Although it’s tempting, it would be a mistake to say errors in newspapers are inevitable. Death and taxes are inevitable; there’s no getting away from the grim reaper and even the most artful tax dodger pays something. But while to err is human, journalists know that many of the mistakes they make are avoidable.
That’s what is so maddening.
In the 12 years I’ve been ombudsman for The San Diego Union-Tribune, I’ve handled thousands of corrections. Some of them have been major, most have been relatively minor unless, of course, you have been personally inconvenienced or presented in the wrong light. Newspapers make corrections in the interest of credibility and setting the record straight.
Last year, the Union-Tribune carried 676 corrections and clarifications, the most in the four years I’ve been keeping a daily tally of errors. That’s 4 percent more than 2002. I can’t prove it, but I suspect it’s an all-time high.
Mistakes are made for any number of reasons. Sometimes fact checking is sloppy because of deadline pressures; sometimes reporters misunderstand what they are told; occasionally editors make changes and unwittingly introduce errors. There’s usually enough blame to go around. Journalists should become aware of their soft spots and work to avoid repeating the same type of error.
In fairness to my newsroom colleagues, I have to say that not all 676 errors were the fault of staff members. Some errors a small number if you look at the overall picture came from sources who put out the wrong information. Other errors came from news services.
Ombudsmen in the United States have traded information about how many corrections and clarifications their newspapers have printed. They range from a low of 321 at The Tennessean in Nashville to 1,223 for The Boston Globe. Does that mean that both The Boston Globe and The San Diego Union-Tribune are worse newspapers than The Tennessean? Not necessarily. Newspapers have different thresholds for correcting errors. For example, one of the corrections in the Union-Tribune last month was about where a fictional character in a film grew up. I suspect that would not be corrected by some newspapers.
It’s not the numbers of corrections that newspapers run that are important. It’s that they take credibility to heart and acknowledge to readers that an error has been made.
What’s interesting about the error totals from the 14 newspapers that responded to a question about corrections is that the totals have dropped only for two the Orlando Sentinel and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Of the others, 10 newspapers reported increases, and ombudsmen for two newspapers say the figures didn’t change much from last year.
As is true any year, numerous errors tallied in 2003 could have been avoided. Among them were wrong telephone numbers, misspelled names or wrong Web site addresses. They represent facts that could have been checked but weren’t. Or not checked thoroughly enough.
All errors are irritants, but my personal pet peeve is misspelled names, especially misspelled names of children and people who may be getting their name in the newspaper for the first or the only time in their lives.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must acknowledge that I was guilty of misspelling a name in my column in November. Instead of Joseph Mainieri, I wrote Joseph “Nainieri.” Mainieri didn’t complain; I became aware of the misspelling when he called to chat about the column and my assistant spelled his name on the message with an “M.” She was right.
Other errors that are especially irritating are the ones that tell readers an event will be on the wrong day or the wrong time or the wrong place. In most cases, corrections can be printed before the day of the event, but it’s especially annoying when it’s too late.
It’s also annoying when the newspaper misidentifies a person, whether it is the football player who made the winning touchdown or someone in a photograph. A mother called a few weeks ago to ask if we could reprint an item about her daughter’s sports accomplishment. She wanted to clip the item and send it in with the girl’s college application. As much as I would have liked to provide her with what she wanted, all I could do was correct the misinformation. Except in unusual circumstances, the newspaper does not rerun the entire article to correct misinformation.
How do errors come to my attention? Readers call or e-mail me. But reporters and editors also come forward when there’s an error in a story they’ve written or handled. They do so even though no one has complained. They know credibility is at stake.
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Gina Lubrano’s column commenting on the media appears Mondays. It is the policy of The San Diego Union-Tribune to correct all errors. To discuss accuracy or fairness in the news, please write to Gina Lubrano, readers representative, Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, or telephone (619) 293-1525. Send e-mail to: readers.rep@uniontrib.com.
Copyright 2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
