An open letter to Lee Abrams

Mr. Abrams,

Look, I may only be 20, but I still have more experience than you in the newspaper field, so I'm going to give you a little bit of advice. A quick way to ensure that journalists won't listen to you is to make spelling or grammar errors or TO YELL. In your widely circulated memos, you do all three frequently.

So, just have a copy editor (The Tribune papers still have those, right?) go over them before you send it out. Otherwise, the first time you YELL, every journalist will immediately think you're a moron. If you don't make the spelling and grammar mistakes, instead of viewing you as a buffoon, journalists might be willing to listen to you as a guy with the perspective of an outsider who wants to shake things up. But with the grammar mistakes, you have all the legitimacy of the crazy old man who writes letters to the editors every week.

So, in summary, copy edit.

Sincerely,
K.