Category Archives: CJR Column

New Brunswick newspaper apologizes to Canadian Prime Minister over made up accusation; editor and publisher out

July 28, 2009 – 10:29 am

Today the Telegraph-Journal in New Brunswick issued a remarkable front page apology for a report that became a national controversy in Canada.
In early July, the paper reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pocketed the communion wafer given to him by a Roman Catholic priest at the funeral of former Governor-General Romeo LeBlanc. That report [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Major Errors, Newspapers | Tagged , , , , | Comments

CJR Column: Comedy of errors

March 20, 2009 – 1:39 pm

This week’s Regret the Error column on Columbia Journalism Review online looks at two media errors that became fodder for late night comedy. Excerpt below. Click on the headline for the full column.

Comedy of Errors

Jay Leno has made amusing, mistaken, and otherwise notable newspaper headlines a staple of his show. Recently, his rivals got into [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged , , , , , | Comments

CJR column: The NYT policy for correcting older articles

March 13, 2009 – 12:48 pm

My CJR online column for this week uses a very delayed correction from the New York Times to examine the paper’s policy for correcting its archives. An excerpt is below. Click the headline for the full text.

Everything Old Is New Again
During The New York Times’s 4 p.m. news meeting on Tuesday, a gathering that draws [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged , , | Comments

CJR Column: Self-interested sources

March 6, 2009 – 3:29 pm

My Columbia Journalism Review online column for this week looks at unreliable sources. An excerpt is below; click on the headline to read the full column.

Sources of Error
He spoke with a polished English accent, once shared a crème brûlée torte with Hillary Clinton, and spent part of the summer officiating tennis at the 2008 Beijing [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged | Comments

CJR column: self-inflicted wounds

February 27, 2009 – 5:54 pm

This week’s edition of my Columbia Journalism Review online column looks at the mistakes that media outlets make when they report about themselves. An excerpt is below. Click on the headline to read the full column.

Close to Home
One strict rule in the medical profession holds that no doctors can treat themselves or any member of [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Comments

CJR column: Welcome to the fourth wave of accuracy

February 20, 2009 – 5:59 pm

This week’s edition of my Columbia Journalism Review column takes a historical look at the issue of accuracy. I suggest that today’s changing media landscape is just the latest in a series of major shifts to hit the profession. Excerpt below. Click on the headline to read the full column.

The News Business Is Changing. Again.
Walter [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged | Comments

CJR column: Glass Houses

February 13, 2009 – 4:28 pm

My weekly Columbia Journalism Review online column takes a look at the pitfalls of reporting about other people’s mistakes. An excerpt is below. The full column archive is here.

Glass Houses
It’s not recognized as one of the fundamentals of the profession, but journalists spend a lot of time pointing out other people’s mistakes.
Major news over the [...]

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CJR columns: an argument in favor of checklists, a look at homegrown errorists

February 6, 2009 – 4:35 pm

After releasing my free Regret the Error Accuracy Checklist earlier this week (download your copy here), I devoted my latest CJR online column to the subject of checklists. This column offers background on why checklists have proven useful in so many different industries and professions. I examine why they work for journalists, and why we [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles, accuracy tips | Tagged , , | Comments

Recent CJR columns: The cause of errors, fake letters to the editor, to repeat or not to repeat

January 23, 2009 – 2:12 pm

I’m a bit behind in posting links to my weekly column for Columbia Journalism Review online. Here are pointers to three recent columns, with excerpts. My full column archive is online here.
Today’s column:

A Rare Peek at Why Errors Occur
Last Sunday’s New York Times was a treasure trove of accuracy-related information, and I don’t mean the [...]

By Craig Silverman | Tagged , , , , | Comments

CJR column and Toronto Star op-ed about the Crunks

December 21, 2008 – 5:09 pm

On Friday, Columbia Journalism Review online published my latest weekly column. Read it here. I also wrote a Saturday op-ed for the Toronto Star about the year in errors and corrections. Below are excerpts from both pieces.
CJR column:

The Year in Errata
About a month ago, I began the laborious and depressing task of scouring the archives [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged , , | Comments

CJR Column: Death by Obiticide

December 12, 2008 – 12:56 pm

My weekly Columbia Journalism Review online column is live on the site. The topic: obiticide. Death by media. An excerpt:

Death by Obiticide
I have some bad news to pass along this week: two people were killed as a result of sloppy journalism.
It happens more often than you might expect. It’s frequent enough, in fact, that I’ve [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments

CJR Daily column: Scrubbing away their sins

December 5, 2008 – 1:13 pm

This week’s edition of my Columbia Journalism Review Daily column is online here. Inspired by the example of Wales Online (background), I look at the issue of scrubbing. Here’s the opening of the column:

Scrubbing Away Their Sins
We used to be able to throw out the news; to disappear it.
The morning paper would find its way [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged , , | Comments

New column for Columbia Journalism Review Daily

December 2, 2008 – 11:57 am

I’m a bit late announcing this, but I’ve started writing a weekly column for Columbia Journalism Review’s website. It’s called “Regret the Error” and runs every Friday on CJR.org. I’ve written eight columns so far, and you can read them all here.
This column is a chance for me to provide some context for notable corrections [...]

By Craig Silverman | Also posted in Regret Articles | Tagged | Comments