Craig Silverman tracks accuracy, errors & the craft of verification.
The Sun today issued an apology that combines aliens, Scientology and British tabloid wit to deliver a classic of the genre:
In an article on Saturday headlined ‘Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ’, we stated “two flat silver discs” were
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The Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, N.C., published a story on its website early June 8 focusing on potential fallout from the federal plea deal received by former Cherryville, N.C., official Bonny Alexander.
Cherryville’s former finance director stole hundreds of thousands
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Saturday morning saw a flurry of activity on social media channels in Birmingham, Ala., as local television station CBS 42 published a report at 11:27 a.m. CT that the city’s former mayor, Larry Langford, had died in prison. Langford is … Read more
For years, there’s been talk about the need for a Twitter correction tool. Early in 2011, not long after the Tucson, Ariz., mass shooting that severely injured congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Poynter convened an online chat about handling incorrect tweets. It … Read more
Rachel Larris of Name It Change It posted a story about changes made to a profile of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that originally aired on May 16 during NPR’s Morning Edition.
The original story, among other things, referred to the New … Read more
The Scotsman made a timely retraction in the print edition of Wednesday’s paper. The story begins with news Wednesday that former Dundee United captain Jon Daly will become the first Irish Catholic to play for the Rangers football club.
Readers of Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune received a lesson in mass transit history with this correction:
A story Friday in the main news section stated incorrectly that in 1969 the CTA Dan Ryan Line became the first transit rail route in the U.S. built on a highway median. The “first” did occur in Chicago, but 11 years earlier when the CTA introduced service on what today is the Blue Line along the median of the Congress Expressway, now known as the Eisenhower Expressway. The Tribune regrets the error.
The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia (my hometown paper!) was proud of its six wins at the Atlantic Journalism Awards this past weekend.
Like any publication that earns praise for its work, the paper celebrated its wins in an … Read more
The New York Times’ City Room blog has issued what Tablet Magazine is referring to as “perhaps the most Jewish ‘Times’ correction ever.” The post, published yesterday and written by Andy Newman, focused on the arrival of three female mulefoot … Read more
User-generated content is rife with risk and opportunity.
The opportunity for it to deliver remarkable images is made clear on an almost-daily basis, be it in the midst of a crisis like the Boston Marathon bombings, Hurricane Sandy, or simply … Read more