Truemors
Headline Policy Clarification - Staff Rewrites
There is some confusion about headlines at NowPublic that we feel it is important to clear up. As a general rule we try to work with members to have them make changes to their own headlines when it is needed but this is not always possible or feasible. We do not expect members to be online and available to the editorial team at all hours and there are certain situations that require a headline to be changed right away.
While we do not change headlines for creative reasons we do reserve the right to make changes under the following circumstances:
- A headline that is placed in all capital letters will be changed to title case
- Spelling and punctuation errors within a headline will be corrected
- If there are factual inaccuracies or a substantial change in the facts as presented in the original headline a correction/update will be made
- Words for which we have a flag (example: eyewitness, or breaking) will be removed as will terms like “update” or “exclusive” if they are found to be inaccurate or misleading
When changes are made to a headline efforts will be made to keep it as true to the original as possible. We are not trying to change the creative expression in your headlines, only to ensure consistency in how they appear on the site (all caps) and correct errors (factual and grammatical).
On a further note: Hate speech of any kind will not be tolerated, even if it only exists in the headline and is not at all in the body of a post. Any headline that in anyway can be mistaken as hate speech, or that by itself violates the Code of Conduct, even if attached to a post that is not hate speech, will be changed and/or may see the post in question being flagged “Needs Improvement.”
As always the editorial team invites your feedback and questions on this policy.
at 23:38 on September 6th, 2009
thank you for the information! Is there any specific way that we can have photos up for other to use? I bet this has probably been addressed, but i have not found the forum yet.
at 12:05 on September 9th, 2009
A great explanation, but sadly something that staff doesn't always pick up on. But it should.
I don't log on that often, but in the past week or so there have been stories informing us of a "vitcim" (it's still there simply try a search) and just yesterday a world leader (hint - Forbes' most powerful woman in the world for the fourth year running) excruciatingly referred to in the headline and first sentence by the wrong first name.
The latter was an appalling and embarrassing mistake (for the site) as it was on the front page for a full five hours before being corrected (I assume by the person who posted it initially).
There had been at least one member of staff on duty while the post (plus mistake) was there for all the world to see in its horrible glory.
I know there aren't many of you guys around, but these sorts of errors shouldn't be allowed to slip through unnoticed.
Had it been "Sylvain" Harper or "Bertrand" Obama, appropriate action would surely have been taken. Well at least I would hope so.
Anyway please don't forget that there's a big world outside of North America.
Thanks.
at 14:02 on September 9th, 2009
Hello there,
Please feel free to message that member of staff and point out any errors you may see while on the site, I'm sure they will welcome the help. As you said, there's only a few of us and thousands of members so a little help will always be appreciated.
But wait... there's a world outside North America!??
Quote from #2: Bavard at 12:05 on September 9th, 2009
at 14:02 on September 9th, 2009
Quote from #2: Bavard at 12:05 on September 9th, 2009
I have to say I find it more than a little annoying that it should be suggested staff is incompetent because of a spelling error in a headline. When we see errors we attempt to have the person who posted incorrectly make a fix first, this is a long standing matter of courtesy. Furthermore, we did have technical issues that the general membership was unaware of last week and the week before making homepage and other updates difficult. I think that your assertion that staff in any way dropped the ball here is a little presumptuous in a very negative way.
at 10:42 on September 11th, 2009
Quote from #4: Tina Kells at 14:02 on September 9th, 2009
So you're saying it's acceptable to have "Andrea" Merkel as a front page story for five hours and currently "Venzuela".
Tina, you guys get paid to edit the site. Such mistakes should be picked up as soon as possible and rectified. Surely you can't disagree with that.
at 10:58 on September 11th, 2009
Quote from #5: Bavard at 10:42 on September 11th, 2009
I don't disagree with that at all, I take exception to YOUR characterization of this as a sign of incompetence in staff. You know from your past with the site that things like this are lose/lose for staff, and your comments here only prove that. If we change it without contacting the member first, a staff-lynch mob assembles in the forums. Apparently now if we don't do it we can expect the same reaction. Frankly, as a former GE I find your rush to judgement disappointing. We try to work with members. Only after attempts to work with them have failed will we step in and make changes. And we are not paid to EDIT, we are paid to monitor and enforce guidelines, there is a difference. Also, as I stated, technical issues during the time frame of your complaint made updates of any kind impossible at times. Had you a more keen eye you would have even noticed that these issues resulted in the homepage often being a day off for a few hours at a time while we worked to fix the issue. Another thing you have conveniently ignored in your complaint is the fact that the site is not staffed 24/7 and you are in a different time zone.
Please treat staff with a little respect. We do our best with the resources we have.
at 12:04 on September 11th, 2009
Attack is not always the best means of defence and I'm sure you'll agree not a way of conducting a discussion in an open forum
And it's not necessary to take offence or capitalise when errors are pointed out. Perhaps contributors could also expect a little more respect. Doesn't the code of conduct work both ways?
Anyway, enough already. I had thought about contributing stories to the site, but from your reaction realise that I'm probably better served slipping away from the site quietly.
Farewell
Quote from #6: Tina Kells at 10:58 on September 11th, 2009
at 12:14 on September 11th, 2009
Quote from #7: Bavard at 12:04 on September 11th, 2009
Your comments were not presented to facilitate any "discussion" and your attacks were unwarranted from the get go. Please don't continue to pretend you are new to NP.
at 03:48 on October 15th, 2009
at 08:52 on October 15th, 2009
Quote from #8: Tina Kells at 12:14 on September 11th, 2009
I'm the one that made the error in Merkel's first name. It was an honest mistake. As soon as someone drew my attention to it in the thread I changed it. Even thought the article said Andrea the last name was correct.
I don.t think that it took away from the article presented. As I said it was corrected as soon as I was made aware of it.
Readers also have the ability to PM the author when this happens. So you can either PM a staff member, put it in the thread or PM the author.