Newspaper adds passive aggressive “[sic]” to end of quote to indicate person being quoted is an uneducated fool

A prominent national newspaper has added a passive aggressive “[sic]” to the end of quote in one of their stories to indicate that the person being quoted is an uneducated fool. And while the practice has been in place for many years now, media insiders suggest that its use has increased in the last decade due to social media allowing semi-literate people to publish streams of online content.

One such insider, with decades of media experience, said she felt nothing more satisfying than adding a snarky little “[sic]” onto the end of a poorly written excerpt from a quoted person. The insider said, “Modern media is a fairly frantic environment, and a lot of the fun had by previous generations is pretty much non-existent. No long boozy lunches. No overseas press junkets. We’re pretty much desk-bound.

“We spend most of our time trawling social media accounts for things we can use as quotes. So, adding a little ‘[sic]’ to the end of a quote from some petty crime degenerate, or an Instagram influencer, is about as good as it gets these days. I still get a kick out of it after all these years.”