St. Petersburg Times uses the front page to correct columnist's Obama mistake
Posted by Christie Silk on August 5, 2009 at 3:08 PM
The cover of today's edition of Florida's St. Petersburg Times emphasised a correction to the ill-founded comments made by columnist Eric Deggans. In his Sunday piece, Deggans had stated, incorrectly, that Fox News presenter, Bill O'Reilly had said that President Obama was racist.
The front-page correction clarified: "Bill O'Reilly has not accused Barack Obama of racism. An article in Sunday's Perspective section about the National Association of Black Journalists incorrectly included the Fox newscaster in a list of commentators who have publicly accused the president of racism."
The front-page correction clarified: "Bill O'Reilly has not accused Barack Obama of racism. An article in Sunday's Perspective section about the National Association of Black Journalists incorrectly included the Fox newscaster in a list of commentators who have publicly accused the president of racism."
Editor and Publisher notes that Deggans makes reference to his mistake in his blog, as he concedes, "one serving of humble pie, coming right up."
"You may recall I recently predicted jinxing myself after writing about another TV critic who had lots of accuracy problems" the media columnist continues, "truth is, we're all human, and part of being a fair journalist is admitting when you've made an error. Sure hope the jinx is over now."
It has been a significant, and relatively rare week for the publishing of emphatic, obvious corrections, which have in themselves made substantial articles. The New York Time's Public Editor composed several days ago a column discussing the gravity of factual inaccuracy, after his paper published an flawed appraisal of the late reporter, Walter Cronkite. Indeed, as Deggans emphasises, the recognition of errors is an essential practice in reporting, and it is ever-more essential that newspapers take their accountability to the public seriously.
Sources: Tampa Bay.com
Editor and Publisher
"You may recall I recently predicted jinxing myself after writing about another TV critic who had lots of accuracy problems" the media columnist continues, "truth is, we're all human, and part of being a fair journalist is admitting when you've made an error. Sure hope the jinx is over now."
It has been a significant, and relatively rare week for the publishing of emphatic, obvious corrections, which have in themselves made substantial articles. The New York Time's Public Editor composed several days ago a column discussing the gravity of factual inaccuracy, after his paper published an flawed appraisal of the late reporter, Walter Cronkite. Indeed, as Deggans emphasises, the recognition of errors is an essential practice in reporting, and it is ever-more essential that newspapers take their accountability to the public seriously.
Sources: Tampa Bay.com
Editor and Publisher
Related Entries
- RIA-Novosti hits out against claims that it launched a PR campaign to improve Stalin's image
- The BBC and global warming
- Dan Gillmor's 'new rules of news'
- BBC's new editorial guidelines: tightening impartiality online and inviting suggestions from the public
- GlobalPost hires out journalists to boost revenue
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: St. Petersburg Times uses the front page to correct columnist's Obama mistake .
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/19011
Leave a comment