed was an ad for Grey Owl, starring Pierce Brosnon
(Brosnan). Next it was Gandhi, a story of one man’s truimph
(triumph). Tonight it’s the upcoming Stephen King movie marathon featuring Cristine
(Christine). These are simply the first three examples to come to mind; there have been more than I’ve cared to keep track of.
It’s not like these names and titles are hard to look up; odds are the text is right in front of the person putting the promo together. It’s not like they’re unknown words. It’s not like it would take a long time to actually read the six-to-twenty words that you’re about to be broadcast to millions of potential viewers so you don’t make an idiot of yourself and your company.
I just finished editing the text of a brochure for a friend, and yes, there were minor errors in the 782-word document. But I’ll tell you something. It took ten whole minutes to read over five times, including looking up the correct spelling of two names and Strunk’s rules for comma placement. (Remember, this is over 35 times longer than the text in the promo advertisements; by my calculations, then, it would take about 17 seconds to check the ads.) She asked me to look at the document because she recognizes that the quality of the text reflects on the author. It’s a lesson the people at CHUM need to learn.
I’m hardly perfect in my writing–keep your snarky comments to yourself–but I strive to be as good as I’m able, and to learn when I make mistakes. I edit and re-edit even the simplest e-mail message, to say nothing of these weblog entries, and I correct the errors I’ve made when I notice them or when they’re pointed out. It’s a point of pride, but more than that it’s simple courtesy to the (few) people that (bother to) read what I write.
