News outlets disagree on Kim Jong Il’s age

J-School Buzz
University of Missouri journalism student Ali Colwell noticed the discrepancy in news stories reporting on the death of the North Korean dictator:

Most news organizations were reporting the age of 69, others were reporting age 70. Someone even accidentally reported age 68 on Twitter before correcting themselves. What’s going on here?

This mix-up is apparently due to some confusing birth records. According to Soviet Records, his date of birth is February 16, 1941. But according to his North Korean records, his date of birth is February 16, 1942.

Here’s how The New York Times dealt with the uncertainty: “The North has indicated he was 69 years old, but scholars have said he could have been a year older.” || Related: Newspaper front pages show different treatments of Kim Jong Il’s death (The Huffington Post)