Not every newspaper distortion originates with the reporter, typesetter, or editor. Some occur decades later when historic newspapers are digitized and scanned. If a page is slightly tilted, folded, warped, or poorly aligned during scanning, OCR software may struggle to determine where one column ends and another begins. The result can be a jumbled reconstruction of the article, with names, dates, and sentences pulled from neighboring columns and stitched together incorrectly. To the researcher, the article appears confusing or incomplete when the original newspaper page was perfectly readable.
Distortion Type
Text Drift or Column Shift During Scanning
Why it Happens
Newspaper pages scanned off-angle, confusing OCR boundaries.
Why it Matters
When text columns drift or overlap, OCR scrambles the reading order—names become part of unrelated sentences or vanish mid-line.
Search Strategies
- View article in image mode, not text mode, when spacing looks uneven.
- Look for clues like misplaced words (“aged,” “of this city”) to spot dislocated fragments.
- If OCR appears nonsensical, rely on browsing by date and layout, not text search.
Example
A researcher discovers what appears to be an obituary for Samuel Jenkins, but the OCR text makes little sense. The article begins with details about his death, then abruptly shifts into a paragraph discussing a church fundraiser, followed by a sentence about a local business opening. Viewing the newspaper image reveals the problem immediately: the page contained multiple narrow columns, and the scan was slightly skewed. OCR incorrectly merged text from adjacent columns, causing unrelated stories to blend together. By reading the original page image and following the correct column structure, the researcher recovers the complete obituary and identifies several family members who were omitted from the OCR version.
Key Takeaway
When OCR starts telling two stories at once, trust the newspaper page—not the transcription. The original column layout often restores the missing context.
The Newspaper Distortions Field Guides
Discover all 25 Newspaper Distortions, companion Field Notes, videos, and audio lessons in the Field Guides Collection