Who, What, When, Where, Why

Many years ago, I took some basic journalism classes. We were taught that every article should include the five W's -- who, what, when, where, why.

Our local newspaper really needs some lessons in the first W. There was a big front-page feature Monday about a local girl who made good -- Lorie Satcher. She has written some songs for some pretty big names -- among them George Strait. I marked it for an Essie May post because all through the article, George's last name was spelled "Straight." This is a pretty famous man, and it would have been an easy thing to check for the correct spelling of his name. I did it in about 30 seconds.

In Tuesday's paper, there was a correction. It seems Lorie Satcher is not really Lorie Satcher -- she's Leslie Satcher. How can you interview a person and do an entire front page feature and not know what her name is? DUH!

"A long, hard road." The Paris News; June 8, 2009; p. 1.