Errors hurt the most when they’re in giant type, when they’re literally magnified.
Place them at the top of the front page, and the sting can last for days for readers and the people who were working hard to put out the newspaper the night before.
The Chronicle’s lead headline in Tuesday’s Chronicle included a misspelling of the word “pollution.” And readers – rightfully – took the paper to task for the embarrassing error.
“I tell you what. Pay me $15/hour and send me articles to edit….or, cancel my subscription. Hard to believe the HEADLINE today had the same spelling. You can cut and paste, but can’t spell check?” wrote one online commenter under the name “baffledingeneva.”
An anonymous caller to the Sound Off line said, “I’ve been in sales almost 10 years and, every so often, I have to apologize to a customer when our product isn’t up to the quality they should be able to expect. I think you owe all of us an apology. Those are mean streets out there and you don’t do your sales people any favors when you produce a paper like the one on Tuesday.”
I am sorry for this error. You deserve better from us.

Thanks, John!