AIBU to expect the BBC to know how to spell?

[LemonKitten]

More and more I'm seeing mainstream media with mis-spellings and grammatical errors. I know that people hate the grammar / spelling police on forums and social media, but surely it's not a lot to expect an institution such as the BBC to do some spellchecking?

If it makes you feel any better, after the programme a producer will have had their arse handed to them over that. The graphic designers aren’t journalists but the producer who ordered the graphic signs it off

We all make mistakes

That is bad.
I notice absolute shockers in local papers, but I suppose it's more understandable, though no less objectionable.
They've tasked some poor sod to whack out a PowerPoint for their slot and not noticed the poor sod can't spell.

I agree with you OP.

I’m an engineer and we’re notorious for “doing numbers not words”, and it is true that engineers tend to have an aptitude for sums rather than written work. A few years ago, the journal of my professional body published a headline about “flood planes”. Made me cringe to the bottom of my KS1 SPAG boots.

I notice it all the time on the bbc running news tracker at the bottom. I’m surprised they don’t have a spell check as some basic words get spelt wrong.

Also I’ve noticed so many presenters use incorrect grammar when speaking and use words like “literally” to mean something abstract. I am in two minds about it as I think it’s good to have a mix of people from different backgrounds and around the country and there will be regional ways of speaking but on the other hand I’m from a working class area and I made the effort to improve on this and would do if communication was part of my job.

I keep seeing adverts offering a 'sneaky peak' (of a new range or whatever)

Our local council distributed hundreds of flyers recently for a local assembley - that word was in huge letters across the top. Spellchecker would have picked that up.

YANBU, I hate the SPAG pedants on MN with the intensity of a thousand suns, but this should have been been checked by the editors, no excuses.

@Pandaly

We all make mistakes

Yes, but this is why they employ staff to double check mistakes.

@pelosi

YANBU, I hate the SPAG pedants on MN with the intensity of a thousand suns, but this should have been been checked by the editors, no excuses.

Yep.

@Pandaly

We all make mistakes

If your job is writing, you shouldn’t make spelling mistakes.

The majority of editing software do not have spell check features, so I can see how this happens. However, that's exactly why they have editors. It's a shame that this sort of thing isn't picked up on!

Yanbu. It's dreadful.

Yes, but this is why they employ staff to double check mistakes.

What staff do you think they employ to double-check mistakes? This is a graphics mistake. There won’t be an editor involved.

Completely agree. YANBU to expect correct spelling in journalism. It throws doubt on the integrity of what they are saying imo

YANBU. It's important not to normalise these entirely avoidable errors.

Yes, but this is why they employ staff to double check mistakes.
Thousands of such staff across the media industry have been made redundant and the rest are leaving in droves because salaries and freelancer day rates haven’t increased in 20 years. No one values sub-editing and proofreading.

There’s every chance the copy for that graphic was supplied correctly to the designer, who then typed it in instead of copy-pasting, and no one had the time to check it before live. A large part of any sub-editor’s day is wasted on cursing the art department. And vice versa.

YANBU

@daisypond

Yes, but this is why they employ staff to double check mistakes.

What staff do you think they employ to double-check mistakes? This is a graphics mistake. There won’t be an editor involved.

Someone will have told the graphic designer what to write. Presumably a journalist...

There should also then be a final quality check before it's aired.

Yes, but this is why they employ staff to double check mistakes. ah I didn't know that. In my job it's the person who checks it and doesn't spot the error that gets in most trouble.

@EishetChayil

To be honest, I'm not surprised. They also don't know what a woman is, so they can't be expected to grasp the rules of spelling.

I don't think the person who makes the graphics gets any say on what the content is but I may be wrong.

@EishetChayil

To be honest, I'm not surprised. They also don't know what a woman is, so they can't be expected to grasp the rules of spelling.

This

I got very annoyed at Dan Walker yesterday morning who referred several times to Prostrate Cancer.

I don't think rubbish spelling has any correlation with views on "what is a woman". But I may be wrong.