24 January 2007

Press illiteracy

Today's headline in numerous media sources

"Reid: Send Less People to Jail".

Fewer! The word is 'fewer', not 'less'!

It's no wonder that some of the children of today are struggling with literacy when they are surrounded by ill-educated journalists. It's about time someone who has an O-level (or GCSE) in Engligh proof-read these articles before publishing them. I'm pleased to see the BBC got it right though.

Of course, it could be that the Minister's press release writer is the one initially to blame ...?

2 comments:

Oz said...

It's that journalist again! He actually said "Send lesser people to jail", referring to all those dozy who leave their brake lights on when stopped.

Anonymous said...

Well said Womble - and why can't the Daily Mail spell 'swap' properly? It's almost as irritating as journalists who print 'fed up of it' instead of 'fed up with it'.