Testy Biz Copy Editor riffs on Challenger & Gray’s tripe
Challenger, Gray & Christmas’s annual estimate of how much money workers cost the U.S. “economy” by watching the NCAA basketball tournament on company time will be out any day now. As always, it should be ignored. The estimate, rivaled in irrelevance and speculation only by PNC Bank’s ridiculous report on the cost of gifts mentioned […]
Testy Biz Copy Editor: Too much of this going around
Farewell columns are always tiresome. This one is especially so. This guy was a financial editor once, but it’s clear that he didn’t like it much. It’s a dirty secret that many business editors get their jobs because no one else wants them and it’s a “take it or […]
Testy Biz Copy Editor: Baby steps for the puzzled investor
An investor who bought Google stock 13 years ago at its IPO price of $85 would now own a piece of the company worth about 22 times their original investment. That also takes into account the company’s stock split in 2015, when it restructured under a larger company called Alphabet. Put it another way: A […]
Testy Copy Editor: “Trump-linked” oligarch’s company goes bust
It’s out of vogue to be “fair” to President Donald Trump – often for good reasons – but sometimes we must call out stories whose premises are a little out of line. Two mysterious companies owned by the Russian oligarch who bought Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion filed for bankruptcy in North Carolina Friday, adding […]
Testy Biz Copy Editor: Which paper clip do you mean, Bloomberg?
Just report its size with numbers. The story text narrows it down to “one-third the size of an AAA battery.” But you’d still have to get out a ruler. (Bloomberg) (The AAA battery measurement is apparently standard. It comes […]
Testy Biz Copy Editor: Reporting on stocks? Learn the basics
(LA Times) No, it wasn’t like handing Amazon $13.7 billion. Most of the outstanding stock is held by investors, and they get the benefit of a higher share price. It is true that Amazon’s market value went up $13.7 billion, but that’s obvious. The Los Angeles Times should […]
Testy Biz Copy Editor: Bitcoin stories still need a nut graf
Bitcoin is a digital token that can be sent electronically from one user to another, anywhere in the world. (New York Times) For years, Testy Copy Editors has been looking for a nut graf that explains bitcoin, because general-interest readers haven’t a clue to what it is. This otherwise helpful explainer doesn’t have one. As […]
Know the difference between revenue and earnings
The eighth installment in the “Fast and the Furious” had the roads to itself and inched past the $100 million benchmark in the final moments. Studio estimates say “The Fate of the Furious earned a chart-topping $100.2 million over the holiday weekend. (Associated Press) Those weekly reports of movie box-office receipts are notable not only […]
Testy biz copy editor pontificates on lazy headlines and writing
“Tall order.” Get it? If you did, the Washington Post headline should have been rewritten. Check that. It should have been rewritten anyway. That was an Associated Press headline. Duplicating headlines on wire stories is one of the great examples of laziness. Even if they’re wrong, they are widely used in print and online. On […]
Testy biz news copy editor says cut the enthusiasm
Associated Press By Phillip Blanchard There’s a new way to order doughnuts. Nowhere in this AP story is there a hint of anything other than enthusiasm for a navigation app that lets people “purchase coffee and other items” for pickup. Imagine that! What a world! You can’t buy this kind […]
