Tag Archives: san francisco chronicle

Death by media

August 10, 2009 – 8:00 am

sfchronicleA story about domestic violence striking a Martinez family incorrectly stated that the son of murder victim Catalina Torres was an orphan. His father is still alive. Link

 

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

The lunar module corrections

July 24, 2009 – 8:00 am

atlNeil Armstrong piloted the lunar module to the moon’s surface on July 20, 1969. A story in Sunday’s A-section named the wrong person.

charlotteoberverlogoA story in Tuesday’s Observer about Statesville native Tom Marshburn’s first spacewalk misquoted the words of Neil Armstrong when he stepped onto the moon in 1969. Armstrong said: "That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." Also, Marshburn’s name was misspelled in a caption.

sfchronicleA photo caption incorrectly identified the astronauts meeting with President Obama. They were from left Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong.

lincolnjournalstarMichael Collins stayed aboard the command module in orbit around the moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and walked on the moon. An story on Page C1 of Sunday’s Journal Star incorrectly stated Collins’ role in the first moonwalk 40 years ago.

A story on Monday’s Page A6 about UW-Madison research on moon rocks correctly noted that Harrison "Jack" Schmitt was the last man to set foot on the moon. Schmitt followed fellow astronaut Eugene "Gene" Cernan onto the surface during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. When the pair left, however, Schmitt stepped onto the Apollo Lunar Module first, making Cernan the last man to leave the moon.

nytbanner1An article on Tuesday about people who believe that the Moon landing was a hoax referred incorrectly to a picture in a feature on the Lens blog at nytimes.com. As correctly noted in the feature, ”Dateline: Space,” the photograph of an astronaut standing on the surface of the Moon shows Buzz Aldrin — not Neil Armstrong. (Mr. Armstrong took the picture.)

And, of course, there are also these two related corrections from the Times.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged , , , , | Comments

Check those yearbooks

June 15, 2009 – 8:00 am

sfchronicleIn a list of 144 celebrity graduates of Bay Area high schools, baseball great Joe DiMaggio was included as a graduate of Galileo High School. He attended Galileo, but left before graduation. Cartoonist Robert Ripley attended Santa Rosa High School, but also left before graduation.

And:

In a list of 144 celebrity graduates of Bay Area high schools, the wrong high school was listed for pro football player Rhett Hall. He graduated from Live Oak High in Morgan Hill in 1987. Also, football player Ernie Nevers attended Santa Rosa High but finished high school in Wisconsin.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

He talks like the Internet

April 2, 2009 – 8:00 am

sfchronicleIn some editions, a story about the filming of a made-for-TV tanker-truck explosion in San Francisco misattributed a quote. The spectator who responded to the question “What kind of person spends half a day waiting for a fake explosion?” by saying, “Losers. … You better put a ‘LOL’ laughing out loud after that,” should have been identified as Shane Gilman of San Francisco. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

All actresses look alike

February 11, 2009 – 8:00 am

sfchronicleA photo Sunday was misidentified as that of Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. The photo was of Meryl Streep and Redford in “Out of Africa.” Link

westaustralianIdol impostor: Those old enough to know were quick to let us know we should have known better than to mix up Janet and Vivien Leigh in a photo caption (The Millers’ tale, West Weekend, page 18, February 7). Vivien Leigh (real name Vivian Hartley) – once wife of actor Laurence Olivier and dual Oscar winner for her roles as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire – was not related to Psycho star Janet Leigh (real name Jeanette Morrison), who was once married to actor Tony Curtis.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged , , | Comments

All Idol contestants look alike

December 8, 2008 – 8:00 am

A story about “American Idol” contestants in last Sunday’s Datebook included an incorrect photograph. The contestant pictured was Constantine Maroulis, not Bo Bice.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Sarah’s kids

October 31, 2008 – 11:07 am

A photo of Sarah Palin and a special-needs child in Open Forum on the Opinion page Wednesday misidentified the child as Palin’s son, Trig, based on information provided by the photographer. The identity of the child, who appears to be older than the infant Trig, is unknown. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

That’ll teach him to write a letter to the editor

September 25, 2008 – 8:00 am

Because of an editing error, a letter by Hal Rowland on Sept. 22 read “yellow citizens” when it should have read “fellow citizens.” Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Chevrolet, not Chevron

August 21, 2008 – 8:00 am

The headline for a letter in Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor incorrectly read, “No less than Chevron.” It should have read, “No less than Chevrolet.” Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged , | Comments

Death by media

June 19, 2008 – 8:00 am

An obituary on June 10 about Alvin Edlin, former owner of Bud’s Ice Cream store in Noe Valley, implied that Bud Scheideman, who founded the store in 1933, was deceased. Scheideman is very much alive and resides on the Peninsula. In 1952, Edlin acquired Bud’s Ice Cream store from Scheideman, who went on to a successful career opening restaurants in the Bay Area and working on ice cream flavors with Baskin-Robbins, his family said. Scheideman eventually became involved in commercial real estate and investment management.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Judging the judge

June 18, 2008 – 8:00 am

Articles on Thursday and Friday about sexual images on federal appeals court Judge Alex Kozinski’s Web site contained erroneous descriptions of one video. The video showed a partially undressed man being pursued by a donkey in a field but did not show sexual contact.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Osama who?

April 28, 2008 – 8:00 am

A Datebook story Saturday about Arianna Huffington misspelled the name of Osama bin Laden.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Your comic is gay

February 29, 2008 – 8:00 am

In a story Friday in Datebook, the date of the first Boy Trouble comic was incorrect. The series began in 1994. Also, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary was not a gay comic. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Comments

Try, try again

January 18, 2008 – 8:00 am

A caption accompanying a photo of Chelsea Clinton on Monday misidentified the girl with whom she was talking, and a correction on Tuesday misspelled her name. The girl was ReNeen Williams. LinkThanks, Mad Dog!

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged , | Comments

Fun with photos

November 14, 2007 – 8:00 am

Two photos of a Menlo Park house in the Nov. 4 Chronicle Magazine were modified by the source, without the paper’s knowledge, to eliminate solar panels from the roof. The Chronicle’s policy is that photographs should represent reality precisely and accurately. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Also tagged , | Comments

The corrections go audio

January 30, 2007 – 8:00 am

Our recent post about the state of online corrections was published before an inspired project by the San Francisco Chronicle. The paper is, as far as we know, the first newspaper in the world to introduce audio corrections. Last week it launched Correct Me If I’m Wrong, a regular podcast that will feature selected voicemail corrections/comments left by readers.
“Almost every day, The Chronicle hears from readers (and some non-readers),” says the paper. “Most of these comments — voicemail, email and letters — don’t make it into our letters column. But they can be unusually passionate, irate, confounding and creative.”
The acknowledgment that so many pieces of reader communication — voicemail, email, letters — end up going unacknowledged or unprinted is key. For a long time, the space limitations of the letters to the editor column left many readers out in the cold. The online world can offer ways for newspapers and other media outlets to give these communications a place, to give their readers a voice. Allowing online comments on articles, putting additional letters online, publishing corrections within articles online (and maybe in the future crediting readers who spot errors?), and now broadcasting voicemail corrections — these are all important ways to engage readers and allow them to contribute and have their voice heard.
The first installment of the Chronicle’s podcast is frankly nothing short of hilarious. And it’s a valid correction: the reader, who gets more than a little enraged, points out that the paper referred to a “pilotless drone,” which is of course redundant. Drones are by definition unmanned aircraft.
This is a fantastic update of the correction for the online world and we hope it starts a trend. One thing to keep in mind: the paper shouldn’t only choose the most irate/humorous reader voicemail corrections and comments. By all means, offer the choice messages that give the public a sense of the kind of abuse journalists sometimes face. But the danger is this could turn into something that mocks readers if the paper ignores some of the more sincere offerings. So, as always, the process matters. We also wonder if the paper asks the readers for permission to use
their messages before broadcasting them? (We emailed in an interview
request last week and hope to hear back soon.) Based on comments given to the New York Times, it appears the paper has its heart in the right place. Let’s hope its microphone will follow.

Putting voice mail messages from readers online was the idea of Phil
Bronstein, the vice president and editor of The Chronicle. “This is
about listening to your readers,” he said. “Newspapers used to be a lot
more lively than they are now, and they could definitely stand some of
that.” If readers respond well, he added, the paper might add “dramatic
readings” of some of the letters that come in.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers, Regret Articles | Also tagged , | Comments

Attention journalists everywhere: James Dobson is not a minister

May 19, 2006 – 8:01 am

Our obsessive cataloging of corrections occasionally enables us to spot a pattern. Whether it’s the failure of newspapers to identify someone they initially misidentified in a photo, or the inability of newspapers to accurately report on, well, newspapers, we sometimes feel as though we’re listening to a broken record. Such was the case when we spotted this correction in the Washington Post:

A May 14 article about Sen. John McCain’s speech at Liberty University incorrectly referred to the chairman of Focus on the Family as the Rev. James Dobson. Dobson is not an ordained minister.

We knew we’d read that one before. (The GetReligion blog also felt a sense of déjà vu.) So we fired up Nexis, did a search for “James Dobson and correction,” and were less than shocked to turn up more than 20 similar corrections going back to 1989. What publication ran that 1989 correction, you ask? The Washington Post. GetReligion also spotted two recent Newsweek corrections that we have included below. So here they are in all their glory: The James Dobson Is Not A Reverend/Minister/Evangelical Corrections. Bow your heads and pray we never see another one.

Roll Call
May 11, 2006
In the May 10 edition of “Heard on the Hill,” James Dobson of Focus on the Family was misidentified as a reverend. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in the field of child development.

The San Diego Union-Tribune
April 27, 2006
A headline April 20 with a story about the 70th birthday of Dr. James Dobson misidentified him as an evangelist. A child psychologist and best-selling author, he is the founder and chairman of Focus on Family, a nonprofit Christian ministry that helps families.

Newsweek
Feb. 20, 2006
In the Feb. 13 article “God’s Green Soldiers,” we incorrectly identified James Dobson as a reverend. He in fact has a Ph.D. in child psychology and goes by Dr. Dobson. Newsweek regrets the [error].

Wall Street Journal
November 5, 2005
Correction of Oct 28 page-one article; James Dobson is psychologist and chairman of Focus on the Family

Sun-Sentinel
August 17, 2005
A July 12 column by Michael Mayo on Page 1B of the Local section, about the Broward schools SpongeBob video controversy, contained two errors. Activist James Dobson is not a reverend, and Dobson did not assert that the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is gay.

Newsweek
Aug. 8, 2005
In our Aug. 1 issue, a sidebar on lobbying groups (“A
User’s Guide to the Groups”) incorrect[ly] identifies James Dobson as a
reverend. He in fact has a Ph.D. in child psychology and goes by Dr.
Dobson. Newsweek regrets the error.

Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
August 6, 2005
Headline clarified: In a headline in Thursday’s editions, James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that focuses on Christian values in the home, was called a minister. Although he runs a ministry, his degrees are in psychology as well as marriage and family counseling.

The Cincinnati Enquirer
June 10, 2005
Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, is a psychologist, author and radio broadcaster. A June 3 story on the 2nd Congressional District race misidentified him.

The Kansas City Star
March 9, 2005
An item in The Buzz on Sunday incorrectly referred to James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, as “the Rev. James Dobson.”

St. Petersburg Times
January 29, 2005
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is a psychologist and a marriage, family and child counselor. A column Friday stated an incorrect profession.

The San Francisco Chronicle
October 3, 2004
Articles on March 14 and Sept. 19 erroneously used the title “the Rev.” for James Dobson, the founder of the Focus on the Family. Dobson is not ordained.

Slate Magazine
January 23, 2004
In a Jan. 19 Chatterbox column, Timothy Noah erroneously referred to the Rev. James Dobson. Dobson is actually a lay Ph.D. (in child development), not an ordained minister.

Chicago Tribune
September 4, 2003
In a story Friday on Page 8 of the main news section, James Dobson, head of the Colorado-based family advocacy group Focus on the Family was misidentified with the title “Rev.” and called an evangelist. He is neither an ordained minister nor an evangelist.

Austin American-Statesman
February 21, 2003
Page B1 of Sunday’s Metro & State section, a story about religious groups debating the issue of homosexuality misidentified James Dobson, founder and president of Focus on the Family. He is not a minister.

The Montgomery Advertiser
November 9, 2002
Setting it straight: A story in the Oct. 13 edition of the Montgomery Advertiser used an incorrect professional title in reference to James Dobson, founder of the Focus on the Family ministry. Dobson is not a reverend. He holds a doctorate in child development.

Wall Street Journal
May 11, 2001
Correction of May 9 Politics & Policy article, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, oversees a radio ministry, but he is not an ordained minister.

The Nation
October 30, 2000
In Alexander Cockburn’s October 2 “Beat the Devil,” Focus on the Family’s president, James Dobson, was erroneously referred to as a “Reverend.”

Kansas City Star
November 23, 1996
Because of a reporter’s error, religious broadcaster James Dobson was identified as a minister in an Oct. 27 profile of Sam Brownback, successful candidate for U.S. Senate. Dobson is a licensed psychologist. The profile also implied that the organization Dobson heads, Focus on the Family, supported Brownback’s candidacy. Dobson made a personal endorsement of Brownback; Focus on the Family does not endorse candidates.

Chicago Tribune
October 31, 1995
An editorial Thursday incorrectly referred to the head of Focus on the Family as Rev. James Dobson. He is not a minister.

Orange County Register
March 2, 1993
James Dobson is a Christian counselor. Because of a reporting error, Dobson was misidentified in a story in the Metro section of Monday’s editions of The Orange County Register.

The Houston Chronicle
January 19, 1993
A story Sunday incorrectly described James Dobson, the head of a Colorado Springs, Colo., evangelical ministry, as a member of the clergy. He is a psychologist.

The Washington Post
June 13, 1989
In a report yesterday about the Moral Majority, James Dobson was identified incorrectly as a minister. He has a PhD in clinical psychology.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Magazines, Major Errors, Newspapers, Online, Regret Articles | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

SF Chronicle misidentifies cab driver as controversial police officer; error undermines paper’s series on the SFPD

February 7, 2006 – 10:19 pm

The San Francisco Chronicle is facing a potential lawsuit after it made a major misidentification error in a high profile Sunday story.
As part of a series of articles on the local police department’s use of force policy, the paper ran a photo of a man it identified as SFPD Sgt. John Haggett, an officer that AP describes as “a 23-year veteran of the force who was suspended three times for using unnecessary force and has been the subject of dozens of citizen complaints.” So he’s not exactly the man you’d like to be mistaken for. The unlucky victim was Jack Neeley Jr., 42, a cab driver. At a news conference, Neeley said the error has made him feel unsafe.
“When I come out of the house, I kind of scan the area, making sure no one is looking out,” he told reporters. “It’s kind of changed the way I walk out of the house.”
AP reported Neeley “said he worries that people with a grudge against police officers will become violent with him as a result of an article about police violence in Sunday’s Chronicle.”
The Chronicle ran a correction yesterday. Actually, let’s rephrase that: The Chronicle ran a wholly unsatisfactory correction in light of the prominence of the initial error. Here it is:

The Chronicle made an error in the identification of a photograph in Sunday’s newspaper in connection with its series on the San Francisco Police Department’s use of force. The person in the photograph is not SFPD Sgt. John Haggett.
The Chronicle regrets the error. Link

Due to the severity of the mistake and the Chronicle’s lackluster response, Neeley is now considering a lawsuit. And here’s another consequence of the mistake: San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong is using the error as a way to question the paper’s reporting in the controversial series.
“If this photo is inaccurate, I have serious concerns about the analysis of all of the other data that they have obtained,” she said on Monday, calling the series “irresponsible.”
A Chronicle story about the Chief’s concerns is here. It quotes Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein saying, “The photo error, while serious, does not change the basic issues raised by the series about the department’s lack of a reliable system for tracking use of force and its failure to hold accountable officers who repeatedly resort to use of force.”
Editors at the paper have thus far been unable to explain how the mistake happened, though they said a front page correction will be published on Tuesday Wednesday. (We’ll post it here.)
UPDATE: The paper did run a front page correction on Wednesday, and it also had an article on A2 that quoted Neeley (the paper had put the AP story about the mistake on its website on Tuesday).
We spoke with Chronicle spokesperson Patricia Hoyt at around 11:30 EDT Wednesday and she said the paper is still “looking into” how the error happened. Interestingly, she said that the paper realized its error after Neeley contacted the paper on Sunday morning. So the paper did not spot its own mistake. This is of interest because the story was a major feature in the Sunday paper that carried three writing bylines and a researcher credit at the end. Yet not one of the three reporters, the researcher, or the handling editor(s) who worked on this piece spotted the photo mistake before or after it went to print? The story notes that “Hagett… did not respond to The Chronicle’s written and telephoned requests for comment…” Does this mean that they didn’t approach him face to face and therefore didn’t know what he looked like? Hopefully, the paper with be forthcoming about how the mistake happened.

This incident is a powerful example of the chain of events that one mistake can set off. It also highlights the importance of the response to an error. Let’s track the trouble this one error, and the inadequate response by the paper, has wrought:

  1. The paper misidentifies a regular citizen as a police officer with a history of violence in a flagship story that was part of a major series of articles.
  2. The paper is then unable to identify the mistaken man in its resulting, minor correction.
  3. The misidentified man begins to fear for his personal safety and considers legal action due to the inadequate nature of the initial correction, and concerns for his life.
  4. The error is then used as a way to question the reporting done by the paper in its series about the police’s use of force policy, potentially undermining the entire package of articles.
  5. The paper has to run another, front page correction to make up for its initial, ineffective response.
  6. This in turn will draw more attention to the mistake and give critics more ammunition to attack the paper and its series of articles.

If this seems like an isolated incident, we recommend reading this example from the Chicago Tribune, and this one from Fox News. If you can’t prevent an error, it’s essential that your response does not compound the situation. Major errors deserve a major response. Finally, here’s a pic of the SFPD Chief holding a copy of the mistaken photo:

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers | Also tagged | Comments

Plagiarism at The Chronicle and IHT

January 12, 2005 – 8:01 am

The San Francisco Chronicle has run a correction stating that a freelance journalist plagiarized (though they don’t use that word) from an article that originally appeared in The Guardian back in November. It also notes that the article first appeared in the International Herald Tribune — but we can’t find any notice from that paper regarding the copying. Here is the correction/firing:

In an article that appeared in last Sunday’s Insight section, “When women kill for justice” by freelancer Siddharth Srivastava, a substantial amount of material was taken verbatim, and without attribution, from an article written by Randeep Ramesh that appeared in The Guardian of London on Nov. 9, 2004. Srivastava’s article was first published in the International Herald Tribune on Dec. 1, 2004. His work will no longer appear in The Chronicle.

The Chronicle appears to have removed the story from its site, but the lovely folks at Google have cached it (and this site has it posted as well.) Also, the IHT still has it up here. And here is the original article from The Guardian.

Let’s compare. It doesn’t look good…

Chronicle:

…In November, a mob dominated by 50 women and led by a rape victim burned down the houses of three alleged rapists who had reportedly attacked residents with impunity for months.

Guardian:

…At the weekend a mob, dominated by 50 women and led by a rape victim, burnt down the houses of three alleged rapists who had reportedly attacked residents with impunity for months.

Chronicle:

The razing of the alleged rapists’ homes follows a series of high-profile cases that began in August when Akku Yadav, a gang leader
who faced 24 criminal charges including murder, was stabbed and stoned to death in a court by a mob led by women.
According to the women, he had raped young girls and pregnant women and sent his henchmen to extort money. Despite repeated arrests, Yadav always walked out of jail and continued to terrorize the neighborhood.
Local citizens feared he would be released on bail again.
Police detained five women after the August attack but released them when more than 400 women blocked the courtroom and demanded they be set free.
…More than 100 prominent lawyers based in Nagpur have issued a statement saying the women should not be treated as the accused, but as the victims.

Guardian:

The razing of the alleged rapists’ homes followed a series of high-profile cases which began in August when Akku Yadav, a gang leader who faced 24 criminal charges including murder, was stabbed and stoned to death in a court by a mob led by women. According to the women, he had raped young girls and pregnant women and sent his henchmen to extort money.
Despite repeated arrests, Yadav always walked out of jail and continued to terrorise the neighbourhood. Local people feared he would be released on bail again.
Police detained five women after the August attack but released them because of a public outcry.
Prominent among their supporters were 100 lawyers based in Nagpur who issued a statement saying the women should not be treated as the accused, but as the victims.

Chronicle:

A report by a former top police officer in Nagpur blamed his former colleagues for a serious failure in law enforcement.

Guardian:

A report by a former top police officer in the city blamed his former colleagues for a serious failure in law enforcement.

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Major Errors, Newspapers | Also tagged , | Comments Off