September 10, 2009 – 8:00 am
Wine woes: A caption which accompanied a picture and article about Spring in the Valley (Winemakers to boycott Swan Valley ‘debauch’, page 7, September 9) stated that the owner of the Little River Winery and Café would “shut up shop” during the festival. In fact, the Little River Café, which is on the same property as the winery but run separately, will be open as usual during Spring in the Valley.
Student assault: A brief report wrongly said that a Chinese student had been stabbed in St James on Saturday night (Student stabbed, page 18, July 21). In fact, police have alleged that the student was struck in the mouth with a screwdriver and sprayed with pepper spray.
Designer drug: Diprivan, the drug found in the late King of Pop Michael Jackson’s home, is a powerful anaesthetic (Sedative ‘in Jackson’s home’, page 19, July 4). We must have been artfully sedated to allow it to be dopily described in our paper as an "intravenous aesthetic".
Bikie death: "Rebel Rick" Roberts’ death in Canberra in March was the result of a domestic dispute and not, as we wrongly wrote, part of a wave of apparent revenge attacks following a brawl between bikies at Sydney Airport (Bikie world pulls in viewers, Agenda, page 62, June 27).
The wrong stuff: Who can blame Russell Crowe for his cynicism about journalists getting things right? In a feature article (Mind games, page 16, SEVEN days, May 23) we misspelt the name of his character in his new movie State of Play and erred about his Academy Award. His character in the film is Cal McAffrey, not McCaffrey, and Crowe won his best actor Oscar in 2001 for Gladiator, not A Beautiful Mind.
Bunker bungle: Jarrahdale resident Colin Abbott paid $1500 – not $15,000 as we incorrectly reported – for two concrete pipes he used to build his backyard bushfire bunker (Backyard bunkers to beat fires, page 12, May 12).
Immaculate misconception: We got ourselves in almost as much of a tangle as former bishop Fernando Lugo, who has now had three separate allegations of paternity levelled against him (President hit with third baby claim, page 26, April 24). The former man of the cloth might get around but he is the President of Paraguay only, not Peru as we misconceived.
Writer wrong: American humorist S. J. Perelman and compatriot “jazz” poet Langston Hughes might have shared a February 1 birthday, a love of the written word and a penchant for moustaches but they did not share the same face. A photo in Burning Questions (Today, page 16, April 23) under the caption S. J. Perelman was in fact Hughes.
Greatly exaggerated: Perth theatre director Raymond Omodei assures us that he is alive and well after he was referred to as “the late Ray Omodei” in the obituary of architect Jeff Considine (Architect was pioneer of green design, page 77, April 7). We regret any embarrassment or inconvenience the error caused.
Green gaffe: There’s little doubt eco-warriors love a good chat as much as a tree hug, but our digitally dyslexic reporter’s creation of a new organisation was a revelation for verbose greenies (Recycling record comes under fire, page 18, March 23). It is more apt, of course, to discuss recycling with the Conservation Council than with the loquacious Conversation Council.
A reliable source: Research for our feature article about Kalgoorlie’s 1934 race riots led us to write that British miner Charles Stokes was shot in the stomach (The race riots that split a town, West Weekend Magazine, March 14). A reader has told us that Mr Stokes, whose dying words were “a ding got me”, was in fact Australian-born of an English mother and he was stabbed, not shot. The reader should know. She is his daughter.
Guilty as charged: Our report about the blessing of the bonnets as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations requires clarification (Bonnet blessing remembers convicts, page 18, March 9). No female convicts officially came to WA among the almost 10,000 male convicts. (Or did they? WA author Amanda Curtin’s novel The Sinkings is based on a factual tale of the 1882 murder near Albany of Irish-born ex-convict Little Jock, who lived as a man but was found in death to have been a woman).
February 11, 2009 – 8:00 am
A 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
Idol 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.
February 6, 2009 – 8:00 am
Vice-regal vicissitude: Last June we showed a lack of excellence by changing Australia’s first female Governor-General Quentin Bryceinto a man, calling her Mr Bryce. Now we’ve also managed to change the sex of Canada’s Governor-General, Michaelle Jean. Her Excellency Mme Jean is a she, not a he as we published in late editions of the paper (Canada crisis adds fear to Labor hopes, Opinion, page 21, February 4). The error was made during the editing process.
Update: A correction from Feb. 13:
Canada continued: On February 6 we admitted changing, accidentally, the sex of Canada’s female Governor-General Michaelle Jean. It appears we didn’t go quite far enough to right our wrongs. We also said in the report (Canada crisis adds fear to Labor hopes, Opinion, page 21, February 4) that Mme Jean was appointed by the Conservatives when, in fact, her appointment was recommended by former Liberals prime minister Paul Martin. We also said Stephen Dion was Canada’s opposition leader, but he was replaced in December by Michael Ignatieff.
January 8, 2009 – 8:00 am
Time warp again: A gremlin has been switching headings in our This Week in The West Australian column (page 26, January 6; page 49, January 7). Lt-Governor Sir James Mitchell was speaking in 1934, which was 75 years ago, not 100; Sister Kate was awarded an MBE in 1934, which was 75 years ago, not 100; and the Messina earthquake happened a century ago, not 75 years ago as perpetrated by our gremlin.
December 18, 2008 – 8:00 am
In this year’s round-up of the Year in Media Errors and Corrections, I unveiled the Ian Mayes Award for Writing Wrongs. It is given to the “publication or person that demonstrates wit and wisdom in the writing of corrections.” The winner is David Hummerston, the, deep breath, Saturday editor, editorial counsellor and readers editor of the West Australian.
Hummerston was surprised by the honor. To be honest, he wasn’t sure it was a good thing at first. But now he’s proud, and so is his paper. The Thursday edition of the West Australian included a fun item about the award. Can you spot the errors?
At first glance, it could appear to be a very dubious prize for this newspaper’s Saturday editor, editorial counsellor and readers editor David Hummerston.
Hummerston’s prize is not for the longest series of titles for a newspaper executive.
Rather he has beaten some of the top newspaper people and newspapers around the globe, including the likes of the New York Times and The Guardian, to win the inaugural Ian Mayes Award for Writing Wrongs.
The prize has been awarded by the journalism advocacy site regrettherror.com. The site’s head honcho, Canadian journalist Craig Silverman, is pushing for newspapers to improve standards and to correct stuff-ups promptly.
The gong is named after the legendary readers editor of The Guardian, Ian Mayes, who stepped down last year, and recognises publications or people who demonstrate wit and wisdom in writing corrections.
We hate to admit it, but Hummerston’s Corrections and Clarifications colums have often been more entertaining than IC, and with a hole lot less erorrs.
Our favourite, and one recognised by the judges, is Hummerston’s correction published in October after our economics editor performed a posthumous merger of John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman to create a composite economist called Milton Keynes.
“Milton Keynes is an English town famous not only for its grid system of roads and its herd of concrete cows but because in 1998 it was deemed so boring that even chartered accountants refused to move there,” Hum wrote. “The ‘crazy’ ideas comment was intended for John Maynard Keynes, who was voted one of Time Magazine’s most important people of the 20th century – and who was not boring.”
Nor should corrections be dull. Congradulations, Hum.
Here’s the amusing corrective article they published the next day:
December 12, 2008 – 8:00 am
Sew and sow: As we sow, so we weep (One life used up after vets sow Edgar’s face back on, World, page 32, December 11).
December 10, 2008 – 8:00 am
Flight of fancy: We inadvertently created the travel bargain of the century (Deals, Travel, page 19, December 6). The $359 per person twin share for four nights quoted for the Grand Mercure Roxy in Singapore, including breakfast, does not (disappointingly) include airfares.
November 28, 2008 – 8:00 am
E=mc3+1: As mathematicians, journalists make fine geishas. One of the paper’s most perspicacious readers has again successfully challenged our careless checking of figures in reports received from overseas and interstate. In one report we had an Olympic swimming pool holding a meagre 1000 megalitres – a waist-high depth that would becalm Eamon Sullivan (’Angel’, 4, drowns as plastic dam wall fails, page 17, November 25). And in another report we had 40,000 US “gleaners” filling 80,000 4-6kg sacks with 250kg of vegetables – a minuscule 6g per person (Hard times bite in America, World page 28, November 26). We still don’t know what we meant.
October 29, 2008 – 8:00 am
Binge drinking: Deakin University professor of psychology Robert Cummins points out that neither he nor his research said that binge drinking could be a good thing (Professor sees positive side of binge drinking, page 17, October 23). He said although his Wellbeing Index research found that the feeling of wellbeing in 18-25 year-olds remained high even after three drinks, this was not a good thing and made it difficult for policy-makers to devise controls for binge drinking. Moderation was the key to the link between alcohol consumption and happiness.
October 14, 2008 – 8:00 am
Mayor nightmare: An assumption by a reporter changed the gender of the Mayor of Gosnells (Suburban graffiti costs millions, page 19, October 13). As there is no doubt Olwen Searle believes graffiti vandals should be jailed, so there is no doubt she is a woman.
October 1, 2008 – 8:00 am
Deep depression: Our economics editor has officially gone from recession to depression. By mangling the names of two of history’s most highly decorated economists, John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, we not only created an economy of truth but blamed poor Milton Keynes for having “crazy” ideas (We can all learn from Depression, Opinion, page 21, September 29). Milton Keynes is an English town famous not only for its grid system of roads and its herd of concrete cows but because in 1998 it was deemed so boring that even chartered accountants refused to move there. The “crazy” ideas comment was intended for John Maynard Keynes, who was voted one of Time Magazine’s most important people of the 20th century – and who was not boring.
September 26, 2008 – 8:00 am
White flag: We surrender to vigilant vexillologists who point out that a graphic accompanying a travel story about Estonia flagrantly raised the red and white flag of Latvia (The beguiling old town of Tallinn, Travel, Today liftout page 14, September 25). The Estonian flag has three horizontal bands of blue, black and white.
August 21, 2008 – 8:00 am
Cancer headline: StateHealth Minister Jim McGinty points out that the words between quotation marks in the headline Cancer services ‘close to collapse’ (page 1, August 20) were our interpretation and were not included in the Barton report, which was the source of the story. The Barton report, commissioned by the Cancer Council, said cancer treatment services in WA failed to meet current demand and that plans for the future were inadequate and should be urgently reviewed. The quotation in the headline was intended as a summary.
August 19, 2008 – 8:00 am
Birdbrains: We swiftly swallowed the information supplied to us which described a photo of a bird in flight as a Rottnest Island Sparrow (The science of fine photography, page 19, August 16). As any eagle-eyed ornithologist would attest it was, of course, the much less rare Welcome Sparrow.
