There was just one problem with the post-Helene dispatch from Asheville that we published on October 7. The first sentence ended without punctuation.
Did you notice? Clearly, I didn’t. It’s an oversight I’m chalking up to my aging vision. I should know better than to press ‘send’ on a newsletter without first putting on my reading glasses.
But once I did, I wasn’t sure how to handle the mistake. We have a corrections policy for matters of fact, in part because swiftly and openly acknowledging errors is one of the few weapons that legitimate journalists bring to the ongoing battle against misinformation. In 2018, Pew Research Center found 68 percent of Americans believe news organizations try to cover up their mistakes.
If you belong to that group, this graphic’s for you:
On a regular basis, though, issuing all-reader alerts to forgotten periods and misplaced commas seems incredibly weird. Fortunately, I think I’ve got a better resolution to this situation. While I promise to wear my readers for all future editing sessions, the obvious fix is bigger print.
Our 14-point typeface was carefully selected by the whip-smart professional designers at Wonderly, so that’s the size it will stay—unless you request otherwise. Going forward, we’ll offer a large-print edition of the Monday newsletter. All you have to do to receive it is update your account settings. (It would probably be crass to suggest you also upgrade your subscription while you’re at it.)
In retrospect, I should have done this sooner. Since The Food Section migrated off Substack, a few subscribers have mentioned having trouble with the newsletter’s font. What I should have heard was a legitimate accessibility concern. Instead, I figured they were using an outdated browser or too-small mobile phone.
In other words, I made a mistake. I MADE A MISTAKE.
Many thanks to one of those subscribers, Paul Brustowicz, who generously vetted my various stabs at a more readable edition. You can see a preview of the large-print format here. No reading glasses required.
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