Describing an upcoming documentary programme of soldiers’ recollections of the second world war, a summary said: “In June 1940 a third of a million British and American soldiers were rescued at Dunkirk.” The troops rescued from the Dunkirk area were mainly British, French, Belgian, Canadian, Polish and Dutch. Not until December 1941 did the US [...]
Tracee Hamilton’s column in the Feb. 18 Sports section incorrectly said that U.S. speedskater Shani Davis became the first black athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal during the Turin Games in 2006. Davis was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal at a winter Olympics. The first black winner of [...]
In the Jan. 17 “Fighting Words,” Christopher Hitchens incorrectly asserted that San Francisco had not been hit by an earthquake since 1906. Link Report an error
Because of a reporting error, a travel story on Sunday’s Page 2K about the Portuguese town of Oporto incorrectly stated that England colonized Portugal. England only traded with Portugal. Link Report an error
A letter on Tuesday’s editorial page, “Impeach ‘em both,” incorrectly stated that President Nixon was impeached. In fact, Nixon resigned before his impeachment went before the full House of Representatives. Report an error
Old Sparky: The compilers and suppliers of our On This Day column deserve to learn a lot more about electric execution. The recidivist column wrongly stated that the first electric chair execution took place on July 7, 1890. In fact, it was Wednesday, August 6, 1890 in New York – ironically then known as The [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“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, [...]
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 Report an error
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 Report an error
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 Report an error
