{"id":3785,"date":"2017-03-21T18:20:22","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T08:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=3785"},"modified":"2017-12-09T21:10:37","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T11:10:37","slug":"the-afr-has-lost-its-dictionary-and-its-style-guide-and-its-subs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=3785","title":{"rendered":"The AFR has lost its dictionary. And its style guide. And its subs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Financial Review claims to be one of the better newspapers in the country. But as is apparent from what follows, the paper lacks sub-editors who can spell or who have any knowledge of grammar.<\/p>\n<p>Fairfax Media has an almighty big style guide, but the AFR seems to have thrown it out, along with any competent sub-editors.<\/p>\n<p>All this is taken from a single article titled &#8220;Malcolm Turnbull wins support to water down race hate laws&#8221; on 21 March. Just imagine how many screw-ups there are in the entire paper. And the paper still complains it is losing readers. Guess why?<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_one.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_one-300x59.jpg\" alt=\"afr_one\" width=\"450\" height=\"59\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3788\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In &#8220;an&#8221; move? Surely that should be &#8220;in a move&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_two.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_two-300x46.jpg\" alt=\"afr_two\" width=\"450\" height=\"46\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3790\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the strengthen&#8221;?  That &#8220;the&#8221; is dangling there like a limp dick in the breeze. Cut it off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_three.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_three-300x26.jpg\" alt=\"afr_three\" width=\"450\" height=\"26\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3791\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Portrayed&#8221; is Mrs Malaprop at her brilliant best. The word is &#8220;betrayed&#8221;. And &#8220;ths&#8221; one takes it is &#8220;this&#8221; with the vowel dropped en route to the screen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_four.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_four-300x38.jpg\" alt=\"afr_four\" width=\"450\" height=\"38\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3792\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pretense, not pretence. And yanked, not ranked.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_left_out.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_left_out-300x24.jpg\" alt=\"afr_left_out\" width=\"450\" height=\"24\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3827\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Will? No, it should be would. Usage is always hypothetical and possible.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_five.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_five-300x36.jpg\" alt=\"afr_five\" width=\"450\" height=\"36\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3794\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The legislation&#8221; is singular. It cannot be later described as &#8220;they are&#8221;. The paragraph should read: &#8220;The legislation for the change will be introduced into the Senate first and has little prospect of passing because <strong>it is<\/strong> opposed by Labor, the Greens and NIck Xenophon.&#8221; And it&#8217;s Nick, not NIck.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_six.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_six-300x35.jpg\" alt=\"afr_six\" width=\"450\" height=\"35\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3795\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Outbursts of anger. Not outburst. Plural as opposed to singular. Got it?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_abetz.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_abetz-300x11.jpg\" alt=\"afr_abetz\" width=\"450\" height=\"11\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3796\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Not sure how Abetz is being described in the plural. Or did somebody include the obnoxious Cory Bernardi without naming him?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_seven.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_seven-300x22.jpg\" alt=\"afr_seven\" width=\"450\" height=\"22\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3797\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shadow minister for citizenship and what??? And surely, one uses past tense in sentences like this &#8211; had not has?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_eight.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_eight-300x20.jpg\" alt=\"afr_eight\" width=\"450\" height=\"20\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3799\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here, the word &#8220;to&#8221; seems to have gone AWOL.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_nine.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_nine-300x33.jpg\" alt=\"afr_nine\" width=\"450\" height=\"33\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3821\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I know Steve Ciobo is a dunce, but should one leave even his sentences dangling like this?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_ten.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/afr_ten-300x22.jpg\" alt=\"afr_ten\" width=\"450\" height=\"22\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3810\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A comma in time saves nine. Just saying.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of StatCounter Code for Default Guide --><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\nvar sc_project=2720500; \nvar sc_invisible=1; \nvar sc_security=\"d25d8712\"; \nvar scJsHost = ((\"https:\" == document.location.protocol) ?\n\"https:\/\/secure.\" : \"http:\/\/www.\");\ndocument.write(\"<sc\"+\"ript type='text\/javascript' src='\" +\nscJsHost+\n\"statcounter.com\/counter\/counter.js'><\/\"+\"script>\");\n<\/script><br \/>\n<noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"statcounter\"><a title=\"Web Analytics\"\nhref=\"http:\/\/statcounter.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img\nclass=\"statcounter\"\nsrc=\"\/\/c.statcounter.com\/2720500\/0\/d25d8712\/1\/\" alt=\"Web\nAnalytics\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/noscript><br \/>\n<!-- End of StatCounter Code for Default Guide --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Financial Review claims to be one of the better newspapers in the country. But as is apparent from what follows, the paper lacks sub-editors who can spell or who have any knowledge of grammar. Fairfax Media has an almighty big style guide, but the AFR seems to have thrown it out, along with &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=3785\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The AFR has lost its dictionary. And its style guide. And its subs&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","category-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5620,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=5620","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":0},"title":"ABC and the AFR begin the rehabilitation of Mike Pezzullo","date":"May 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many politicians and public servants in Australia enjoy an incestuous relationship with journalists and have long done so. Such relationships often leave the journalist compromised when some hidden detail about an interview or story is exposed, but those in this category do not mind being outed as long as they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ABC&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sams-blog.com\/wp-content\/sams-blog.com\/2024\/05\/pezzullo_wide.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4462,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=4462","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":1},"title":"Twenty-five years after Oslo, there is nothing to show for it","date":"September 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Thursday, September 13, marked 25 years since Israel took the (then) radical step of recognising the Palestine Liberation Organisation in a Norway-brokered deal that many thought would ultimately lead to a two-state solution in the Middle East and bring an end to one of the most bitter feuds between nations.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;America&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4877,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=4877","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":2},"title":"All the news (apart from the Middle East issue) that's fit to print","date":"April 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Saturday Paper \u2014 as its name implies \u2014 is a weekend newspaper published from Melbourne, Australia. Given this, it rarely has any real news, but some of the features are well-written. There is a column called Gadfly (again the name would indicate what it is about) which is extremely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Australia&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5144,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=5144","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":3},"title":"Important news from The Age. It's the sainted editor speaking...","date":"April 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"An indication of how far The Age, a tabloid newspaper that is published from Melbourne, has sunk can be seen from a letter to subscribers [note, not those who read it free] from the editor, Gay Alcorn on 2 April. Perhaps to imbue said document with importance, Alcorn chose to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ABC&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2999,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=2999","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":4},"title":"Writing the occasional article doesn't make one a journalist","date":"January 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"THE explosion of online publishing has seen a breed that knows little or nothing about journalism assume posts as editors, writers, and so on. But when one comes to such positions without understanding the finer points of the craft - as those who have either worked for, or been trained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;America&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5196,"url":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/?p=5196","url_meta":{"origin":3785,"position":5},"title":"Bias? Don't know that word, says The Age editor","date":"April 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Another Saturday, and there's a fresh dose of wisdom from Gay Alcorn, the venerable editor of The Age, a tabloid that is one of the two main newspapers in Melbourne. Once again, Alcorn's gem was behind a paywall in the morning but is now free to read. As with her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Australia&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4198,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785\/revisions\/4198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sams-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}