One of the fascinating ways this business has changed in the last few years is the greatly increased ability of citizens to take part in the discussion.
The truth is now every person with a phone, tablet or laptop is a publisher. My voice might be a little louder due to this platform, but it is hardly alone.
A lot of those newfound 'publishers' are part of another new wave of this new era of journalism. That would be a lot more give and take between those who deliver the information and those who consume it. Everything we publish online offers the public the ability to post comments, add information, or question what they are reading.
That includes telling us exactly what they think of what we write. And, of course, to point out the mistakes we make.
I assure you there are many of them.
It is the bane of anyone who edits their own copy. They're called typos. I make tons of them.
Readers like to point this out. They are 100 percent correct.
Yesterday I decided to engage in a bit of online dialog with a couple of readers who pointed out my latest typos in one of my blog posts.
I had hoped to simply offer my side of the argument, weak as it was.
But I quickly noticed a mean side to what the readers were saying. One gentleman suggested I take a remedial course in grammar and spelling at Delaware County Community College.
I replied with what I tell everyone. That in this new online world, it is not unusual, especially in this blog that I write in the early-morning hours, for there to be typos in my copy.
Speed kills. No one knows that better than I do. It also doesn't help that this copy does not get seen by a second set of eyes - the quickly fading industry standard - before it gets published online.
I even vowed to try to do better, slowing down and pledging to root out those pesky typos before they hit the online world.
But I was taken aback when one woman responded that she had never in all her life and all the places she has lived seen a journalist respond in such fashion. She accused me of bullying those posting comments.
I literally had to stop and take a deep breath. Is that what I had done? I simply was offering an honest - if not good enough - reason why those typos sometimes pop up in copy.
Then I apologized to her if she had taken offense. That certainly was not my intent.
The gentleman who had pointed out my foibles earlier responded to my explanation that I write the blog because I enjoy writing with a somewhat comment that he thought it was my "job."
Again, I hadn't really thought about it that way, but he's absolutely right. No, it's not the only thing I do, even at this hour of the morning. But my name is on it, so I need to own it, the mistakes as well. So once again I will endeavor to take my foot off the gas pedal, to slow down, give my blog a solid second read before publishing.
My guess is I will fail miserably.
It won't be the first time.
Every wonder why it's so hard to catch your own typos? This might explain it.
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