Monday, February 16, 2009

Not so helpful call

We are just human & humans make mistakes. It is unfortunate when misspellings and typos show up in the news. Several eyes look over the scripts and graphics to check for errors and to make corrections. Sometimes, the mistakes just get by us and end up on the air. My recent favorite was in a story listing the symptoms of e-coli where the graphic said STOMACH CRAPS instead of STOMACH CRAMPS. (Seriously. I couldn't make that up.)

I expect people to call to correct us. Some people do it out of wanting to help. Others, and I can tell by their tone, are calling to gloat like this call is proving he/she is smarter than the media. Some like to call and joke with us. I don't think I have ever talked to so many giggling men as I did the day CRAPS instead of CRAMPS aired. They thought it was hilarious. A couple of laughing women called too. One woman did call absolutely enraged that had aired and threatened to call the FCC.

Then there are the calls like I took tonight. All I can say is, don't you have anything better to do with you're time? You're not funny at all.

8:28pm
Me: CBS4 News this is Misty

Caller: Yes, I'm watching your 6:30 news that I recorded and at 6:53 you aired a story on debt and then you went to a story on the Aspen budget. I'm looking at a graphic with the word college and it's spelled c-o-l-e-g-e. I'm just wondering if there's a new spelling for college or if that's just a mistake.

Me: Sir, that's obviously a mistake. I will ch...

Caller: CLICK

If he'd let me finish I would have told him that I would check the graphic and fix it if it was incorrect. This is exactly what I did. However, the graphic I found is this: Colorado Mountain College. Which is not wrong. To be thorough I checked the entire 6pm newscast for every script and graphic with the word college. Not once did I find a mistake.

The time I spent finding a non-existent mistake, could have been used to update twitter with the latest excitement on the desk...

2 comments:

  1. I just love when people call with comments and then hang up before i can explain anything to them. I'm really learning how rude some people can be.

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  2. Oh so TRUE. During the 10 last night I took a call from the woman who wanted to tell me how much the local news suck and therefore I suck. She seriously said that and then hung up. Were these people not raised with any manners?

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