Tag Archives: crunks09

From selling nuclear secrets to stealing words

A report from the Christian Science Monitor:

The world’s most infamous agent of nuclear proliferation, Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, has added a fresh feather to his cap following revelations that a newspaper column he penned two weeks ago for Pakistan’s The News heavily plagiarized websites of British universities…

The newspaper column in question, “Science of computers — part I,” appears to have been lifted almost verbatim, from the computer science homepages of the University of Sussex, Imperial College London, and the University of Cambridge. A blow-by-blow comparison can be viewed in a letter to the editor of Pakistani daily The News, the same paper which carried the original column. (In the letter, the link to the University of Sussex is broken. Click here for the correct page.)

Reaction on the Pakistani blogosphere has been harsh, with one blog carrying the item under the headline “A.Q. Khan Plagiarizing Op-Ed Pieces After Lifetime Of Stealing And Selling Nuclear Secrets” in reference to the allegations of espionage that dogged Mr Khan’s tenure as head of Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Thanks, Steve!

Plagiarism at the Telegraph-Journal

telegraphjournalThis has been an incredibly bad summer for the Telegraph-Journal, a newspaper in New Brunswick.

Early in the summer, the paper faced criticism for firing a summer intern under questionable circumstances. Then, in July, the editor and publisher had to step down after the paper started a national scandal by printing false allegations about the Canadian Prime Minister (background here and here).

Now? Plagiarism. A report from CBC.ca:

The Telegraph-Journal has apologized for its third error in the last few months after a reporter plagiarized a story from New Brunswick’s French-language daily newspaper.

Irving-owned Brunswick News Inc.’s flagship newspaper apologized in its Saturday edition for a story that it says a contract reporter translated from L’Acadie Nouvelle and filed it using her byline without attributing the source.

"The Telegraph-Journal expects its journalists to operate with honesty and integrity; a bare translation without credit or attribution is plagiarism and is contrary to the Telegraph-Journal’s core ethics and principles," the apology said.

The newspaper has terminated the contract of the reporter who filed the story …

I think the CBC’s report is somewhat misleading when it calls this the paper’s "third error in the last few months." Maybe I’m nitpicking, but I’m sure the paper has made other factual errors over the summer. Any newspaper would have. So perhaps it’s more accurate to call this the paper’s third "major" error, or third scandal?

The paper’s apology doesn’t appear to be online.:

The Telegraph-Journal published an article last Thursday on the economic spinoffs of the World Acadian Congress by Cheryl Norrad, a contract writer for the newspaper.

The writer translated the story for publication under her own name without acknowledging L’Acadie Nouvelle as the source. She was dismissed from the paper following an investigation.

While news and ideas are public, the words to convey them are not. The Telegraph-Journal expects its journalists to operate with honesty and integrity; a bare translation without credit or attribution is plagiarism and is contrary to the Telegraph-Journal’s core ethics and principles.

We deeply regret that this occurred and we will be taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.

We have apologized to our colleagues at L’Acadie Nouvelle without reservation and we apologize to you, our readers.

Thanks, Trevor!

Dirty, but not in that way

guardianA 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). Link

Somebody blew it

timesukKeva McKibbin ("Modern Weddings", Magazine, August 22) did not say that she was "blown off her face" when she first met her husband, but that she was "blown off her feet". We apologise for any embarrassment caused by our reporter’s mishearing. 

Paper brings Django Reinhardt back from the dead

star-telegramMcClatchy Watch spotted a rather remarkable concert recommendation in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"Have you heard of Django Reinhardt?" it asks. Then it reports that "he returns to Mount Crested Butte again Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-6) for DjangoFest Colorado." Well, that would definitely be worth seeing.

Alas, Reinhardt is not coming back from the dead to perform in Colorado.

Here’s a screen grab of the article:

django

Best of luck with recruiting…

thejusticeThe original article provided the incorrect location of New York University’s new institution. It is in Abu Dhabi, not Abu Ghraib. Link

The Justice is a student newspaper at Brandeis University.

Thanks, Christopher!

Apology

On Sunday, August, 2, in our article Robin Hood And His Merry Hell In The Pub, we said that Russell Crowe had been banned from, amongst others, the Brickmakers pub in Windlesham, Surrey whilst staying in the area filming a new Robin Hood epic. We have been informed that Mr Crowe has never been to the Brickmakers pub and therefore the incident never took place. We also acknowledge that Mr Crowe has not been banned, ejected or asked to leave any pub in Windlesham, Surrey or anywhere else in the UK during the shooting of Robin Hood. We apologize to Mr Crowe for the embarrassment and stress caused directly by our error. Link

Via Gossip Cop.

Reuters corrects story about “German Lego giraffe penis”

reutersA large Lego giraffe greets visitors at the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Center in Germany. And if you believe a Reuters report from this morning, people can’t help but steal the giraffe’s penis. The story had a bit of fun with this:

BERLIN (Reuters) – Visitors to a tourist attraction in Berlin have been making off with an unusual memento — the 30 cm long penis of a Lego giraffe.

The Lego phallus belongs to a six metre tall model that has stood outside the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Centre on Potsdamer Platz since 2007.

"It’s a popular souvenir," a spokeswoman for the centre said Tuesday. "It’s been stolen four times now …"

The penis is made out of 15,000 Lego bricks. It takes model workers about one week to restore the long-necked animal’s manhood at a cost of 3,000 euros (2,600 pounds), the spokeswoman said.

The centre is now erecting a metal construction to protect the giraffe’s genitalia. (Reporting by Caroline Copley, editing by Tim Pearce)

One problem: the Lego giraffe does not have a penis. People were stealing its tail. Oh dear. Reuters issued this corrected version:

09:23 25Aug09 RTRS-CORRECTED-German Lego giraffe tail repeatedly stolen
 (Correcting to ‘tail’ from ‘penis’)
  BERLIN, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Visitors to a tourist attraction in Berlin have been making off with an unusual memento — the 30 cm long tail of a Lego giraffe.
  The Lego tail belongs to a six metre tall model that has stood outside the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Centre on Potsdamer Platz since 2007.
  "It’s a popular souvenir," a spokeswoman for the centre said on Tuesday. "It’s been stolen four times now …"
  The tail is made out of 15,000 Lego bricks. It takes model workers about one week to restore it at a cost of 3,000 euros ($4,300), the spokeswoman said.

Reuters has published some remarkable typos over the years, including the famous Queen Elizabeth and beef panties incidents. But those were examples of a spellchecker going awry. The penis story uses synonyms for the Lego member, which suggests that this was an error of fact, rather than a slip up. I’ll try and get the details. For now, though, enjoy some screenshots:

giraffe

giraffe2

A less than ideal sendoff

In the Summer 2009 issue of Science Activities (Volume 46, Number 2), our late executive editor was remembered as John McClure. The correct spelling of his name is John McLure. We regret the error and extend our sympathy to Dr. McLure’s family.

Wagner and the pink knickers

guardianA 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). Link

Reminds me of this correction from last year.

Jackass or Keith Olberman?

latimesTV listings: The Prime-Time TV grid in Thursday’s Calendar section mistakenly listed MTV’s "Jackass" show on the MSNBC cable schedule at 7 and 10 p.m. where instead MSNBC’s "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" should have been listed. Link

Thanks, Jim!

What the ********?

nytbanner1An article on Tuesday about DreamWorks Studios’ completion of a round of financing its and announcement of some film projects included an incorrect title for one of the movies. It will be called “Dinner For ********,” a Yiddish vulgarism meaning jerks, used only once in the article. The film is not “Dinner With ********.” Link

Blame it on the gypsies

sun_uk3SURREY Police have not blamed gipsies for an attack on their force helicopter, no staff in their operations rooms were threatened by gipsies and no gipsy site was being targeted for a raid as we reported on May 14. We apologise for the mistakes and are happy to set the record straight. Link

Thanks, Telsa!

 

Canadian prime minister embarrassed by typo

Every one once in a while I come across a notable typo that’s not related to journalism. This is one of those times. From a report in the Globe And Mail:

An unfortunate blunder by the Prime Minister’s Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing.

A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s itinerary as he began a five-day tour of the North.

The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit – rather than Iqaluit.

The extra “u” makes a world of difference in the Inuktitut language.

Iqaluit, properly spelled, means “many fish.”

Spelled with an extra “u,” the Nunavut language commissioner’s office says the word translates as a derogatory reference to “people with unwiped bums.”

Unemployed and annoyed

nytbanner1An 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. Link

Trouble in the union

wsj2David Matayabas, a member of the Communications Workers of America, was referring to opponents of President Barack Obama’s health care proposals when he spoke of "ill-informed" and "not very smart" protesters "regurgitating talking points of Rush Limbaugh." A Wednesday U.S. News article incorrectly implied that Mr. Matayabas was referring to fellow union members. The article also incorrectly said that Mr. Matayabas worked to deny health claims when he worked for Athena Health Care. He said he performed that function for another employer. Link

Good to know

sun_uk3BBC2’s Classic Goldie showed the drum ‘n’ bass artist’s foray into orchestral music. And not old clips of the Blue Peter dog getting jiggy with Peter Purves’s leg.

Prof. Hawking is alive and in the UK, thank you very much

Editor’s Note: This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the UK. Link

Oh, but there’s so much more to this Editor’s Note from Investor’s Business Daily. It omits the original, ridiculous statement contained in the editorial. And here it is, as quoted by the Guardian:

The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof, are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror script … People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

The paper also got a quote from professor Hawking:

“I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.”

Wonkette also had some fun with this mistake.

Thanks, Kim!

Read the signs!

chictribThe Chicago Tribune published a slideshow of photos from Lollapalooza. And someone managed to mangle the name of a band that was shown… holding up signs bearing its name:

22509424

It’s been fixed.

The image is courtesy of The Hood Internet’s Twitter feed.

Thanks, Julia!

The misquote that defies defeat

torstar1A Nov. 14, 2004, column about the death of Yasser Arafat included an unverified quotation attributed to former Israel Defence Forces chief of staff Moshe Yaalon. Yaalon, now Israel’s strategic affairs minister, was quoted in that 2004 column as saying in 2002 that "the Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people." That quotation, while widely cited over the years, did not appear in the 2002 interview published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, to which it has been attributed. Alon Ofek-Arnon, a spokesman for Yaalon, told the Star in an email that Yaalon never said this. As well, in a correction about this same quote published March 6, 2009, by the Chicago Tribune, Ari Shavit, the writer of the 2002 Haaretz article, said Yaalon did not say that. The Star has been unable to reach Shavit. Link

Here’s the Tribune correction.

Not a fan of forced prostitution

slateIn the June 29 " Books " column, Johann Hari originally included two phrases that could have given the incorrect impression that Richard Bernstein has attended, or approves of, brothels where women are coerced. This was not Hari’s intention or Slate’s. We have amended these sentences to clarify that Bernstein does not approve of forced prostitution. Link

Thanks, Jack!

New York Magazine has some interesting background on this here.

Apology

We ran a story on 3rd September last year about serious breaches of hygiene rules uncovered by health inspectors at Canvey Island food outlets.

We said Dave’s Plaice, a fish and chip shop owned and run by Mrs Shirley Knox, had been slammed by health inspectors for a series of shocking breaches of food hygiene regulations in their latest report and had exposed the public to a significant health risk.

We said it was filthy, had a stash of dirty equipment and that staff had been caught not wearing the proper clean, protective clothing.

Although some minor infractions of the rules had been found in an inspection report carried out nine months before our article was published, in fact there had been no serious breaches.

The recommendations of the inspectors were also quickly implemented. A further report had been carried out six weeks before our article was published in which inspectors gave the shop a clean bill of health.

We apologise sincerely to Mrs Knox for the distress caused by our inaccurate and exaggerated report. Link

 

Two articles that could have used a better edit

Please enjoy these juvenile yet amusing Friday treats.

An unfortunate headline:

dekalbhooker

The headline has since been changed to read "Kiwanis present award." Boo. Thanks to Andrew and Deann! The image is via HuffPo.

And here’s an unfortunate choice of words from Martha Stewart Living, via Bike Snob NYC:

greathead

And here’s the graphic that accompanied it, also via Bike Snob NYC:

greatheadmap

Thanks to Michelle and Ron!

No such thing as a “cronkiter”

apIn 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

nytbanner1An 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

Some background here.

Bill O’Reilly gets a front page correction

stpetersburgThis was on the front page today’s St. Petersburg Times:

Bill O’Reilly has not accused President Barack Obama of racism. An article in Sunday’s Perspective section about the National Association of Black Journalists incorrectly included the Fox newscaster in a list of commentators who have publicly accused the president of racism.

Click on this image to see it on the page (far left column, near the bottom):

stpete

Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer has some interesting background in his post:

TV critic Eric Deggans incorrectly lumped O’Reilly into a column about news personalities who have accused Pres. Obama of racism (his colleague, Glenn Beck, was correctly on that list), but O’Reilly has never said anything like that. The FNC host addressed the story on his program last night as well.

“The problem with Mr. Deggans is acute,” said O’Reilly last night. “All American newspapers have an obligation to hire honest people, not crazed ideologues. Now, I don’t want anyone to lose their jobs, but this situation – beyond the pale.”

For his part, Deggans took to his blog to apologize. “One serving of humble pie, coming right up,” he started.

Deggans also made note of a jinx that apparently came true. When he criticized Alessandra Stanley over her errors, he wrote: “It’s a sure route to jinxland, pointing out the errors of other journalists.”

Read his post to watch the video.