Written and Compiled by Craig Silverman
Gather ’round for our annual collection of the funny, shocking, sad and disturbing media errors and corrections from the past year. From typos that celebrate Queen Elizabeth and her remarkable egg-laying abilities, to media hoaxes, unreliable sources, the Sago disaster and apologies for mistakes nearly 120 years ago, it was a good year for Regret. Though not a banner one for our media brethren.
We dubbed 2005 the Year of Consequences. This latest was the Year of the Belated Apology. Read on for the details and, in our vernacular, The Crunks.
We would also like to present an Award of Demerit to the Sun newspaper in the U.K. This site simply wouldn’t be possible without you. (See below.)
Thanks for visiting, for sending in corrections, and for all those who link to Regret.
The Crunks ’06
Remarkable Trend of the Year: Belated Apologies
If you subscribe to the oft-ridiculed journalistic notion that three of anything officially constitutes a trend, then this was indeed the Year of the Belated Apology. We trace its popularity back to 2004’s Correction of the Year from the Lexington-Herald-Leader:
It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission.
At the time, we called it, “Simple, elegant, brave. Better late than never.”
It appears as though some newspapers took the example to heart. Three U.S. publications ran long delayed corrections/apologies this year with the longest coming almost 120 years after the fact. Like the Herald-Leader’s offering, they dealt with issues of racism in the papers’ past.
In May, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a special section about the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott. Included in the package was an article headlined, “Fifty years in coming: Our apology.” It read, in part:
…Leaders in that journey toward equality should have been able to expect support in ending segregation from the local daily newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat. They could not. We not only did not lend a hand, we openly opposed integration, siding firmly with the segregationists.
It is inconceivable that a newspaper, an institution that exists freely only because of the Bill of Rights, could be so wrong on civil rights. But we were.
While the Democrat today is a far different organization from what it was 50 years ago, we have never formally apologized for our actions. Nothing will change history, certainly not a few words. But words are a powerful tool and can have a lasting and healing impact…
Then, in November, the Raleigh News & Observer and Charlotte Observer produced special reporting packages about race riots that erupted in 1898. Both papers ran editorials that apologized for their part in the awful events of that year. From the Charlotte Observer’s apology:
An apology is inadequate to atone for the Observer’s role in promoting the white supremacist campaign. But an apology is due. As Mr. Faulkner observed, the past is not dead. For much of the 20th century black citizens were denied political rights, adequate education and economic opportunity because of their race. The legacy of that era helped shape North Carolina for decades. Only in recent years has our state begun to reap the benefits of talented blacks’ full participation in its economic, cultural and political life.
We apologize to the black citizens and their descendants whose rights and interests we disregarded, and to all North Carolinians, whose trust we betrayed by our failure to fairly report the news and to stand firmly against injustice.
A powerful reminder that our present actions – and inaction – could be creating the apologies of the future.
Correction of the Year
We have to admit it was a tough choice this year. Last year’s winner was a classic example of a typo gone horribly wrong. This year, we are going to recognize a correction that won largely on the strength of one part of one sentence: “…no revellers dived into bedrooms in search of drunken romps…” Okaaay. It makes reading the offending article all the more necessary. And because it’s from the Sun (U.K.), you know you’re in for something outrageous. Not that we seek to celebrate this kind of totally false reporting. In fact, we give this award in an effort to give media everywhere pause the next time they hear about a scandalous birthday party involving teenage guests passing out, vomiting and diving into bedrooms in search of drunken romps. Heck, we’ve all taken that call before.
From the Sun (U.K.):
Following our article on Princess Eugenie’s birthday celebrations, we have been asked to point out the party was closely monitored by adults throughout and while a small amount of mess was cleared away at the end of the evening, there was no damage to furniture, no revellers dived into bedrooms in search of drunken romps and to describe the house as being trashed was incorrect. We are happy to make this clear and regret any distress our report caused. Link
An excerpt from the offending story:
ASTONISHED witnesses told last night how Princess Eugenie’s 16th birthday party descended into a drunken rave – with teenage guests snogging, boozing and being sick.
Fifty youngsters had flocked to the Hooray Henry bash at the Duchess of York’s Pounds 10 million mansion.
But rather than sitting down to a meal prepared by caterers, some began knocking back champagne, spirits and strong lager they had secretly smuggled in – and quickly became legless.
…The witness told how randy guests dived into BEDROOMS in search of drunken romps.
Others PASSED out because they were so drunk, while several VOMITED inside the property.
And rooms were TRASHED, with carpets stained and cigarettes stubbed out on furniture as the March 18 party continued into the early hours, to the strains of a blaring disco.
Runner Up
From the Wilmington, Delaware News Journal:
An article in Sunday’s Local section on the estate sale of former Gov. Elbert Carvel quoted Olin Vanaman of Wilmington about his excitement in purchasing 35 of the governor’s decanters during the auction, including one used at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Vanaman said he used a slang term when describing Carvel as “a big boozer,” but he did not mean that the former governor was a heavy drinker. Vanaman refers to people who collect decanters as “boozers,” he explained, “the same as guys who collect cars are gear-heads.” No reference to drinking or the consumption of alcohol was intended in the article. Link
Other Favorites
From the Chicago Tribune:
An editorial in Friday’s paper incorrectly stated that Florida Cresswell, a candidate for state representative in the 28th District, was convicted in 1999 of battery and stealing Tupperware. In fact he was convicted of stealing a battery from a van as well as Tupperware that was inside the van. Link
From The New York Times:
A film review on Wednesday about “Little Miss Sunshine” referred incorrectly to contestants in the fictional children’s beauty pageant of the title. The critic intended to compare the contestants to underage prostitutes, not to “underage fleshpots.” Link
From The Oregonian:
A headline on Page One on Saturday should have made clear that Oregon Health & Science University will be studying the effects of meth, not cooking it. Link
The headline in question? “State’s latest meth cook: OHSU”
From the Los Angeles Times:
A listing in Sunday Calendar said hot dogs would not be allowed at the Scandinavian Autumn Fest and Marknad on Sept. 17 at Vasa Park in Agoura. No canines will be allowed at the event. Link
Apology of the Year
From (who else?) the Sun (U.K.):
On 13 February we published an article headed “Who bum it?” reporting that two Premiership footballers and a music industry figure had a “gay romp” in which a mobile phone was used as a “gay sex toy”. On 16 February we published a picture of Mr Cole and his fiancee headed ‘Ashley’s got a good taste in rings’.
Some readers have understood that Mr Cole was one of the two Premiership players involved in the gay sex and that Choice FM DJ, Masterstepz, was the music industry figure.
We are happy to make clear that Mr Cole and Masterstepz were not involved in any such activities. We apologise to them for any distress caused and we are paying them each a sum by way of damages. The Sun wishes Ashley all the best for next Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final. Link
Runner Up
From the Mirror (U.K.)
Following the publication of an interview with Glenda Gilson on 11 September 2006, Ms Gilson contacted us to state that the words published on the front page: ‘I haven’t had sex for four months’ were not words used by her.
While we accept that these precise words were not used by Ms Gilson we believe that they conveyed the sense of what was said in part of the article published on pages eight and nine to which the readers’ attention was expressly drawn.
We acknowledge that Glenda Gilson was offended by the words in question and we wish to express our regret for any offence caused to her and her family. Link
One More
From the Sun (U.K.):
AN item on 2 August last year “Telly Teri’s Romps in Van” stated that actress Teri Hatcher had sex romps in her VW camper van at her home.
Although published in good faith, we now accept that the article was totally incorrect and we apologise to Ms Hatcher for the embarrassment caused. Link
Error of the Year: We Have a Tie
Winner the First: In mid May, Canada’s National Post thought it had a huge scoop thanks to information from an Iranian writer, namely that a recently-passed law in Iran could require non-Muslims to wear special identification badges on their clothing.
The paper splashed the story, “Iran Eyes Badges For Jews,” across six columns on its May 19 front page and capped it off with a huge photo of Hungarian Jews sporting yellow stars during WWII. The story was wrong, totally wrong.
The Post ran an article detailing some of the questions about the story the next day, but it had already been picked up in North America, Europe and beyond. Then, finally, on May 24 the paper ran a Page 2 note from its editor headlined, “Our mistake: Note to readers.” It read, in part:
…We acknowledge that on this story, we did not exercise sufficient caution and skepticism, and we did not check with enough sources. We should have pushed the sources we did have for more corroboration of the information they were giving us. That is not to say that we ignored basic journalistic practices or that we rushed this story into print with no thought as to the consequences. But given the seriousness of the allegations, more was required. Background
Winner the Second: The tale is well known, so we’ll offer one word: Sago. We considered demoting this error to second place, due in large part to the culpability of the mining company. As news of “12 Alive!” spread over the wire and airwaves, the company kept silent and didn’t do its part to reveal the correct information. The media, of course, deserves its fair share of blame for turning rumor into fact, but the company had the means to temper the story right away and instead remained silent. So a pox on both houses. Sago will live on as a tragic event made all the more tragic by incorrect reports that spread the world over. That’s a rare phenomenon, so it also earns Error of the Year honors. Background
Typo of the Year
The reigning champ in this category is Reuters for its report of the recall of “beef panties.” Well, congratulations again, Reuters! See below
First Runner-Up
Some unfortunate sports reporting/editing from the Ottawa Citizen:
Second Runner-Up
From the Orange County Register:
Cannabis is a synonym for marijuana. Because of a reporter’s error, the word was misspelled in an article on Page 15 of the News section in the Sept. 22 edition of the Register.
As with many corrections, it’s all about what they’re not telling you. Here’s the original, offending sentence:
The pot growers had tapped into an irrigation line for landscaping around the gated community of Stoneridge, and had rigged up a network of white, 3/4-inch PVC piping to grow the cannibals. Link
Misquote of the Year
It’s the Ottawa Citizen again, this time misquoting a man talking about his “little CD store”:
Runner-Up
From the Rocky Mountain News:
An article and headline on Page 17A Thursday incorrectly stated that James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, believes people who don’t practice what they preach should undergo an exorcism. His quote, in a TV interview about reaction to the firing of evangelical leader Ted Haggard for “sexual immorality,” was: “Everybody gets exercised (worked up about it) when something like this happens, and for good reason.”
Link
Best Numerical Error
From the New York Daily News:
IN AN ITEM in yesterday’s paper on how Kirstie Alley lost 75 pounds, it was incorrectly stated that she “ate . . . Twenty-six, seven, eight thousand calories a day.”
The correct figures are six, seven, eight thousand calories a day. Link
Runner-Up
From the Guardian:
In a G2 feature, How to . . . improve your swimming, page 27, August 31, our advice struck a chilling note when it recommended finding a pool “heated” to 28F. That is below freezing point. We meant 28 Celsius (82F). Link
Best Hoax
This goes to a couple of hosts at the New Jersey 101.5 radio station. It’s not because their idea was especially brilliant. Rather, it’s because they managed to fool a number of media outlets into believing they had done a rather revealing interview with Ryan Seacrest. Here’s what they put on the air, according to a story in the Trentonian:
“Ryan,” Carton said, “Are you gay?”
Silence.
“Ryan, are you a homosexual?”
With that, Seacrest was headed for the door.
“I can’t stay here, man,” Seacrest said. “I gotta jet.”
The “American Idol” star stormed out of the studio and into the NJ-101.5 offices, but he was coaxed back into the studio with the understanding that the rest of the interview would center on the television show and not on his personal life.
“This was supposed to be about the show, about ‘American Idol,’” Seacrest said when he returned to the air.
Co-host Ray Rossi, an admitted “Idol” fan, was ready to move on, but Carton wouldn’t let up.
“Are you gonna walk out again if I ask you about it?” Carton asked Seacrest.
“Absolutely. I’m outta here,” said Seacrest.
Immediately, Carton asked “Are you gay?” “You know,” Seacrest said, “I don’t know why I trusted you.”
And, again, Seacrest was out the door, this time for good.
Er, no. It was a hoax. In the end, the Trentonian had to clarify its story, as did the Philadelphia Daily News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and others. Link
Runner-Up
A Swedish tabloid was taken in by some scrotum-flapping naked skydivers. From a story in The Local:
Tabloid Aftonbladet has been forced to withdraw an article about naked Swedish skydivers, after it turned out that the paper had been the victim of a hoax.
The article, headed “It’s wonderful - but cold”, described how Stockholm Skydiving Club had celebrated spring by jumping from a height
of 4,000 metres in their birthday suits.
The paper quoted Johan Persson, a supposed member of the club, who described the naked jump over the Gärdet area of Stockholm as an annual tradition.
“The scrotum really flaps about when you’re freefalling,” he’d told the paper, adding, “I’ve become a dad recently so it can’t do any harm.”
But appealing though the story was, it turned out that Aftonbladet’s journalist had been taken in by a hoaxter.
Red-faced editorial director, Sigfrid Ennart, told Dagens Media that his journalist had been caught out.
“Our routine is to check all tip-offs by conducting interviews. This was a sly hoaxter who had many details about the people on the picture he attached,” Ennart said…
One More
Back in June, a press release was put on i-Newswire, a free online press release distribution service, claiming that Will Ferrell died in a paragliding accident. It read: “Los Angeles – Actor Will Ferrell accidentally died in a freak para-gliding accident yesterday in Torey Pines, Southern California.”
Ah, no. We actually got off our butts and did some reporting (with the help of colleagues at Hour magazine in Montreal) and discovered that Ferrell was in fact in Montreal filming a movie and very much alive. It seems a hoaxer wrote up the release and placed it on i-Newswire, which then sent it out into the world. In the end, the revealing of the hoax got more press than the initial attempt. Link
The Check the Domain Award
A site called Gullible.info that serves up fake trivia saw one of its invented factoids end up in a story in the Guardian. Here’s the original June 2005 post from Gullible.info:
LSD guru Timothy Leary claimed to have discovered an extra primary color he referred to as “gendale.”
From there it made its way into a Wikipedia bio of Leary (it has since been removed) and then in April it showed up in a Guardian article:
He exhorted America to “turn on, tune in and drop out” and claimed to have discovered a new primary colour – which he called gendale. Now Timothy Leary, the eccentric spokesman of the 1960s counter-culture, is to become the subject of a Hollywood movie.
Did you also know that “gullible” is not in the dictionary? Link
Best Recipe
From the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia:
A correction in this column Thursday about a June 14 Taste section recipe for French coconut pie incorrectly suggested that the recipe called for a pint of vodka. The accompanying recipe for homemade vanilla extract uses the vodka. The pie recipe then calls for one tablespoon of extract. Here’s the corrected recipe for vanilla extract, adapted from Lacy Smith’s “Sugar Daddy’s Treats”: Drop one vanilla bean in a one-pint bottle of vodka, and six months later, you have vanilla extract.
As a bonus, the paper’s reader feedback column also contained this exchange:
[Reader] …I’ve been reading the corrections in Friday’s DP. I think it is interesting that the correction about the French coconut pie recipe ends by saying to use a pint of vodka among the ingredients. While I like the concept, I think a pint is a bit too much for a French coconut pie. What do you think?
Editor: I think rum goes better with coconut pie. No, really, the vodka wasn’t supposed to be part of the pie recipe. It was included in a second recipe for how to make vanilla extract. See the correction on this page.
Runner-Up
From the Topeka Capital-Journal:
A recipe on Wednesday’s Flavor page called for uncooked eggs, but it didn’t contain a warning that uncooked eggs can be a source of salmonella poisoning.
To alleviate the possibility of food poisoning, use pasteurized eggs in place of the raw eggs, or cook the egg mixture into a custard to 16 degrees before freezing it.
First Runner-Up
From the Sacramento Bee:
In Wednesday’s Taste section, a Washington Post recipe on Page F7 included an incorrect cooking time for carbonada (braised beef with onions and red wine). The dish should be cooked for 2 1/2 hours, not 10 to 20 minutes.
Second Runner-Up
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
A recipe in the Entrée section Sunday for Mr. C’s Bread Pudding misstated the length of time for baking the pudding. The recipe calls for baking it for 40 minutes, not 540 minutes.
One More
From The New York Times:
Because of an editing error, a recipe last Wednesday for meatballs with an article about foods to serve during the Super Bowl misstated the amount of chipotle chilies in adobo to be used. It is one or two canned chilies, not one or two cans.
Click here for the correct recipe.
Best Porn-Related Error
We introduced this category last year thanks to an, um, rash of porn-related errors. And so we offer up this correction from AVN, a trade journal for the adult online and video industry:
For the Record… In the December issue, we mistakenly ran the box cover art of the first “Swallow My Squirt” from Elegant Angel with our review of “Swallow My Squirt 2.” Here’s the correct box. We swallow our pride and apologize.
Runner-Up
A correction from the Washington Post:
Earlier versions of this story contained an incorrect telephone number. The correct number for Americans in the United States seeking information about the evacuation is 888-407-4747. Americans outside the country may call 202-501-4444.
So why is it in this category? Well, Wonkette called the number originally printed in the paper and heard this message:
Feeling horny? Try these red hot lines from National. Live hot fun at just 69 cents per minute.
First Runner-Up
From the L.A. Times
A Saturday Briefing item about adult filmmakers crossing over into Hollywood movies incorrectly stated that “Quinceanera” co-director Richard Glatzer had worked in the pornography industry. Glatzer, who works in independent film and reality TV, has not worked in adult films.
Ode to the Victims
We interrupt this year’s Crunks to bring you a memorial to people who were egregiously wronged by the press this past year. Take our word that we could have produced a much longer retrospective, but these are the lowlights. Let them be a lesson to all.
- Morien Jones – This U.K. man was wrongly painted as a lascivious peeping Tom by the British press. To his (and his solicitor’s) credit, he fought back and won apologies from the BBC, the Times, Daily Mail, News and Star, Daily Telegraph, Yorkshire Post and the Independent.
Read them by starting here. - Eddie Johnson – The Chicago Tribune – the paper that last year managed to misidentify two Chicago men as mobsters two days in a row – made another egregious mistaken I.D. this year. In August, a former NBA player named Eddie Johnson was charged with sexual assault. But there are two Eddie Johnsons who played in the NBA, and the Tribune, rushing to get the news item in the paper before deadline, chose the wrong one. The mistaken Johnson told AP that it was the worst day of his life. “Devastating. Hard to explain.”
- Koser Zaman – A U.K. woman who was wrongly identified as a recently-arrested terrorism suspect. She received apologies from ITV News, the Sun, News of the World, Evening Standard, Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Link
- Amjad Sarwar – Ditto. Received an apology from the Mirror (U.K.). Link
- Mohamed El Guerbouzi – And yet again. Received apologies from the Financial Times, Sunday Telegraph (Australia) and the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. Link - The Unknown Librarian – A photo of a librarian working at the Gozo Cathedral Public Library in Florida was mistakenly thought to be of the priest disgraced politician Mark Foley had accused of sexual assault. The librarian’s photo was first used by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and subsequently ran in (at the very least) the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant and on MSNBC.com. Link
Other victim-inducing errors/corrections:
- A story in the July 24 edition of the Sentinel & Enterprise incorrectly spelled Sheri Normandin’s name. Also, Bobby Kincaid is not a quadriplegic. We regret the errors.– Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg, Massachusetts
- Chad Sinanian of Danbury has a mild brain injury with motor coordination problems, and he is an advocate on behalf of people with mental retardation. But he is not mentally retarded, as was incorrectly stated in a story on Page 1 Sunday. – Hartford Courant
- Richard Scott, a psychologist testifying in the kidnapping and rape trial of defendant William Thimiogianis, was mistakenly referred to in place of the defendant in a report in Thursday’s Metro section. – St. Louis Post Dispatch
- Clarification: Sonics Dance Team director Susan Hovey said she was misunderstood when she responded to a question about an eating disorder for this article. Hovey says she did not have an eating disorder, but gained personal knowledge of the disorder by watching a
friend go through it. – Seattle Times - In an article, “I have a great sex life. Does that shock you?” page 24, G2, August 17, we mistakenly said that Liz Carr had a rare degenerative disease. She has asked us to point out that she has no such disease and is “simply a wheelchair-using disabled woman”. Apologies. – The Guardian
- Darcy Crocker was not consuming cocaine the night he was sexually assaulted and choked by Dan Magda. Magda was consuming the cocaine. Incorrect information appeared in a story Oct. 19. – The Record of Waterloo, Ontario
- A story in the Metro section Wednesday about a letter-reading program by the Aurora YWCA that focused on sexual assault issues, incorrectly quoted Annah Mitchell, Aurora YWCA’s marketing director, as saying she was a victim of assault. – Chicago Tribune
- The Tracy M. Brand who works for the Fairbanks North Star Borough risk management department is not the Tracy M. Brand whose arrest on driving while intoxicated charges was reported in Sunday’s News-Miner. – Fairbanks Daily News
- We wish to state unequivocally and categorically that the photographs we published on the front page of the main section and on the front page of the business section of the South China Morning Post yesterday, October 26, 2006, purporting to be of Charles Schmitt were not in fact photographs of Charles Schmitt. They were of Mr Rainer W. Rommel. Mr Rommel has nothing to do with Charles Schmitt’s conviction, sentence or crime. The photographs were published as a result of an error by the SCMP. We wish to apologise wholeheartedly and unreservedly to Mr Rommel for the distress and concern that this will undoubtedly have caused him. – South China Morning Post
- ON November 22, 2006 we ran a story about how a judge had made a pounds 1.3m confiscation order against the assets of VAT fraudster, Michael Voudouri, who had been jailed in 2004. Unfortunately we made a mistake by using a picture of William Wallace with our story.
Mr Wallace has no connection with the crimes committed by Mr Voudouri and we apologise to Mr Wallace for any distress caused by our mistake – The Mirror (U.K.) - Misidentification: U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman of Kansas City, Mo., said Albert Nasser, who pleaded guilty in a pharmaceutical drug case Thursday, bought stolen drugs and sold them to secondary distributors. A story in some Friday editions incorrectly identified Schlozman, who provided details of the crime in a press release, as the person who bought the drugs. – Omaha World-Herald
- A story in Friday’s Metro section mistakenly swapped the names of a Cook County state’s attorney and a man charged with three homicides. Larry Countee was the person charged. During a bond hearing, Cook County prosecutor LuAnn Snow had detailed Countee’s previous criminal convictions. – Chicago Tribune
- The last sentence of a brief in some editions of Friday’s Metro section confused the name of an assistant Cook County state’s attorney, Mark Ertler, with that of a Chicago man sentenced to prison for two purse snatchings. The defendant, Kevin Walker, 38, of the 10300 block of South Wabash Avenue, apologized for the crime and said he was trying to support a drug habit he had had since he was 14. – Chicago Tribune
Best Service Journalism
From our original post: “The Cleveland Plain Dealer meant to help its readers by listing the addresses of post offices…open until midnight on the last day to file income taxes on time. Unfortunately, it listed five post offices that were not open until midnight, causing about 400 people to have their returns stamped with a late date.” From a Plain Dealer story about its error:
…A story in Monday’s Plain Dealer incorrectly listed the post offices as among those that stayed open until midnight for last-minute filers. The post offices did not stay open until midnight, so the returns left in drop boxes there weren’t post-marked until Tuesday morning.
However, postal officials saw the error in the newspaper, gathered those returns together and will deliver them with letters explaining the mix-up. Plain Dealer editor Doug Clifton is also sending a letter to tax officials…
The problem affected about 400 people mailing 1,000 local, state and federal tax returns to 24 different addresses, local postal spokesman David Van Allen said…Link
Best Handling of an Error
The Stranger, a Seattle weekly, was celebrated by us in the past for its hilarious corrections. This year, the paper earned our eternal admiration. After its theatre editor confused two well known playwrights, the paper decided to make him pay for his mistake by creating a theatre quiz and forcing him to complete it. Readers were also invited to take part.
From the paper: “Last week, Stranger theater editor Brendan Kiley made a mistake worthy of lifelong shame, somehow confusing Neil Simon with Eugene O’Neill. Brendan made a prompt apology, but can a mere apology suffice? Of course not, hence this quiz, through which Brendan will confirm his new and thorough understanding of these two ridiculously distinctive playwrights. Feel free to join in the fun!” Link
Newspaper Most Distanced from Reality
First, a reporter at the Boca Raton News confused a plot in a wrestling show with reality by reporting that WWE head Vince McMahon was seeking a divorce from his wife. But the mistake was made all the more egregious when the paper’s co-editor refused to correct the report. As the Long Island Press
reported:
When Boca Raton News Co-Editor John Johnston was contacted by the Press, he noted that his paper wasn’t the only media outlet to make the error. He explained that the reporter who wrote the story had heard the erroneous divorce report from local television stations and included it in his story. He added that the paper would not be running a correction because it’s impossible to define what is real and what isn’t when it comes to wrestling.
“You can do a correction on a fact, not on a farce,” Johnston says.
A farce indeed. Link
Best Reason for Correction
German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche was ordered by a court to run a form of correction (read our original post for more explanation) after it reported that Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of Europe’s biggest car maker, Volkswagen AG, had a penchant for “garish ties with hunting motifs” and not a clue as to how many children he has fathered. From an Agence France Presse story:
A German court has ordered a business magazine here to print a correction to an article that described VW supervisory board chief Ferdinand Piech’s taste in ties as garish and questioned whether he knew how many children he had.
The regional court in Duesseldorf ordered the weekly WirtschaftsWoche to print a correction to an article that claimed Piech wore “garish ties with hunting motifs” and did not know the exact number of his children from various marriages, a court spokesman said.
The magazine, owned by the Handelsblatt group, had published a picture of Piech wearing a tie with a picture of a man with a gun and an elephant.
It quoted Piech as saying in an interview that he had sired “about a dozen children. The exact number is not known”.
The court accepted Piech’s argument that his comment had been meant ironically and that the motif on his tie was not a hunting motif…
Most Unfortunate Ad/Edit Placement
From a report in The Australian: “A GERMAN newspaper [Landeszeitung Lueneburg] has apologised for accidentally placing a utility company advertisement for ‘the gas of tomorrow’ inside a full-page story on the Nazi killing of Sinti (Gypsy) people in Auschwitz concentration camp.”
From the paper’s apology: “We apologise for this mistake, which both contradicts the article’s intention of shedding light on an almost forgotten
chapter of National Socialism, and also undeservedly casts the utility in a questionable light.”
The page:
Best Delayed Correction
Aside from the belated apologies detailed above, this was the best blast from the past correction. From the New York Times:
An obituary on Monday and in some copies on Sunday about Isadore Barmash, a retired business reporter for The New York Times, rendered incorrectly the name of a department store that he wrote about frequently. It was Gimbels, not Gimbel’s. Gimbels, which closed in 1986, has been referred to correctly in The Times more than 500 times since 1980 and incorrectly more than 120 times; this is the first time the error has been corrected.
The Learn Your Lesson Award
From the Orlando Sentinel:
An article on the front of the Dec. 9 Lake section about the Tavares City Council described incorrectly a story that Tavares Mayor Nancy Clutts e-mailed to a city official about the dangers of electromagnetic bombs. The story, e-mailed in June when Clutts was vice mayor, does not mention how aluminum may protect people from such bombs, as the Sentinel was told. The incorrect information was repeated on the continuation of Lauren Ritchie’s column on Page K9 Dec. 18; in an article on the front of the Lake section Dec. 19 and on the continuation on Page G4; on the continuation of an article on Page H3 Dec. 22; in Ramsey Campbell’s column on the front of the Lake section Dec. 26; on the continuation of an article on Page H3 Dec. 31; and in a letter to the editor by K.O. Williamson on Page K8 Jan. 1.
The McCarthyism Award(s)
From the Daily Telegraph (Australia):
IN an article headed “Battle for the flag in a party poles apart”, which was published on January 4, 2006, it was reported that Waverley councillor John Wakefield was “a former member of the Communist Party”. Mr Wakefield is not and never has been a member of the Communist Party.
The error is regretted.
From AP:
In a March 17 story about protests planned against the Iraq war, The Associated Press erroneously identified Jeremy Straughn as a political socialist at Purdue University. He is a political sociologist.
Best, Er, Compliment
St. Louis talk radio host Dave Lenihan was fired after he mistakenly used a racial epithet when praising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:
“She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.” Link
He meant to say “coup.”
Best Translation
From the Financial Times:
An item in the Observer column on March 14 reported that Ludwik Dorn, Poland’s minister of the interior, had said some former police officers used the services of prostitutes. A more correct translation was that they had a “wide social life”.
Ode to Unreliable Sources
Another Crunk interruption to bring you some shocking news: people lie. Especially when a camera/reporter is in front of them. To celebrate this remarkable phenomenon, we bring you the year’s most unreliable sources:
- Amir Taheri – The originator of the National Post’s Iran Badges story.
- Paul Van Valkenburgh – This man spent the better part of his life claiming to be the author of the hit song, “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” When he died, his loving wife contacted AP to report his passing. They ran the story, and then ran a corrective
article after Paul Vance, the living, breathing co-songwriter (along with Lee Pockriss) complained. “Do you know what it’s like to have grandchildren calling you and say, ‘Grandpa, you’re still alive?’” he told AP. “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.” Van Valkenburgh’s widow was “kind of devastated” by the news. Link - Cassidy Grigg – We feel bad because he’s just a kid, but he requires a mention. After a gunman entered a Colorado classroom, took six girls
hostage and murdered one before killing himself, Grigg made the rounds of the media to tell his story. He said he was in the classroom when
the gunman entered. But he wasn’t. The truth was revealed after Grigg appeared on the Today show on NBC, The Early Show on CBS and Good Morning America on ABC, as well as in an AP report. Link - Pfc. Cindra Smith – A woman who told two Alabama newspapers that she joined the Army after her daughter was injured in Iraq. Not true. And AP had already picked up the story by the time the truth came out. Link
- Don Spille – A man who told the Tallahassee Democrat that he lost everything in Katrina – including his father. Ed Spille Sr., his father, later contacted the newspaper to disagree. “I might be dead to
him,” he said. “At 80 years old, I’m dead to a lot of people.” Link - James Snyder – A man who submitted a false obituary for his girlfriend’s son. Police ended up investigating the matter to see if the family had fraudulently received any donations. Link
Read our article about sources with tall tales to tell here.
Most Corrected Article(s)
Hometown News of Florida ran an editor’s note (below) to apologize for and correct a series of articles about the Oak Hill Police Department that “were not properly researched and fact-checked.” The note and more than 20 corrections:
Dear Hometown News readers,
As many of you in the business world know, there are times when an employee does not adhere to the same standards that you and your company uphold. Unfortunately, Hometown News recently experienced such a situation.
It recently came to light that a series of stories written about the Oak Hill Police Department were not properly researched and fact-checked, but managed to make it into publication.
We have taken steps to correct the situation in an attempt to ensure this does not happen again.
Readers may be aware that in recent years, some of the largest media companies in the world have experienced the same problem. Sadly, when such incidents are discovered, the credibility of all news organizations is called into question.
Hometown News deeply regrets that this series of stories was published, and apologizes for any inconvenience or concern that may have been caused. Below is our attempt to set the record straight.
Tammy Raits Vice president and managing editor, Hometown NewsStory published Sept. 15: “Grasso new Oak Hill chief” Statement: Sgt. Grasso plucked from a field of 37 candidates, most with superior qualifications.
Correction: The phrase “superior qualifications” is a judgment call made by the reporter. Sgt. Guy Grasso was among the top three candidates and ultimately chosen as Oak Hill police chief.Statement: Several sharp reprimands from former Police Chief Gus Beckstrom are in Mr. Grasso’s Oak Hill personnel file.
Correction: The word “sharp” is editorializing by the reporter.Statement: There are also reports on file of several run-ins with Port Orange police.
Correction: This is not the case. Mr. Grasso has never been charged or arrested by Port Orange police or any other police agency for that matter.Statement: Mr. Grasso was accused of punching his sister three times in the face with a closed fist.
Correction: The implication is Mr. Grasso was accused or charged in an attack. Mr. Grasso and his father, Tom Grasso, a retired Daytona Beach police captain, were trying to help his sister who was a danger to herself and others at the time and Mr. Grasso insists she was not harmed. A police report concurs. The responding officer wrote in his report after questioning all three separately: “I found the affidavits and verbal statements of T. Grasso and G. Grasso believable and plausible. I transported her to Halifax Hospital under a Baker Act (for mental evaluation). This case is closed. Unfounded.”Statement: Most recently, in May, Mr. Grasso and officer Ricky Winston were suspended without pay after a Volusia County Sheriff’s
investigator confirmed both had admittedly violated police department rules of conduct.
Correction: The word admittedly is used by the reporter and is wrong. Grasso said neither he nor Winston admitted anything. The sheriff’s report bears that out.Statement: Citizens and city employees said both Chief Grasso and officer Winston, while on duty and off, routinely and without authorization from Chief Roy Shaffer or police department head Mayor Thompson, spent several hours each week at the home of Vice Mayor Lauer.
Correction: The reporter does not identify by name any citizens or city employees to back up the claim. Mr. Grasso denies any wrongdoing and neither officer Winston nor Vice Mayor Lauer were given a chance by the reporter to rebut such claims.
…it goes on and on and on and on. Seriously. Read it all here.
Best Student Journalism
There were several student journalist plagiarists this year (see our round-up), but the Exponent, a student newspaper at Purdue University, came up with a rather surprising fact about U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, then a nominee:
Runner-Up
A retraction from the Iowa State Daily student newspaper:
Best Photo Caption
The photo below ran in the Ottawa Citizen with the cutline: “Pierre Poilevre, Mike Fisher, Wayne Rostad, Dr. Michael Rudnicki and Doug Thompson.”
As we noted at the time, “Mike Fisher, the one in uniform, is of course a hockey player with the Ottawa Senators. Well, the real Mike Fisher is. Look closely (and click to enlarge the image) because that smiling fellow is in fact a cardboard cutout. Not that the photo cutline told you.”
Best Headline
From the Wall Street Journal:
Best Use of Photoshop
This goes to Adnan Hajj, a photographer fired by Reuters after it was discovered that he altered images taken during the July/August conflict in Lebanon.
“The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under,” said Moira Whittle, head of public relations for Reuters at the time.
“This represents a serious breach of Reuters’ standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him,” added Whittle. Link
Runner-Up
This goes to CBS’s promotional Watch magazine. It put Katie Couric on what was referred to as the “Photoshop diet” by slimming a photo of her down for its September issue. Before and after:
Best Abuse of Archives
This incident actually happened at the end of last year, but it came after our Crunks. The Toronto Star managed not only to reprint a decade-old story from Reuters, but it also saw fit to plagiarize the item. (Other media outlets grabbed it as well, but no one else plagiarized.)
All the more meta: the item in question was a report about a Chinese business offering cash rewards to people who… spotted errors in three Chinese newspapers and one magazine. The Star later ran a correction, but didn’t admit to plagiarism and didn’t apologize to Randy Cassingham, the person it
stole the words from. Full story here.
Runner-Up
The Sun (U.K.) splashed a photo of what it said was a drunk, groping Prince Harry on its front page. Unfortunately, the photo – and five others with it – was three years old. Initially, the Sun stood by the photos. Reported the Guardian: “…the Sun has issued a robust defence of its decision to publish the six photos – including one of Prince Harry fondling the breast of friend Natalie Pinkham – in a story headlined ‘Dirty Harry’ and tagged ‘picture exclusive’.”
It later apologized:
We accept that the nightclub was the Purple Nightclub and not Boujis as we said and the photographs were taken in autumn 2003 and not summer 2006.
We apologise for the error.
The Sun published the photographs in good faith but we apologise to Ms Natalie Pinkham, a close friend of both Prince William and Prince Harry, for publishing them without permission and for any embarrassment or offence their publication caused.
First Runner-Up
Reuters also dipped into a decade-old story, with disastrous results. The “kill” note it sent out over the wire:
The Budapest story headlined “Hungary workers get shock at bottom of rum barrel” issued on May 4 is withdrawn. Police said the incident, reported on a police magazine Web site, happened 10 years ago. Reuters has been unable to make any further checks to substantiate the story.
There will be no substitute story.
From the offending article:
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported.
According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out.
Best Dereliction of Duty
The News of the World and a reporter had to apologize after the journalist admitted to attempting to hack into cell phones belonging to members of the Royal Family and other U.K. celebrities.
From a story in the Birmingham Post:
The News of the World publicly apologised to members of the Royal Family yesterday for invading their privacy after a senior journalist admitted a plot to hack into personal phone calls.
The unreserved apology from the paper’s editor Andy Coulson and its royal correspondent Clive Goodman came as an Old Bailey court heard details of a phone tapping operation targeting both royals and celebrities.
One of the public figures whose voicemail was intercepted – MP Simon Hughes – immediately condemned the practice as “completely unacceptable”… Goodman pleaded guilty in court yesterday to conspiracy to intercept telephone calls “without lawful authority” between November 1 2005 and August 9 2006…
Best Behind the Scenes Glimpse
Who can forget CNN anchor Kyra Phillips leaving the studio still mic’d up and heading to the ladies room where she described her brother’s wife as a “control freak” among other comments? Not us. Especially because her comments aired as President Bush was giving a speech about New Orleans. Watch the video here. From Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter:
CNN apologized Tuesday after an open mic transmitted an anchor’s bathroom conversation with another woman live over the network as it was carrying President Bush’s speech in New Orleans.
“Live From” anchor Kyra Phillips had apparently left the set around 12:48 p.m. EDT Tuesday for a bathroom break while the news channel carried Bush’s speech marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Phillips’ wireless microphone was turned on and picked up about a minute and a half of a muffled conversation she had with an unidentified woman where she apparently talked about her husband, laughed and talked about her brother.
“I’ve got to be protective of him,” she said without being aware that the mic was on. “He’s married, three kids, and his wife is just a control freak.” CNN anchor Daryn Kagan broke into the telecast immediately afterward updating viewers on what Bush had been saying.
“CNN experienced audio difficulties during the president’s speech today in New Orleans,” the CNN statement read. “We apologize to our viewers and the president for the disruption.”…
Best Punditry
As the Times (U.K.) reported at the time: “IT WAS not until midway through the live television interview that the BBC interviewer started to grow suspicious. The man whom she believed to be an expert on internet music downloads seemed to know precious little about his subject.”
The problem was that the man ushered into the expert’s chair was at the BBC for a job interview, not an on-air interview. They had the wrong man. He was mistaken for Guy Kewney, editor of newswireless.net. Both men were named “Guy,” thus making the mix-up a bit more understandable. But the video is a must-watch. Just look at his face after he’s introduced as Kewney.
The real Guy Kewney wrote up “his” performance after the fact: “There were several surprising things about my interview. We’ll ignore the fact that I
wasn’t giving it, and had not given it. We’ll even gloss over the fact that, judging by my performance, English wasn’t my first language, and that I didn’t seem to know much about Apple Computer, online music, or the Beatles. People have accused me of all those things, at various stages of my career…”
Best Poll
From our original post: “John Gray, a relationship expert and the author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, writes a syndicated advice column for Creators Syndicate. The October 15 edition of his column included data from a Mars/Venus/Redbook poll of women and their bedroom habits. Unfortunately, the data was, er, perverted by the inclusion of a response from a previous poll.
“The result was the revealing assertion that 40 percent of women say, ‘We both love any and all animals’ when asked, ‘How kinky are you?’
“Not surprisingly, we’re told the previous question was, ‘Do you and your guy match up in the pet department?’”
Best Book Error
From our original post: “As David Smith wrote in a recent article in The Observer, ‘The first question A.N. Wilson is likely to face at literary festivals for a while will be: ‘How did yo fall for it?’’
“That’s because Wilson is the recent victim of a hoax letter. A hoax letter that he published in his biography of poet Sir John Betjeman. A hoax letter sent to him by a fellow Betjeman biographer that spells out the following in code: ‘AN Wilson is a shit.’” Link
Pseudo-Apologies of the Year
We can thank the World Cup for delivering three hilarious pseudo-apologies from U.K. tabloids. From the Sun (U.K.):
RECENT articles in this column may have given the impression that Mr Sven Goran Eriksson was a greedy, useless, incompetent fool. This was a misunderstanding. Mr Eriksson is in fact a footballing genius. We are happy to make this clear.
Also from the Sun:
SUNSPORT would like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt SORRY to Owen Hargreaves.
Over recent weeks we might have given the impression we thought he was, well, rubbish.
But Owen proved against Portugal, with his all-action performance, that he was well worth his place.
Unlike soppy Sven, we’re big enough to admit we got it wrong.
From the Daily Star (U.K.):
IN previous issues of this newspaper, we may have given the impression that the people of France were snail swallowing garlic munching surrender-monkeys whose women never bother to shave their armpits.
We now realise that the French football team can stop the Portuguese – and in particular their cheating whingeing winger Cristiano Ronaldo – from getting to the World Cup Final which we so richly deserved to do.
We apologise profusely to France and its sporting heroes like Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane who we now accept are skilful, brave and the most wonderful neighbours we could ever wish for.
Vive La France!
Best Parting Shot
From the Australian:
AN article in The Australian yesterday (”Tarrant caught out again as rock ’n’ roll lifestyle lingers”, page 31) said AFL footballer Chris Tarrant was ‘’spotted at a Jet concert, drink in one hand, cigarette in the other”. This was incorrect. The Australian accepts that Tarrant was not at the Jet concert. As reported, Tarrant was out late and drinking the previous Saturday night.
Well, that’s it for this year. We publish five days a week, so come back soon. And send us corrections! Speaking of which, you can read our corrections from the past year here. We now offer you this sample of our own incompetence:
In our April 19 post, “Questioning the Times questionnaire,” we incorrectly used the word “pubic” instead of “public” in this sentence: “The problem here is that the questionnaire is public, and the rules governing its application aren’t.” It has been corrected. We regret the error.
And this:
Our April 24 post, “The Medium Is the Massage,” incorrectly stated that the title of Marshall McLuhan’s well-known book was “The Medium Is the Message.” While this was his famous declaration and the intended title of the book, it was not the final title. “The
Medium Is the Massage” is the correct title. (Though it was the result of a typo; for background, read the post.) As a result, we incorrectly implied that New York Times Magazine writer Jaime Wolf had made a typo in an article about American Apparel owner Dov Charney. Adding insult to injury, we also misspelled Wolf’s first name as “Jamie.” The errors have been corrected and noted within the post. We apologize to Wolf for the wrongful typo charge.
Yes, mistakes happen. And then they end up here.
