The New Yorker Missed Something in the Planning

The New Yorker had to engage in some major damage control after the cover of its latest issue, a caricature of Barack Obama wearing a turban, fist-bumping his wife, Michelle, in military garb with a semi-automatic weapon slung over her shoulder, as they stood in the Oval Office. To the right of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee: an American flag ablaze in a fireplace, under a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

Satirical? In the minds of the magazine's editors who planned the issue, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say, yes, it was meant to be satirical, a representation of the worst of the virulent slime that oozes out of the minds and mouths of some of the most partisan among us every four years.

Obama cried foul. To his credit, John McCain did as well.

The editors of The New Yorker certainly exercised creativity. But they're guilty of bad judgment. When editors plan an upcoming issue - be it a magazine or a newspaper - they need to keep the readers' interests and sensitivities in mind. And in the middle of what is potentially one of the most pivotal presidential elections in U.S. history, The New Yorker debacle holds a lesson for all media from now until November: Be fair, be balanced, think, rethink, and think yet again before you publish something that could be seen as even the least bit controversial or biased.

Does Anyone Teach Writing Anymore?

Back when I was in elementary school (yes, it was a long time ago), there was a lot of emphasis - maybe a bit too much - on using proper grammar. That was fairly endemic of American education, from pits and pieces of stuff I've picked up over the years. Later, U.S. schools changed to de-emphasize mechanics in favor of allowing schoolchildren to freely express themselves in their writing.

While all this was going on, I admittedly wasn't paying much attention because I was in the early stages of my journalism career. But I saw it quite clearly as I woke up into parenthood one day. What happened is that we sent millions of people into the workforce who weren't schooled all that well in the basics of English grammar. And as business relies increasingly on e-mail and other Internet-based communication, that lack of emphasis is manifesting itself in writing gaffes and goofs.

The College Board added a writing section to the SAT in 2005. Although many colleges don't pay much attention to the writing score when it comes to admissions, business may feel compelled to pressure colleges as well as pre-secondary school systems to turn out better writers. If they want to improve productivity and profitability, it may well be in their best interest.

All the more reason schools need to get back to teaching the basics of writing.