Behind the scenes | Regret the Error

Category Archives: Behind the scenes

NY Times news service updates corrections policy thanks to Kristol error

March 25, 2008 – 8:00 am

Carol Goodhue, readers representative of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote a recent column about how a correction to an error in William Kristol’s New York Times column didn’t make its way to her paper before publication. As a result, the Times has now changed the way it sends out corrections to subscribers of its [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers, Ombudsmen | Tagged correction policy, new york times, san diego union-tribune | Comments

News & Observer updates its corrections policy

January 23, 2008 – 8:00 am

In a recent column, Ted Vaden, public editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, calls errors “the low-grade virus of newspapers — always there, mostly benign, sometimes flaring up in maddening eruptions of inaccuracy.” Vaden offers space to a loyal reader who complains that the paper’s corrections don’t pass the “recycle bin” test, meaning “Don’t [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers, Ombudsmen | Tagged correction database, correction policy, correction tallies, news & observer | Comments

How to spot a plagiarist/fabulist

January 8, 2008 – 8:00 am

John McIntyre, the Baltimore Sun’s assistant managing editor for the copy desk, has written an excellent blog post about plagiarism and fabrication. McIntyre is the language and usage guru at the paper. He uses that knowledge base to offer up a list of ways to spot a plagiarist or fabulist. These should be provided to [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Fabrication, Plagiarism | Tagged Fabrication, Plagiarism | Comments

Toronto Star publishes corrections tally; announces corrections/errors database

January 2, 2008 – 8:00 am

Kathy English, the public editor of the Toronto Star, wrote a recent column that reveals the paper’s corrections total for 2007. She also announced that the paper will have a corrections/errors database up and running in 2008. (See these 1,2 articles to learn about this kind of database.) English also wrote a November column about [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers, Ombudsmen | Tagged correction database, correction tallies, toronto star | Comments

TNR retracts Baghdad Diarist stories

December 3, 2007 – 9:28 pm

After four-and-a-half months of re-reporting, long bouts of silence, and tangling with the US Army and various publications and bloggers, The New Republic today published a lengthy article by editor Franklin Foer that attempts to offer the magazine’s final word on the veracity of columns written by Scott Thomas Beauchamp, its Baghdad Diarist.
We’ll skip to [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Fabrication, Magazines, Major Errors, Regret Articles | Tagged editor's notes, Fabrication, retractions, the new republic | Comments

Toronto Sun column about errors

December 3, 2007 – 8:00 am

Toronto Sun columnist Mark Bonokoski was inspired to write a column last week about newspaper errors after spotting this correction in the Toronto Star, a competing newspaper:
Brian Mulroney’s Memoirs 1939-1993 is 1,152 pages, which means that its price per page is 4.5 cents. An incorrect page count was given in a Nov. 25 comparison between [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers | Tagged toronto star, toronto sun | Comments

Free UK workshop about understanding statistics

November 16, 2007 – 8:00 am

Studies have shown that numerical errors are among the most common mistakes in newspapers and other types of media. Apart from reading books like this, this and this, British journalists out there should take advantage of an upcoming free workshop for the press being offered by the Royal Statistics Society. (Thanks to Adrian Monck, who [...]

By Craig Silverman | Tagged events | Comments

More on the Times’ corrections database

November 1, 2007 – 8:00 am

CheckYourFacts.org has expanded on a previous report about the recently-launched New York Times corrections database. The new story offers more details about how the database works and how the paper will use it to track and improve accuracy. It also includes an interview with Greg Brock, the senior editor who oversees the database and the [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers | Tagged corrections database, corrections tallies, error tracking, new york times | Comments

NY times’ language guru talks about errors

October 31, 2007 – 4:00 am

Philip B. Corbett, a deputy news editor at the New York Times, is the latest of the paper’s editors to offer himself up for a Q&A with readers. Corbett “is in charge of revisions in the newsroom’s style manual, and he handles questions from colleagues and readers about language and usage in The Times. He [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers | Tagged grammatical errors, new york times, typos | Comments

NY Times corrections database goes live

October 12, 2007 – 4:01 pm

The good folks at Check Your Facts recently published an item stating that the roll out of the New York Times internal corrections database is complete. The paper is now entering all of its corrections into a central database, much like how the Boston Globe, Rocky Mountain News and a few other US papers have [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers, Regret Articles | Tagged correction database, correction tallies, error tracking, new york times | Comments Off

Naming the Virginia Tech shooter

April 23, 2007 – 8:00 am

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers | Comments Off

UPDATED: The soy milk files

April 2, 2007 – 8:00 am

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Newspapers | Comments Off

ESPN unveils cross-platform correction policy and procedures

March 5, 2007 – 10:10 am

One of the most enjoyable correction-related experiences comes at the end of every episode of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, a sports talk and interview show featuring Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser.
As ESPN explains, at the end of every show, “researcher Tony Reali corrects any statistical fouls Kornheiser and Wilbon made in the heat of battle.” [...]