The Kintyre Forum

I rest my case.

Bridal or bridle. Oh deary deary me

Not as if it was the main headline on the front page - oh it was!!

jaffacat wrote:Not as if it was the main headline on the front page

And Capitalised too!

As I was reading the piece through, I waited for the bit about wedding parties wanting access to the beach...

Seriously, anyone can make a mistake, but that is the point of having editors and sub-editors. They often choose the headline, and ultimately bear responsibility, rather than the unfortunate journalist whose name is listed.

Its just a pity they got the beaches mixed up too, its pretty obvious that Enid McMurchy is moaning about the access to Middle Beach and not Westport; as the cattle grids, narrow gates are at Clockeil and the land they have to access though to the beach is the ground which the golf club has right up to the quarry. Although I think there is a track down to the beach beside the quarry?

the standard of journalism leaves a lot to be desired.

I don't know what the situation is like now, but in my day - 15 years ago - I often had to proof read my own stories. Any mistakes which crept in were my responsibilty.

Proof reading your own work is exceptionally difficult. For a start, you sometimes don't spot typing mistakes because you know what it is SUPPOSED to say.

This situation is common in local newspapers across the country. Indeed there are examples of major newspapers letting subbing go by the wayside too. In last week's Sunday Herald, for example, an entire headline was replaced by seemingly random characters - basically the markers left when a page is designed before someone has actually written a headline. I was angrier about that, frankly, than a mistake in the Courier.

Incidentally, at some newspapers the journalists now write their stories directly onto template pages. Subbing as such no longer takes place.

Rab is right. The 'Koorier' always has typos, but, Jamie, that can't be classed as a typo. Wrong word, in bold, on the front page....

Reminds me of my favourite mistake in the Argyllshire Advertiser while I was at the Courier... A headline mentioned a Public Meeting... but missed out the letter l!!! (Think about it...)

Seriously, whenever there are two similar words with different meanings the trick is to be aware of the risk of innocently confusing them and remembering to double check. Compliment and complement, for instance, and principal and principle.

One problem with modern production methods is that it can become easy to simply rely on the Spellchecker. Fine for typing mistakes but not for simply typing the wrong word.

Now to confess. The name captions at the bottom of the picture on Reporting Scotland and other BBC News programmes (astons) are typed up by the reporter along with instructions to the gallery about when they should be shown. Usually the programme producer or the assistant producer reads over them to look out for mistakes - I like to think that when I used to be the AP no mistakes got through but I'm sure that wasn't actually the case! However with late stories and on the BBC News Channel it sometimes simply isn't possible to do this so typing mistakes sometimes make it to air and are only spotted as they go out.

(In the good old days, there was actually a member of staff whose job was to type up the captions. When I did holiday relief work at STV 20 odd years ago, one of my duties was to type up the captions for trailers (eg TAGGART, Tuesday 9pm) on a bit of paper, take the list of captions to the Aston Operator and then make sure the operator typed them up correctly in the appropriate font. I can't pretend that I'm disappointed that technology has now cut out the middle man!)

bob618 wrote:Its just a pity they got the beaches mixed up too, its pretty obvious that Enid McMurchy is moaning about the access to Middle Beach and not Westport; as the cattle grids, narrow gates are at Clockeil and the land they have to access though to the beach is the ground which the golf club has right up to the quarry. Although I think there is a track down to the beach beside the quarry?

I am a bit annoyed to say the least that my name has been quoted on this forum without first consulting me as to what I have seemingly been moaning about !!and to which beaches I was reffering to.

To put you straight everyone in Scotland under The Scottish Outdoor Access Code has the right to be on most land and inland water providing they act responsibly.This includes Beaches.

Horse riders and carriage drivers can
now experience a new freedom to
access land in Scotland under the
Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
This establishes a statutory right of
non-motorised responsible access to
most land including moorland, forests,
farmland and canal banks, and even
open spaces in towns.
AND
Local authorities must produce, within three years of the legislation coming
into force, core path plans setting out their proposals for a system of paths –
called “core paths” – sufficient for the purpose of giving the public reasonable
access throughout their areas.

This is why the article in the local paper has been written.

I was not moaning I was just pointing out that there is no acces for Horses to get on to MIddle Beach AND Westport beach so they , the Journalist did not get it wrong .
At Westport beach there is only a kissing gate and at Middle Beach the gates beside the cattle grids are far too narrow for a horse to get through . Also the gate at the quarry is also quite narrow so is a problem as well.

All we "Horsey Folk " want is easy access to all beaches which would mean having a gate wide enough for our horses to get through.
So please dont shoot the messenger , namely the journalist who has written the article in the courior and just please write letters to the Editor to help us get access.

Also please excuse any spelling mistakes in this post

The post wasn't aimed at the rights of horses, dogs, pelicans or penguins, squids, octopus, jellyfish, moluscs, whelk pickers, walkers, runners, joggers, surfers, lovers, gay, hetero, bisexual, birds, lizards, reptiles or whatever/whoever has a right to be on the beach. It was aimed at the appalling standard of grammar.

Just realised------I forgot fish. 'mon the fish

Capital M surely?

Just out of interest, and not meaning to stray too far from the subject of the thread, but once they're on the beach, will the horse-riders pick up the horsey plop after them the way responsible dog owners pick up the doggy do? (Emphasis on responsible there, btw.)

gizmo wrote:Capital M surely?

Abbreviated so perhaps no? But my riposte is "Touche"