Regret the Error
-
June 26, 2009 11:00 AM
Three Strikes and You’re Fired
When the punishment for factual inaccuracy doesn't fit the crime
Matt McCann wasn’t supposed to spend his summer working for St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
For the second year in a row, McCann, a journalism student at St. Thomas, had landed a summer internship at the Telegraph-Journal. But that ended abruptly in May when he was fired a day after the paper published a story...
Continue reading -
June 19, 2009 12:36 PM
What’s Wrong with This Picture?
When the man you think is Kim Jong Il's son isn't
South Korean construction worker Bae Seok-bum is used to being teased about his uncanny resemblance to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. His friends sometimes call him “Comrade Chairman.” He takes it in stride, and at one point uploaded a photo of himself to a Web site in order to show people how much he looks like the Dear Leader....
Continue reading -
June 12, 2009 11:24 AM
Retweet the Error
Corrections migrate to new media platforms
In exploring the emerging universe of Twitter, the service’s users have created hashtags and retweets, and have helped popularize URL shorteners. Alongside these innovations, Twitter users have also adopted a practice that is decidedly old media. Yes, I’m talking about the correction.
Years ago, when blogs began taking hold in the minds and browsers of the people, bloggers were faced...
Continue reading -
June 05, 2009 11:09 AM
Off the Map
Daily newspapers are constant sources of geographical errors
This week, a high school in Liverpool, England caused a stir by announcing it would no longer offer separate classes in geography and history.
“The school – formerly Manor High School – said a decline in students wishing to study the subjects to examination level was behind the move,” reported the Crosby Herald.
You can almost see...
Continue reading -
May 22, 2009 12:52 PM
New Yorker Under Siege
How the magazine found itself in the crosshairs of a $10-million lawsuit
The story has everything: murder, tribal warfare, a famous writer, and a lawsuit involving him and one of the world’s most prestigious magazines. So why are so few media watchers paying attention to the suit recently brought against Pulitzer winner Jared Diamond and the New Yorker? At the very least, it raises questions about how this particular article was cleared...
Continue reading -
May 15, 2009 10:20 AM
The Wrath of Khan
Hell hath no fury like a Trekkie scorned
Hell hath no fury like a Trekkie scorned. Or a comic book collector scorned. Or a Star Wars geek scorned.
When reporting on these areas of extreme fan devotion, you better get the facts right. Hard core fans are merciless to ordinary humans unaware of the difference between a Klingon and a Romulan. Mistakes invite the Wrath of Khan....
Continue reading -
May 08, 2009 12:04 PM
The Wikiback Effect
If you’re a journalist who cribs from Wikipedia, it will get you back
At the end of last month, Shane Fitzgerald, a twenty-two-year-old student at University College Dublin in Ireland, performed an experiment for one of his classes. The goal was “to show that journalists use Wikipedia as a primary source and to demonstrate the power the internet has over newspaper reporting.”
After Fitzgerald learned that French composer Maurice Jarre had...
Continue reading -
May 01, 2009 11:40 AM
Compounding the Error
An error isn’t really corrected if readers can't understand the correction
The first thing you need to know is that Tim Hortons is a Canadian coffee chain. More than that, however, it’s a staple and symbol of Canadian life. Tims, as some call it, is everywhere in Canada. They even built one on a Canadian military base in Afghanistan. (Not surprisingly, the original Tim Horton was a...
Continue reading -
April 24, 2009 11:32 AM
Rethinking the “Assembly Line”
Needed: a quality revolution in journalism
"When you think about the assembly line that was a newsroom, it's changed," Arnie Robbins, editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, says in the latest issue of American Journalism Review.
Robbins is quoted in“The Quality-Control Quandary,” a must read for anyone concerned about the state of accuracy, copy editing, and overall journalistic quality. The author, Carl Sessions Stepp,...
Continue reading -
April 17, 2009 11:29 AM
It’s a Small Word
Great damage can be done by subtracting a single word
I’ve read hundreds of thousands of corrections over the last nearly five years, and one of my favorites is also one of the first I read. Here it is, as published by the Dallas Morning News in October of 2004:
An Oct. 19 article on songwriter John Bucchino incorrectly stated that he doesn’t read. The sentence should have said he...
Continue reading -
April 10, 2009 11:25 AM
Total Recall
When a mere retraction just isn't enough
How bad does an error have to be to warrant the journalistic equivalent of a product recall?
In 1948, the Chicago Daily Tribune sent out the trucks to bring back copies of its famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” edition. I also know of one pulping that was done to save lives.
The latest journalistic recall happened this week...
Continue reading -
April 03, 2009 11:27 AM
The Name Game
Trouble can result when two or more people share the same name
Even if you remove the element of fame, you’re much better off being Engelbert Humperdinck than John Smith.
Though unique names are often misspelled by the media, it’s far more dangerous to share a name with somebody else. Other people go bankrupt, get charged with felonies, deal drugs. These deeds get them in the press, which opens the door to...
Continue reading -
March 27, 2009 11:10 AM
Violating the “Contract of Correction”
Corrections requests get backlogged at The Washington Post
Roughly a year ago, The Washington Post embarked on what has become a seven-part investigative series about housing issues in D.C. The sixth installment examined the dispersal of $30 million earmarked to “rid the District of dangerous, dilapidated properties.”
The paper revealed that the fund, controlled by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, suffered from “haphazard...
Continue reading -
March 20, 2009 10:37 AM
Comedy of Errors
Comedians and the corrections beat
Jay Leno has made amusing, mistaken, and otherwise notable newspaper headlines a staple of his show. Recently, his rivals got into the media mistake act. This could either be a disconcerting example of kicking newspapers when they’re down, or perhaps it’s late night comedy’s way of reminding people that newspapers are still relevant. Either way, it’s been an amusing few...
Continue reading
—advertisement—
Desks
The Audit Business
- Amplifying the Drumbeat on the “Overdraft Protection” Racket The issue picks up momentum in the financial press
- Journal: Wall Street Pay Could Set Records
The Observatory Science
- Some Optimism for the Future of Science Journalism And especially for international collaboration
- NSF “Underwriting” Coverage… And other controversies from the World Conference of Science Journalists
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- More PitneyGate Fallout? Press focused on who asked questions at Obama town hall
- The Economy Today: School’s Out With Money Tight, Classes Are Slashed