Are you a CEO considering blogging? Pay close attention. Here's a total fiasco that could be in your future. Here's a perfect example of how a blog can hurt you by forever displaying your shortcomings regarding the very thing in which you claim to have expertise. Yikes!

Aedhmar Hynes is CEO of Text 100 International, one of the world's largest independent public relations agencies. According to her bio, "She is an active speaker and commentator on the subject of global communications and the complexity of cultural fluency when communicating across multiple markets and audiences." She's a recognized heavyweight in PR who apparently, ironically, can't write to save her own life.

The following is her most recent blog post, "Are you allowed to read the news over your neighbor's shoulder?" We asked a newspaperman to proofread her copy. Here are his remarks:

I was interested to read of noted with interest Jon Fine's decision to spend time at The Guardian newspaper in London. (I FIXED YOUR HORRIBLE RUN-ON SENTENCE) In as reported in his current Business Week article, "London's New Media Lessons" in this week's Business Week, to see Fine describes how, in his words (IF IT’S “IN HIS WORDS,” USE QUOTATION MARKS NOT WINDY PARENTHETICAL PHRASES PLEASE), a serious newspaper is grappling grapples (WHY THE PASSIVE VOICE?) with the medium’s litany (WRONG WORD. “LITANY” IS NOT A MERE PLURAL ADJECTIVE LIKE “HOST.” THE WORD MEANS “A LIST OF COMPLAINTS OR PROBLEMS.” NOT QUITE RIGHT IN THIS CONTEXT.) of many ills. His assumption in the article (REALLY? IN THE ARTICLE? I THOUGHT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN CARVED ON A TREE.) is that the British are dealing with the changes in a differently way to the from Americans. (WHY IS THIS AN “ASSUMPTION?” IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE AN OBSERVATION OR A FINDING.) It (WHAT? HIS ASSUMPTION?) reminded me of a my recent conversation I had in India recently with Josey Puliyenthuruthel John, a journalist with The Hindustan Times. He, along with Raju Narisetti whom who (AS A PROFESSIONAL WRITER LIKE YOU SHOULD KNOW, “WHOM” REFERS TO THE OBJECT OF THE SENTENCE, AND GENERALLY REQUIRES A PREPOSITION.) many of you published memorable articles will remember for his tremendous journalism (THE “MANY OF YOU WILL REMEMBER” TROPE IS A WINDY CLICHÉ. AVOID IT.) when he was editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe in the 1990s, is about to launch a new newspaper in New Delhi. With newspaper readership numbers and profitability of newspapers in decline, I was amazed to find that the opposite is true in India. In fact, readership of magazines and newspapers has increased by 12 percent% since 2002 and continues to grow at a staggering healthy (12 PERCENT IN FOUR YEARS IS NICE, BUT HARDLY “STAGGERING”)pace rate - which has more to do with the growth rates increased in literacy than the battle between online and main stream media which that exists elsewhere.

What was even more intriguing (BE CAREFUL WITH THIS WORD. SO FAR I’M NOT INTRIGUED. YOU DON’T WANT READERS SNICKERING AT YOU.) was our (WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? AND ARE YOU SAYING SEVERAL PEOPLE HAD THE SAME “OBSERVATION” SIMULTANEOUSLY?) observation that different cultures have different accepted norms when it comes to their relationship with the newspaper as an artifact. (THERE MUST BE A SHORTER WAY TO CONCLUDE THIS RATHER PEDESTRIAN THOUGHT, BUT I’M TOO BORED TO WRITE IT FOR YOU.) In India for example, when reading your newspaper on public transport(A BUS? A TRAIN? WHY BE VAGUE AND EUPHEMISTIC? ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE ME YOU SHOULD WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT?), it is commonplace to find the person on your right and the person on your left booth(??) peering over your shoulder (SHOULDN’T IT BE “SHOULDERS?”) to read along with you. So much so (NOT ONLY IS THIS A BORING HACKNEYED PHRASE, IT’S THE WRONG BORING, HACKNEYED PHRASE. YOU PROBABLY MEANT “IN FACT,…” YOU LOSE NOTHING, HOWEVER, BY STARTING THIS SENTENCE WITH “IT IS…”), that it'sIt is considered only polite to ask them if they are ready, when you wish tobefore you turn to the next page. I still smile when I think about this scene and its stark contrast (THIS CLICHÉ, “STARK CONTRAST” IS BOTHERSOME BECAUSE ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD EXPECT A TRAIN RIDE IN FARAWAY INDIA TO BE JUST LIKE ONE IN NEW YORK.) with my travels on Metro North into New York most days. You can probably all empathize (NO, I CAN’T. I’D HAVE TO LIKE YOU FIRST. PERHAPS YOU MEAN “RELATE TO…”) with the my embarrassment I've felt when caught reading my neighbor’s (YOU’VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH POSSESSIVES, GIRL. THEY TAKE APOSTROPHES, EXCEPT FOR “ITS.”)newspaper having been captivated (WHY ELSE WOULD YOU DO THIS RUDE THING?) by an article or a headline(DO NEWSPAPERS HAVE ANYTHING ELSE? I DON’T THINK WE NEED A LIST OF WHAT’S IN A NEWSPAPER.). The reaction to such a social faux pas (IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND? ALSO, PLEASE ITALICIZE YOUR BORING FOREIGN-LANGUAGE CLICHES.) is far from polite! (THIS SENTENCE READS LIKE YOU ARE ACCUSING THE PERSON OVER WHOSE SHOULDER YOU ARE SLOBBERING ON THE METRO NORTH OF BEING IMPOLITE.) In India, the newspaper is coveted. - the Its purchase is considered a lavish expense and many content themselves with reading others’, passing it along when done or reading yesterday’s news. In New York the newspaper is more dispensable (I THINK YOU MEAN “DISPOSABLE.”) - tThe platform in Grand Central is littered with large crates stacked high with recycled daily newspapers hastily read and discarded before 8 a.m. every morning. As Josey (AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHO SHE IS?) commented, "the The notion of people dumping their newspapers so early in the day pulls the plug on the 'stickiness' newspaper managers and print journalists think they have with their readers." (I GUESS YOUR FRIENDS ARE ILLITERATE, TOO. IF THIS WASN’T A DIRECT QUOTE, I’D HACK IT TO BITS. INSTEAD, I THINK YOU SHOULD PARAPHRASE HER.) And I suspect fDuring rom my time living in London, I noticed that the Londoners’ relationship with newspapers there lies somewhere in between India and New York - most people carry it around with them until the end of the day before they decide it's expendable. (SO YOU’VE WRITTEN ALL THIS SLUDGE TO TELL US WHAT TIME PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT CULTURES THROW AWAY THEIR NEWSPAPERS? I HAVE TO THINK YOU COULD’VE CUT TO CHASE MORE RAPIDLY.)

The question is will major media groups even consider the cultural differences and how they might impact the newspaper of the future? (WHAT A RIDICULOUS CONCLUSION. YOU’VE SET UP AN ABSURD STRAW-MAN. NEWSPAPERS ARE ALREADY INDIGENOUS ARTIFACTS. IT IS NOT ON THE TABLE THAT A NEW YORK MEDIA EXECUTIVE IS GOING TO DECIDE WHAT SORT OF PAPERS OR NEWS SITES ARE READ IN INDIA OR LONDON.) Is Jon Fine's observation (YOU’VE TOLD US ALMOST NOTHING OF WHAT MR. FINE SAID, SO I DON’T HAVE ANY CONTEXT FOR UNDERSTANDING YOUR QUESTION.) from his time in London that readers are as interested in talking to each other and publishing themselves, the same in New York and New Delhi? (SYNTAX! WHETHER YOU MEANT IT OR NOT, YOU’VE BASICALLY ASKED THE QUESTION OF WHETHER JON FINE WOULD MAKE THE SAME OBSERVATION ABOUT LONDONERS THAT HE WOULD IF HE WAS IN NEW YORK OR NEW DELHI.) Either way his decision to spend time there was smart. (OH MY GOD. THIS IS REALLY ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY? AFTER ALL THIS OVERWRITING, YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE US WITH THE IDEA THAT A BUSINESS WEEK WRITER IS “SMART?” YOU HAVE SCARCELY TOLD US WHAT HE SAID!) Understanding the different approaches (TO WHAT? NEWSPAPER DISPOSAL?) in different countries could be of huge help to the media industry. (STRAW MAN, THE SEQUEL: YOU’VE GIVEN ME NO EVIDENCE THAT WHAT YOU CALL THE “MEDIA INDUSTRY” HAS A PLAN FOR ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL MEDIA THAT MUST BE OVERCOME.) Let's hope they're (WHO IS THEY?)listening! (BUT LET’S HOPE THEY’RE NOT LISTENING TO YOU.)

OUCH! It's hard not to question Ms. Hynes' judgment regarding communications. But on a more basic level, we are wondering if Text 100 gives writing tests to new recruits as is common practice at major PR agencies. It sure doesn't seem so.