138 The unIvErSAl JournAlIst

meeting, I went to a library where her past stories are lodged, and there found a copy of this profile. Attached was a letter from her itemising 12 errors. I noted these, and, after meeting her, sent her a copy of my piece. She spotted four more mistakes, which I duly corrected. Why should that show weakness? You are not letting the source have ‘copy approval’ – the demand made by, and often shamefully granted to, film stars – you are merely, and sensibly, letting them in on the process of information gathering. And, of course, you, not they, have the final say.

Production errors

not all errors are due to bad reporting. copy editors, page editors and news editors can all introduce mistakes. For instance, a couple of years ago, the Berlin correspondent of my london national Sunday paper filed a story on renovations to the city’s 1936 olympic Stadium, and mentioned that it was in this arena that Jesse owens won four gold medals. I put it through to the production department, they put it on the page, and the proof was duly read. All was well. Then some late-night copy editor, casting about for something to do, decided to ‘improve’ this item, so that it now read: ‘...Jesse owens won her four ...’

Some of the most spectacular production errors involve photographs. In 2003, copies of the Newbury Weekly News, a local paper in the south of England, had to be recalled after a story about a priest facing child pornography charges carried the likeness of another, entirely blameless, churchman. Pictures of the unfamiliar can indeed be an accident waiting to happen, witness the apology once carried by the Pasack Valley Community Life in the uS: ‘In last week’s issue, a picture caption listed some unusual gourmet dishes enjoyed at a Westwood library party ... Mai Thai Finn was in the center of the photo. We incorrectly listed her name as one of the items on the menu ...’. The Independent on Sunday’s worst in this regard was when a photograph was ordered up of Gandhi, and captioned accordingly. Sad to say, the published picture was not that of the great man, but of actor Ben Kingsley playing him in a film. But for real ‘heart-in-the-mouth, I’m-glad-that-wasn’t-me’ error, you must turn to a recent issue of the Southern Reporter in Scotland. This particular calamity arose from the ill-advised practice of the designer of the page writing some jocular words where the caption should be, safe in the assumption that a copy-editing colleague will replace them with something more suitable before the page goes to press. In this case, that did not happen. The paper carried a picture of people at a traditional Scottish ceremony, underneath which was written: ‘Who are these pious *****ers? What on earth is going on in this picture – these people have got to get out more often for their peace of mind and sanity.’ Exit one editor.

Then there are the idiocies of headline writers. Some are the result of not seeing all the implications of the words used: (‘one-legged Escapee

MISTAKES, corrEcTIonS AnD HoAXES 139

Still on The run’ – The Australian, ‘Man In river Thames Had Drink Problem’ – Reading Chronicle, and ‘Slimmer of the Year vanishes’ – Daily Mail); others betray an almost superhuman talent for stating the obvious (‘Party Ends After Woman Is Murdered’ – Mooresville Tribune, n. carolina, and ‘Some teens have an air of defiance’ – Washington Post).

But, in general, production errors are far less common than writer’s slips, most of which are never seen by readers because copy-editors see them first. Sometimes they are impossible to spot, like the piece of bad reporting that once resulted in a sentence in the New York Times having no fewer than five mistakes. My favourite in this genre is the correction from a paper in newcastle, northern England on a story about a woman’s death from a rare disease. It read in part:

We would like to point out that she did not go to her doctor complaining of a spot on her leg and she was not prescribed painkillers. She did not return to her GP for a second visit, nor was she taken into hospital on october 26. She was not rushed into emergency surgery and her death was not due to massive organ failure. Furthermore, her father is aged 45, not 52 a stated, her mother is 46, not 50, and her sister is 26, not 27.

Finally, for reporters who think the importance of accuracy is not quite all it’s cracked up to be, a sobering story. It appeared in the C-Ville Weekly, a tabloid circulating in charlottesville, virginia. It told of the discovery by a female health club client of a two-way mirror that had been installed in the women’s changing room. The paper also carried pictures and detailed graphics. The story went on to speculate freely (via quotes from a psychologist) about the motives of the person who had set up such a peephole. The story proved true in every detail, which was just as well because five days after it appeared, the owner of the health club was found dead in a local park. He had committed suicide. The repercussions for the reporter, had the story proved inaccurate in any way, hardly bear thinking about. The tale is a reminder that, since you never know the effects your stories can have, they had better be correct.

How should you respond to mistakes?

‘Quickly and with candour’ is the answer. This applies in spades if, as is often the case, you realise your mistake before anyone else does. Move speedily – there may be time to correct the mistake before the story is published, or, on larger papers, to correct between editions. Even if it is too late, a prompt confession (and, if the mistake is bad enough, contacting the source affected) will help to mitigate the consequences for the paper legally and for you personally. My experience is that, providing the error