The Lexington Herald-Leader, a Kentucky-based daily newspaper, made a massive front-page error in Tuesday’s paper, misspelling legendary Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari’s name above the billfold, multiple photos shared to Twitter show.
The paper, whose online edition holds the domain name Kentucky.com, featured a front-page opinion piece from John Clay with the headline “$33 million Kalipari buyout would be wrong thing to do.”
I mean this is a Front page, above the fold spelling error of the name of the most famous man in the state
How? pic.twitter.com/jOnvMXN5Ha
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 25, 2024
Calipari’s name is spelled with a “C,” not a “K.”
To commit an error this glaring and substantial, on the front page of your paper no less, is a cardinal sin of journalism in its own right. But to do so by misspelling the name of arguably the most famous and important man in your state is downright unforgivable.
Kentucky Wildcats basketball IS Kentucky. Calipari has been an institution in the state since he came over from Memphis in 2009. He’s led the Wildcats to six SEC championships, four Final Four appearances and an NCAA National Championship. How can they possibly get his name wrong, of all people?
This shows the sad state of affairs that’s become the norm in local journalism. As massive media conglomerates buy up news rooms and consolidate resources, local newsrooms get smaller. (RELATED: ‘Shut The F**k Up!’: Legendary Women’s College Basketball Player Goes Off)
The Herald-Leader hasn’t had a dedicated copy editing desk for over five years, local Kentucky reporter Joshua Moore noted on Twitter.
Local copy-editing jobs (and copy-editing jobs, in general) have been eliminated across the industry. LHL hasn’t had a local copy desk for at least 5-6 years, now. This could’ve been written anywhere in the country (and possibly out of it).
Doesn’t excuse it at all, still.
— Joshua Moore ⚡️ (@JoshMooreHL) March 25, 2024
He also notes the story “could’ve been written anywhere in the country (and possibly out of it).” The author of the story, John Clay, is located in Lexington, according to his Twitter bio. But it’s entirely possible the editor was off-site.
This is just another example of the declining state of traditional media. As news consumers seek to get their information from more disparate sources, snafus like this will further drive a wedge between the average reader and their local paper and push them into disparate independent media ecosystems. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is certainly up for debate, but one thing is for sure: the media has been dropping the ball for a long time.