Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the day these words appeared on a front page of the Sunday Washington Post: "Jimmy is 8 years old and a third-generation heroin addict, a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms. "He nestles in [...]
A STORY IN yesterday's Daily News about cocaine possession charges against rapper Kid Cudi inaccurately stated that he had pleaded guilty. In fact, he was granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, subject to completion of two days of community service. If he completes the service and stays out of trouble in the next six [...]
Singer Neil Young was born Nov. 12, 1945, and singer Eric Clapton was born March 30, 1945. The Short List events calendar in Friday's Weekend Journal transposed their birthdates. In addition, the listing erred by identifying Mr. Young as a former heroin user; the Journal has no reporting to support that Mr. Young used the [...]
A "FACT CHECK" story on Social Security in Friday's Monitor quoted Paul Hodes spokesman Matt House as saying Kelly Ayotte supported privatization and would "subject Granite State seniors' Social Security benefits to the Wall Street casino." The story said incorrectly that House had made that statement last week. In fact, House made the statement in [...]
Christchurch company MoleMap has not ceased trading. Yesterday The Press ran a story of which the headline stated "Mole map services suspended". This referred to a company called Mole Trac whose business has closed. The story made no reference to MoleMap, a different business. Report an error
We seem unusually fixed on putting photos of brown bears with stories about the Montana woman reported to have fended off a black bear with a courgette. Colour matters in this encounter because the North American black bear is held to be pleasanter than members of the brown bear family (pictured with Ursus zucchinius? 23 [...]
On Friday, September 10, the front page of the Daily Express stated that Gloucestershire Constabulary had sent officers to take part in a "training course to prepare for a massive earthquake". This was untrue and Gloucestershire Constabulary have asked us to confirm that none of their staff took part in this exercise in any way. [...]
A story in the newspaper of 24 August stated: "A British oil firm will today announce that it has struck oil off Greenland." The Guardian's website had also published the story the previous night as investors awaited Cairn Energy's first well-drilling result off western Greenland (Greenpeace mobilises as firm strikes oil in Arctic, 24 August, [...]
In the Sept. 23 Slatest, Jessica Loudis misidentified Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as an employee of Google. Link Report an error
A story said that Barack Obama had been alone in the US Senate in opposing the Iraq war. Obama was some way from reaching the senate when, in October 2002, it voted on whether to authorise President George W Bush to use military force against Iraq. Twenty-three senators voted against authorisation. Barack Obama took up senate [...]
The price for a red cape shown in Weekend magazine's All ages fashion spread (18 September, pages 60-61 ) should have been £350 rather than the more optimistic £35 listed. Link Report an error
I forgot to add a link to my Columbia Journalism Review column from last week, which provides journalists with a wealth of advice and resources for online verification. An excerpt: Content Analysis Author – Is someone identified as the author of the site or article? Google them, look for a personal website. If their byline [...]
Our preview for the BBC4 anniversary programme on Jimi Hendrix prematurely announced the death of Bootsy Collins. He is very much alive. It was his brother, Catfish, who died recently. Apologies (Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, 22 September, page 26, G2). Link Report an error
An article on Wednesday about the quarrels among President Obama’s national security advisers described in a new book by Bob Woodward referred incompletely to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s reported assessment of Richard C. Holbrooke, the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Mr. Biden is indeed quoted as calling Mr. Holbrooke “the [...]
This charming video features Washington Post fiction editor Ron Charles performing a piece dedicated to errors and corrections (click on the empty space below if it's not displaying properly): Thanks to Kathryn Schulz, author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, for sending it along. Report an error
When we said that an issue "exorcised a number of black people in the (theatre) audience" what we meant was exercised. An area "now ridden by social deprivation" should have been riven (The joke's not funny if only wealthy white people laugh, 18 September, page 30). Link Reminds me of this classic. Report an error
The Associated Press reported Sept. 14 that "America's Got Talent" contestant Michael Grimm performed Michael Bolton's "When a Man Loves a Woman." Although Bolton released four different albums containing the song between 1991 and 2005, "When a Man Loves a Woman" was originally written and recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966. Link Two of those [...]
Reporting on a recent court ruling concerning violence that broke out in Manchester after the 2008 Uefa cup final between Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg, we suggested that most of the fans visiting the city had been involved, when we stated that "the estimated 125,000 fans went on the rampage". What we should have said [...]
Editor's note: A story in Saturday's paper about the debate in Wellesley over a school trip to a mosque inappropriately used material from a story published on a local website. Comments attributed to parents Ute Smith and Mary Crown were taken from an article that first appeared Friday morning on Patch.com's Wellesley site. The use [...]
An article on Thursday about the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in Delaware, Christine O’Donnell, quoted incorrectly from comments by the political strategist Karl Rove about her candidacy. During an interview on Fox News Channel, Mr. Rove said that Ms. O’Donnell had said “a lot of nutty things.” He did not say she [...]
From an apology issued by the editor of the Exponent, a student newspaper at Purdue, after they printed an offensive cartoon (which can be seen here): First things first: We made a mistake in printing Friday’s sex position of the week, and I, the editorial board, and The Exponent are extremely sorry. Our apologies extend [...]
Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Mail had 97 million unique visitors in August. In some Sept. 11 editions, a Corporate News article about Yahoo's email makeover incorrectly said it had 97 visitors. Link Thanks, Daniel! Report an error
An article on Wednesday about the continuing role of members of corporate boards who served on companies at the center of the financial crisis referred incorrectly at one point to a former Bear Stearns director who joined the board of the investment bank Gleacher & Company last year. He is Henry S. Bienen, not “Mr. [...]
Note the headline (click for larger): Thanks, Deann! Report an error
The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself. The end came quietly [...]
