When a photo of prominent attorney Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones appeared on the Jan. 28 front page instead of the now-being-investigated Paul Jones, a lot of people wanted to know how such a serious mistake could happen.
So did I.
The easy and convenient excuse would place the blame on the hazards of digital assembly of the newspaper. After all, the paper stopped using physical, printed photos years ago. Now everything is computerized, and a photo mix-up is only an editor’s mouse-click away from happening.
But when it comes to the Jones boys, that’s not good enough. You see, Jan. 28 wasn’t the first time their photos were confused. It wasn’t even the second.
Back in 1994, an editorial endorsement went to Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones, when both were in the Ohio House. Unfortunately, the photo went to Paul Jones. A 1991 article about campaign fundraising labeled a Paul Jones photo as Wayne Jones.
In 2003, after Paul Jones moved from the Statehouse to the mayor’s chair in Ravenna, he was charged with drunken driving. That time he benefited when the paper used a photo of a different Paul Jones.
Many of you noticed this latest goof.
“Somebody sure missed the boat editing that article,” said a Tallmadge reader. “Professionals should do better than this,” scolded a Cuyahoga Falls reader. “Get organized,” advised a Portage County reader.
Charlie Nelson of Akron wrote, “Your mistake is appalling,” urging the paper to give the correction equal prominence to the original error. Front-page corrections are rare in the newspaper industry. Still, Nelson’s suggestion has merit.
Some newspapers place their corrections on the front page of the section in which the error occurred. Most, though, have a designated place for them. That isn’t an attempt to minimize their prominence. Rather, the hope is that you will notice them even more when the corrections always are found in the same place every day.
Coincidentally, corrections were the subject of this column last week. In it, the paper’s commitment to accuracy was measured by its record of correcting mistakes — promptly, willinglyand fully.
That’s one reason for this column about the flubbed photos. Few newspapers would be as receptive to highlighting an error that many of you probably didn’t notice in the first place.
Last week’s column also produced this thoughtful response:
“Accurate/accuracy, by definition, includes precision, exactness, and performing with care,” wrote Jan Oros of Ellet. “Finding the errors after the fact (or depending on the public to point them out) seems to be indicative of a ‘hindsight’ approach. What problem is solved when the damage is already done?”
Offering a guarantee that this mistake won’t happen again really isn’t possible. After all, the process of producing a newspaper involves humans, who are fallible, and computers, which lack judgment.
However, because of this episode, the Beacon Journal has added another layer of checks. When a photo of a person is published, two additional editors will compare it with a physical copy of the photo and all of its identifying information. Had those steps been taken, the mix-up with the Jones photos would have been far less likely.
For Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones, it is too late. Even though both Joneses have been active in politics for decades, it’s Paul Jones who abruptly resigned as Ravenna mayor in December and moved to Florida. Now we know the FBI is investigating corruption in the city.
Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones took the error graciously. “Reaction ranged from anger — some people were obviously more upset about it than even I was — to humor. The jokes were not all that funny, but plentiful.”
Several readers suggested the mistake was intentional, an attempt to discredit Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones. “I don’t believe that,” he said, “but the conspiracy theory always makes for good cocktail talk.
“The real problem is due to the fact that people on their own have confused us, and the paper just adds to the confusion.”
That doesn’t happen often at the Beacon Journal. When it does, though, there are consequences.
Just ask Wayne (NOT Paul) Jones.
