Just over two years ago, the public editor of the Orlando Sentinel wrote a column alerting readers to the fact that the paper had experienced a spike in the number of corrections. He was clear about the cause of the increased errors:
When the Sentinel tightened its financial belt back in June, it lost a wealth [...]
Two recent columns by newspaper ombudsmen caught my eye. Kathy English, public editor of the Toronto Star, wrote her latest column about the paper’s policy regarding the “unpublishing” of articles. An excerpt:
… Generally, the Star believes that unpublishing is a serious act as it erases the online history of the Star’s journalism. The Star’s policy [...]
From a column by Express-News public editor Bob Richter:
Frustrated by the inability to do anything about the high cost of fuel or groceries and the egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk South Texas heat, let’s turn to something you and I have the ability to change for the better:
Making the San Antonio Express-News the most trusted, respected and accurate source [...]
The Torontoist blog has an interesting story about a man, a would-be burglar, and a series of remarkable photos. Plus, a little bit of copyright infringement.
In July of last year, Joel Charlebois, a Toronto resident, caught a man trying to break into his home. While trying to escape, the man fell from a second floor [...]
In November of last year, I was invited to the Toronto Star by Kathy English, the paper’s public editor, to give a presentation to newsroom staff. The Star is Canada’s highest circulation daily, and one of very few* media outlets in the country with a full-time public editor/ombudsman.
Prior to my presentation, we sat down [...]
From journalism.co.uk:
The sourcing and fact checking process for stories on the BBC News website must be addressed by management, the BBC trust Editorial Standards Committee has recommended.
The committee made the suggestions as part of its response to a complaint about an article on the site, which pointed to inaccuracies in the report on Congressman Joseph [...]
LA Times critic Mary McNamara received a flood of emails from readers after she wrote that George Washington had served one term as president. The paper’s Readers’ Representative Journal has a post up that includes a mea culpa from McNamara. It’s also on the Show Tracker blog. She’s clearly mortified to have slipped up on [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Back in December, Wayne Ezell, the reader advocate of the Times-Union, offered a recounting of a story and correction that went awry:
When last Sunday’s Business section featured a story and photo about nine luxury condos and nine boat slips being sold at auction in Queens Harbor, it came as quite a surprise to some readers.
“It [...]
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 [...]
Information that can’t be trusted is not less valuable; it’s worthless.
Those words were written by Orlando Sentinel public editor Manning Pynn in an important column published on Sunday. (Romenesko spotted it.)
Pynn was moved to write the column after noticing a spike in the number of corrections over recent months. “In the past [...]
New York Times public editor Byron Calame has been agitating for the paper’s op-ed section to correct some lingering errors. One is from an editorial on April 26, and another is from an editorial on December 30. The Times yesterday finally published the corrections:
Our public editor reminded us last week that we have not corrected [...]
