Tag Archives: slate

Unto the son

November 9, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the Nov. 6 “Slatest,” Daniel Politi mistakenly stated that the “son of Trevor Gretzy” was on the football team of Oaks Christian High. Trevor Gretzky is on the team, and he is the son of Wayne Gretzky. Link

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That’s one strange lake

September 28, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn a Sept. 21 “Highbrow” column, Meghan O’Rourke stated that the Munchkins live in the northern portion of Oz. They live in the east. She also referred to the canal linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes as the Eerie Canal. It’s the Erie Canal. Link

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Slate story about rapper’s questionable claims leads to NY Daily News correction

September 7, 2009 – 4:34 pm

nydailynewsI placed a link to this remarkable Slate story on the What I’m Reading sidebar on this site last week. Now the New York Daily News has finally responded to the evidence uncovered by Slate. The News published this correction on Friday:

AN AUG. 23 Daily News story by a freelance reporter about the hip-hop artist Roxanne Shanté contained several statements that were, or may be, false.

Shanté told the reporter that she earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University, a statement that was confirmed in several publications on Cornell’s Web site. But the university has now informed us that it has no record of Shanté ever attending the school.

In addition, Shanté’s story that her early recording contract with Warner Music contained a clause under which the record company was obligated to pay for her education for life has been called into serious doubt in recent media reports.

Numerous attempts by the freelance reporter to find out about the contract from Warner Brothers Records led nowhere. Warner Music Group now claims it never had a contract with Shanté – only a distribution agreement with her label – and a former lawyer for the label says he is "confident" its contract with Shanté contained no education clause.

Shanté also claimed in the article that a dean at Marymount College helped her force Warner to honor the clause and obtain more than $200,000 in education expenses. But, after refusing to return numerous calls and e-mails during the preparation of the article, Marymount now states that Shanté attended the college for less than one semester.

Thanks, Eugene!

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Share a name, go to Guantanamo

August 24, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateAn Aug. 14 "Jurisprudence" mentioned a detainee at Guantanamo Bay named Mohammed Jawad. A photograph of a different man, named Mohammed Jawad Amjad, originally accompanied the article. The photograph was removed. Link

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But he’s coming

August 17, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the Aug. 7 installment of "The End of America," Josh Levin originally stated that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that Jesus will be resurrected to rule on American soil. The LDS Church believes he will return, not be resurrected. In addition, the church believes that Jesus will also reign in the old Jerusalem. Link

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Not a fan of forced prostitution

August 10, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the June 29 " Books " column, Johann Hari originally included two phrases that could have given the incorrect impression that Richard Bernstein has attended, or approves of, brothels where women are coerced. This was not Hari’s intention or Slate’s. We have amended these sentences to clarify that Bernstein does not approve of forced prostitution. Link

Thanks, Jack!

New York Magazine has some interesting background on this here.

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Ante up

July 20, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the July 15 "Movies," Dana Stevens misidentified Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as the ante-antepenultimate movie in the Harry Potter series. It is the antepenultimate movie. Link

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More or less

May 4, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the April 28 “Explainer,” Juliet Lapidos wrote that the demand for doctors in 2020 will be many tens of thousands less than we’ll have. She meant “more.” Link

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Her lips took a wrong turn

April 13, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn an April 7 “XX Factor” post, E.J. Graff originally wrote that she wanted to run up to Burlington, Vt., to kiss every legislator who voted in favor of gay marriage. Vermont legislators work out of the state capital, Montpelier. Link

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Rest is fine

February 23, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn the Feb. 16 “Television,” Colin Fleming originally misidentified one of the Top Gearhosts who was knocking out his car windows in a segment of the show. He also stated that no one knows the identity of the character Stig, but his name was revealed by a British newspaper in January. He also misstated the cost of the Bugatti Veyron, incorrectly stated that the hosts had to make their way across the Sahara desert when it was the Kalahari, and misspelled the Opel Kadett. Slate would like to thank the many, many Top Gear enthusiasts who pointed out the errors in this article. Link

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Death by media

February 2, 2009 – 8:00 am

slateIn a Jan. 26 “Sports Nut,” Charles P. Pierce originally referred to the Eternal Word Television Network’s “late Mother Angelica.” While she no longer makes live appearances on the air due to her ill health, Mother Angelica is still living. Link

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You’re doing it wrong

December 15, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the Dec. 8 “Technology,” Farhad Manjoo originally criticized SnapTell’s iPhone application for failing to recognize products like a bag of Cheez-Its and a bottle of Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. The SnapTell application is designed to identify only books, CDs, DVDs, and video games. Link

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Quite the performance

October 6, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the Sept. 29 “Science,” Daniel Engber described a scene in Californication in which David Duchovny’s character performs cunnilingus on an underage girl whom he’d taken to be his wife. The girl’s exact age was never stated, and he mistook her for his girlfriend. Link

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Okay then

September 29, 2008 – 8:00 am

Due to a copy-editing error, the Sept. 16 “Ad Report Card” misquoted a line from the trailer for Zack and Miri Make a Porno. In the trailer, Rogen’s character says he would like to watch “a tape of Rosie O’Donnell getting fucked stupid.” Link

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Standing up for accuracy

September 22, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the Sept. 16 “Music Box,” Jody Rosen originally misspelled the name of Nicolas Sarkozy as Nicholas Sarkozy. The article also makes a playful, sarcastic reference to Sarkozy being “13 years older and 13 inches shorter than his new wife.” According to their published heights, Sarkozy is 10.16 centimeters shorter than Carla Bruni. Link

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King of the arctic jungle

August 18, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the Aug. 14 “Green Room,” Etienne Benson mistakenly described a snow leopard as prowling “through the jungle.” Snow leopards do not live in jungles. Link

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

August 4, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the July 30 “Moneybox,” Daniel Gross included a significant numerical error. The piece linked to a Bureau of Transportation Statistics report, which can be seen here, that shows public construction spending on roads and highways in monthly totals. That Census Bureau reports the data as monthly totals expressed at an annualized rate. Because we read that annual rate as a monthly rate, the original article overstated public spending on highways and roads by a factor of 12. Link

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Slate backtracks on questions about Cruise/von Stauffenberg photos

June 30, 2008 – 8:00 am

A June 17 “Hollywoodland” raised questions about a photograph of Claus von Stauffenberg that appeared in a United Artists promotional campaign for the movie Valkyrie. The piece pointed out that the photo UA used looked more like Tom Cruise, the star of the film, than a similar-looking AP photo of von Stauffenberg. Because of insufficient photo research by Slate’s editors, we failed to discover another archival image of von Stauffenberg, which appears to be the one UA used in its publicity campaign. As a result of this mistake, the question the piece raised—whether the photo had been doctored in an effort to make Claus von Stauffenberg look more like Tom Cruise—was unwarranted. Link

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Rapper’s Delight

June 30, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the June 20 “Culturebox,” Jonah Weiner stated that Lil Wayne was the first hip-hop artist to fantasize about eating his competition. Other rappers have contemplated consuming their rivals. Link

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

June 16, 2008 – 8:00 am

In a June 8 “Today’s Papers,” Lydia DePillis incorrectly referred to catering for allergic Americans as a $3.9 million industry. It is a $3.9 billion industry. Link

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Must have been a long trip

June 16, 2008 – 8:00 am

In a June 7 “XX Factor” post, Hanna Rosin mistakenly wrote that 50 women have orbited “space.” She meant to write “Earth.” Link

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Claustrophiles, not claustrophobes

June 9, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the June 2 “Family,” David Plotz and Hanna Rosin described a Buddhist couple as claustrophobes. They meant to use the term claustrophiles. Link

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Fun with photos

May 19, 2008 – 8:00 am

A “Jurisprudence” and a “Convictions” blog post, both published May 13, featured a photograph of a man identified as Mohammed al-Qahtani. The man pictured was indeed named Mohammed al-Qahtani, but he was not the same man discussed in the article and blog post. The photograph has been removed. Link

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The Vulcan, not the pediatrician

May 19, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the May 12 “Books,” Dahlia Lithwick identified the USS Enterprise’s science officer as Dr. Spock. He is Mr. Spock. Link

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Correction to correction

May 12, 2008 – 8:00 am

In the May 6 “Medical Examiner,” Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer correctly stated that the radio show The Infinite Mind runs on NPR. Slate, however, posted a correction stating that this fact was wrong. We now understand from NPR’s ombudsman, Alicia Shepherd, that NPR has a contractual relationship with The Infinite Mind to run the show on two Sirius channels. The show also runs on NPR member stations. Link

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