September 27, 2009 – 5:28 pm
In “Seven days: A good week for. . . Judge Mohammed Ilyas Khan” (25 May 2008), we said that Judge Khan’s cleaner had tried to blackmail him. In fact, she was never convicted of blackmailing Judge Khan. She appealed against her conviction for blackmail (involving a Judge J) and theft (involving Judge Khan). All charges were dropped and therefore she was cleared on both counts. Apologies. Link
August 10, 2009 – 8:00 am
In "Putting the boot in over BBC’s web footage" (Business, last week), we described John Nolan as "boss" of ITN. He is, in fact, a member of its press office. Apologies. Link
An editing error in "Why France is in thrall to the Tour it can’t win" (World, last week) resulted in us naming French cyclist Brice Feillu as the "hero of Friday" who is "determined to wear the yellow jersey all the way to Paris. . ." but, as the winner of the first mountain stage, he claimed the polka dot jersey which is awarded to the "King of the Mountains". The winner of the maillot jaune that day was Rinaldo Nocentini.
In “The arrogant eagle that won’t pull in its wings” (Business, 3 May), we incorrectly suggested that Sheikha Mouza Bint Nasser al-Misnad is the name of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani’s wife (he is the head of Qatar Holding), and that she had met Dijana Jenkins (wife of Roger Jenkins of Barclays Bank). In fact, Sheikha Mouza Bint Nasser al-Misnad is married to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, has never met Dijana Jenkins and was not involved in the events described in the story. We apologise for the error. Link
“The world’s No 1 bestseller” ( Observer Magazine, last week) said James Patterson “outsells JK Rowling, John Grisham and Dan Brown put together”. Patterson has sold 150 million books, but JK Rowling alone has sold 400 million.
Our report on more bloodshed in the world of literary criticism (”Endangered species under further threat”, Books, last week) was wrong to accuse the Independent on Sunday of abbreviating its books coverage; the paper has just appointed Katy Guest as its new literary editor. And far from being made redundant, Alan Taylor, doyen of Scotland’s literary landscape, is still at the Sunday Herald and still editing the Scottish Review of Books . Apologies all round. Link to both
In “The entourage” section of “UK clears its decks for the Obama show” (News, last week), we said representatives of “the Immigration and Naturalisation Service” (INS) and “the US Information Agency” (USIA) would accompany President Obama on his European tour. The USIA was closed in October 1999 when its information functions were incorporated into the State Department and its broadcasting services consolidated into the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The INS ceased to exist in March 2003 with most of its functions transferring to the Department of Homeland Security. Link
“Cameron faces backlash for supporting supertax” (News, last week) described Jan Peter Balkenende as “the Norwegian prime minister”. He is actually the prime minister of the Netherlands. Link
In “The beauty Q & A” ( Observer Woman, last week), we suggested using an iPulse system (the Boots Smooth Skin Intense Pulsed Light Hair Reduction System) to remove facial hair, but Boots stresses that this product is designed for use on body hair only, not on the face. Readers are advised to call 0845 120 1511 or visit www.boots.com if they have any concerns. Link
In “The famous faces that fooled Stanford clients” (News, 22 February) we wrote: “Randy Shain, vice-president of First Advantage Investigative Services in the US, said one of his clients had decided not to invest in [Sir Allen] Stanford’s empire after he found allegations of money laundering dating back to a 1996 lawsuit, settled out of court.” In fact, a court found in Standford’s favour and the magazine that made the allegations apologised and paid Stanford’s legal costs. Link
“Food cravings triggered by specific sports” (News, last week) reported on research into exercise and eating patterns by Dr David Stensel of Loughborough University. Dr Stensel has asked us to make it clear that this research is incomplete and unverifiable at this stage. The piece also referred to a book by Dr Stensel entitled Influence of Resistance and Aerobic Exercise of Hunger. This is actually an academic paper, co-authored with three others. Dr Stensel also points out that he would never describe himself – as we did – as “the country’s leading expert on sport and exercise science”. Link
February 9, 2009 – 3:02 pm
The provincial capital of Newfoundland was described as “St John” in our travel special section on Bonavista, Newfoundland (Observer Magazine, last week) but it is actually St John’s. St John is in New Brunswick, 657 miles to the south west. Be careful if you are booking flights to one of these towns. Link
February 2, 2009 – 8:00 am
“My trip to Canada is all fond kisses” (Comment, Scottish edition, last week) described the Fraser River as being in Halifax but it actually flows through British Columbia and reaches the Pacific near Vancouver. Halifax is on the Atlantic coast. Link
January 12, 2009 – 8:00 am
Homophone call: (Cash, last week) “… a pair of trousers marked as having a 34-inch waste”. Drainpipe trousers, perhaps. Link
January 5, 2009 – 8:00 am
Apologies to Ireland, part three: For the third time in a month, we have included the Republic of Ireland in Britain, this time in Review. “The places where the story of Britain is told” (last week) included Dublin and Cork and the Irish writers Roddy Doyle and Colm Tóibín in a survey of British literature.
Sorry… again. Link
December 22, 2008 – 8:00 am
Take cover: “Heavenly Heston” (Observer Food Monthly, last week), said: “Heston Blumenthal is known as the mad kitchen scientist who cooks with nitroglycerin and puts snails in his porridge” and went on to speculate that his Christmas might include “a turkey jelly, perhaps frosted with nitroglycerin”. Glycerine and liquid nitrogen feature in Mr Blumenthal’s spectacular culinary delights, not high explosive. Please don’t try this at home. Happy Christmas. Link
December 15, 2008 – 8:00 am
An editing change to Philip Hensher’s copy last week (‘My Other Life’, Books) resulted in: ‘I can see myself now in an alternative life as the fat lady who comes into the rehearsal room…’ whereas he wrote: ‘I can see myself now in an alternative life, as the fat lady comes into the rehearsal room …’ He was describing his fantasy career as an accompanist, not, of course, as an overweight soprano.
Our apologies. Link
December 12, 2008 – 12:56 pm
My weekly Columbia Journalism Review online column is live on the site. The topic: obiticide. Death by media. An excerpt:
Death by Obiticide
I have some bad news to pass along this week: two people were killed as a result of sloppy journalism.
It happens more often than you might expect. It’s frequent enough, in fact, that I’ve come up with a name for this phenomenon: obiticide. Death by media error.
Newsday was one of the guilty parties, as evidenced by this correction:
In an article published yesterday about autism, some editions reported incorrectly that Vito “Billy” Albanese Jr. died at an out-of-state residential facility. Albanese is living in Brooklyn with his father.
British paper The Observer also published a correction to atone for shunting Ted Sorensen into an early grave:
Ted Sorensen, the author of Counselor, was unfortunately described as ‘the late’ in our Books pages last week; we are happy to report that John F Kennedy’s adviser and speechwriter is still very much with us. And Julia Blackburn, not Blackwell, wrote The Three of Us, published by Cape (Books, last week). Apologies.
Sorensen is something of a mistake magnet. Last year, The New York Times admitted that it had misspelled his name more than 135 times over the last fifty-plus years. If given the choice, though, Sorensen probably prefers having his name mangled to being knocked off. Still, he’s in good company. This Wikipedia page shows just how many famous people have been felled before their time by premature obituaries.
I dedicated an entire chapter of my book to obiticide (and you can read a chapter excerpt here), but that’s hardly put the issue to rest. Just this past year, newspapers have killed off Frank McCourt, Billy Graham (twice!), Muhammad Ali, Pat Robertson and Victor Willis of Village People fame. (Okay, it’s a bit of a stretch to include the last one.) …
December 8, 2008 – 8:00 am
Ted Sorensen, the author of Counselor, was unfortunately described as ‘the late’ in our Books pages last week; we are happy to report that John F Kennedy’s adviser and speechwriter is still very much with us. And Julia Blackburn, not Blackwell, wrote The Three of Us, published by Cape (Books, last week). Apologies. Link
August 18, 2008 – 8:00 am
Fruitcake corner: ‘Use a shallow tin … and stir the cake mix overnight’ (OM, last week). We meant ’store’. Link
A photograph of boarded-up shops in the Stratton area of Swindon, Wilts, (’Credit crunch’, Business, 6 July) was actually taken eight years ago and gave a misleading impression of the district. The empty shops have since been torn down and the area redeveloped. Apologies. Link
The suggestion that Jenni Murray’s mother (Books, last week) employed a ‘posset’ when doing her laundry creates an interesting picture. A posset is a cold remedy made with milk, ale and spices. We meant ‘posser’, a short stick. Link
Last week, we ran an article – ‘It’s the next billion online who will change the way we think’ – under the byline of Jimmy Wales, explaining at the end that it was an edited version of a conversation with the Wikipedia founder. Mr Wales agreed to the piece on the condition that he have final editorial approval but unfortunately this proved impossible before publication. Mr Wales wishes to make clear that he repudiates the piece, and that it misrepresents his views. He has written an alternative version, which can be found at observer.co.uk/commentisfree. We apologise to Mr Wales. Link
In ‘Grant “snubbed” by players’ (Sport, 2 March), we said Avram Grant was snubbed when Chelsea players failed to turn up to a team meeting on time, in the wake of their Carling Cup Final defeat. We now accept that while the team meeting was delayed by a few minutes due to an earlier players’ meeting, Mr Grant was not snubbed by the squad or anyone else. We also accept that there were other inaccuracies in the article and apologise to Mr Grant for any offence caused. Link
What other inaccuracies? Why not correct them?
‘Love, Italian style, prevails over racism’ (World, last week) said Sali Saleem was ‘cleared of murder by the highest court in Italy’ after being accused of the honour killing of his daughter, Hina. In fact, he and two others were each jailed for 30 years for her murder last year. We apologise for the error. Link
January 21, 2008 – 8:00 am
Miscellany: ‘Whatever happened to the BMW booty?’ (News, last week) described those who salvaged cargo from the grounded MSC Napoli as ‘wreckers’. Wreckers lured vessels ashore before murdering their crews and plundering the cargo; clearly not the case here. ‘Although the government remains reticent to discuss …’ Reluctant, not reticent; ‘The truth is out: X-files go public’ (News, 6 Jan), and, while undoubtedly earnest in his endeavours, the explorer was Ernest, not Earnest, Shackleton, (’The rise and rise of little voice’, Observer Magazine, last week). Link
