Tag Archives: wall street journal

No effort, not no comment

June 26, 2008 – 8:00 am

In response to a lawsuit filed by a group of bondholders and shareholders against Italian dairy company Parmalat SpA’s former auditors and some banks, Bank of America Corp. denied wrongdoing. An article June 17 about the lawsuit incorrectly said the firms involved in the suit weren’t available to comment. In fact, there was no attempt to get comment from some of the banks, including Bank of America, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA’s asset-management unit’s Nextra, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG as well as former auditors Deloitte & Touche and Grant Thornton. Link

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

Close…

June 11, 2008 – 8:00 am

Mariama James, who lives near the construction site for the future headquarters of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a daughter named Alijah. A Money & Investing article Wednesday about the construction incorrectly gave her daughter’s name as Delia. Link

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Rest is fine

June 4, 2008 – 8:00 am

Contrary to what was stated in Jane Garmey’s May 28 Leisure & Arts In the Fray article, “Doris Duke’s Storied Gardens Are No More,” about the closing of the gardens at Duke Farms, the Orchid Range is not going to be renamed after Joan Spero, president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; only three, rather than a majority, of the 11 trustees are bankers; there are no plans to dismantle the figbar hedge; and nobody associated with Duke Farms stated that anything on the property will be either chopped down or left to die. Link

Thanks, D.B./Gawker!

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Another paper kills off Billy Graham

June 3, 2008 – 8:00 am

Billy Graham continues to serve as chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. An article that ran in the Friday-Sunday Asia edition incorrectly referred to him as “the late evangelical pioneer.” Link

The Washington Post did it in March.

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They’re an acquired taste

May 13, 2008 – 8:00 am

Poland’s delicje are biscuits with chocolate and jam. Thursday’s Letter From the City column incorrectly said chocolate and ham. Link

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Warren Buffett endures another bad misquote

May 7, 2008 – 8:00 am

Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares might not be the best investment for some investors. A Money & Investing article in some editions Monday incorrectly stated that he said the company wasn’t a good investment opportunity. Link

Previous one here.

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Lost in translation

April 29, 2008 – 8:00 am

A Russian Revolution-era banner pictured in a photo gallery and timeline published on WSJ.com read “Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood!” An earlier version of the gallery incorrectly translated the text as “Freedom and Industry 1st!” The gallery has been corrected. Link

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

April 17, 2008 – 8:00 am

Washington Mutual Inc. is paying TPG $50 million for its part in arranging a $7 billion capital infusion, on top of the $198 million it is paying underwriters led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. A Breakingviews column Monday incorrectly stated that the $50 million was more than the $198 million WaMu was paying the underwriters. Link

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

April 17, 2008 – 8:00 am

Thirteen billion golf balls, lying end to end, could go around the earth 14 times. An article in the April 7 Golf report incorrectly said nine times. Link

Thanks, Christopher and Marty!

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Lessons in geography etc.

March 25, 2008 – 8:00 am

Labrang monastery is in Xiahe, a city in northwestern China’s Gansu province. A March 15 article on the global spreading of news of protests in Tibet incorrectly identified Xiahe as part of Tibet. Link

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Algorithm, not logarithm

March 21, 2008 – 8:00 am

Product designer Cricket Lee employs an algorithm to help women find apparel that fits their specific shape. An article in Monday’s Journal Report on Small Business incorrectly said she used a logarithm. Link

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Mistaken & Incorrect

March 5, 2008 – 8:00 am

A headline about an item in Warren Buffett’s annual letter in yesterday’s Deal Journal incorrectly referred to an “M&I” failure. The headline should have said “M&A,” or mergers and acquisitions, in reference to Mr. Buffett discussing an acquisition failure. Link

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Somewhat different

February 22, 2008 – 8:00 am

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. said a lung-cancer clinical trial of its flagship drug Nexavar was halted because it wouldn’t meet its goal of prolonging patient survival. An article about Onyx and the Abreast of the Market column yesterday incorrectly said the study was halted because of increased death in patients taking the drug. Link

By Craig Silverman | Posted in Newspapers | Comments

Causal, not casual

February 15, 2008 – 8:00 am

Pfizer Inc. says that the extensive clinical trial data on its best-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor “do not establish a causal link between Lipitor and memory loss.” Due to a typographical error, Tuesday’s Health Journal column used the word casual instead of causal. Link

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

February 13, 2008 – 8:00 am

CHINA’S NEW TAX-EXEMPTION RULES mean the government will give up 30 billion yuan, or $4.2 billion, in revenue. In some editions yesterday, a Politics & Economics article incorrectly gave the dollar conversion as $41.7 billion. Link

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Misplaced “pleasure center”

January 15, 2008 – 8:00 am

THE ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX is the region of the brain associated with subjective perceptions of pleasantness. An earlier version of a Health Blog post incorrectly described the orbitofrontal cortex as the “pleasure center” of the brain. Also, the post had mischaracterized the reason a researcher couldn’t tell us the name of wine preferred by the study subjects. The researcher remembered, but declined to divulge it. Link

It’s good to see that the Journal is correcting blog posts on its online corrections page.

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One story, many errors

January 4, 2008 – 8:00 am

I’m a bit late to this one, but Doug Fisher at Common Sense Journalism spotted a November article in the Wall Street Journal that contained a multitude of errors, some of which have been corrected by the paper. Others remain. Fisher’s post on the mistakes is worth reading, if only to count the mistakes. Fisher begins:

The well-worn saying is that those who fail to heed history are doomed to repeat it.
This recent effort by the Wall Street Journal, however, shows that those who go about repeating it need to remember to study it carefully first.
There was a little factual spillage in the Nov. 15 Wonder Land column by Daniel Henninger, “1968: The Long Goodbye.” And apparently all the copy editors had gone on break and there was no one to clean it up. (Warning: Parts of the online offering have since been cleaned up, but as of this posting there still is enough mayhem for a good frolic through the history books — or, as those of us my age like to call it, recent memory.)

Here are the two corrections published by the Journal:

The Nov. 15 column by Daniel Henninger, “1968: The Long Goodbye,” incorrectly said that Robert Kennedy was assassinated in July 1968; it was June. Also, in some early editions it said that George Wallace had been shot dead campaigning for the presidency in 1972. He was shot and paralyzed. The error was corrected for later editions.
(WSJ Nov. 17, 2007)Daniel Henninger’s Nov. 15 column, “1968: The Long Goodbye,” said incorrectly that Eugene McCarthy defeated Lyndon Johnson in the New Hampshire primary that year. President Johnson received 48.6% of the vote to Sen. McCarthy’s 41.9%. President Johnson declined to put his name on the presidential preference ballot, and Sen. McCarthy won 20 of the state’s 24 delegates.
(WSJ Nov. 24, 2007)

Thanks for the tip, Jack!

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Fuzzy numbers etc.

January 2, 2008 – 8:00 am

An op-ed on Dec. 26, “Putin’s Cold War,” mistakenly referred to the 1993 Yom Kippur war. The year was 1973. Link

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WSJ makes nice with Merrill

November 27, 2007 – 8:00 am

ON NOV. 2, the Journal published a page-one article on Merrill Lynch & Co. that was based on incorrect information that the firm had engaged in off-balance-sheet deals with hedge funds in a possible bid to delay the recognition of losses connected to the firm’s mortgage-securities exposure. In fact, Merrill proposed a deal with a hedge fund involving $1 billion in commercial paper issued by a Merrill-related entity containing mortgage securities. In exchange, the hedge fund would have had the right to sell the mortgage securities back to Merrill after one year for a guaranteed minimum return. However, Merrill didn’t complete the deal after the firm’s finance department determined it didn’t meet proper accounting criteria. In addition, Merrill says it has accounted properly for all its transactions with hedge funds. Link

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Lost in translation

November 9, 2007 – 8:00 am

A PAGE-ONE ARTICLE Tuesday about the Basque language, Euskera, in some editions contained several translation errors. The word for donkey herder is astazain, not ahuntzain; the word for pig herder is urdain, not artzain; and a cowboy is a behizain, not an urdain. Link

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

WSJ moves a decimal and redefines the concept of a union job

October 25, 2007 – 8:00 am

Jimmy Warren, financial treasurer of a United Steelworkers local, makes $8,252.62, according to a union spokesman and an LM-2 filing with the Department of Labor. The amount is overstated elsewhere on the Department of Labor Web site and was misreported in this editorial. Link

This is another case of a correction leaving out pertinent information. The paper had originally reported that Warren’s salary was $825,262. Yes, it was a decimal error, and the mistake was also on the Department of Labour’s website. But the correct information was available elsewhere online and the error resulted in a huge difference that made Warren look like a crook. Did the WSJ really believe that he was being paid over $800,000 to be the treasurer of a union local? Or did it just fit the tone of the editorial? The correction should have noted the original mistake.

Not missing a chance to hit back at a negative editorial, the USW put out a press release to object to the error and call for a correction, though the release does not acknowledge that the error also appeared on the Dept. of Labor website. So perhaps both the correction and release were missing some pertinent information. The release:

News From USW: The United Steelworkers (USW) today demanded an apology from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on behalf its 1.2 million active and retired members in the United States and Canada after the newspaper grossly over-reported a USW local union officer’s compensation in a vitriol-and-error-filled Monday editorial, ostensibly aimed at congressional Democrats who voted last week to trim $2 million from the Office of Labor Management Standards’ projected nearly $50 million 2008 budget.

In a particularly mean-spirited passage designed to illustrate how union leaders are not members of the working class, the newspaper singles out USW member Jimmy Warren, a democratically elected local union financial officer from Arkansas, as receiving $825,262 in payments from his union. In reality, the financial report for his local, which is available to the public online for free, clearly shows that he was compensated $8,252.62, an over $817,000 difference.

The Steelworkers said that even though the newspaper printed a completely inadequate, out-of-context correction after the USW lodged its complaint, the troubling fact remains that one of the world’s most widely read financial journals has displayed irresponsibility with regard to fact-checking that insults its readers, to say nothing of the paper’s obvious contempt for working men and women.

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NY Sun names fired CBS producer; why naming her is important

April 12, 2007 – 10:00 am

After many blogs (Gawker, TV Newser etc.) put out calls for the name of the CBS producer fired this week for plagiarism, David Blum has named her in a story in today’s New York Sun. “In an era when plagiarists get dismissed and outed weekly by their employers at news organizations around the country, the decision by CBS News not to disclose the producer’s name — and to call an act of flagrant plagiarism an ‘omission’ — seems curious at best,” he writes, correctly. Our background and concerns are here. Then he reveals the name:

…her name is Melissa McNamara, a cbsnews.com Web producer (and herself a blogger for cbsnews.com) who joined the network in October 2005 after working as a news assistant in the Washington bureau of the New York Times and as a researcher at CNN.

Some may wonder why fellow journalists think it’s important to name the person. There are three reasons:

  1. It’s the industry standard. Have a look through our annual plagiarism round-ups on the right hand column of this website. The person is named the vast majority of the time. Even student newspapers do it. Criticism inevitably follows when plagiarists aren’t named.
  2. It’s a necessary act of disclosure. Because, for example, the press would seek to name a congressional staffer who commits a serious ethical lapse, we have to meet the same standard. We disclosure disclose the wrongdoing of people on a daily basis and hold them up to public scrutiny and scorn. Some of these people are public figures; some are not. When a journalism institution suffers an ethical or professional lapse of this nature, we must disclose the details. When we don’t, we perpetrate a double standard.
  3. It provides accountability for the plagiarist. By not naming the offender, CBS was creating the possibility for this person to apply for new jobs without having to disclose this incident. We’re not saying she should be banned from journalism for life; but she shouldn’t be able to gloss over an incident of plagiarism or ignore it completely. Her name needs to be public in order to ensure other journalism organizations are aware of whom they’re dealing with. Again, we want to emphasize we’re not suggesting she should never work in the biz again; that depends on how she handles this incident and works to ensure it never happens again. But potential employers have a need and right to know this about her.

Unfortunately, CBS hit several wrong notes with its handling of this incident. It was not forthcoming and clear in its presentation of the plagiarism; it refused to provide essential details to Public Eye, an internal site explicitly created to “bring transparency to the editorial operations of CBS News”; and it refused to name the offender. At this point, we hope this episode becomes a learning experience and impetus for change at CBS. And that appears to be the case, at least according to a New York Times article from today:

CBS News said yesterday it planned to install a new level of editorial oversight to its Web site since revelations that the CBS anchor Katie Couric read a plagiarized commentary on the site last week.

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t offer any further details. It does say that “…CBS said yesterday it was investigating to see if the producer…had written any previous commentaries for Ms. Couric that had been plagiarized.” This is an important, necessary step. Let’s hope CBS delivers a full report on its findings and reveals the new level of oversight.

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

CBS News fires producer for plagiarism

April 11, 2007 – 8:00 am

A producer at CBS News has been fired after plagiarizing from the Wall Street Journal for a video essay on “Couric & Co.,” the Katie Couric/group blog on the CBS News website. AP reports the essay was removed and an editor’s note has been placed on the site. We searched the blog in question — and the entire site — and weren’t initially able to locate it, which was frustrating. Then we found it and a bit of explanation via the CBS Public Eye blog:

Correction: The April 4 Notebook was based on a “Moving On” column by Jeffrey Zaslow that ran in The Wall Street Journal on March 15 with the headline, “Of the Places You’ll Go, Is the Library Still One of Them?” Much of the material in the Notebook came from Mr. Zaslow, and we should have acknowledged that at the top of our piece. We offer our sincere apologies for the omission.

There are obvious problems with this. First, it’s labeled as an editor’s note at the top of the post and then noted as a correction in the body. These are very different things. Which is it? Also, if this was a firing offense, the editor’s note/correction should explain the disciplinary action taken. This is a case of plagiarism, not omission. That’s why the producer was fired. CBS should speak in plain terms and offer more explanation.
Finally, the editor’s note was put online on April 9, yet the editor’s note/correction is dated April 4. This is likely to replace the offending post, which appeared on the 4th. But back-dating the post means it wasn’t on the front page of the blog on the day it appeared. The result is that visitors who saw the original essay are less likely to come upon this important information.

It’s good to see the Public Eye blog make note of this incident. But it appears that CBS execs aren’t willing to offer any further explanation. “Mike Sims, director of News and Operations for CBSNews.com,
declined to comment about the specifics of the matter,” wrote Public Eye editor Brian Montopoli. He then quotes Sims saying, “The Editor’s
Note speaks for itself.” Yet Sims was happy to offer comment for a different Public Eye post the day before. This (lack of) exchange seems contrary to the stated purpose of Public Eye:

Public Eye’s fundamental mission is to bring transparency to the editorial operations of CBS News — transparency that is unprecedented for broadcast and online journalism.

CBS News execs should be required to offer an explanation to Public Eye. Strangely, the AP story gets quotes and details not offered to Public Eye. This undercuts the importance and efficacy of Public Eye, which should be of concern to CBS.

Let’s hope this incident will inspire CBS to create an online corrections page and policy. We asked Public Eye a little over a year ago about the lack of one and were told by a CBS online exec — the same Mike Sims — that it was being considered and they were “trying to find the best way” to create one. We suggest taking a look at what ESPN did to create a cross-platform corrections policy and online page.
From AP:

A CBS News producer was fired and the network apologized after a Katie Couric video essay on libraries was found to be plagiarized from The Wall Street Journal...
An editor for The Wall Street Journal called CBS News to point out the similarities of the April 4 notebook item to Zaslow’s article, headlined “Of the Places You’ll Go, Is the Library Still One of Them?”
The pieces talk about how libraries are seen differently by children from their parents.
“We were horrified,” CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said. “It was almost verbatim.”
CBS would not identify the producer fired for the transgression.

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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