Kobe coverage chaotic: The rush to get news first forced errors, reports Margaret Sullivan.
“In any major breaking news event, whether a hurricane or a school shooting, you can assume that some of the early coverage will be wrong,” she writes. “The Kobe Bryant story was an especially bad example of that truism.”
Media jumping to conclusions: The story about an encounter between Covington Catholic students and a Native American elder went global, and many in the media got it wrong.
“What responsible journalists do in such instances is exactly what they did here,” writes Kelly Hawes. “They keep reporting. They keep asking questions. They keep searching for the truth. When they’re wrong, they admit it. And they set the record straight.”
Hexing tax collectors: Sydney Smith offers a roundup of recent media corrections.
Historical facts, names and numbers trip journalists, including Romanian witches.
“Stories aren’t the only content that needs editing,” writes Smith. “Case in point, an NPR graphic on the midterm elections had numerous errors.”
Correcting “significant errors:” The Guardian’s readers’ editor tells how he decides if an error needs a correction or clarification, using six criteria.
“Seriousness of any potential harm” tops the list, followed by “consequences if item misunderstood.”
“Human frailty plays its part,” writes the editor. “People can mishear, misunderstand, misread, mistype and overlook. People cut corners and sometimes crash.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 