Stories abound in the world of print media of dummy headlines and picture captions that subs never got round to changing before the newspaper went to print. 'Insert headline here' and Caption: Caption are the least worrying of these. I seem to remember, although I might be making it up, that 'Insert picture of fat cow here' snuck through in my day.
The story of Mr Blind Man, which is Hull's latest national media appearance, comes from a similar place. Council tenant Paul Harris, who was registered blind last year, go the reports, was sent a letter from some maintenance contractors. The letter addressed him as Mr Blindman. Apparently this was a 'database error' on the contractors' part. Yes, of course it was. I've just heard Mr Harris on the radio. He sounded, quite understandably, a bit upset. I do like this quote from him, which, in summing up his dismay at how this could have all happened, made me laugh like a little schoolboy:
"You wouldn't send a letter to a person who's got Down's Syndrome saying Dear Mr Down's Syndrome would you?"Well, these contractors might do that. And who knows what dummy picture caption a sub might come up with.
tinyurl.com/dfbwmf
2 comments:
I think some people have forgotten how to laugh, or accept that others do occasionally make mistakes. I'm glad at least 2 of us are laughing like schoolboys.
and are prepared to admit it.
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