Editorial • Obituary or Eulogy – There is a Difference
Obituary or Eulogy – There is a Difference (By Debbie Hemmer)
Obituary – a notice of a death, especially in a newspaper, typically including a brief biography of the deceased person.
Eulogy – a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, typically someone who has just died.
Many newspapers have turned obituaries into a revenue source, charging very high rates for printing them. They publish obituaries unedited because they can charge more for them.
Here at the Grant County Review, we continue to print obituaries free of charge if the person lived in the local area at any point in their life. We edit them to conserve space. We do charge a minimal fee for obituaries of individuals who never lived in this area.
Obituaries submitted to the Review have always been edited to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, to make the obituaries conform to our style, and to conserve space. For example, we limit the survivors listed to family members only – we do not include friends or pets. We edit long-winded remarks on the deceased's character and extensive accounts of the places the deceased visited while traveling. We also eliminate comments about how they loved people or how their family loved them as these affections are nearly universal.
We do keep family life and work history, church affiliation, organizations of which they were members, hobbies, short comments about the person’s character, family survivors and family members who preceded them in death. All at no charge.
In recent years we have seen a change in obituaries submitted. Many have been what we consider a tribute or eulogy to the person. They go well beyond what we normally print in an obituary and if we leave them as is, some would take up a quarter of a page or more.
Our policies have not changed; what people are submitting has changed. We want to continue offering this service at no cost, but we need to stick to our policies to do so. Printing and postage costs have risen considerably in the newspaper industry. To stay cost effective, we must continue to edit obituaries to conserve space.
However, if family members wish to have an obituary printed as is we can accommodate that but there will be a fee. The obituary will be charged at the Review’s advertising rate which is currently $6 per inch. So an unedited obituary that takes up 25 inches in the newspaper would cost $150. Obituaries that we edit will continue to be free of charge.
Please keep this in mind when making funeral arrangements and let the funeral home in charge know if you want a free, edited version of the obituary printed in the Review or an unedited version that will incur a charge.
