The practical problem is the time/space pressure on editors: the time
before the next deadline, and the space available for news. Radio editors
handle large amounts of copy under the pressure of often hourly deadlines.
They receive copy which is intended for newspaper use, and re-style it to be
read aloud. Above all, they have to abbreviate. Storiesof2000wordsarecut
to 50-100 words, complexities simplified, detail removed. Some errors
result from ignorance (e.g. of geography), others are pure slips of the pen.
These are matters of working conditions and ethos. Sociolinguists can do
nothing here except point to the evidence of inaccuracies apparently caused
by haste (e.g. example 19) or over-abbreviation (35).