In 2010, The Star published an even 300 corrections in the print edition, out of around 41,000 separate stories. Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, though. Photographs, captions, graphics and other informational items don’t figure into that 41,000 figure, but they do sometimes generate corrections. By comparison, 2009 saw 383 corrections out of about [...]
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 [...]
I’m a bit behind in posting links to my weekly column for Columbia Journalism Review online. Here are pointers to three recent columns, with excerpts. My full column archive is online here. Today’s column: A Rare Peek at Why Errors Occur Last Sunday’s New York Times was a treasure trove of accuracy-related information, and I [...]
The Dec. 31 list of notable people who died 2008 contained incorrect information about musician Dave Clark. The Dave Clark Five’s singer Mike Smith died in February. Clark is alive. Report an error
A quote in The Buzz on Nov. 28 that was attributed to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was actually from humorist Andy Borowitz. Link Here’s the offending article, which has not been corrected. The quote in question came from an article on the Borowitz Report, a well known satirical website (see last graph): Continuing in his [...]
Derek Donovan, the readers’ representative of the Kansas City Star, yesterday took the unusual step of writing a blog post that invited readers to offer suggestions about the wording for a correction he was working on. From his post: As I’ve written before, it’s The Star’s policy not to restate an error in a correction [...]
A story and caption in the March 5 FYI section incorrectly identified Eddie Vedder. He is still the lead singer of Pearl Jam. Report an error
The Buzz on Saturday incorrectly described when a Dallas crowd applauded Barack Obama. It was when he blew his nose. Link Report an error
An incorrect photo appeared with a Nov. 17 article about the sentencing in the murder of Jennifer Burton. The photo was not of the murder victim. Link Report an error
Our obsessive cataloging of corrections occasionally enables us to spot a pattern. Whether it’s the failure of newspapers to identify someone they initially misidentified in a photo, or the inability of newspapers to accurately report on, well, newspapers, we sometimes feel as though we’re listening to a broken record. Such was the case when we [...]
