[Editors] newspaper corrections

[William Litant]

Had to share this - from the latest issue of "Quill."
Bill


Corrections, however painful or funny, needed for credibility

By Paula LaRocque

Ethical media are committed to correcting damaging or substantive 
errors in their stories - not that they like to, but it's necessary 
for their credibility. One of the unhappy truths of running 
corrections, though, is that the correction can sometimes attract 
more attention than the original error.

For example, a red-faced CNN once caused a good deal of amusement by 
correcting what it termed a "typo" in a story about Alan Greenspan, 
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. One of its headlines had 
reported that Alan Greenspan had been hospitalized because of an 
"enlarged prostitute." When the correction was brought to the 
attention of Mr. Greenspan's wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea 
Mitchell, she quipped: "He should be so lucky."

CNN's correction said that, of course, it meant "prostate."

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."

A Michigan newspaper corrected an ad for Ora's Steakhouse that listed 
the "Cook's Surprise" as "Pan-Fried or Baked Children."

And a Massachusetts newspaper correction explained: "Due to a typing 
error, Gov. Dukakis was incorrectly identified in the third paragraph 
as Mike Tyson."

There's no shortage of memorable - and sometimes bewildering - corrections:

* "The Star-Telegram incorrectly reported Tuesday that Jack Wallace 
Davis, 20 . . . was killed Sunday in an auto accident. Davis was not 
in an accident and is not dead."

* "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 Cedar Rapids Gazette amended a drug store ad:

CORRECTION

Generic tampons are not available.

We are substituting Generic toilet paper.

8-pack $1.29

We are sorry for this inconvenience.

* "A story in yesterday's Commercial Appeal incorrectly said 11 fans 
were trampled to death by The Who, a British rock group, outside a 
concert hall in Cincinnati. . . . The 11 people died in the crush of 
other fans seeking to enter the building."

* "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."

The following correction, from a Richard Lederer Web site, appeared 
in a California newsletter. It was obviously written by someone so 
focused on one mistake that he missed the more amusing one: "The 
following typo appeared in our last bulletin: 'Lunch will be gin at 
12:15 p.m.' Please correct to read '12 noon.' "

The following two corrections, also from the Lederer site, show that 
sometimes the correction itself needs correcting:

* "Our newspaper carried the notice last week that Mr. Oscar 
Hoffnagle is a defective on the police force. This was a 
typographical error. Mr. Hoffnagle is, of course, a detective on the 
police farce."

* "We referred to the chairman of Chrysler Corporation as Lee 
Iacoocoo. His real name is Lee Iacacca. The Gazette regrets the 
error."

A Texas newspaper bungled the Dec. 7, 1941, date of the attack on 
Pearl Harbor, producing the following "correction": "Due to a 
reporting error, it was incorrectly reported Saturday that the 
Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on June 7, 1941. The correct date is 
Dec. 1, 1941. The Texarkana Gazette regrets the error."

Here's another "correction" from a confused writer: "The News 
American incorrectly reported Wednesday that parking meter rates are 
higher in Baltimore than in Washington, D.C. In fact, Washington's 
rates are lower."

Finally, a correction to end all corrections, from the San Antonio News:

* The pilot "was not a former Air Force pilot, as reported, but had 
been in the Air Force pilot training program. . . . He wasn't flying 
an aircraft owned by Beck Concrete Co. He was in a plane owned by 
Crow Aviation Co., where he was a student working toward a commercial 
pilot's license. He was not making a mechanical check of the plane 
and was not trying to land. He was making a low-level pass. He was 
not trying to lower the landing gear. He had been flying in a 
two-plane formation with Harry Perez, not Joe Perez, and Perez did 
not circle the area until help arrived. Perez was already on the 
ground when the crash happened. . . . The victim was not trapped 
between the instrument panel and engine, but between the seat and the 
instrument panel."

That correction created a little stir among an amused media. An 
editor, responding to the question how could such a thing happen, 
said simply: "That reporter didn't know a danged thing."

Paula LaRocque, former writing coach at The Dallas Morning News, is 
author of The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well and 
of Championship Writing, available at www.marionstreetpress.com, 
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. E-mail: plarocque at sbcglobal.net.
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