When
Star readers complain, Miriam Pepper is forced to explain. While her Sunday "Readers' Representative" column is often a mundane accounting of the logic behind editors' decisions to, for example, use "foot-and-mouth disease" instead of "hoof-and-mouth disease," every once in a while she berates her colleagues for their bad ideas, factual errors and word crimes -- and those columns are thrilling reads for anyone who is consistently annoyed by the allegedly once-great paper. Our favorite was her year-end column, in which she demanded that her bosses "Stamp out grammatical and spelling glitches"; "Replace old presses"; "Work hard to avoid bias perceptions"; print more maps; "Keep regular features in their regular spots"; don't reduce the type on the stock pages; never, ever forget to run "positive news stories in prominent locations to offset the overwhelmingly negative nature of most news"; "Include telephone numbers and addresses in stories"; "Remember that not all readers have access to the Internet for additional information"; "make sure the charts about holiday closings and trash delays are accurate and timely"; "Show competing proposals in side-by-side comparisons to let readers decide which they favor"; and, for Christ's sake, "Staple the Star TV Sunday section."
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