Leslie Plommer is an associate editor in the office of the Guardian readers editor (ombudsman). She occasionally fills in for the editor by taking over the weekly column, as she did last weekend. Plommer shared a bit of news about the paper’s print corrections column, and announced a new webpage dedicated to accuracy and standards. [...]
At some point every newly appointed ombudsman/public editor will address the issue of errors and corrections. Often they come back to it again and again. The former ombudsman at the Washington Post, Andrew Alexander, is a good example. (See here, here, here). His successor, Patrick B. Pexton, has now weighed in with a blog post [...]
Alicia Shepard just finished her stint as NPR ombudsman, and her final blog post included this recommendation: Hire someone to handle corrections. Between May 19 and May 27, apparently there were no mistakes made on NPR. I simply do not believe that. What I do believe is that the folks in charge of corrections have [...]
From my latest column for Columbia Journalism Review, here are my five suggestions for how news ombudsmen can make themselves essential in today’s newsroom: 1. Build Your Blog – Many ombudsmen, especially those at newspapers, write a regular column. This used to be the most visible, tangible benefit of an ombudsman. Going forward, the column [...]
"News delivered digitally in rapid cycles — with much less time for editing and oversight — will create more lapses. It is simply physics. The cure, or at least a salve, for this condition is transparency, accountability, humility. If The Times is going to publish more and faster, it will have to react faster to [...]
Andrew Alexander, the Washington Post’s ombudsman, is doing a good job on the corrections beat at the paper. Last year, he wrote two columns about the paper’s problems with handling corrections requests (1,2). (See my previous post here.) Yesterday, he followed up with a blog post that includes some good news, along with details about [...]
In an article on 16 December 2009 about procedures that can be open to misuse to enhance performance in sport, we were wrong to say that the English Institute of Sport endorses “blood spinning”; it says it does not. “Blood spinning” describes a process in which a quantity of blood is taken from an athlete [...]
Andrew Alexander, the Washington Post’s ombudsman, dedicated his weekend column to the issue of corrections. Back in March, he blew the whistle on the fact that the paper’s corrections policy and procedures were failing readers. Sunday’s column is something of a follow up. It also revealed that at the end of November the Post had [...]
Just over two years ago, the public editor of the Orlando Sentinel wrote a column alerting readers to the fact that the paper had experienced a spike in the number of corrections. He was clear about the cause of the increased errors: When the Sentinel tightened its financial belt back in June, it lost a [...]
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller participated in an online Q&A with the public this week. Some of his answers touched on accuracy, credibility and corrections. Here’s one relevant exchange: Q. You’ve been the face of The Times through the very roughest times for The Times. Anything you regret? — C.D. Monroe, Washington … [...]
Derek Donovan, the readers’ representative of the Kansas City Star, yesterday took the unusual step of writing a blog post that invited readers to offer suggestions about the wording for a correction he was working on. From his post: As I’ve written before, it’s The Star’s policy not to restate an error in a correction [...]
From a column by Express-News public editor Bob Richter: Frustrated by the inability to do anything about the high cost of fuel or groceries and the egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk South Texas heat, let’s turn to something you and I have the ability to change for the better: Making the San Antonio Express-News the most trusted, respected and [...]
From journalism.co.uk: The sourcing and fact checking process for stories on the BBC News website must be addressed by management, the BBC trust Editorial Standards Committee has recommended. The committee made the suggestions as part of its response to a complaint about an article on the site, which pointed to inaccuracies in the report on [...]
Over the past couple of weeks, Regret readers have been debating the necessity of this NPR apology: In our newscast at 9:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 14, the phrase “dark continent†was used by one of our newscasters in reference to President Bush’s trip to Africa. This was totally inappropriate and offensive, and we apologize. [...]
New York Times public editor Byron Calame seems to have found his voice with a column about the Geraldo Rivera/Alessandra Stanley dispute. Calame watched the video footage in question and says there was no "nudge," meaning that Stanley’s description of one is false. Executive editor Bill Keller’s response to Calame seems to admit this. [UPDATE: [...]
