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From the sidelines

Our, as in newspaper people, profession is unlike any other.

While working for a private company, our work is in the public eye for all to see.

When we write something great, being noticed by the public is positive. However, when we make a mistake, there's nothing worse than knowing it's visible to everyone who opens up the newspaper.

Even the smallest mistake, noticed by only the sharpest of readers, drives me and my colleagues up the wall.

The thing about the small mistakes that is so frustrating is the fact it could have, and should have, been avoided.

Recently I misspelled a person's last name and another person's first and last name — in the same cutline!

That's inexcusable.

Some double-checking on my part, even if the name was John Smith, could have prevented the errors.

Big deal, some people say, it's just a name.

Of course those are the ones who never have had their names spelled or pronounced incorrectly.

A person's name, no matter how simple or confusing, is their identity, and to misspell it strips them of that, and wreaks of poor reporting.

During my four-plus years of reporting at the Record and the University Daily Kansan, I've misspelled numerous names and every time it drives me crazy. I obsess about the error sometimes more than the person whose name was incorrect.

Readers however, trust reporters to print the truth, and nothing less should be reported.

We're human, and an error-less paper each week is impossible.

But, I'm pledging right now to do my best to get the names of the people in my stories correct.

Of course it's easier to say that than to do it, but I just need to remember that I was once listed as M. Morris in a summer baseball tournament program, and it irked me to no end.

So, I would just like to say sorry to Dani, Dena, Garry, Tim, Duane, Erica, Caroline, Valeree, and Doug, (you know who you are) and all the others whose first or last names I have either left off the list, or did not realize I spelled wrong.

I share your pain.

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