Regret the Error » new york daily news

Not a drug dealer

Craig Silverman — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:30:45 +0000

John Collado, the Inwood man shot and killed by police on Wednesday, was not an alleged drug dealer as suggested in the headline. Collado had intervened in the arrest of a neighbor, who police believed was dealing drugs, when he was shot.

Fun with photos

Craig Silverman — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 12:00:45 +0000

The Daily News mistakenly identified a photograph of a West Babylon, L.I., home in the April 17 edition as the last known residence of Amber Lynn Costello, a prostitute who was a victim of a suspected serial killer. The picture was of a neighboring home. The News regrets the error. Link

The Shannon O’Tooles vs. the NFL

Craig Silverman — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:00:30 +0000

A PHOTOGRAPH that accompanied a story in yesterday's Daily News was not of the massage therapist Shannon O'Toole, but of a different woman, an author also named Shannon O'Toole, who wrote "Wedded to the Game: The Real Lives of NFL Women."

That book, published by the University of Nebraska press in 2006, is a nonfiction account described in reviews as "realistic" and based on interviews and surveys with wives and girlfriends of NFL players and coaches. She is not involved in a lawsuit massage therapists Shannon O'Toole and Christina Scavo filed against the Jets on Monday.

Tried in the press

Craig Silverman — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:00:34 +0000

A STORY IN yesterday's Daily News about cocaine possession charges against rapper Kid Cudi inaccurately stated that he had pleaded guilty. In fact, he was granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, subject to completion of two days of community service. If he completes the service and stays out of trouble in the next six months, the cocaine charge will be automatically dismissed and the record of his arrest sealed.

… But editors sure do

Craig Silverman — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:09:36 +0000

Note the headline (click for larger):

Thanks, Deann!

Twice a victim

Craig Silverman — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:00:06 +0000

The Daily News reported Monday that 44-year-old Brooklyn murder victim Anthony Blair, who was stabbed to death on Sunday, had multiple arrests on his record. Blair has never been arrested.

Slate story about rapper’s questionable claims leads to NY Daily News correction

Craig Silverman — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:34:50 +0000

I placed a link to this remarkable Slate story on the What I’m Reading sidebar on this site last week. Now the New York Daily News has finally responded to the evidence uncovered by Slate. The News published this correction on Friday:

AN AUG. 23 Daily News story by a freelance reporter about the hip-hop artist Roxanne Shanté contained several statements that were, or may be, false.

Shanté told the reporter that she earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University, a statement that was confirmed in several publications on Cornell’s Web site. But the university has now informed us that it has no record of Shanté ever attending the school.

In addition, Shanté’s story that her early recording contract with Warner Music contained a clause under which the record company was obligated to pay for her education for life has been called into serious doubt in recent media reports.

Numerous attempts by the freelance reporter to find out about the contract from Warner Brothers Records led nowhere. Warner Music Group now claims it never had a contract with Shanté – only a distribution agreement with her label – and a former lawyer for the label says he is "confident" its contract with Shanté contained no education clause.

Shanté also claimed in the article that a dean at Marymount College helped her force Warner to honor the clause and obtain more than $200,000 in education expenses. But, after refusing to return numerous calls and e-mails during the preparation of the article, Marymount now states that Shanté attended the college for less than one semester.

Thanks, Eugene!

A convicted fraudster, but not a drug addict

Craig Silverman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:47 +0000

AN ARTICLE IN Tuesday’s Daily News incorrectly stated that former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski was a substance abuser when he defrauded his company and investors. There is no credible evidence to support that statement. The story also misstated the amount of money involved in Kozlowski’s fraud on Tyco. It was $156 million. He also was found guilty of massive illegal stock sales, but the conviction did not specify an amount. Prosecutors charged the tainted sales totaled $280 million.

Not a help in clearing his name (or face)

Craig Silverman — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:40 +0000

A photo in yesterday’s Daily News is incorrectly identified as that of Matias Reyes, the man who claims he raped a jogger in Central Park in 1989.
The photo actually shows Yusef Salaam, who was imprisoned in the attack, but later cleared of the rape. He denies involvement in the crime.
The News regrets the error.

How allegations turn into facts

Craig Silverman — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:00:28 +0000

An item in Mitch Lawrence’s “Slam Dunks” on Sunday stated that agent Jeff Schwartz financed a conditioning camp in California attended last summer by Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin. The item should have stated that this was only an allegation and that there was no proof of the allegation. The Daily News regrets any misunderstanding this item may have caused.

Plagiarism at the NY Daily News

Craig Silverman — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:00:56 +0000

An article published on the New York Daily News’ website stole two paragraphs and two quotes from a story published on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News. Bob Richter, the Express-News public editor, described the theft on his blog:

An editor at nydailynews.com, the Web site of the New York Daily News, acknowledged Thursday that a Web reporter, Rosemary Black, lifted, without attribution, part of a Feb. 3 Express-News story.
Plagiarism, or passing off another person’s work as though it were your own, is considered a cardinal sin of journalism.
The Express-News story, “Kissing at mall leads to fight in court,” by E-N staff writer Jeorge Zarazua, was published on Page 1.
The nydailynews.com story, published online a day later, “Kissing is no crime, say women arrested in San Antonio mall,” used, without crediting the Express-News, two quotations given only to Zarazua and two paragraphs crafted by Zarazua that led into the quotes.

After hearing from the Express-News, the Daily News updated the article to include the proper attribution. The paper also appended an editor’s note:

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story should have attributed quotes by certain individuals to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News.

This is about as weak as the paper’s earlier correction for twice misidentifying a woman as the “Manhattan Madam.” The note doesn’t mention plagiarism, and it ignores the two stolen paragraphs that preceded the copied quotes.

NY Daily News sued over “Manhattan Madam” photo errors

Craig Silverman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:00:48 +0000

A Queens hairstylist is suing the New York Daily News after the paper twice identified her as the woman accused of helping run a prostitution service allegedly patronized by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. In two stories from last week, the paper published a photo of Bojana Vuleta and identified her as Kristin Davis, the alleged madam.

Vuleta’s photo first appeared with a February 1 article, â€œMadamâ€™s Slippery Story of Sex Attack.â€ On Feb. 5, lawyers representing Vuleta sent a fax to the News informing the paper of its error. Then the incorrect photo appeared again the next day. The offending articles have been scrubbed off the News’ website, and the paper today published a very weak correction:

A PHOTO in Sunday’s and yesterday’s Daily News of a woman identified as the madam Kristin Davis was in fact another woman, Bojana Vuleta. The News regrets the error.

The News should have printed an apology. A basic correction isn’t enough, and the paper’s weak response only serves to compound the errors. It’s possible that the News published a basic correction to have something on the record that demonstrates the mistakes were unintentional. Their lawyers will probably offer Vuleta a more formal apology, possibly in the form of a corrective article or retraction. That would be an easier sell if the paper hadn’t printed her picture a second time. It’s more common to see a cash settlement in the U.K., but the News may need to open up its wallet.

Vuleta filed a complaint and is seeking $80 million in damages. As you can imagine, the New York Post is having a field day with the story. From its Saturday article:

A humble hairstylist from Queens is living proof you can’t count on what they print in the Daily News – she says the paper smeared her twice by running a picture of her and mistakenly identifying her as the madam who set up Eliot Spitzer’s sex trysts.
Now she’s suing for $80 million on a claim that the paper callously destroyed her reputation.
“All my life is ruined. I just feel insecure, scared and devastated,” said Bojana Vuleta, who cried at a news conference to announce the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“I can’t believe they did such a mistake. They just don’t care,” said Vuleta, 29.
The suit calls the News “grossly irresponsible.”
News lawyer Anne Carroll declined to say whether any employees faced punishment …

Some important information from the Post article:

Vuleta said the shot was taken last Saturday by a photographer and reporter who did not identify themselves as News journalists, or try to check her name.
Her lawyer, Michael Hiller, tried on Thursday to alert News editor-in-chief Martin Dunn by phone about the error.
Hiller said he couldn’t get Dunn on the line, so he faxed a cease-and-desist letter to a number provided by News staffers.
Dunn and the rest of the Newsers must have been snoozin’ when the lawyer’s missive arrived – they put Vuleta’s picture in the paper again yesterday, on Page 2.
Vuleta said that because of the pictures, her hairstyling clients canceled appointments and accused her of living a double life.

The press release issued by Vuleta’s attorneys contains additional information about the lawsuit:

The Complaint also alleges that the Daily News falsely reported, among other things, that Ms. Vuleta:

lied to the police;

was sexually attacked;

was incarcerated for commission of various crimes; and

was drunk and slurring her words in public.

Ms. Vuleta, who has never been involved in any of the above acts and who does not even know the “Manhattan Madam,” has been harassed at her job and in her neighborhood by people who now claim to believe that she is living a double life. Ms. Vuleta’s image, tagged with the term, “Manhattan Madam,” has spread virally across the Internet, and is now linked with pornography, homosexuality, bestiality, transsexualism, sex toys, and similar topics.

And we don’t know who it is

Craig Silverman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:59:37 +0000

A PHOTO IN Sunday’s Daily News incorrectly identified a member of the Newburgh Free Academy swim team as Michael Mele, a person of interest in the disappearance of Laura Garza. The young man circled in the picture is not Mele.

Paper ends marriage

Craig Silverman — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:00:22 +0000

A story in yesterday’s Daily News incorrectly reported that city Board of Elections employee Valerie Vazquez-Rivera is the former wife of City Councilman Joel Rivera. They are still married.

Bad for business

Craig Silverman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:00:19 +0000

AN AUG. 3 article about the partnership of Jamie Masada and Richard Basciano in the Laugh Factory mistakenly reported that Basciano’s brother is the former Bonanno crime family boss known as “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, who is serving a life sentence for murder. In fact, the two are not brothers.
The News regrets the error.