As Newspapers Die, Insist on Corrections

kmiller1610 · 9th December 2008 06:55 AM

Written by a friend of mine:

Tribune Co. Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy -- Courant.com

"Newspapers are doomed, but nobody gets their news from them anyway. Take a look a the national news outlets on TV (CNN, FOXNews, etc). They aren't getting their news from the old stodgy newspapers, they are getting it from the tabloids which are still thriving. Newspapers will be gone, but you'll still be seeing National Enquirer, The Sun, etc in the checkout lines at the supermarket and WalMart."

and my response:

" There are a few really scary aspects of losing newspapers. One is that papers have corrections departments and keep copies of back issues. They are responsible for accuracy. If papers go away, we will still have news services like AP and UPI. These actually provide most of what the on-line and broadcast services use. But people are getting used to getting their news and views from unreliable sources and that's very bad."

So I would like to acknowledge those on-line news sources that have corrections departments. I think we should all insist that they ALL have them.

Regret the Error » Mistakes Happen

Online Corrections

freecell · 9th December 2008 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by kmiller1610

Written by a friend of mine:

Tribune Co. Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy -- Courant.com

"Newspapers are doomed, but nobody gets their news from them anyway. Take a look a the national news outlets on TV (CNN, FOXNews, etc). They aren't getting their news from the old stodgy newspapers, they are getting it from the tabloids which are still thriving. Newspapers will be gone, but you'll still be seeing National Enquirer, The Sun, etc in the checkout lines at the supermarket and WalMart."

and my response:

" There are a few really scary aspects of losing newspapers. One is that papers have corrections departments and keep copies of back issues. They are responsible for accuracy. If papers go away, we will still have news services like AP and UPI. These actually provide most of what the on-line and broadcast services use. But people are getting used to getting their news and views from unreliable sources and that's very bad."

So I would like to acknowledge those on-line news sources that have corrections departments. I think we should all insist that they ALL have them.

Regret the Error ? Mistakes Happen

Online Corrections

I donâ€™t think I have ever bought a tabloid.

Yes, every one should have a corrections department.

caffeine · 10th December 2008 04:03 AM

Originally Posted by kmiller1610

Written by a friend of mine:

Tribune Co. Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy -- Courant.com

"Newspapers are doomed, but nobody gets their news from them anyway. Take a look a the national news outlets on TV (CNN, FOXNews, etc). They aren't getting their news from the old stodgy newspapers, they are getting it from the tabloids which are still thriving. Newspapers will be gone, but you'll still be seeing National Enquirer, The Sun, etc in the checkout lines at the supermarket and WalMart."

and my response:

" There are a few really scary aspects of losing newspapers. One is that papers have corrections departments and keep copies of back issues. They are responsible for accuracy. If papers go away, we will still have news services like AP and UPI. These actually provide most of what the on-line and broadcast services use. But people are getting used to getting their news and views from unreliable sources and that's very bad."

So I would like to acknowledge those on-line news sources that have corrections departments. I think we should all insist that they ALL have them.

Regret the Error ï¿½ Mistakes Happen

Online Corrections

Corrections departments are all well and good, but it's not as if they make any practical difference. A little box in the corner of the letter's page explaining that the article about cassowarries on page 34 last Tuesday was inaccurate is not looked at by most; and the majority who do glance at it probably never read the original article.

Incidentally, BBC does as well. I like the way they update articles if they agree someone has pointed out an inaccuracy, but leave the original archived and linked to for reasons of comparison.

Inkslinger · 10th December 2008 04:26 AM

Originally Posted by freecell

I donâ€™t think I have ever bought a tabloid.

But you bought a bible!
Tabloids are a hair better, they have more pictures.

kmiller1610 · 10th December 2008 04:54 AM

Originally Posted by caffeine

Corrections departments are all well and good, but it's not as if they make any practical difference.

I disagree. If anyone is keeping track (like "Regret the error") and reporting on errors, there will be a greater sense of accountability among the professional journalists, regardless of the publics' notice of such errors.

I'm surprised no-one has pointed out that Fox has no such corrections function.