Author Archive

Articles by Craig Silverman | Email the Author

 

1. Regret the Error

   Toxic Twins

   June 4, 2010 10:32 AM

   Utter the phrase “toxic twins” and most people immediately think of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. (Just ask Wikipedia.) That was their nickname, and consequently it’s the name of “Europe’s No.1 Aerosmith Tribute Band.”... Continue reading

2. Behind the News

   Polygraphs and Private Eyes

   May 28, 2010 11:23 AM

   Prior to returning my call, Barry Levine was on the phone with one of his reporters, discussing a source they hoped to use for a story. For Levine, the executive editor/director of news at the National Enquirer, that entailed discussing... Continue reading

3. Behind the News

   Facts and Fiction

   May 21, 2010 11:00 AM

   Taddle Creek is a small literary magazine with big accuracy ambitions. Back in 2007, the twice-a-year Canadian publication with a circulation of 1,500 published a slim but useful booklet, The Taddle Creek Guidebook to Fact-Checking Fiction. Over the course of... Continue reading

4. Regret the Error

   Correction as Weapon: Self-Inflicted Wounds

   May 14, 2010 01:06 PM

   Can you tell what’s going on in this 2001 correction/apology published by the Ottawa Citizen? The Ottawa Citizen and Southam News wish to apologize for our apology to Mark Steyn, published Oct. 22. In correcting the incorrect statements about Mr.... Continue reading

5. Behind the News

   The End of Accuracy?

   May 7, 2010 12:11 PM

   Is accuracy an outdated value? That's not normally a question I'd pose, but it was raised in a recent opinion piece at paidContent.org by entrepreneur Ben Elowitz. His piece suggested "Traditional Ways Of Judging 'Quality' In Published Content Are... Continue reading

6. Regret the Error

   Visions of Beauty

   April 30, 2010 10:33 AM

   David McCandless worked for many years as a writer, but now he likes to call himself a data journalist and information designer. McCandless has never had any formal design training, which makes it all the more interesting that his Web... Continue reading

7. Behind the News

   Eruption, Interrupted

   April 23, 2010 11:29 AM

   Just after noon eastern on Monday, the @Breaking News Twitter account, which has close to 1.7 million followers and is operated by MSNBC.com, tweeted that a “Large plume indicates second Icelandic volcano, Hekla, has begun erupting - watch live... Continue reading

8. Behind the News

   Accuracy and the Average Person

   April 16, 2010 11:01 AM

   Jeff Jarvis recently wrote a nice post detailing how everyone is now a content creator. Sure, not everyone writes lengthy blog posts, or engages in an approximation of journalism; but content falls into many categories. A Facebook status update... Continue reading

9. Behind the News

   Inside the World’s Largest Fact Checking Operation

   April 9, 2010 11:47 AM

   Late last month, I had an experience unlike any other in my professional life. For two days, I was surrounded by people who work in, or have a specific interest in, fact checking. Yes, someone decided to take the seemingly... Continue reading

10. Behind the News

    The TAO of Journalism

    March 19, 2010 12:46 PM

    It started, as many things do in journalism, with a pen and paper. Close to three years ago at a Journalism That Matters event in Washington, D.C., John Hamer, president of the Washington News Council, was thinking... Continue reading

11. Regret the Error

    Bad News

    March 15, 2010 01:14 PM

    They went looking for crap, and by golly they found plenty of it. Students in Howard Rheingold’s journalism class at Stanford recently teamed up with NewsTrust, a nonprofit Web site that enables people to review and rate news... Continue reading

12. Regret the Error

    Meet Retracto

    March 5, 2010 10:50 AM

    Andrew Breitbart is well on his way to building an online media empire to call his own. I’d call him the right’s version of Arianna Huffington, but I’m worried that might make him send his alpaca after me. Let me... Continue reading

13. Regret the Error

    The Counter-Plagiarism Handbook

    February 26, 2010 10:09 AM

    Last week, I examined why news organizations aren’t using plagiarism detection services to root out literary thieves. Technology has a role in helping prevent and detect plagiarism, but it’s by no means a panacea. Good habits and best practices... Continue reading

14. Regret the Error

    To Catch A Plagiarist

    February 19, 2010 12:13 PM

    As the general manager of the iThenticate plagiarism detection service, Robert Creutz has unique insight into the recent Gerald Posner plagiarism flap at The Daily Beast. Posner’s theft was first identified by Slate’s Jack Shafer, which caused Beast... Continue reading

15. The Observatory

    Dumb Blonde Story

    February 5, 2010 11:59 AM

    Dr. Aaron Sell, a researcher at the Center for Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California, has been hearing from a lot of old friends and colleagues over the past couple of weeks—and he’s not happy about it. The calls... Continue reading

16. Regret the Error

    Endangered Species

    January 29, 2010 11:18 AM

    When it comes to the layoffs and buyouts that have hit newspapers over the last couple of years, copy editors seem to be the most at risk of losing their jobs. So it wasn’t too much of a shock when... Continue reading

17. Regret the Error

    Error Prevention Made Easy

    January 22, 2010 12:26 PM

    I was reading about political iPhone apps on MediaStyle.ca, a blog maintained by Canadian communications consultant Ian Capstick, when I noticed a strange little badge at the bottom of his post: I clicked on... Continue reading

18. Regret the Error

    Standard of Living

    January 15, 2010 11:19 AM

    The news executive patiently listened to Guillaume Chenevière’s points, and then explained that, the way he saw it, he had alligators crawling all over his back, and Chenevière was lecturing him about the need to drain the swamp where the... Continue reading

19. Regret the Error

    Mission: Quality Control

    January 8, 2010 11:43 AM

    At this time last year, I made a few wishes for corrections and accuracy-related developments in 2009. For the most part, I’d say my wishes went unfulfilled, and one of them is more pressing than ever. Overall, 2009 was... Continue reading

20. Regret the Error

    Corrections for the True Connoisseur

    December 18, 2009 09:39 AM

    Like a chef who becomes bored with steak and potatoes and begins seeking out the strange and sublime, my taste in media errors and corrections is beginning to veer towards the edges. This became clear as I undertook my annual... Continue reading

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