Paper Runs Gun Ad By Sandy Hook Article Today [Pic. Not any newspaper, The Stamford Advocate (a Connecticut paper where Sandy Hook is located). Newspapers have editors, no?
Saturday, January 5, 2013 11:38:32 AM
I've worked in newspapers. Systems work differently, but some systems will have a blank white box with a numerical code where the ads will be. The rest of the page is filled in with text and pictures, and then after it is sent to the back, the ads are automatically pulled in. It is feasible nobody laid eyes on the page with that story and that ad together.
Why? Because printing out proof pages at the copydesk with ads already on them takes time and ink. Huge picture files slow down the system, and when you`re printing dozens to hundreds of proof pages in a matter of hours, that time matters.
And 99 percent of the time, it works great. The flaw? This happens. Some papers that use similar systems at least put the name of the ad instead of a number code, and some work in seeing the page completed onscreen before it`s sent for plating/printing. But as newsrooms keep cutting personnel, there are fewer people to catch stuff like this. Sad, really.
Friday, January 4, 2013 12:37:58 AM
Oh no! Some idiot may find a way to be offended by this. Fancylad out of all people should have some sympathy for an editor not doing his job.
Consistently misspelled captions, reposts, server errors, spammers and broken links here on IAB though. I bet this papers editor can even show pics and stories without cramming his personal opinions in our faces.