| I’ve found myself asking this question more often than I probably should: do journalists still proofread their articles before hitting publish, or has that quietly slipped out of the job description? I don’t mean this as a grand rant from a high horse, and I’m not pretending I’ve never made a typo in my life. But there’s something uniquely jarring about spotting a glaring spelling mistake or an awkward, half-finished sentence in what’s meant to be a professional news article. Not a rushed tweet. Not a forum post dashed off at midnight. A published piece of journalism, sitting there with the confidence of authority, yet tripping over its own shoelaces. And yes, I know the stock responses. “Who cares?” “You know what they meant.” “Language evolves.” All true, to a point. But I still care. Quite a lot, actually. Because writing isn’t just about transmitting information; it’s about trust. When the words are careless, the thinking behind them starts to feel careless too. What makes it stranger is that we’re supposedly living in the golden age of writing tools. Spellcheckers that underline mistakes in real time. Grammar assistants that flag clunky phrasing. AI tools that can rewrite paragraphs on demand. You’d think this would mean fewer errors, not more. Yet here we are, skimming articles peppered with missing words, misused homophones, and the occasional sentence that clearly escaped before it was fully cooked. It’s hard not to suspect that speed is the real culprit. News now moves at a relentless pace, and the pressure to be first seems to outweigh the pressure to be right — or at least right on the page. Publish now, tidy later. Except “later” often never comes, because the next story is already shouting for attention. There’s also the quiet disappearance of the unsung heroes: sub-editors and proofreaders. The people whose entire job was to notice the things everyone else missed. When budgets shrink, those roles are often the first to go, and the responsibility slides onto journalists who are already juggling research, writing, updates, headlines, social media, and analytics. Self-editing under time pressure is a losing game. The brain sees what it meant to write, not what’s actually there. What I find most frustrating isn’t the odd typo — that’s human — but the sense that standards themselves have shifted. There’s an unspoken shrug in some corners of online publishing, as if precision is optional, a nice-to-have rather than part of the craft. And once that attitude creeps in, it shows. Repeatedly. For readers who enjoy language — who notice rhythm, clarity, and care — these mistakes are like grit in your teeth. You can still chew, but it’s unpleasant, and it makes you wonder how much attention was paid elsewhere. If the spelling is sloppy, was the fact-checking rushed, too? Fair or not, that’s the association our minds make. I don’t think this is nostalgia talking. I’m not yearning for some mythical past where every article was perfect. I’m just noticing that something valuable has been deprioritised. Writing used to carry a sense of finality and responsibility. Once it was out there, it represented you. Now it often feels more like a draft that accidentally went public. Maybe this is simply the cost of constant updates and infinite content. Maybe we really are expected to lower our expectations and scroll on. But I can’t quite bring myself to do that. Caring about words isn’t elitist, and it isn’t pointless. It’s a way of caring about thought itself. So yes, I’ll probably keep wincing at misplaced apostrophes and missing words in news articles. Not because I enjoy complaining, but because I still believe that how we say things matters — especially when we’re asking people to believe what we say. |
Do Journalists Still Proofread?
Earthly Comforts 
Unless it is egregious I rarely notice errors in news articles because I just skim them – my blood pressure can’t take close reading. And I rather expect them, to be honest. But I have been noticing the lack of proofreading and copy editing in novels for more years than I care to admit. I once sent an email to an author’s publisher and received a response to say that proofreading was a thing of the past and now they had ‘content’ editors and that was a good 10 years ago.
I get your point tho but I don’t think anyone cares because most people don’t know the difference (sad to say).
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I notice it too and it irritates me. I know that my spelling and grammar is not perfect. However, I expect better from professional news outlets. I don’t expect to see silly mistakes but obviously human proofreaders have gone the way of the dodo.
It is very sad that people don’t seem to care about proper English anymore.
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You can find typos and mistakes in published books too.
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I notice it too, Rory. When I see my own mistakes, I cringe. It seems mistakes are more prevalent lately, or maybe it’s me being picky. In my opinion, writers should take pride in their work, especially when its out there for the whole world to view.
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