If you can't say anyting nice, you probably shouldn't publish it. from 08-14-2008

I don't exactly consider myself a journalist. Yes, I have had articles published in "real" newspapers, but I'm hardly an authority on the subject. It is a little more than disconcerting, however, when large media outlets such as Reuters and the Associated Press publish crap. My latest dissappointment came today when I read Yahoo's article about the respective ages of the Chinese womens' gymnastics team. Everyone knows they look like they're 14 and it is probably only a matter of time until they are busted. Anyway, I digress.
The article in question is "State-Media Story Fuels Questions on Gymnast's Age" By John Leicester, Associated Press Writer. It had been posted nearly NINE HOURS when I read it, and there were so many errors that it was irritating to read it. My favorite line in particular: "Gymnasts have to be 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible for the games. He's birthday is listed as Jan. 1, 1992." Aside from that, the gymnasts seem to be gender-bending as pronouns get shifted several times between "he" and "she" when refering to obviously female subjects.
My first inclination was to assume that whoever wrote the article was no master of the English language, but the guy's name is JOHN LEICESTER. And even if he doesn't proofread his own articles, his editor should have. Or Yahoo. It I know this is only a grammatical offence, but COME ON! This is a huge news source. Nothing like that would have ever made it past any editor I've had. Makes you wonder about the state of news beyond the false reports, reporter bias, and the other factual inaccuracies we've endured. Check your news.



http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news?slug=ap-gym--underagechinese&prov=ap&type=lgns