Calling all copy editors: There's a newspaper in Vermont that needs a new one.
Brattleboro, Vt.'s, local paper, the Brattleboro Reformer, made headlines Thursday in more ways than one after it printed a front page headline with a conspicuous typo. To make matters worse, the error was then repeated two other times.
The Thursday, Dec. 27 edition of the Reformer lead with the headline, "Let is snow, let is snow, let is snow" -- an error that was pointed out by Gawker's Emma Carmichael, who hails from the small, northern town.
The error was also noticed by Jim Romenesko, a media blogger and former Poynter Institute employee, who posted a picture of the newspaper with the caption, "How the heck did this happen?"
The Reformer's executive editor, Tom D'Errico, responded quickly, posting an apology for the error on the same day the slip-up occurred.
Writing that there was no real excuse for the error, D'Errico then went on to detail many, including holiday understaffing, an earlier nightly deadline and technical issues.
He continued:
Again, none of this is an excuse. There is no excuse. But, I take a little comfort in the above-linked Romenesko post that shows human error is not Reformer-specific. When people are tasked with several stories or pages a day six days a week, usually rushing to get the work done, it's clear mistakes will be made. The challenge is making sure few, if any, make it on the air, in print, or online.