Whoever writes the headings, or let me say, distorts the headings for the online version of the local newspaper totally misses the mark. I hate it. It's embarrassing. It happens over and over. I have had hostile comments made online based on a title back in February that was misconstrued. The commenter was making "assumptions", incorrect ones, based in part on a changed heading.
Now, here's a portion of the original June column complete with title as it appeared in the paper...not bad.
Here's the problem. When going to the newspaper website, the title is as follows. How is this anything the same? How is this relevant to what I wrote?
"Phones, tones and drones in Cobourg
How addicted are you to a mobile device?"
At no point was I commenting on the predominantly senior population of this town. I also wasn't referring to anything that happened here. In fact, the one story I related that did happen in a coffee shop nearby, was edited out of the column and I was fine with that.
I am sharing this info out of frustration. I have already noted the decline in submissions by some of the "monthly columnists". I don't blame them.
Editing should be just that...corrections in spelling/grammar and the possible removal of information that make the piece either inaccurate, offensive to the public, or too long...that's it.
Nothing that a person writes should ever be altered or reconstructed. What a person writes is what a person writes. So, as I said before, "I don't believe that anyone should have the right to change someone else's words. Whether those words have come from a brilliant scholar or some old woman writing a blog (or in this case, a column), leave them alone!"
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