Regret the Error

Here is the original editorial that sparked the correction: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=…

I love that the correction states that the working of rockets in a vacuum confirms Newtonian physics, which I'm judging the 1920 editorialist knew nothing of.

I fortunately I didn’t save it so I can offer any details, but one of my favorite corrections was actually a correction of a correction that ran in the LA Times 2-3 years ago.

Skylights: “So even in 1920, know-nothing know-it-alls were railing against the experts. I guess this type of anti-intellectual, anti-elitism has always been with us.”

Then, as now, the know-nothing know-it-alls were the experts.

Wonderful. Corrections should not be looked on as something horrible. We learn new things all the time. Good journalists seek out the facts from competing and sometimes hostile sources and sometimes, despite their best efforts, get it wrong. Corrections are only “bad'' when people are lazy, and then making people correct, correct promptly and explain to their editors why they made the mistake is the best course of action. I'm no longer with Bloomberg News. I was a reporter there for 12 years. Whatever I feel about the company today, I must say their policy on corrects was far better than most publications and news agencies. Corrections were published as such and reporters required to explain to their bosses, and ultimately the editor in chief, why they made the mistake, however small. Sometimes it hurt like crazy and sometimes you couldn't really figure out why you made the error, but admitting to it, like a good baskeball player admits a foul, make you careful, made you check, made you try to follow the old Chicago City News Bureau dictate: “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.'' Too many papers, agencies and other news outlets try to hide or equivicate. Don't. I hated admitting I was wrong at first, but I learned to call those who pointed out the errors (or sometimes were responsible for them) and correct my errors quickly. Many times the reader or Bloomberg client or Internet reader became a source. They liked it that people admitted mistakes and tried to learn from them. They liked it that Bloomberg took their complaints seriously. Of all the good and bad I got from Bloomberg in the last 12 years, their correct policy and their insistence on admitting error and explaining why mistakes were made was one of the finest qualities of that wonderful, crazy and sometimes impossible agency. If everyone followed their policy, journalism wouldn't be in as bad a place as it is now. I'm surprised that so few journalism commentators have commented on Bloomberg's correct policy. Look into it. It's the right policy. I'm no longer with Bloomberg, but I hope that I will live up to that standard as I move on. Cheers, Jeb Blount, Blount's Brazilian Oil News, Rio de Janeiro

When I was 10 I remember the Apollo missions were taking place. The lady in the appartment downstairs from us did not believe in them. When I tried to explain the concept of space flight in a vacuum to her, she still did not believe it, nor could she grasp the concept.

haha that’s brilliant, i wonder how the dude who said that felt after being so sarcastic!

robert goddard is from worcester MA where i am from :)

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That's brilliant, i wonder how the dude who said that felt after being so sarcastic!