The Evolving Newsroom

Wow. That was quick. I noticed a typo earlier on a BBC story and decided to see if they had a way for readers to contact them about howlers. Sure enough, click on Contact Us, then Website, and you get this:




So I sent in the typos. Sure enough, 5 minutes later when I checked the story again, the changes had been made. Deeply impressive. Even more impressive was that I'd mistakenly referred to the story as being about Argentina when I meant Venezuela, and they were kind enough not to point that out to me. Admirable restraint.

The process could be a bit simpler - you have to open the story in a second browser tab so you can copy and paste the typos and the story's url into the feedback form - although no doubt there are plenty of pointy-headed typo-spotters like me who will be sufficiently motivated to do so. It would be better, though, if they could make the feedback form automatically open in a new window.

I've written about this before and have no doubt I'll do so again. All news sites should make it easy for their users (and fellow staff) to send in typos and mistakes they've spotted. Users get to feel involved and valued and you get free proofreading. It's a no-brainer.

It's also not that difficult to do. Just set up a group email address which all relevant web editors are copied into. Duty web editors take responsibility for monitoring and responding to feedback on their section. Simple but effective. Or am I missing something?

It's not uncommon to spot typos online. I see them everyday on news and other websites (including my own). It's a reality of web publishing - you move faster, push copy through fewer pairs of hands and relax in the knowledge that it takes two ticks to fix typos once they've been spotted (unlike the poor old newspaper which has to live with its mistakes glaring back at it from library reading rooms for ever more).

And clearly I'm not alone. I see blog posts cropping up complaining about typos in headlines on news sites more and more. Here's one from a couple of days ago - a typo on nzherald.co.nz spotted and blogged by Snice.

I think Snice is a little harsh in his blog post, but on the upside - he wants to help. He tried to get in touch with herald.co.nz to help them fix their site but got no reply.

I've tried to do the same but haven't been able to find a suitable address.

Wouldn't it be a good idea for news sites to have a way for the public to point out typos and other errors? Imagine it. All you have to do is set up an email address, promote it, make sure your duty web editors are copied into it, and hey presto, free proofreading.