In a Jan. 25 story about a study of the gender gap in college enrollment and undergraduate degrees, The Associated Press reported erroneously that more men are attending college and graduating with a bachelor’s degree, reversing the tendency of women to outnumber men and outperform them academically. The study found that the gender gap has stopped widening.Link
In some versions of a Dec. 29 story about a Supreme Court ruling on highway usage, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Israel has a network of roads reserved for Jews. These roads are open to all Israeli citizens, including Arabs, as well as foreigners and tourists, while banning virtually all Palestinians. Link
In a Jan. 2 story about the North Dakota National Guard on duty in Kosovo, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the soldiers responded to a roadside bomb. The soldiers responded to a roadside crash.Link
In a Dec. 28 story, The Associated Press, relying on information from Van Morrison’s Hollywood-based publicist and his official Web site, reported erroneously that the Irish singer had a new baby boy with a woman identified as “his wife, GiGi.”
Morrison said Thursday in a statement through his Dublin public relations firm that the report was “utterly without foundation” and planted by an unknown hacker. Morrison said he remains “very happily married” to former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocha, with whom he has two children, aged 3 and 2.
An e-mail sent to the AP on Thursday by the office of Morrison’s Hollywood publicist, Phil Lobel, said the publicist’s Dec. 28 announcement of the birth was based on information from Morrison’s hacked Web site and that “all those with Van Morrison regret any confusion this may have caused.”
Morrison’s statement, issued by the Dublin branch of the U.S.-based public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard Inc., said his Web site has been hacked at least twice in recent months. The statement was issued by John Saunders, senior partner of the firm in Europe, who confirmed to the AP the authenticity of Thursday’s statement. Link
In a Dec. 17 story about a restaurant called Ganja Gourmet, The Associated Press misidentified the owner. The owner’s name is Steve Horwitz, not Scott Horowitz.Link
While you’re here, please consider purchasing a copy of the Regret the Error book, which won an award for media criticism from the National Press Club, and also contains hundreds of hilarious corrections. You can learn more about the book and read some reviews here. The paperback edition, which includes a new introduction,came out earlier this year.
Trend of the Year: Calling Bullshit (aka Fact Checking)
Everybody loves to call bullshit. Thanks to the Internet, it’s easier than ever before.
The irony is that this trend emerges at a time when professional fact checkers, who traditionally worked at magazines, are being laid off. As a result, it appears as though the future of fact checking is in open, public and participatory systems and organizations, rather than the closed, professional systems traditionally used by large magazines. The Internet has made this shift possible.
Here’s a selection of fact checking-related news from the past year:
Even before Sarah Palin’s book was released, the Associated Press engaged in a significant internal effort to identify factual errors in the text. Meaning: they fact checked her book before it was on shelves.
The value of fact checking for journalists was perhaps best demonstrated by a group of students in the Netherlands. A new program at the Tilburg School of Journalism sees fourth-year students spend a three-week stint fact checking the work of Dutch media. When I wrote about the program in October, I was told that roughly 80 percent of the stories they’ve checked included some form of factual error.
We reached a strange milestone this year when CNN fact checked a comedy sketch from Saturday Night Live (their story was inspired by a similar report by PolitiFact):
Speaking of PolitiFact, it won a Pulitzer this year for its work fact checking the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. It’s now reportedlyclose to a syndication deal with major newspapers. Is this the future of professional fact checking?
Finally, if you wonder just how much calling bullshit matters to some journalists, look no further thanwhat happened at the Washington Post earlier this year.Henry Allen, an editor, punched reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia in the face in part because of factual errors contained in a charticle produced by Roig-Franzia and a colleague. Clearly, this accuracy and fact checking stuff is serious business.
Other Notables: Emergence of Tools, Improving Online Standard
I’ve long been lobbying for news organizations and journalists to make more of an effort to prevent and correct factual errors. As journalism continues its move online, it’s more important than ever that corrections and accuracy evolve to fit the new medium. Fortunately, this year saw the emergence of some promising initiatives. Here are four highlights:
MediaBugs — I must begin with a disclosure that I’m an unpaid advisor to this project. Author and former Salon.com managing editor Scott Rosenberg won a grant from the Knight Foundation to create MediaBugs, a website that aims to find a better way of bringing the public and journalists together to correct errors. Read more about it here. It will launch next year.
hNews — Though not specifically created to deal with these issues, hNews is a project funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation that could have serious and valuable implications in the realm of accuracy and corrections. Learn more about it here.
Django-correx — Ben Welsh, a database producer at the Los Angeles Times, created and released code that can be used to make corrections a more significant and flexible part of a Django-based website. Learn more about it here.
Report on Unpublishing — Kathy English, the public editor of the Toronto Star, produced a detailed report, “The Long Tail of News: To Unpublish or not to Unpublish,” that outlined proper practices for dealing with requests to update or delete information — or entire articles — from a news organization’s website. As more newspaper archives go online, this issue will only become more important and time consuming for journalists. Her report is a valuable piece of guidance and research. We need more efforts like this to help create and define the online standard for corrections. Learn more about it here.
Correction of the Year
This year’s winner is without question amusing — not to mention embarrassing for the news organization that published it — in that it demonstrates a certain amount of cultural/musical ignorance. But it earns Correction of the Year honors because of what happened after it was published. This Washington Post correction inspired an amusing Twitter hashtag, which saw people come together to come up with imagined corrections. It’s Correction of the Year because it communicates that people notice and care about corrections, and because it demonstrates the participatory potential being unleashed by the Internet. The correction:
A Nov. 26 article in the District edition of Local Living incorrectly said a Public Enemy song declared 9/11 a joke. The song refers to 911, the emergency phone number.
During the editing of this Review of the Week by Richard Smith (BMJ 2008;337:a2719,doi:10.1136/bmj.a2719), the author’s term “pisshouse” was changed to “pub” in the sentence: “Then, in true British and male style, Hammond met Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, in the pub and did a deal.” However, a pisshouse is apparently a gentleman’s toilet, and (in the author’s social circle at least) the phrase “pisshouse deal” is well known. (It alludes to the tendency of men to make deals while standing side by side and urinating.) In the more genteel confines of the BMJ Editorial Office, however, this term was unknown and a mistake was made in translating it into more standard English. We apologise for any misunderstanding this may have caused.
Other Favorites
News Tribune (Washington State):
A photo caption on Tuesday’s Page A8 said a student was performing the Heimlich maneuver on a dummy. The student was actually playing around and pretending to choke the dummy.
West Australian:
Green gaffe: There’s little doubt eco-warriors love a good chat as much as a tree hug, but our digitally dyslexic reporter’s creation of a new organisation was a revelation for verbose greenies (Recycling record comes under fire, page 18, March 23). It is more apt, of course, to discuss recycling with the Conservation Council than with the loquacious Conversation Council.
Toronto Sun:
A headline on page one of the Toronto Sun yesterday was both inaccurate and misleading. In fact, as the story reported, the mother of a boy involved in a high school fight in Keswick said her son “said something stupid.” She did not say nor imply he was stupid. The Sun regrets the error and apologizes to the boy and his family.
Denver Post:
Because of a reporter’s error, Bill Husted’s column on Page 3B on Sunday contained an item about a tombstone for “Elway the Drug Sniffing Dog.” The tombstone was digitally fabricated for a blog and does not exist.
The Independent (U.K.):
Further to the reference in the paper on 14 June to Rebekah Wade allegedly hitting her first husband, Ross Kemp, after a “drinking bout” with David Blunkett, Mr Blunkett has been in touch to correct the record: “the alleged ‘drinking bout’ was a cup of tea at 5.30 in the evening (with witnesses including Rupert Murdoch)… There was no ‘drinking bout’, I’ve never been involved in such a ‘drinking bout’ – with or without Rebekah Wade”.
Los Angeles Times:
Bear sighting: An item in the National Briefing in Sunday’s Section A said a bear wandered into a grocery story in Hayward, Wis., on Friday and headed for the beer cooler. It was Thursday.
The Guardian (U.K.):
A reply to a question in Notes & Queries yesterday recommended purchasing lion and tiger urine from Chester Zoo to stop neighbourhood cats from urinating in a vegetable patch (G2, page 17). Chester Zoo would like to forestall requests for its big cats’ urine: it asks us to make clear that it does not in fact sell either tiger or lion urine. Many years ago the zoo sold elephant dung, but it no longer does.
New York Times:
An article on Aug. 2 about older alumni who have been helped by university career counselors referred imprecisely to comments by a 1990 graduate of Lehigh University who lost his job in February when his company was downsized, and a correction in this space last Sunday misspelled his surname. As the article correctly noted, he is David Monson, not Munson, and he was speaking generally — not about himself — when he said that newly unemployed people sometimes mope around the house in sweatpants.
The Guardian (U.K.):
A comment piece about achievement and frailty in the lives of artistic greats mentioned Wagner’s reminder to his favourite Vienna chambermaid to wear purple knickers next time they met. A Wagner expert points out that the pants in question were pink (To understand genius, forget the purple knickers, 19 August, page 28)
The Guardian (U.K.):
A taste test of various foods described a sample from Anila’s Curry Sauces as starting well but having “a slightly dirty aftertaste”. Our reviewer meant to convey that the aftertaste was odd – not to imply that food hygiene might be poor (Look, no gluten! 19 August, page 14, G2).
Error of the Year: Wafergate
This was a bad year for the Telegraph-Journal, a newspaper in New Brunswick, Canada. First, it came under fire when it dismissed a summer intern after he committed a few factual errors in a controversial story. It also had to apologize for an incident of plagiarism in an unrelated story. But the biggest problem was a front page story that included a fabricated accusation against the Canadian prime minister, as well as a fabricated quote from a prominent priest. In Canada, the ensuing national scandal came to be known as “Wafergate,” and it eventually cost the paper’s editor her job. The publisher was also suspended. Here’s how I described the incident in a previous column:
In early July, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper traveled to New Brunswick to attend the funeral of former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc. At the funeral, the prime minister was given communion. Video footage shows him accepting a wafer from the priest, but cuts away before anyone can see him eat it. Nobody thought much of this until the Telegraph-Journal, a New Brunswick paper, published a front page article claiming that the prime minister put the wafer, which represents the body of Christ, in his pocket. Then everyone piled on the story. Eventually, the prime minister and his spokesman issued strong denials.
Almost three weeks after it set off a national controversy, the paper issued a front page apology and admitted that, “There was no credible support for these statements of fact at the time this article was published, nor is the Telegraph-Journal aware of any credible support for these statements now.” So, uh, how did they end up in the paper?
Then, on September 16, the paper issued another major apology, this time to Monsignor Brian Henneberry for fabricating a quote from him in the offending report. From the apology:
… The Telegraph-Journal said prominently, on the front page, that Monsignor Brian Henneberry, a senior Saint John priest, had “demanded” that Prime Minister Stephen Harper explain what he had done with the communion wafer that he had been given. The newspaper has determined that Monsignor Henneberry said no such thing and believes that the false assertion was wholly the product of improper editorial manipulation …
Though the paper has issued two prominent apologies, one major issue remains: the public doesn’t know who or what caused the paper to fabricate this controversy. Who made the decision to insert the offending accusation and quotes? Why did they do it? Do they still work for the paper? The paper apologized for its errors, but it hasn’t been transparent about what caused them. Sadly, this lack of disclosure is all too common among news organizations.
Runner Up: Hartford Courant Plagiarism
Last year, I noted a rather remarkable case of systemic plagiarism at a weekly paper in Texas. Who would’ve thought we’d see this same issue again in 2009? In early September, the Hartford Courant disciplined six people and admitted publicly that, “Over the last few weeks, The Courant carried several news stories in which the original news source attributions were removed and credit was given to a Courant staffer. This was plagiarism.” The paper was subsequently sued.
Apology of the Year
The Sun(U.K.):
IN a report on May 5, 2009, headlined “Riddle of Boruc, the brunette and his hair straighteners”, we claimed that Artur Boruc had brought two girls to the house he shares with partner Sara Mannei and had sex with one of them. We published a picture which we said showed him straightening one of the girls’ hair. We now accept the picture was in fact of Mr Boruc and his younger sister Paulina in Poland some years earlier, and that neither did Mr Boruc invite back nor have sex with either of the girls in our story. We apologise to Mr Boruc and Ms Mannei for any embarrassment caused.
Runner Up
Daily Mirror (U.K.):
OUR report (”Off their Facebook”, May 30, 2008) said that Amanda Hudson’s house on the Costa del Sol had been wrecked by drunken and out of control teenagers attending her daughter’s 16th birthday party, who had also stolen property. We also referred to an internet posting in which it was claimed that Amanda had punched Jodie because of what happened. We now accept that these allegations were untrue and we apologise to Amanda for the distress and embarrassment caused.
In a Nov. 17 story about job cuts at Verizon Communications Inc., The Associated Press, relying on a labor union report, erroneously reported that Verizon is laying off more than 1,000 employees in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
In response to AP’s query, a Verizon spokesman on Tuesday confirmed that layoffs were occurring. On Wednesday, the spokesman said Verizon has a “surplus” of employees in the area and is giving people a chance to leave voluntarily through buyouts. The spokesman said layoffs could follow if necessary. Link
In a Nov. 6 story citing examples of companies that changed their names to repair their images, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Accenture changed its name from Arthur Andersen as a result of an association with the Enron scandal. Accenture, previously known as Andersen Consulting, operated independently from Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm. Andersen Consulting changed its name before the Enron scandal became public and was in no way tied to the scandal.Link
Correction: An Associated Press story on the Nation page on Oct. 23 mischaracterized a motorized chair a Minnesota man was operating while drunk. Police in Proctor, Minn., where the recliner will be auctioned, said the brand is not La-Z-Boy. Link
An Associated Press image of fall foliage amid snow in Twin Mountain, N.H., published in Thursday’s Photos of the Day had been digitally altered by the photo service. The photo has been replaced with the actual, unaltered image.Link
In an Oct. 7 story about the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat identified an Iranian who disappeared in Georgia as a second nuclear scientist. Asharq Al-Awsat said the man was believed to be an arms dealer. Link
In an Oct. 1 story about the world’s biggest wind farm opening, The Associated Press incorrectly quoted Patrick Woodson, an officer for E.ON Climate and Renewables North America. He said, “This is truly a significant milestone for us,” not “This is truly sign milestone for us.”Link
In a Sept. 22 story about a postal worker pleading guilty to stealing Netflix DVDs, The Associated Press misstated the number of DVDs stolen. Myles Weathers pleaded guilty to stealing more than 3,000 DVDs, not 30,000. Link
This article about the community organizing group ACORN incorrectly said that a conservative journalist targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos partly because its voter-registration drives bring Latinos and African Americans to the polls. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O’Keefe, did not specifically mention them.Link
In a Sept. 19 story about the community organizing group ACORN, The Associated Press, based on an account in The Washington Post, erroneously quoted a conservative journalist saying he targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos because its voter-registration drives bring minority voters to the polls.
The Washington Post on Tuesday printed a correction about the quote. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O’Keefe, did not specifically mention minorities, the newspaper said.
In a story Aug. 27, The Associated Press reported that the family of a student who said a science teacher burned a cross on his arm settled a federal lawsuit with the school district. Their attorney, Doug Mansfield, described it as an effort by the family to move past the incident. Mansfield was quoted saying, "I think they regretted bringing the lawsuit." The attorney says his quote in the story should have said that the family "regretted having to file the lawsuit." Link
In an obituary of Walter Cronkite on Page A1 July 18, The Associated Press, relying on published accounts that included Cronkite’s memoir, reported erroneously that "cronkiter" was used in Sweden and the Netherlands as a term for "TV anchorman." Olof Hulten, a journalism educator in Sweden, and Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s Expert Desk say the term is unknown in their countries. Link
An obituary on July 18 about Walter Cronkite, using information from his autobiography, “A Reporter’s Life,” misstated the origin of the term “anchor.” While Mr. Cronkite was referred to as the anchor of CBS news coverage of the 1952 presidential conventions, that was not the first time that “anchor” and “anchorman” were used. Both terms had been applied to broadcasters in other contexts before the conventions. The obituary also included an erroneous anecdote from the autobiography about the extent of his fame. He was said to be so widely known that newscasters in Sweden were once called “Cronkiters,” but that term is not known to linguists in that country. Link
In a July 13 story, The Associated Press described Shulamit Kishak-Cohen, who helped smuggle Jews to Israel from Lebanon in the 1950s and was awarded a rare citation, as having carried on a romantic liaison with a French intelligence agent. The story should have attributed the information to a book about Kishak-Cohen, "Shula: Code Name The Pearl." Her family says the assertion is entirely false and sullies her reputation.
In a story June 26, The Associated Press reported that frustrated fishermen are firing guns at bottlenose dolphins that have become increasingly aggressive in taking fish off hooks, and some dolphins have been wounded or killed. The story quoted Bob Zales, president of the National Association of Charter Boat Operators, as saying he heard accounts of dolphins being shot at. He says he meant that some boat operators "may fire weapons in an attempt to scare them off" but does not know of anyone who would fire at a dolphin or try to harm them. He said attempts to scare away dolphins have been made by commercial fishermen and others, not just charter boat fishermen.
In a June 15 story about DF Indie Studios, The Associated Press reported erroneous claims by the company and founders Mary Dickinson and Charlene Fisher. In a news release and in interviews, DF Indie Studios and the founders said their movies will be produced by such Hollywood figures as Ridley and Tony Scott. Dickinson and Fisher also said they had $300 million in loans and distribution deals and were halfway to raising $100 million in equity. However, DF Indie Studios now acknowledges that it has not finalized its line of credit, its equity investments or all of its distribution deals. And a representative for the Scotts’ production company says it has no business or contractual relationship with DF Indie Studios.Link
A report by The Associated Press in the National Briefing column on Jan. 6 about the resignation of Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay, from three corporate boards misspelled part of the name of one of the companies. It is Procter & Gamble, not Proctor & Gamble. A reader pointed out the error in an e-mail message on Monday, and also correctly noted that The Times has misspelled the name more than 100 times. (This is the second correction.)Link
Local: A headline Thursday should not have said that a Mankato roofer was implicated in a labor scheme involving immigrant workers. In fact, Kato Roofing was a client of a labor-leasing company that has been indicted in relation with the scheme. But Kato Roofing has not been implicated or associated in any way with the federal investigation, and Kato Roofing officials emphasize that they have done nothing wrong. The Pioneer Press apologizes for the error.Link
The Washington Times made an embarrassing mistake on its website last week. This picture pretty much speaks for itself:
Yes, those are the Obama kids. No, they weren’t involved in the story.
After being spotted by one blog, the image quickly spread. Some people said it was an example of the Times’ right-wing bias. The Times spoke up, publishing a story to explain the error:
…Executive Editor John Solomon said The Times published the story in its print edition without a photo, then editors sent it to the Web platform without an attached photo.
He said The Times’ automated “news themes” engine, constructed to match related content to the Web site, paired the Associated Press photo of the Obama daughters to the bylined story. An online editor later spotted the photo and added a short caption.
“That editor should have removed the photo from the site but did not recognize the inappropriate mismatching,” Mr. Solomon said. “As soon as we learned about the problem, we detached the photo from the story. We regret that this technical glitch led to an inappropriate pairing of the photo with the story and we’ve taken steps technologically and in our editorial process to try to avoid such an episode in the future.”
“We also hope this glitch does not distract from the important and well reported subject of the story: the crisis of school violence in one of the nation’s largest cities.”
The lede of the above story blamed the error on a “technical glitch.” Well, that’s partly true. But this error also occurred because of a lack of editorial oversight. The photo was automatically matched with the story, but someone should have approved it before the article went live. So, yes, a technical glitch. But also a process problem. Solomon seems to acknowledge this when he says that “we’ve taken steps technologically and in our editorial process to try to avoid such an episode in the future.”
Solomon also reacted to the incident by sending a memo to staff. It ostensibly reinforces the importance of accuracy, but I worry that it could result in Times staffers doing more to conceal mistakes. Here’s a relevant passage:
1. Any reporter or editor who makes an error in a story that requires a published correction must submit a letter to the Executive Editor and Managing Editor explaining the mistake and what corrective actions were taken. These letters will be placed in your permanent personnel file.
This sends the message to the newsroom that it’s better to conceal an error than correct it. I know that’s not what Solomon meant to say, but his policy will encourage some staffers to do everything they can to hide a mistake. After all, leaving an error uncorrected means they won’t have to own up to it in an embarrassing letter — a letter that will go in their personnel file.
Solomon is right to want to track errors and understand their cause. But his process is all about punishment and shame; it’s not about learning from mistakes. These letters of confession go into a person’s personnel file. Sure, that provides information for their annual review. But what about the organization as a whole? This information should be collected in a corrections database that helps the newsroom track and understand the most common causes of error. Don’t shame your staff with a high school-esque process that’s all about letters and permanent records. It will only make people want to hide their errors. That’s bad for the newsroom and bad for readers.
The third item in Solomon’s memo addresses the issue of training. I like that the paper is introducing an accuracy training program. But he’s presented it like a remedial class for bad reporters and editors:
All reporters who have had stories with published corrections in the last year and any editors who inserted errors into copy will be required to take a mandatory class on accuracy and precision to be held the first week of June and led by Carleton Bryant.
Clearly, being put in that class is a form of punishment. Ideally, it would be a badge of honor. All staffers should receive accuracy training to help prevent mistakes. They should also be encouraged to own up to their mistakes and share any personal tips for attaining accuracy.
The Times needs to adjust its accuracy plan. Make it about working together to attain a higher standard, rather than singling out staff members for punishment. Make it about learning from mistakes, rather than embarrassing people. Make prevention and correction a part of the paper’s culture.
A culture of shame and blame just makes people scared to get things wrong. It doesn’t help solve the problem.
In an April 13 story about pirates at sea, The Associated Press erroneously quoted President Barack Obama vowing “to halt the rise of piracy.” Obama misspoke, according to a White House transcript, using the word “privacy,” not “piracy,” in his comment. Link
In a May 7 story, msnbc.com published an incorrect photo of the suspect in the shooting at Wesleyan University. The photo was supplied by The Associated Press and credited to the university. The AP later notified the media that the wrong photo had been published, and the Police Department in Middletown, Conn., supplied a correct photo of the suspect, shown here.
In a May 2 story about swine flu comments and the immigration debate, The Associated Press mischaracterized a comment by CNN’s Lou Dobbs. The story said Dobbs called the current epidemic “Mexican flu.” While Dobbs used that language, he was making light of those who were suggesting the name should be changed to something other than swine flu. Link (Link fixed May 10)
I offered some basic advice for preventing factual errors in this post. You should also download the free Regret the Error accuracy checklist here. Then read my Columbia Journalism Review column that explains why checklists are so effective.
Finally, if you have any tips or tricks for helping to prevent errors, please share them with me, so I can share them with others.
Note: The formatting of older posts can be a bit wonky due to the switch to WordPress. Also, the images in older posts are not automatically loading. Just click on the link to see the image.