A staffer at the North County Times has been fired and another was suspended for what the paper’s editor calls “a deeply misguided joke.” The joke entailed changing an AP story to read that an LA City Councilman had “strangled a kitten at a City Hall news conference.” The original copy reported that he “held a kitten at a City Hall news conference.” The paper has apologized:
We published a story Wednesday that contained a terrible mistake.
To be more precise, we carried a story on our Back Page by the Associated Press about a new law in Los Angeles that requires most pet owners to spay or neuter their dogs and cats. So far, so good.
However, two of our editors inserted an error into the account that fundamentally mischaracterized a press conference attended by Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas, one of the law’s co-authors. Our Web site, nctimes.com, carries the correct version.
After conducting an internal investigation, I believe that our editors were not being malicious, furthering some political agenda, or expressing ill will toward Cardenas or anyone else. Instead, I have concluded that our mistake flowed from a deeply misguided joke that made its way into print.
Still, there is nothing more important than running a newspaper that our readers can trust. We have fired the editor who initiated the unfortunate “joke.” And we have suspended a second editor who failed to keep the error out of print. Further, we will adopt improved quality control measures and training to prevent similar mistakes.
We apologize to Councilman Cardenas, to the Associated Press and to our readers.
Thanks to Randy, Steve, and Romenesko!
