This is an interesting column written by Karen Vittek, managing editor of the News Guard in Lincoln City, Oregon. It details how an unnoticed error in one story was reprinted again in a subsequent article. A common problem. It also provides an interesting overview of relevant Oregon media law and how the News Guard handles corrections. A worthwhile read.
One comment: The column provides an interesting and helpful overview of how the paper handles corrections, but it also seems to place an unrealistic amount of onus on readers to report errors. Thanks to this piece, we know what the paper does to fix errors. What about the steps it takes to prevent them? Encouraging readers to report errors is great; but no publication should expect readers to act as another body on the copy desk.
As Vittek notes in the article, "People often say they don't report errors because newspapers
don't print corrections and don't care if they're wrong." True. And some people who spot an error just can't be bothered to contact a publication. After all, it's not their job to correct the media.
For background on why some folks don't bother to report errors -- even huge ones -- we recommend this great Columbia Journalism Review article by Adeel Hassan. The writer went back and spoke to the "victims" of Jayson Blair's fabricated/plagiarized articles. Hassan notes that the sources "...either didn't bother contacting The New York Times about the errors, or gave up after their phone calls and e-mails went unanswered or after the problems went unaddressed." So, yes, encourage readers to report errors. But be sure to respond to them when they do. And don't expect them to act as unpaid copy editors. The article (and, yes, the author misspells "gaffe" in the second sentence):
The road to you-know-where is paved with good
intentions, they say, and that's how most of our errors come about,
too. Because the good intentions and subsequent error are mine this
week, it seemed a good opportunity to discuss our corrections policy
and how we handle goofs, gaffs and gum-ups. When a reporter or editor
at our newspaper has a bad day, 7,000 people know it. Most people don't
know what we do to fix it, however.
Last week, I wrote a story about Mayor Lori Hollingsworth's
State of the City address at the chamber luncheon. She made a comment
referencing city-tribe relations and taxes. I put in a second paragraph
with the good intentions of fleshing-out the remark and giving it
context.
Only, after the story was published, I quickly found out
(through phone calls from both parties involved) the paragraph had a
wrong number in it – $350,000.
How did it get there?
In December, we wrote a story about the city and tribe signing
an agreement. That number was in the original story, quoted to us by a
source. No one called or wrote to correct us then so we had no idea it
was wrong. I then picked it up in the later story last week. (Thanks to
the marvels of modern technology, older stories can be searched on my
hard drive and – voila! – facts can be reused.)
If there's an error in one of our stories, we need to know
about it. Not just because we hate being wrong and we like to correct
our mistakes, but because otherwise we're likely to pick that fact up
and use the information in later stories. Your name could be misspelled
for all eternity, if you don't let us know we goofed.
People often say they don't report errors because newspapers
don't print corrections and don't care if they're wrong. That can't be
farther from the truth. Most of us live by the quote, "With great power
comes great responsibility." Newspapers consider themselves to be the
historical and public record for the areas they serve and we're no
different. So, if we printed something wrong, we self-flagellate like
guilt-torn monks over our sins.
It doesn't matter if the information came directly from a
source. It doesn't matter if we had the best of intentions. The fact is
that the information was wrong and we printed it. We hate that.
Therefore, we want to correct it.
So, it's time for a correction or clarification.
What's the difference?
According to Associated Press guidelines and Oregon media law,
corrections are straightforward statements that a previous story
contained an error. If the error is clearly not on the part of the
newspaper, the correction will say that. If there's any confusion about
whether the newspaper was the source, or if the newspaper was clearly
wrong, then we may give a reason for the error. Common reasons include
reporter, typesetter or editor typos caused by sliding fingers and
undiagnosed dyslexia; inadvertent reporting errors like the writer
hearing a letter in a name incorrectly ("v" does sound an awful lot
like "p" or "d," especially over the phone); or inadvertent editing and
design errors (such as sentences ending midway through a thought and
falling into thin air).
The correction runs within two weeks of the error being
reported, as required by the Oregon Retraction Statute. Usually it's
the very next week.
According to the same sources cited above, a clarification is
an expansion on a previous story that was factually correct but may not
have been crystal clear. If a particular fact comes across as unfair,
subject to misinterpretation or lacking sufficient background, we use a
clarification.
Usually corrections and clarifications appear in the same
section as the original error. If an error is made in our arts and
entertainment section, Central Coast Currents, the correction or
clarification appears there. Same with Lifestyles (B-section) and the
A-section. Through institutionalized habits, most corrections and
clarifications appear on Pages 2 or 3.
However, there are times – akin to a doctor removing the wrong
lung from a patient – when "oops, we goofed" doesn't suffice, no matter
what our good intentions were originally. In those cases, the
correction appears in the exact location as the original story (in this
example, see the bottom of Page A1). We want to make sure everyone
knows the original story was wrong (going back to that
self-flagellation guilt complex). We sometimes print letters to the
editor on the subject (if we get them, such as this week – see guest
opinion below), endure snipes at public meetings and, behind the
scenes, do everything in our human power to make sure it doesn't happen
again. We discuss them – sometimes for days – until we figure out what
went wrong and what we're going to do about it. If it's a sizable
error, we write up a report detailing how the error occurred and how
we're going to strive to keep it from happening again.
We're all human, but we newspaper editors, reporters and
typographers set a high standard for ourselves to get it right. We
expect you to hold us to it. Don't feel bad about telling us we're
wrong – we'd rather know we're wrong and do what it takes to restore
our credibility immediately than have people come up to us and say, "In
1927, your newspaper misspelled my grandfather's name and so I don't
trust you to get anything right this time, either!"
Let us know as soon as you spot an error. Let us fix the problem.
After all, it's the correct thing to do.
In a Feb. 25 story about a former prison officer accused of having
sex with convicted killer Cory Ogden, The Associated Press erroneously
named Ogden for other crimes.
