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vsergu (505)

vsergu
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Journal of vsergu (505)

Monday June 10, 2002
12:29 PM

The decline of copyediting

[ #5548 ]

From The Washington Post :

The Bush administration is developing a new strategic doctrine that moves away from the Cold War pillars of containment and deterrence toward a policy that supports preemptive attacks against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

What exactly does that last prepositional phrase modify?


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  • Copyediting (Score:3, Funny)

    by ziggy (25) on 2002.06.10 12:57 (#9411) Journal
    No, that last prepositional phrase was copyedited. It was left intentionally vague as to help the Post say it scooped the story, no matter what scenario plays out.

    It's double secret copy editing on steroids, the next generation.

  • Copyediting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by TorgoX (1933) <sburkeNO@SPAMcpan.org> on 2002.06.10 15:52 (#9421) Homepage Journal
    It's not that readers don't care anymore; it's that nobody thinks that the readers care anymore. Everyone I know who's still in print journalism knows that readership numbers are continuing to plummet (apparently, people born after 1960 who read a newspaper are about as big a demographic as black people who ski), and they figure that nothing can be done about it. Their attitude is that most remaining readers are halfwits or loons anyway, so they're no more likely to note bad editing in an article, as to notice whether it rhymes when translated into Sanskrit.

    Besides, quibbling about commas or grammar gives everyone flashbacks to their high-school English teachers. To quote one of the Fashion Club kids on Daria: "Ewwwww... a memory!"

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