Regret the Error

In our obituary yesterday of David Croft, we mistakenly said his wife Ann had also passed away. We wish to make clear that this was wrong and we apologise for the error.  Report an error

On Monday, 26 September, we published an article which claimed that Katie Price was involving her son, Junior, in violent pursuits and that this was of deep concern to her ex-husband, Peter Andre. In fact our story was incorrect and Katie has simply taken Junior to a noncontact fun fitness class designed by MMA trainer [...]

In our article, ‘The scone of destiny’ (11 September 2011) we incorrectly stated that Tilly Mint Bakery in Truro had closed. It has not closed and continues in business as usual . We apologize for this error. Link  Report an error

Not always is the Guardian faithful to the memory of Bavarian-born botanist Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566), for whom the fuchsia is named. Latest case in point: a piece noted that cutting a figure against the general beigeness of the backdrop at the Labour party’s conference platform, was a speaker with hair “a startling shade of fuschia” [...]

I’m joining with Reuters’ Jack Shafer and Mallary Tenore of Poynter today at 12:30 p.m. ET to do a live chat about trust and accuracy. Go here to join in, make comments and ask questions. Here’s more about the chat: A Pew study released last week found that only 25 percent of the news consumers [...]

Via a blog post from the editor of ArchDaily, which had come under fire for plagiarising from Arch Record: … On September 18th, we featured a story titled “Harlem’s New Renaissance”. The article was taken from Jenna McKnight’s article “Harlem’s New Renaissance” featured on Arch Record on August 25th. ArchDaily’s article written by Irina Vinnitskaya [...]

AN article by Barry Cohen in The Australian yesterday (“The experts have got it wrong: Gillard was not disloyal to Rudd”, Page 14) stated that Kevin Rudd was 34 in 1998. In fact, he was 41. And the special minister of state cited should have been Joe Ludwig, not John Faulkner.  Report an error

A report from the Guardian: It was the most dramatic of footage with which to launch ITV1′s new current affairs show – pictures of the IRA supposedly shooting down a helicopter with weapons supplied by Muammar Gaddafi. But the broadcaster on Tuesday admitted that the images used in the first episode of its new ITV1 [...]

In a recent column about Cy Avara, the affable proprietor of hair academies, one on West Pratt Street and one in Dundalk, I mentioned Nate Smith, a barber and a longtime teacher in Mr. Avara’s shop in West Baltimore. I referred to Mr. Smith as having been “neglected” as a boy growing up on the [...]

A celebrity brief in the Sept. 21 Spectator said that Ashton Kutcher’s character “turned up naked” on the season debut of Two and a Half Men. In fact, Kutcher’s character didn’t take his clothes off until after he got inside the home of the character played by Jon Cryer. Link  Report an error

As an editor, you develop a B.S. meter—an internal warning system that signals caution about journalism that doesn’t feel trustworthy. Sometimes it’s a quote or incident that’s too perfect —a feeling I always had when reading stories by Stephen Glass in the New Republic. Sometimes it’s too many errors of fact, the overuse of anonymous [...]

In July 2010 and thereafter, we reported on two local pain management clinics that were raided by federal agents and were being investigated for being “pill mills.” In connection with those reports both on the air and on our website, we reported that George H.G. Hall, a retired executive and now college professor and practicing [...]

In the Sept. 21 “Moneybox,” Annie Lowrey miscalculated a hypothetical scenario about how long it would take Mark Zuckerberg to become a trillionaire, saying it wouldn’t be possible within 50 years. Under the hypothetical (though highly unlikely) circumstances, he would reach $1 trillion well within 50 years. Link  Report an error

An article on Thursday about the family seltzer-delivery business of Walter Backerman, who is helped by his 14-year-old son Joey, misspelled the name of a celebrity on ”Jersey Shore” whom Joey likes. The celebrity is Snooki, not Snookie. Link  Report an error

In an article published on 4 September headlined “Kirk seeks peace deal over Loch Lomond vendetta” it was stated that the Church of Scotland had intervened in a dispute between the Reverend Dr Dane Sherrard and a local entrepreneur Denice Purdie over a visitor centre at Luss. It was also stated that the Reverend Norman [...]

The Pew Research Center released a report yesterday that provides an overview of the public’s attitude towards the press from 1985 to 2011. When it comes to accuracy and issues of credibility, there’s a lot to digest. Mostly, it’s bad news. From the report: Negative opinions about the performance of news organizations now equal or [...]

I’m at the Online News Association Conference in Boston today. At 2:15 p.m. the Huffington Post’s Mandy Jenkins and I will lead a workshop, B.S. Detection for Online Journalists. Here’s the overview of what we’ll be covering: Accuracy is fundamental to what we do, but it’s a challenge to verify information when it flows at [...]

We reported yesterday (Tuesday) that the 13 accused pleaded guilty, when in fact, they had pleaded not guilty to all charges against them. We regret the error.  Report an error

A music review on Sept. 5 about the Rock the Bells hip-hop show on Governors Island, where 11 albums were performed in their entirety, included several errors. The rapper who made the album “Heavy Mental” is Killah Priest, not Killa Priest. The album by Raekwon re-enacted at the concert is “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx,” [...]

A sub-editing error in an article in the Express/Advocate last Friday incorrectly quoted James Musgrave as saying “compared to Sydney’s City2Surf, the Bumble Hill Burn was “for wussygirls’.” It should have read: “I have now decided that the City2Surf’s Heartbreak Hill is for wussygirls! After doing the inaugural Bumble Hill Burn today I can attest [...]

The buzzwords for social media editors at news outlets are conversation, curation and collaboration. But when using Twitter and its ilk to collect and disseminate news in real-time, another word is becoming just as important: corroboration. During big, breaking events such as Hurricane Irene, the East Coast earthquake and uprisings in the Middle East, social [...]

Tim Geithner is the US treasury secretary, not secretary of state (Greece under more pressure after finance ministers put brakes on bailout payment, 17 September, page 41). Link  Report an error

Romenesko spotted a pretty remarkable report from the Chicago Tribune. (Scroll down for an update.) It reveals that a Fox Sports broadcast showed a series of fake media headlines purportedly about Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and portrayed them as real. From the Trib story: During the fourth quarter of the Bears-Falcons season opener, Fox turned [...]

This story originally misidentified the title of the Sir-Mix-a-Lot song that Sarah Palin sang along with. It is “Baby Got Back,” not “I Like Big Butts.” Link Thanks, Jim!  Report an error

In “Tories take donations from firm behind 200% loans” (News, last week, page 11), we noted that one man “nearly bought a £ 7,000 car from ACF that would have ended up costing him £ 325 a month over 60 months, a total cost of £ 19,500, equivalent to an interest rate of almost 200%.” [...]