Regret the Error » news & observer

Headline puts Duke lacrosse case accuser on the team

Craig Silverman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:00:06 +0000

The McClatchy Watch blog spotted this bad typo on a Raleigh News & Observer blog post:

Down on Down’s

Craig Silverman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:00:03 +0000

In the Life, etc., section Tuesday, the headline on a story about a young woman with Down syndrome wrongly referred to people with the syndrome as patients and sufferers. No one in the story was a patient in a medical facility, and no one in the story was suffering. Link

We should not have described Down’s syndrome as causing mental retardation, a phrase proscribed by our style guide (Researchers devise safer Down’s syndrome test, page 8, October 7). Link

Recipe for disaster

Craig Silverman — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:00:27 +0000

We apologize. In last week’s spread on North Carolina apples, we left critical information out of the recipe for Flip-Over Apple Cake. We neglected to tell you how long to bake it. It takes 40 to 45 minutes …

Lessons in geography

Craig Silverman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:00:32 +0000

A map on Page 4A Tuesday mislabeled Armenia and Azerbaijan as Iraq and Iran. Link

Choose those pseudonyms carefully

Craig Silverman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:00:59 +0000

When the letter criticizing the person who had tossed some litter from Char-Grill was published March 24, we noted that we had changed the offender’s name (as recorded on an order slip that was found by the letter-writer). Our intent, as explained in an editor’s note, was to avoid implicating others who might have the same, unusual first name. Instead, we used what was meant to be a generic “Susie.”
Wouldn’t you know it, but a faithful Char-Grill customer is named Susie, and even sports her name on two license plates. Mrs. Susie Wright informs us that it wasn’t she who tossed uneaten french fries and the remains of a grilled cheese sandwich in front of Fletcher Park. Link

Slightly different

Craig Silverman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:00:39 +0000

A report Friday in the City & State section about an anti-war rally on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus misquoted Iraq war veteran Jason Hurd. The story quoted Hurd as saying, “I went to Iraq to help people, but instead I ended up shooting civilians.” Hurd did not say that he shot civilians but spoke about “how members of my unit unnecessarily shot at civilians during convoys and then bragged about these incidents later on.” Link

Cross at the crossword

Craig Silverman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:00:07 +0000

Readers, you’re right. The crossword puzzle in Tuesday’s Life, etc. section contained an error. The solution to 37 across is “ultramodern,” not “untramodern.” A proofreader at Reed Brennan Media Associates works through the puzzles to find such errors before publication, but she missed this one. Reed Brennan is the company that edits the crossword puzzle.

Half right

Craig Silverman — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:00:46 +0000

A story on the front of Saturday’s City & State section incorrectly identified a Salisbury lawyer cited for contempt of court for reading Maxim magazine in Rowan County District Court. His name is Todd Paris, not Todd Bird. Link

News & Observer updates its corrections policy

Craig Silverman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:00:43 +0000

In a recent column, Ted Vaden, public editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, calls errors “the low-grade virus of newspapers — always there, mostly benign, sometimes flaring up in maddening eruptions of inaccuracy.” Vaden offers space to a loyal reader who complains that the paper’s corrections don’t pass the “recycle bin” test, meaning “Don’t send him to his recycled papers to retrieve the original article so he can understand the correction.”

Unfortunately, many media outlets fail this test. Just have a look at these corrections. Too many corrections are vague, confusing, or downright frustrating. What was incorrect? How did it happen? What article are you talking about? Fortunately, Vaden brings word of changes at the News & Observer. (He also very kindly makes reference to my book.)

Linda Williams, N&O senior editor who oversees corrections, says relief is at hand. “There was a sort of format that discouraged people from restating the error,” she said. “We’re changing that whole idea and trying to write corrections that make it clear what was wrong and what is correct.”

Williams said the paper also is doing more staff training to prevent errors and encouraging readers to alert the paper to errors. There is an e-mail address — accuracy@newsobserver.com — to send notice of errors, and the paper has started a computer database of errors to better identify how they occur and can be prevented.

All encouraging steps.

Maybe it’s working. The N&O in 2007 printed 553 corrections, reversing a three-year upward trend that reached 680 in 2006. “I hope the reason we’re having fewer errors is that we’re doing a better job of prevention,” Williams said. But she’s also concerned about the impact of recent staff losses of copy editors and design editors, who are the last defense in catching mistakes.

“You can do a lot of training to prevent people from making errors,” she said. “But a lot of errors are caught because you’re reading a proof and it jumps out on the page when you see it. My concern is that we won’t have the time to do that last step when someone looks at it and catches it on the page.”

The paper did manage to reduce corrections despite having fewer people last year. Let’s hope that continues.

It good to see the paper is working on improving quality even in the face of staff losses. Many outlets areÂ dealing with shrunken newsrooms and it’s all too easy to let accuracy slide down the priority list. Just have a look at this recent example.

Was he hunting for weeds?

Craig Silverman — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:00:35 +0000

A front-page photo caption Tuesday said Bob Hardiman of Clayton was treasure hunting with a metal detector. He was actually using a garden tool. Link

North Carolina papers apologize — almost 120 years later

Craig Silverman — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:00:00 +0000

We’re coming a bit late to this, but it requires a mention. The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer recently produced special reporting packages about race riots that erupted in 1898. And both papers ran editorials that apologized for their part in the awful events of that year. The Charlotte Observer’s apology is here.
It echoes the remarkable 2004 apology from the Lexington Herald-Leader, which also possibly inspired a 50-years later apology from the Tallahassee Democrat in May of this year. So, yeah, it looks like we have a trend on our hands. And we think it’s a good one.
Editor & Publisher ran a great article that includes the pertinent details about the apologies, which ran Nov. 17.