Dear Readers Editor,

I am surprised that my Reader's Editor is compelled to rely on his linguistic skills to justify the errors which continue to be reported in the process of bringing out 'The Hindu' as a final product. 

As you have eloquently defined Newspaper is a final product achieved through 'a collaborative process, where nearly 300 thousand words are processed for multiple edition by more than 800 journals within a limited time-frame with a single objective of projecting a comprehensive picture'. 

This is a process which is centuries old, but increasingly being supported by technology to drive timely delivery at multiple centres, better quality, better presentation and without errors. 

Today, there are many established systems such as KAIZEN, SIX SIGMA and other QC processes, which ensure near zero errors.  Having understood the process, it is the responsibility of the Editor and the management to put in place process improvements, checks and balances to ensure an error-free product.  It is also essential that these improvements are done in a closed loop manner. So for every error, there must be a corrective action plan implemented and verified. 

My Suggestions: 

1.  Each journalist  will be responsible and held accountable for filing an error-free report(component stage inspection);  In the event of errors cropping-up in the reports, he will have to file his report earlier for multi stage editing(introduce multiple checks to ensure error free component). 

2.  Once the journalist report is chosen for publication, the articles shall be scrutinised by Experts trained and who have the skills to identify the errors(Recruit many C.S. Naryanans or train persons to make Narayanans!).  These are human efforts and currently,  organisations like 'The Hindu' can invest in technology and develop a suitable system to make it operator free. 

3.  The Editor should set 'Zero Error' targets for each set of people and through stages to the entire Newspaper for brining out absolutely error-free edition and one day of a week, say, Saturday edition, shall be error free. Any error on the Saturday edition should be viewed seriously and punitive action taken.   

I love this paper and am making this suggestions encouraged by 'The Hindu' management and your pro-active plans. 

Regards, 
Balakrishnan V 
9840121596