Tag Archives: historical errors

“…a stupid, blind error, the sort that leaves you smiting your forehead”

April 24, 2008 – 8:00 am

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 [...]

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers, Ombudsmen | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Sports and politics don’t mix

January 24, 2008 – 8:00 am

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 [...]

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Television | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Know thyself

January 7, 2008 – 8:00 am

An article last Sunday about the first ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, in 1907, referred incompletely to the origins of the tradition. It was begun by Adolph S. Ochs, the publisher of The New York Times, as part of an annual promotional celebration outside the Times Building, which had been the [...]

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments (0)

History lesson

November 30, 2007 – 8:00 am

“Border War” game: In Saturday’s Sports section, an article on the Kansas-Missouri football rivalry said the game is called the “Border War” and dates to before the Civil War. However, it is the name “Border War” that dates to before the Civil War, when Missouri was a slave state and Kansas was a free state, [...]

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Pardon our error

November 26, 2007 – 8:00 am

Presidential turkey pardon: A caption in the Nation in Brief in Wednesday’s Section A said that the Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning turkeys dated to President Truman. The Truman Library has been asked for years about that claim but has found no evidence to support it. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments (1)

History lesson

November 12, 2007 – 8:00 am

An article yesterday about the anger on the streets of Pakistan over President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule misstated the circumstances of Pakistan’s independence 60 years ago. It was created when the British partitioned colonial India into the states of India and Pakistan. It was not granted independence by India. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Know thyself

November 8, 2007 – 8:00 am

An advertisement for the Guardian and Observer’s new digital archive, which ran in the paper on November 3, 5 and 6, said, in error, that three US presidents were assassinated between 1821 and 1975; in fact four were assassinated during that time. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Advertising, Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments (0)