Paula LaRocque, a former Dallas Morning News writing coach and author of two books on writing, penned a column for the Dallas Morning News that collects some of her favorite newspaper corrections. She leads with this gem:
Some years ago, for example, CNN corrected what it called a "typo." One of its headlines had reported that the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, had been hospitalized because of an "enlarged prostitute." CNN said that of course it had meant "prostate."
Mr. Greenspan's wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, quipped regarding that "typo": "He should be so lucky."
Some of her other selections:
- In last week's issue of Community Life, a picture caption listed some unusual gourmet dishes that were enjoyed at a Westwood Library party for students enrolled in a tutorial program for conversational English. Mai Thai Finn is one of the students in the program and was in the center of the photo. We incorrectly listed her name as one of the items on the menu. Community Life regrets the error."
- "The title of the book that was to be reviewed at Sunday's meeting of the Unitarian fellowship was incorrectly reported on the church page of Saturday's Eagle as How to Say No to a Baptist and Survive. The title should have been How to Say No to a Rapist and Survive."
- Newspapers seldom correct typos, which are generally benign as mistakes go, but the following church-page ad was an exception: "An Italian sinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. at the Essex Center United Methodist Church."
- And a Massachusetts newspaper correction explained: "Due to a typing error, Gov. Dukakis was incorrectly identified in the third paragraph as Mike Tyson."
