Regret the Error

Misquoting people will destroy civilization

The Sept. 22 Broadsheet item "Learning from the 'accidental feminist'" incorrectly reported that Arianna Huffington had once written that feminism "would destroy Western civilization." In fact, Huffington wrote that "the frenetic extremism of Women's Lib seeks not to emancipate women, but to destroy society." The item has been corrected. Link

Itsy Bitsy Not So Teenie Error

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- In a Sept. 26 story about the death of Paul Van Valkenburgh, The Associated Press, relying on information from his wife, erroneously reported that he was co-writer of the 1960 hit song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" under the name Paul Vance.
The American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers credits Paul Vance, 76, of Westbury, N.Y., and Lee Pockriss of Bridgewater, Conn., with writing the song.
Van Valkenburgh was 68 and resided in Ormond Beach, Fla. Link

MSNBC has a full AP story about the mistake. Some excerpts:

...On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported on the death of a 68-year-old man named Paul Van Valkenburgh of Ormond Beach, Fla., who claimed to have written the song under the name Paul Vance. The story cited the man’s wife as the source for that claim.
But the music industry’s real Paul Vance, a 76-year-old man from Coral Springs, Fla., is alive and well, and says the other Paul Vance appears to have made the whole thing up.
The Paul Vance who wrote the songs — and provided proof with royalty payments he is still receiving for the hit — said he has been inundated with calls from people who think he died. An owner of racehorses, Vance said two of his horses were scratched from races Wednesday because people thought he had died.
“Do you know what it’s like to have grandchildren calling you and say, ‘Grandpa, you’re still alive?”’ he said in a telephone interview from Coral Springs. “This is not a game. I am who I am and I’m proud of who I am. But these phones don’t stop with people calling thinking I’m dead.”
Rose Leroux, the widow of the man who died, said she was surprised by the disclosure, and “kind of devastated.” She said she had no reason to doubt that her husband — who apparently had some sort of music career when he was younger — was the writer of the famous tune.
She said her husband told her that he never got any royalties because he sold the rights when he was young, around 19. She said that by the time they met almost 40 years ago, he was making his living as a salesman. He later became a painting contractor.
“If this other man says he did it then my husband’s a liar, or he’s a liar,” Leroux said...

Beatles, Beatles, Beatles

In a story on Page 32 of the Sept. 15 Weekender about the British Royal Mail's plan to issue six stamps honoring The Beatles, The Associated Press the gave the wrong name of the group's first album released in the United States. Introducing the Beatles on the Vee-Jay label appeared in the U.S. before Meet the Beatles, said Bruce Spizer, author of the book The Beatles are Coming!The story also implied, incorrectly, that the U.S.-released Meet the Beatleswas identical to the British 1963 album With the Beatles. Nine of the 12 tracks on the British album were on the American one, said The Beatles' official Web site.

Going once, going less than we told you

A story Sunday on D1 misquoted RealtyTrac's Rick Sharga, citing information from the Mortgage Bankers Association, as saying 75 percent of foreclosure properties are auctioned on the courthouse steps. What Sharga said was that about 75 percent of reported delinquencies do not make it to auction. Link

How to start a riot

POWERCO is offering to refund its network charge to customers affected by a Wellington outage.
It is not offering free gas, as reported yesterday.

Fuzzy numbers etc.

IN the report, 'IBM launches US$250m showcase bank centre' (BT, Sept 23-24), the investment value of the IBM centre is US$250,000, not US$250 million. We are sorry for the error.

About a boy (and a woman)

A story about a woman and boy being shot Sunday while walking on Colorado Street near York contained some mistakes. The story said the woman died shortly after being shot, but she did not. She suffered a leg wound and was admitted to Temple University Hospital. The story said the boy had been treated and released, but he was admitted in serious condition with two bullet wounds to his body. The story said the boy was the woman's grandson, but the relationship between the two was unclear. Link

Reversal of fortune

The television comedy series "Everybody Hates Chris" was incorrectly identified Thursday as "Everybody Loves Chris" in Larry Bonko's column in The Daily Break section. Link

Convicted by the press

James Uriah Courtney wrongly appeared in a Porirua drink-driving list on September 9. Mr Courtney was not convicted of the charge, which was withdrawn by police.

PCs for everyone

We said in an article about plans by McDonald's to offer online learning for its employees (Would you like basic skills with that? Education, page 9, September 19) that 97% of British households now have a computer. In fact that is the proportion of its staff that McDonald's estimates has access to a computer. Link