Journalistic oops?

[javasaurus]

Taken from this WTOP article:

The National Weather Service says people shouldn't be concerned about helping a lightning strike victim because the charge will not affect them.

OK, I know that this really means that the helper should not be concerned for the helper's own safety, because the lightning's charge won't be transferred from the victim to the helper. However, with current English usage, in which the third-person plural pronoun (they/them/their) is sometimes used as a gender-neutral version of the third-person singular, the above statement could be read as saying that a helper should not worry about a lightning victim because the lightning will not affect the victim. So if you see somebody get hit by lightning, don't worry, they'll be fine.

The article with the quote

Comments

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

You know, almost every time someone says your car is safe, they do neglect to tell you that the outside of the car is *still charged* (albeit less than the original strike) when you get out. It's not the rubber tires that does it, it's the fact that you are effectively in a gaussian sphere, so the charge sticks to the outside and does not travel inside.

[sharpchick.livejournal.com]

Don't you love catching journalistic booboos like that?