The Gazette of Montreal takes part in an annual campaign called Raise-A-Reader. It helps raise money for literacy programs. Unfortunately, a front page headline yesterday about the campaign did little to help the cause:
Here it is as it appeared on the front page below the fold (click for larger):
In her column yesterday, Josée Legault asserted that Michael Ignatieff “supported the American invasion of Iraq and the use of torture.” In fact Mr. Ignatieff has not endorsed the use of torture; he has opposed it.
In a 2004 article Ignatieff wrote that “outright torture is anathema to a society built on freedom” but that in fighting terrorism “we” (Americans) will have to traffic in “lesser evils” such as “indefinite detention of suspects on lower standards of probable cause, coercive interrogations that fall short of torture, target assassinations of terrorist suspects, and even pre-emptive war.” Interrogation techniques he said would be acceptable include “sleep deprivation, disinformation, or disorientation.”
“… To safeguard our own democratic society,” he said, we must define “coercive interrogation that stops short of torture.”
The Gazette regrets the error. Link
Thanks, Daniel!
This week’s Regret the Error column on Columbia Journalism Review online looks at two media errors that became fodder for late night comedy. Excerpt below. Click on the headline for the full column.
Comedy of Errors
Jay Leno has made amusing, mistaken, and otherwise notable newspaper headlines a staple of his show. Recently, his rivals got into the media mistake act. This could either be a disconcerting example of kicking newspapers when they’re down, or perhaps it’s late night comedy’s way of reminding people that newspapers are still relevant. Either way, it’s been an amusing few weeks.
Last week comic Andy Kindler appeared on Late Show with David Letterman. Kindler, an occasional correspondent for the show, makes a habit of calling out other comedians and the industry as a whole during his annual “State of the Industry” address at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal.
I interviewed him a couple of years ago and listened to him launch bombs at Larry the Cable Guy, Wayne Brady, and Will Ferrell for his role in Blades of Glory. “I love Will Ferrell, but I don’t want to see Will Ferrell holding up the guy from Napoleon Dynamite while on skates,” he said.
Of particular note is the fact that Kindler had nothing but nice words for Letterman when we spoke. But that didn’t appear to be the case when he was interviewed by a fellow Montreal journalist just a couple of months ago. The Gazette of Montreal quoted Kindler as saying, “Bottom line is that Letterman is unwatchable now.”
As soon as he took his seat next to Letterman, Kindler began explaining that he had been misquoted. Letterman even pitched in by holding up a copy of the article in question…
Comedian Andy Kindler, a frequent guest and occasional correspondent on David Letterman’s show, recently dedicated part of his time on the Late Show to complain about a misquote in Montreal’s daily English language paper, The Gazette.
Kindler was interviewed by Gazette columnist Bill Brownstein back in January for a piece about how comics would handle the new Obama administration. (Disclosure: Bill and I are friends.) At one point in the column, Kindler was quoted as saying, “Bottom line is that Letterman is unwatchable now. And the best Saturday Night Live can do is give us Fred Armisen trying to do Obama, but he is so weak.”
After the article appeared, Kindler called Brownstein to say he was misquoted, and it turns out he was. In a subsequent column, Brownstein added this note:
Because of an unfortunate static disruption while recording an interview with comic Andy Kindler for my column of Jan. 21 – about the death of political comedy with the departure of Dubya – a key word, “not,” went missing. The Kindler quote should have read: “Bottom line is that only Letterman is not unwatchable now.” And not: “Letterman is unwatchable now.”
Kindler’s concern over this omission is not unwarranted: he is an occasional correspondent for Letterman’s Late Show. “The ironic part of this mix-up is that David Letterman is one of the few people whose comedy I have unconditional love for,” Kindler says. “I think that’s the proper context for the word ‘irony.’ If it’s not, that would be ironic.”
However, and not surprisingly, Kindler still stands by his statement that with little to mock about Barack Obama for the time being, he will start focusing more on Jay Leno,”the next big threat facing our country.”
Kindler wanted to make sure everyone knew what he really meant, so he made a point of mentioning the misquote during his recent appearance on Letterman’s show. The relevant bit starts at about the 1:30 mark.
Thanks, Paul!
An editorial in yesterday’s Gazette incorrectly reported that Jean Lapierre, former president of the union representing the city’s blue-collar workers, is dead. We are pleased to report that Mr. Lapierre is in fact alive. We sincerely regret the error and apologize to Mr. Lapierre. Link
From the editorial in question, which remains uncorrected online:
… It turns out that the leadership of this union has, in the past at least, resorted to blackmail, slander and subterfuge to get its own way and to silence its rivals. Dissent, it appears, was as welcome in this supposedly democratic union as it was at the Kremlin. And while the man directly responsible for the horrors uncovered this week – former union president Jean Lapierre – is dead, many of his allies are still in office.
The error was pointed out by Patrick Lagacé, a blogger for the Montreal French-language daily La Presse.
A story in Sunday’s paper said incorrectly that Little Burgundy street watch teams “will look out for any gang activity and give information to the police.” The watch teams have no intention of being a police information group and will concentrate on prevention, information and education among different groups and members of the community. The Gazette regrets the error. Link
A story in yesterday’s paper about counterfeit money incorrectly said it costs nine cents to produce a counterfeit bill. In fact, that is the cost to produce a legitimate bill.
The Gazette regrets the error. Link
UPDATE: I should note that The Gazette, an English-language daily in Montreal, recently introduced an online corrections page. Editor-in-Chief Andrew Phillips wrote a blog post to introduce the page, and I’ve added a link to the list of newspaper corrections pages on the right.
Another recent change is the listing for Canadian Business. It now has a dedicated corrections page, and I’ve updated the link on the right. (It previously pointed to a search string.)
New online corrections pages are always good news.
A series of corrections from The Gazette (Montreal). March 5:
A story in yesterday’s paper misquoted Liberal MP Irwin Cotler’s comments about Saul Itzhayek, a Montrealer who is in prison in India for an entry-visa offence. Cotler did not say that Ottawa has failed to intervene in Itzhayek’s case. In fact, the federal government is pressing the case with Indian authorities, and Cotler told reporters he has had meetings with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and MP Helen Guergis as recently as this week and the government has been working for some time on the repatriation of Itzhayek. Another error was introduced in the headline over the story, in which Cotler’s name was misspelled. The Gazette regrets the errors.
March 6:
A For the Record item in yesterday’s paper contained two inaccuracies. In fact, Peter MacKay is Canada’s minister of national
defence, and Helena Guergis is secretary of state for foreign affairs and international trade. The Gazette regrets the errors.
Also March 6:
An editorial yesterday said that Irwin Cotler, MP for Mount Royal, had “criticized the government’s failure to help Montrealer Saul
Itzhayek,” who is in prison in India.
That assertion was based on incorrect reporting. In fact, Cotler has been meeting with cabinet ministers about the case and the government is working on it. Contrary to the editorial, he also criticized the previous Liberal government’s record in the case of Maher Arar and acted as counsel to Arar’s family.
The Gazette regrets the errors.” Link
