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More picking on the DG

I can’t keep quiet anymore

This has been bothering me the last few weeks and today was the last straw. I hesitated to criticize because I’ve worked in the publishing and design industry for a while now and I know that mistakes happens, edits get missed and that’s life. I’ve certainly had my own screw ups. But The Daily Gleaner newspaper is driving me CRAZY. And maybe it’s more noticeable since the Telegraph Journal released their new clean design. The Daily Gleaner lately looks like it was designed on microsoft publisher by an amateur. While there is consistency with the main section fonts. The headline fonts are all over the place. Sometimes fancy, scripty fonts that look cheesy or embossed fonts, it’s a guessing game as to what you might see. Photos are often blurry because of misregistration (a process on the press that affects colour).

So the last straw was reading the paper today and seeing an article with a nice big header called:

“The War Bides”

Yes, the article fortunately mentioned all through it, the war brides, but still, a major headline got missed in the editing.

I subscribe to The Daily Gleaner because I like knowing what is happening locally. I suspect that’s why many do. It’s really a secondary accessory to a larger paper, in that just reading the DG alone is not enough. But by just a few minor changes, they could really take the notch up a bit with the look and layout of the paper.

Posted by By: lisa | 2006/11/15 | Life - design | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

10 Responses to I can’t keep quiet anymore »»


Comments

  1. Scott
    Comment by Scott | 2006/11/15 at 17:23:10

    You’re right Lisa, the editing [not only in the Daily Gleaner] but in all three major New Brunswick English [news] dailies is atrocious. They are cash strapped and their editors are underpaid and lack motivation. As for missing the misspelled title? There is absolutely no excuse for that.

  2. Andrea
    Comment by Andrea | 2006/11/15 at 19:42:52

    They don’t actually edit any more. Ron’s brother used to work for the Telegraph Jurnal, and they automated it (and a whole bunch of other things).

    The more paper in the province that get taken over by the one conglomerate, the more pervasive the problem. Same thing happened here - the quality went down really fast (and the content was never that good IMO. ) LOL.

  3. Lisa R
    Comment by Lisa R | 2006/11/15 at 19:46:50

    No way! I can’t even imagine that, wow. Someone would HAVE to actually edit it at some point. We all know that spell checks aren’t going to catch when a real word is used, ie. bide instead of bride.

  4. SkylarKD
    Comment by SkylarKD | 2006/11/15 at 19:53:36

    I also get a kick out of the photos in the Gleaner. Half of them aren’t even local!

    For instance: ‘Young girl in Minnesota eats ice cream cone’

    Umm… good for her… cute kid… but what the hell?! Does that photo need to be in the Fredericton paper, let alone taking up 1/4 of the page? I have to believe there’s more going on in the world that they could fill the page with.

  5. Lisa R
    Comment by Lisa R | 2006/11/15 at 19:57:27

    LOL, SkylarKD, that is so true. I have seen that happen many times. Again from a publishing point of view, I understand using existing photos and copy at times, but how hard would it be to get a local photo, lol.

  6. Spinks
    Comment by Spinks | 2006/11/15 at 21:20:37

    I don’t think the Irvings really care to be honest. The Fredericton paper has become a vehicle for ads and content from the TJ and the T and T. The DG is understaffed BUT making money so there’s no incentive. There’s good reason there are so many bloggers in the Fredericton area. It’s the only way to get more news and hear other voices.

  7. Brikwall
    Comment by Brikwall | 2006/11/16 at 01:00:25

    I don’t give a rat’s ass how amateurish the papers appear (their design or presentation). I simply wish they would become more professional in their reporting. I’m tired of seeing entertainment news on the front page; I’m tired of serious topics being written in a light, humourous manner as if a joke or two can make up for a total lack of proper, journalistic coverage and style; I’m tired of continual contradictions between editorials and news coverage, as well as between articles written in separate issues (as if the readers don’t pick up on this stuff); I’m tired of biased reporting; I’m tired of poorly researched articles; and I’m definitely tired of seeing important stories either not covered at all or half-covered and relegated to the back sections.

    Cheesy fonts and blurry photos are, in my opinion, issues that are relatively minor and easy to fix. The real task for our “local rags” is to provide accurate, professional and unbiased journalism. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think we’ll see that anytime soon.

  8. Lisa R
    Comment by Lisa R | 2006/11/16 at 01:09:39

    Dan, you’re definitely right about the editorial content aspect of things. The truth is there’s a lot of issues that need to be discussed and I could have picked any one of the items you mentioned or like Andrea mentioned the fact they are all owned by Brunswick News (Irving). I think that unfortunately because the editorial content is so poor, that at least for me, I tend to ignore the “news” and just zone in on the local current events. I think that because cheesy fonts and blurry photos and certainly spelling mistakes are so easy to fix, that if they can’t even do the bare minimum, then how the heck can we expect them to provide real editorial content. I think it shows that it’s failing all over the place. And no, unfortunately, I highly doubt we’ll see it anytime soon.

  9. Kellie
    Comment by Kellie | 2006/11/16 at 13:23:39

    I always thought the Gleaner didn’t have any reporters on staff. Honestly, I haven’t picked one up in years, but an ex-boyfriend’s parents used to have a subscription and I would read it at their house. It seemed like everything was off the wire. Not a local by-line in sight. I couldn’t believe it. From the sounds of things, it doesn’t seem like it’s any better today.

  10. Mary Ann
    Comment by Mary Ann | 2006/11/16 at 21:04:25

    I’m glad to see there are more people out there who think the “local rag” is useless. I subscribe but I sometimes wonder why. Who are I kidding??? I’m afraid I’m going to miss something. Thats why!! I noticed the headline about the “war bides” and it remembered a few years ago when the price of milk went up. On the front page, in large bold print was “Mike Price jumps”. I often wonder if there was a Mike Price that lived in Fredericton and if he took a ribbing from that one. At my age, I notice more and more of the people I know are showing up in the obituary column. When my name shows up there, that is when I am going to stop reading the paper. :)


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