Imagine for a moment that we’re in the middle of a presidential election. Now imagine that late in the campaign Rupert Murdoch publishes an editorial in the New York Post condemning a high level Republican campaign strategist for passing along incorrect information about the Democratic nominee to Fox News. Kind of hard to picture, I [...]
In an article “Many accusations of spying but few facts as Karmapa accused of spying” published on February 9, a Tibetan political activist was reported as saying that Mr Shamarpa Rinpoche, a senior figure in the Karma Kagyu Buddhist sect, was trying to demonize Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is recognised by the Dalai Lama as [...]
This post, “There’s No Problem!’ Newsrooms in Denial About Rampant Errors,” from MediaBugs executive director Scott Rosenberg is in reply to this post from Jonathan Stray. Together, they encompass much of the information you need to get a good understanding of newspaper accuracy and some of the failures of correction. So not just worth reading [...]
We would like to apologise to the family of Paul McGuigan, who was killed in Iraq by Danny Fitzsimons from Rochdale, for the use of a photograph that appeared in Saturday’s M.E.N. We used a picture of Paul when we intended to use a picture of Danny Fitzsimons. Paul’s family have also asked us to [...]
I never thought I’d hear a grown man say he was “comfortable that ‘pants on fire’ was the right call.” But that’s what PolitiFact editor and St. Petersburg Times Washington bureau chief Bill Adair told me today. We were discussing a controversial ruling his site issued on a political ad put out by the Democratic [...]
John D’Orazio: In reporting on the funeral service for former WA State MP John D’Orazio (Hundreds pay respects at D’Orazio farewell, page 6, April 21), we incorrectly referred to Ballajura parish priest John Jegorow as saying Mr D’Orazio had said things that would make the front pages of the newspaper, if repeated. Father Jegorow did [...]
We wrongly called Chinese basketball star Yao Ming a baseball player (Chinese city chief orders outbreak of red song fever, 23 April, page 20). Link Report an error
… [P]eople rejected the validity of a scientific source because its conclusion contradicted their deeply held views—and thus the relative risks inherent in each scenario. A hierarchal individualist finds it difficult to believe that the things he prizes commerce, industry, a man’s freedom to possess a gun to defend his family PDF could lead to [...]
A reference to the Muppets, originally included in this post, was taken out of context and has been removed. Apologies to Fozzie Bear & Co. Link Report an error
The acrostic answers last Sunday, for the acrostic puzzle of April 10, omitted the final two solutions. For letter V, with the clue “Distinctive features of the primitive reptilian archaeopteryx,” the answer was “Feathers.” For letter W, with the clue “Admit to being wrong,” the answer was “Eat crow.” Link Report an error
The Daily News mistakenly identified a photograph of a West Babylon, L.I., home in the April 17 edition as the last known residence of Amber Lynn Costello, a prostitute who was a victim of a suspected serial killer. The picture was of a neighboring home. The News regrets the error. Link Report an error
An article wrongly stated that Gino Coutinho – goalkeeper of the Netherlands’ Eredivisie club ADO Den Haag – had been sentenced along with his girlfriend to 12 months in prison. The court has yet to hand down any ruling. Twelve months is the sentence that the prosecution is seeking in the case, where the footballer [...]
An article on Thursday about museums that exhibit the clothing of couturiers referred incorrectly to Roberto Capucci, a designer whose clothes are the subject of a current exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is alive. Link Report an error
From the Los Angeles Times: Four years after airing a misleading video segment about Crenshaw Christian Center founder Dr. Frederick K.C. Price, ABC News has issued a public apology. In a story called “Enough!” that aired on ABC’s “20/20″ and “Good Morning America” in March 2007, ABC News and then-correspondent John Stossel investigated whether ministers [...]
A review suggested that after centenary concerts in 2010 marking Gustav Mahler’s birth, further concerts were planned in 2011 to mark the centenary of his death. “I had no idea,” said a reader, “that he was such a prodigy.” It was the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth that was marked in 2010 (Classical: Philharmonia/Maazel, [...]
Lots of folks are sending this in, so I figured I should publish it today, rather than wait until tomorrow: A series of pictures last Sunday of covers of the magazine Tiger Beat, with an article about how the original teen-girl tabloid has remained virtually unchanged since its inception in 1965, erroneously included a parody [...]
Jon Krakauer’s Three Cups of Deceit—his thorough, intricate takedown of Greg Mortenson’s fraudulent book and charity—has been downloaded 70,000 times by users of byliner.com. That’s terrific news in more ways than one. The problem is, Mortenson’s first book sold more than four million copies. Math isn’t my strongest suit—that would be my reasoned, measured approach [...]
An editorial Sunday, “Brown regresses on prison contract,” included several assertions that deserve correction regarding a 218-page contract the Brown administration has proposed for state prison officers: • Salary increases for officers would not be tied to compensation for sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles County and police elsewhere. That language, included in a previous contract, [...]
An amusing typo from a Kansas City NBC station (click for better view): It’s been fixed, but no correction was added. Thanks, Alex! Report an error
All published yesterday by the paper: The name of a Kate Middleton look-alike, Emily Turner, was incorrectly given as Emily Nelson in a photo caption accompanying the continuation of a front-page article on a Prince William double on Thursday. The name of Chinese apparel company Li & Fung was incorrectly given as Li & Wang [...]
The penthouse was not sold to Mr. Gouzer, who no longer works at Sotheby’s. He is renting the home, and his name appears on legal documents for an LLC that did make the purchase. The buyer is in fact a foreigner “who no one would have ever heard of,” Mr. Gouzer’s attorney told The Observer. [...]
A report on the latest attack on Andres Serrano’s controversial work Piss Christ inadvertently referred to the late US Republican Senator Jesse Helms as Jesse James (Hit with a hammer and slashed with an ice pick. Anti-blasphemy attack on Piss Christ, 19 April, page 3). Link Report an error
Reporters at PolitiFact.com have used me as a resource half a dozen times or so when fact-checking something someone said about health care reform. Sometimes we disagree about where the truth lies, but I’ve always been happy to help. That changed recently, and I should let PolitiFact’s reporters know why. At the end of each [...]
Asking your users to report inaccuracies strikes me as a fabulous idea, and likely very productive see: “someone is wrong on the internet!“ I have no knowledge of the quantity of errors submitted using these forms, or how the corrections process works. My suspicion is that each submitted correction sends an email to some hapless [...]
DeBerry column based on article: On Dec. 9, 2008, The Times-Picayune published a column by Jarvis DeBerry titled “Justice deferred,” in which DeBerry referenced an article published in The New Yorker on April 28, 2008, written by Jared Diamond titled “Vengeance is ours; what can tribal societies tell us about our need to get even?” [...]
