This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Readers with a critical eye often benefit reporters and editors at The Salt Lake Tribune. One female reader brought that fact home again this week when she e-mailed:

"I myself used to work for a newspaper, so I know the frantic pace at which it gets assembled. However, that is no excuse for shoddy editing, editing so bad, in fact, it needs translation.

"Friday's paper, for example:

" 'Months of confusion surrounding rules for appeal appear to SETTLED with new information' . . . 'the data SHOW . . . '

"The Trib really needs to start being more thorough when proofreading, not only for misspellings, but also for wrong word usage, which the computers are not sophisticated enough to check. While no one is perfect and mistakes do happen, some of the errors are so obvious one wonders if the article was just typed up and slapped onto the paper as-is. I enjoy reading the paper, I do it every morning, but poor editing takes away some of the enjoyment of reading it."

Malapropism is annoying to anyone who works crossword puzzles, spends hours reading the dictionary or ever studied Latin.

As I have said before, however, an operation that produces millions of words per year is going to have days when awkward phrasing or inappropriate words slip through. That said, copy editors take great pains to avoid letting these troublesome prases and words slip through.

The reader's point is a good one. The idea behind news writing is to present the facts of a story in a clear and concise manner.

Writing in a clear and concise manner is not an easy task. It is even more difficult in a deadline situation where editors are breathing down reporters' necks to get stories to the copy desk.

Not everyone can write a line like: "Jesus wept." In today's world, that sentiment might be expressed as: "Jesus, known to be a gentle creature who cared for the meek and the lame, felt the crush of humanity's pain and woe and finally crumbled under that weight and started to cry."

Reporters and editors should try to get back to the "Jesus wept" reporting style.

Some recycling: One Tribune reader e-mailed a great story idea this week:

"I find myself very confused about the subject of recycling. I still am stumped about:

"What can and can't be recycled? How clean does it have to be? Do I have to see the recycle symbol on all plastic items to ensure it is OK? Are grocery take-out bags OK, or do they have separate recycle needs? Regarding glass, is it important to separate color?

"More important question: Does everything really get recycled?

"Some time ago when it was difficult to find glass bins, I was directed to the main collection facility. There were just mountains of glass all mixed together. When we ask if there was a system for the separate colors, the guy just laughed and said to throw them out there anywhere.

"It would be very interesting to see an overview of the whole system, including a list of products that return as products to be purchased."

The overview idea would be a marvelous and reader-friendly Sunday package or short series. In an era when we are supposed to be reducing our carbon footprints, it would be interesting to know how good we are becoming - and it would be helpful to know what kinds of products are made from recycled materials.

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* The Reader Advocate's phone number is 801-257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. reader.advocate@sltrib.com.

This week's stats

* 31: Number pleased with legislative coverage

* 22: Number happy the legislative session is over

* 147: Number upset over missing sports listing in weekly TV book

* 19: Number sick of presidential primary coverage