Giving props

Today (Saturday) was one of the most difficult days I've ever seen on the copy desk.  When I came in to begin working on wire pages, I found that there was no Wausau masterlink to make pages to begin with.  I wasn't able to start doing wire pages until 4 p.m.  Over the course of the day, we also found that our inability to access the budget Web site was apparently the result of a power outage in Appleton, and we later found that none of our stories were making it from NewsEdit to the respective Web sites, and not all of the pages being released from approval were making it to the printer and the archives.

The day could've been a real disaster, but our talented staff kept its cool, buckled down and still put out a darn fine paper despite our cumulative technical difficulties.  So I have to publicly give major credit to Cathy and Jen Straub for getting a Wausau masterlink made so we could do Wausau pages, and Elizabeth and Tim for their great pagination and proofreading abilities in creating quality pages and getting them out the door in a timely manner.  Props also to Elizabeth, Tim and Dan for manually inputting all of the articles with correct photos and taxonomy into Saxotech, which is, in my opinion, one of the most irritating things in the world when articles won't send.  Kudos all around to everybody who helped us out.  Today could have been a really awful day, but thanks to everybody it was only mildly irritating.

(Incidentally, how exactly does a Wausau masterlink not get made?)

Proofreading backup

From Mark T.

Thought I would post our new proofreading protocols here in case someone loses the e-mail and can't remember what he or she was supposed to do. Here it is:

1. The page designer will visually scan all display type — headlines, captions, breakouts and refers — before putting pages out for proofreading. The designer will provide the first set of initials to signal this has been done.

2. Proofreaders must place a check mark next to each element of the page to indicate that it has been checked for accuracy. This includes separate check marks for headlines, folios, stories, breakouts, refers, taglines, captions, photos, column sigs, etc. All names in captions and breakouts will be checked against the name spellings in accompanying stories.

3. The person making corrections must review the PDF after corrections are made or ensure someone else has reviewed the PDF — to scan display type and ensure all stories, captions and breakouts end — and initial the page .

4. All proofs after corrections will be placed in the baskets between Kristy’s desk and the sports department.

5. In addition, all photo captions will be entered first in NewsEdit, where they will be cq’d and spell-checked before being copied to the DC5. Whenever possible, a reporter or editor will review the caption before it’s placed with the photo in the system.

To recap: The first version of each page will be initialed by the designer and the proofreader. Each element of the page will be checked off by the proofreader. Each second version will be initialed by the corrector and whomever double-checks the corrections.

Photo captions will be written and checked in NewsEdit before entered with the photos in the system.

Kerry Lechner will oversee this process for the four daily editions to ensure that all steps are followed consistently, on every page, every night. Sirena Mankins will continue to oversee the quality control of Everest Herald pages.

RIP George Carlin

George Carlin, the famously irreverent comedian, has just died Sunday night at 71.  His most famous stand-up routine was "The Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV."

I won't reprint the words here for propriety's sake, but in keeping with the theme, what are some things (words or otherwise) you have been surprised to see appear in a newspaper?

New format, new features

I've finally taken the time to update some of the features on this blog. As you can see, we have a new, more colorful format; Sluggy the Copy Desk Slug, Brian's creation, now graces the right side of the blog; and you can now e-mail posts to whoever you want.

I've also finally looked into how everybody can post using their own ID so they don't need to sign their name at the bottom. All you need is a Google account. Send me the name of your Google e-mail and I will add your name to the Permissions list in the blog (you'll receive an e-mail asking to confirm; you'll have to sign in using your Google e-mail) and then you can write under your own name.

(Side note: I'm having trouble now publishing new posts in Safari where I didn't before. My fonts turn into gibberish and the html gets kind of wacky, so it's probably better to post in Firefox instead now.)

On the record

It may seem obvious, but if you're proofing Wausau records and come across something odd, a good place to look first for answers would be Jan or Cathy's desk.

On Saturday, Liz noticed that Wausau had the same child being born in both Saint Clare's and Saint Joseph's. I called Saint Clare's, got transferred around, and eventually learned that the kid hadn't been born there. I called Saint Joseph's to verify, got the runaround for a bit, and then was told that the hospital wouldn't release that information to me without a written information request etc. etc. etc.

After the whole 15-minute ordeal with no perfect answer, I wandered over to Cathy's desk and found, sitting right on top of other stuff, a stack of signed consent forms from the hospitals, and in 15 seconds, I found the one I was looking for.

D'oh.

Ask them first if they're there, but their desks are a good place to go for Wausau records answers.

-Benton

High noon

Something that's come up a lot lately, especially in obits and sometimes in stories:

12 noon

According to AP, it should be noon, do not put a 12 in front of it. It's redundant.

--Kristy

Fun with homonyms

The difference between "diffuse" and "defuse" seemed to cause confusion this week — probably because these words rarely come up.

Which action would you rather have the The Marathon County Bomb Squad take with bombs?

Diffuse: to pour, spread out, or disperse in every direction; spread or scatter widely

Defuse: to remove the fuse or fuze from (a bomb or other explosive device)

(Source: Webster's New World College Dictionary)

— Elizabeth