In the late 60s, I did a stint at the weekly Catholic paper, The Voice, in Miami, as a reporter and editor. We put out the party line to the faithful, so understanding what and whom we would write about was simple.
To keep us spiritually enriched, the Archdiocese of Miami assigned a priest to our staff, so we could keep the newspaper Catholic.
The Rev. David Russell’s other little job was hearing nuns’ confessions in a convent on Miami Beach.
One day, since I was having a hard time figuring out what kinds of sins nuns would be confessing, I asked him, “What’s it like hearing nun’s confessions?”
He replied, “It’s like being beaten to death with popcorn.”
That’s what it’s like listening to complaints from readers about inaccuracies in The Salt Lake Tribune.
Accuracy is so important to the credibility of a newspaper that the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University gives students an automatic F for misspelling a name in a practice news story.
Would that all newspapers were as fastidious.
But the fact is that many newspapers across the United States deal with complaints about misspelling of names every day.
It’s an annoyance to staff members like sitting at a cookout in the midst of gnats but sloppiness can eat away at the public’s opinion of a newspaper.
The Detroit Free Press has an excellent reporter’s check list on its Web site (http://www.freep.com/jobspage/academy/accuracy.htm) that offers this suggestion for reporters, “Have you double-checked all names, titles and places mentioned in your story? Have you tested from the screen and CQ’d ALL phone numbers or Web addresses?”
This is basic stuff to reporters and editors who were reared in this business by grumpy old city editors who had no patience for sloppy mistakes or fat sentences.
But the age of the Internet may have brought a casualness to some people’s reporting skills that frightens some of us curmudgeons.
Let me make this clear: A person’s name is important to him or her and to his friends and family; if you misspell it, the individual whose name has been mangled feels somehow denigrated. And, the reputation of the newspaper suffers as these misspellings pile up.
One recent column by the ombudsman at The Washington Post, Michael Getler, pointed out: “The Post has internal policy guidelines on corrections that state, in part: This newspaper is pledged to minimize the number of errors we make and to correct those that occur. Accuracy is our goal; candor is our defense. Persons who call errors to our attention must be accorded a respectful hearing.
The Tribune has a similar policy and a commitment to tracking the errors and the reasons they occur, so they can be prevented in the future. So, if you spot errors in the paper, call and let me know. I will get them to the proper editors.
No debate times: I got calls from a score of readers angry that The Tribune did not print any information on the times and TV channels for the televised California gubernatorial candidates’ debate on Wednesday night and the televised Democratic presidential hopefuls’ debate on Thursday night.
I agree with their complaints. Many newspaper readers are serious students of the political scene and want information on how and where and when they can see candidates on TV. If The Tribune provides TV listings, then editors and reporters need to begin thinking about compiling little boxes to run with stories or on the TV page to give readers the information they need to tune in and hear candidates. The more user-friendly newspapers become, the more they hook readers into coming back for more information. Certainly, that kind of self-interest should motivate some in the newsroom to consider the reader by wondering, “What information would I want if I read this story?”
The Reader Advocate’s phone number is (801) 257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, P.O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110. reader.advocate@sltrib.com
This week’s stats:
Number of readers upset over what they perceive to be the newspaper’s disrespect of President Bush: 12
Number of readers not happy about local stories on the front page: 18
Number of readers who think the LDS Church runs The Tribune editorial page: 26
Number of readers who “don’t like to hunt for things” in The Tribune: 3
Number of readers who called when The Tribune ran a drawing of a papaya and said it was a pomegranate: 15
