Misprints can be dangerous

One of the hazards of writing for newspaper is the possibility of having one’s article garbled by careless typesetting or proofreading. One can be made to say something one never said. An example occurred in this column’s article entitled "February 1945" (Feb. 9). I was made to say that the Apostolic Delegate at that time was "an American Jesuit". I had said no such thing in my manuscript. What the printers had done was to telescope two separate lines, omitting the line in between. The correct text should read:

"Three bishops were staying with us at La Ignaciana in February 1945: the Apostolic Delegate, Gulielmo Piani (an Italian), Bishop James T.G. Hayes of Cagayan (an American Jesuit), and Bishop James McCloskey of Jaro, (also American) who was then quite senile."

On other occasions, quite frequently, I am made to say "I have" when I had written "I had". Or vice versa. My plural verbs are made singular, ad the singular made plural. My readers must think that I am woefully ignorant of English grammar.

These however are small errors. But sometimes a big mistake is made that could be dangerous. It might expose a writer to a charge of libel. I remember one humorous instance long ago when I was Moderator of the Ateneo literary quarterly Heights. The student editors were generally very careful proofreaders, but occasionally even Homer nodes.

The new issue of the magazine had been carefully proofread and the editors had assured me that everything was ready for printing. (It was still printing by letterpress, before offset printing had become common). The pages were "put to bed" for the night, and printing was to start the following day. That night, in bed, I felt uneasy. Some instinct told me that something was wrong. I got out of bed near midnight, got dressed, telephone for a taxi and went to the printing press which was open all night. I asked for all the page-proofs. I read every page from cover to cover. And sure enough, I discovered one misprint which the proofreaders had missed because the sentence, as it stood, made sense.

The article was about the unusual murals in the church in Victorias, Negros Occidental. The artist, Ade de Bethune, had been innovative in her use of materials for a mosaic. The article, written by one of the students, had a sentence which contained the words, "Ade de Bethune and her controversial murals". The printing press had changed it to "Ade de Bethune and her controversial morals".

Had that been printed and distributed in hundreds of copies, the poor maligned artist would have had grounds to sue us for libel!