Adult orphans: An article in Monday’s Health section that was part of a package on how people handle their parents’ deaths focused on Larry Graber, a Santa Monica psychotherapist whose parents died within six months of each other in 2000. Although the article said Graber is an openly gay man, Graber is heterosexual. The reporter [...]
Hofmann obituary: The obituary of Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD, in Wednesday’s California section said he was survived by his wife, Anita. She died in December. The story also referred to peyote mushrooms. Peyote is a cactus. Link
Also:
The April 30 obituary for Albert Hofmann incorrectly reported fatal overdoses from the hallucinogen LSD. [...]
Coachella fest: A review in Monday’s Calendar section of Prince’s performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival said that Sheena Easton performed with him on “I Feel for You.” It was Chaka Khan who sang with him. The review also said that Shelby J sang a cover version of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.” That [...]
Smelt hatchery: An article in Tuesday’s California section on a proposed fish hatchery to breed endangered delta smelt said the facility was expected to be completed by 2001. The goal is for the hatchery to begin operation in 2011. Link
Hazel Court obituary: The obituary of actress Hazel Court in Thursday’s California section misspelled poet Edgar Allan Poe’s middle name as Allen. Link
Follow the trail here.
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 [...]
This morning the Los Angeles Times issued a formal retraction for its March story about an assault on rapper Tupac Shakur. It had previously apologized for the article. (Regret post here.)
The apology did contain elements of a retraction, but it’s not a bad thing to see the paper follow up and drive home the point [...]
Guantanamo Bay: An article March 28 in Section A about a typical day in the life of a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, as gleaned from reporting trips over the last three years, made several observations that Pentagon officials and officers of the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo say are outdated or erroneous. [...]
‘New Andean Songs’: A review of “New Andean Songs” in Thursday’s Calendar section misspelled the first name of composer Gabriela Lena Frank as Gabriella. It was similarly misspelled in a correction that ran Friday regarding another name in the review. Link
Newspaper: An article in the March 23 Opinion section about the demise of the Long Beach Press-Telegram stated that the editor was among those who recently lost their jobs at the newspaper. It was the managing editor. Also, the article stated that the Long Beach Independent was an afternoon paper. It was published in the [...]
March 27, 2008 – 10:19 pm
How did the Los Angeles Times not realize it was being duped during its six-month investigation into the shooting of Tupac Shakur?
The paper has apologized for relying on forged documents in reporting a story about a 1994 attack on Shakur. The Times story took months of reporting and preparation; The Smoking Gun took roughly a [...]
Mexican wrestling: An article in Sunday’s California section about a Mexican-style wrestling match held to raise money for recently arrested immigrants referred to Spanish epithets hurled by the crowd as groceros. The correct word is groserias. Link
Weight loss: An article about personal versus online weight-loss support in Monday’s Health section reported that the Weight Watchers website had more than 17,000 unique visitors in January. The site had 17 million visitors. Link
Obama address: An article in Tuesday’s Section A about an address on race planned by Sen. Barack Obama said his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, was a Republican from New York. She is a Democrat. Link
McCain foreign policy: In an article in Sunday’s Section A about John McCain’s views on foreign policy over the last 25 years, Nixon Center President Dimitri Simes was described as saying that McCain had privately assured some prominent supporters that “his more exuberant statements don’t necessarily reflect his real views.” However, Simes did not say [...]
Decathlon: An article in Tuesday’s California section about Moorpark High School’s victory in the state Academic Decathlon said Moorpark senior Christie Calle and her brother, Colin, finished first and second, respectively, in the Varsity division and described that category as made up of A students. The Calles’ division, Varsity, is for students with a C [...]
Martinez column: In Monday’s California section, Al Martinez said that Stephen Glass “must hold some kind of record for writing 23 pieces for Nation magazine that contained partial or total lies.” Glass wrote for the New Republic. Link
Previous example here.
Daly Riordan property: The March 2 Hot Property column in the Real Estate section reported that Nancy Daly Riordan’s house on Carbon Beach had sold for a Malibu record-breaking price of $68 million. In fact, the house has not been sold. The story also reported that the home has more than 200 feet of [...]
Dolly Parton: A review in Friday’s Calendar section of Dolly Parton’s new album, “Backwoods Barbie,” identified her as “one of the greatest country writers and singers of the last half-decade.” It should have read “one of the greatest country writers and singers of the last half-century.” Link
Crossroads School: A Feb. 19 story about Crossroads School head Roger Weaver stepping down included a comment from Weaver that the book “Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon — The Case Against Celebrity” — which includes allegations of student sex- and drug-fueled scandals at Crossroads — was filled with fabrications. The article should have included [...]
February 29, 2008 – 8:00 am
Presidential debate: A news analysis Friday in Section A of the Democratic debate in Texas between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton said that before the New Hampshire primary, former President Clinton had called Obama’s candidacy a “fairy tale.” Clinton called Obama’s account of his opposition to the war in Iraq, not his candidacy, “the [...]
February 29, 2008 – 8:00 am
CBS sitcoms: In some copies of Wednesday’s Calendar section, an article about the shows “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory” said Joel Murray, a director of “Big Bang,” is the son of the actor Bill Murray. He is his brother. Also, a caption accompanying the article misspelled the name of the [...]
February 27, 2008 – 8:00 am
Ethiopia: In a Feb. 25 commentary about the Ethiopian military’s actions against civilians, a reference was made to “Somalia’s Darfur region.” Darfur is in Sudan. Also, Ethiopia was misspelled in the headline as Ethiopa. Link
February 8, 2008 – 8:00 am
Sleeping pills: An article in Monday’s Health section referred to the interaction between sleeping pills and alcohol as “more than just addictive.” It should have said the combination is more than just additive. In the same article, Greg Thompson, associate professor at USC’s School of Pharmacy, said that “with Benadryl, you probably couldn’t fit enough [...]
February 1, 2008 – 8:00 am
Musician’s life: A Critic’s Notebook in Sunday’s Arts & Music section said that the late pianist and composer Ervin Nyiregyhazi probably had an affair with the wife of conductor Artur Rodzinski. He did not. Also, a photo caption accompanying the article identified Nyiregyhazi as Romanian. He was Hungarian. Link
