Regret the Error » espn

Plagiarism at ESPN

Craig Silverman — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:00:24 +0000

A report from NBA FanHouse:

An ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for an unknown period for lifting portions of a newspaper column and using them in a script without attributing where the passage originated. Will Selva, an anchor at ESPN for three years, issued an apology Wednesday for taking all but of a few words from the lead of a column written by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register, previewing Tuesday's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs.

Selva, who anchored the overnight "Highlight Express," which repeated through the morning, used Ding's sentences virtually verbatim to set up the game highlights. In a statement issued by ESPN, Selva said he had been researching stories from local newspapers, and came across Ding's column. Selva said he cut and pasted the story into his script, but forgot to write his own words.

"I made a horrible mistake and I'm deeply sorry. I did not live up to my high standards or ESPN's," Selva said in the statement. "I sincerely apologize for my sloppiness, especially to Kevin Ding, viewers and colleagues. In my 15 years in broadcast journalism, nothing like this has ever happened and I will make every effort to ensure it won't happen again." …

A strong display of support

Craig Silverman — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:00:13 +0000

An Oct. 5 Tuesday Morning Quarterback story on ESPN.com indicated that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not wear anything pink in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month during Monday night's game against Miami. In fact, the soles of Belichick's shoes were pink. Link

ESPN corrects an Adam Schefter tweet

Craig Silverman — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:26 +0000

In a Sept. 1 Twitter posting from ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that appeared on ESPN.com's NFL page, a report that Byron Westbrook had been released by the Washington Redskins was incorrect. Westbrook remains with the Redskins. Link

I reported on ESPN's cross-platform corrections policy a few years back.

ESPN’s LeBron “clarification”

Craig Silverman — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:00:33 +0000

On July 28, ESPN removed from its Web site a story about Lebron James and a party in Las Vegas, written by ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Arash Markazi, due to reporting concerns. The story was not linked directly on either ESPN.com or ESPNLosAngeles.com but was available via search engines for roughly 9.5 hours. In a statement, ESPN vice president and editor-in-chief Rob King said: “ESPN.com will not be posting the story in any form. We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. As a result, we are not comfortable with the content, even in an edited version, because of the manner in which the story was reported. We’ve been discussing the situation with Arash and he completely understands. To be clear, the decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party.” Markazi, in a statement, said: “I have been in conversations with ESPN.com’s editors and, upon their complete review, understand their decision not to run the story. It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed.” Link

But they spelled his name right

Craig Silverman — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:00:24 +0000

In a June 8 story on ESPN.com, Chris Wallace was misidentified as a reporter for ABC News doing a special report on Stephen Strasburg’s major league debut. Wallace is a reporter for FOX News who attended the game as a fan. The reference to Wallace has been removed. Link

Wherefore art thou Romeo? With the team

Craig Silverman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:00:08 +0000

In a Jan. 16 ESPNLosAngeles.com blog, it was incorrectly reported that USC guard Percy Miller, also known as Lil’ Romeo, had been kicked off the men’s basketball team due to a prior infraction. Miller remains with the team. Link

Correcting an accusation of error

Craig Silverman — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:00:21 +0000

On Aug. 9, the Bottom Line at ESPN incorrectly reported that WFAA-TV in Dallas mistakenly had reported that school administrators in Dallas had changed the grades of former University of Kansas player Darrell Arthur’s grades to keep him eligible to play basketball while in high school. WFAA made no such mistake. Instead, it reported the allegation of grade-changing. In May, a former math teacher of Arthur’s at South Oak Cliff High School, Winford Ashmore, told WFAA that school administrators changed Arthur’s grades to keep him eligible to play basketball. It was reported on Saturday that a Dallas Independent School District investigation found no improprieties involving Arthur’s high school grades. Link

Hurting his prospects

Craig Silverman — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:00:35 +0000

In an April 24 story on ESPN.com about NFL draft prospect Marcus Dixon, a scouting breakdown provided by ESPN’s Scouts Inc., erroneously reported that Dixon had been charged with criminal damage and disorderly conduct in August of 2007. Dixon was not involved in any such an incident and was never charged with those crimes. Link

Sports and politics don’t mix

Craig Silverman — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:00:02 +0000

During ESPN’s coverage of the Australian Open match Jan. 17 between Marcos Baghdatis of the Republic of Cyprus and Marat Safin of Russia, an ESPN map of Cyprus and analyst Cliff Drysdale’s characterizations of it left open the possibility for misinterpretation by not specifying the island’s political situation.

According to Kostas A. Lavdas, professor of Hellenic Studies at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, a crisis on the island in 1974 led to a division that, nine years later, resulted in Turkish leaders declaring independence for the northern part of the island. Only Turkey recognized this entity, however. The only internationally accepted state was and remains the Republic of Cyprus (which is based on the Greek Cypriot population). The enmity between the Greek and Turkish communities on the island has created a social barrier.

It was not the intent of ESPN or any of its analysts to discuss the territorial declarations of the island’s inhabitants. Rather, the intent was to offer some background on Baghdatis and where he lived. The comments by Drysdale, who referred to Baghdatis as hailing from the “Greek part of Cyprus,” could be interpreted as political but were meant as communal. Link

Typos in TV graphics

Craig Silverman — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:00:40 +0000

Valleywag spotted this typo on CNBC:

Then TVNewser added this comment from an ex-employee of CNBC:

I worked there for four years as a producer and after submitting the fullscreen to graphics correctly, occasionally there would be a typo. The only net I have seen without a typo â€” EVER â€” is ESPN. It’s amazing how they pull it off with the amount of text graphics they use. CNBC and the others also use a lot of text but with a much higher graphics rate.

As we previously reported, ESPN actually has the best cross-platform corrections policy of any broadcaster/publisher out there. So it’s not so surprising to hear they’re also good at preventing errors.

Denial denied

Craig Silverman — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:00:21 +0000

On a Nov. 1 ESPN Radio SportsCenter Express report at 7:30 p.m. ET, a report saying Martina Hingis had tested positive for cocaine did not include her assertion that the test results were incorrect. This information was included in subsequent reports. Link

ESPN unveils cross-platform correction policy and procedures

Craig Silverman — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:10:41 +0000

One of the most enjoyable correction-related experiences comes at the end of every episode of ESPNâ€™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, â€œresearcher Tony Reali corrects any statistical fouls Kornheiser and Wilbon made in the heat of battle.â€ Itâ€™s a fun feature thatâ€™s often fodder for a little competition between Kornheiser and Wilbon, and it also serves the purpose extremely well: viewers get the right information and no errors go uncorrected. Itâ€™s arguably the best example of a regular TV correction anywhere in North America. (Do it better? Let us know.)
Now ESPN has taken its commitment to corrections further. After collaboration between John Walsh, ESPNâ€™s executive vice president and executive editor, and senior staffers in the television, radio, print and online operations, along with consultation with experts at the Poynter Institute, ESPN now has a cross-platform corrections policy and related procedures.
From now on, corrections for any mistaken reporting by ESPN can be found here. A link to the corrections page appears prominently on the drop-down â€œESPNâ€ tab on the site, and readers can easily submit a correction using a form on the page. Once submitted, it goes to a senior editorial staffer who forwards it to the appropriate person for evaluation. ESPN is also entering every request for correction into a database, and logging every correction in another. This will enable them to evaluate progress and identify trouble spots. And to help with error prevention, its online operation recently added more copy editors. The end result appears to be a clear policy with appropriate procedures and tracking capabilities.
â€œItâ€™s the right thing for our fans and users, and the right thing for our journalism,â€ Patrick Stiegman, the vice president and executive editor of ESPN.com, told us last week in an interview. â€œGiven the fact that our news organization has really matured and we have so many moving parts across different platforms, the time was right to formalize the [corrections] policy and procedures with the idea that espn.com would be the hub for corrections across the company.â€
Stiegman says corrections will still continue to* be issued in the originating medium, emphasizing that, â€œwe have always corrected our errors.â€
According to the new policy, ESPN will issue online corrections for errors that â€œinvolve a significant factual mistake, or materially change the implication or connotation of the reporting.â€ Stiegman says that, for example, an error in someoneâ€™s batting average in an online article would be corrected within the story but not noted on the corrections page. This is whatâ€™s called a â€œscrubâ€ and itâ€™s important that ESPN not get carried away with its scrubbing, lest it become a way to avoid running corrections.
As the policy states, â€œThis policy is not intended to cover inconsequential factual errors, such as minor statistical mistakes, inadvertent and immaterial misidentifications, minor inaccuracies in a developing story or font errors that don’t impair the viewers’ understanding of a story.â€
Bob Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for journalism values and a senior faculty member for ethics at the Poynter Institute, reviewed the policy with three Poynter staff members. â€œAll of us felt the new policy was substantial and meaningful,â€ he said. â€œWe described it as: â€˜well-thought out, thorough, professional, responsible, comprehensive…â€™ We suggested the ESPN guidelines on corrections â€˜will set a new standard for broadcast and online transparencyâ€™ and the guidelines could be a â€˜modelâ€™ for other news organizations.â€
As for the increased copy editing resources in the online operation, Stiegman says, â€œthe amount of content being produced was out pacing the copy editing resources behind it.â€ ESPN also hired an ombudsman 20 months ago.
Overall, it looks like ESPN has taken the issue of corrections seriously and applied the necessary effort and resources to come up with its cross-platform policy and procedures. While the issue of scrubbing is not ideal, it could be acceptable if only applied to the smallest of typos.
ESPNâ€™s work should also serve as notice to all the â€œhard newsâ€ organizations out there who havenâ€™t deemed it necessary to create an online corrections page. That means broadcasters like CNN, CBS, ABC, Fox etc., as well as newspapers like USA Today, which recently totally redesigned its website and neglected to add a corrections page. Perhaps this will spur them into action.
Good night, Canada!

*Correction March 5: The word “to” was originally missing from this sentence. The word “procedure” in the headline also contained an extra “e” in the middle.