Almost half of the articles published by daily newspapers in the US contain one or more factual errors, and less than two percent end up being corrected, reports a study. It’s time to increase both the size of correction boxes and reporting accuracy.
The study, achieved by Scott R Maier, an associate professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, spanned across 10 newspapers and found that 98% of the 1,220 factual errors went uncorrected.
Whereas editors and journalists tend to believe the correction boxes cover most of the factual errors, these overwhelmingly go uncorrected, even when pointed out by news sources.
“This study, however, shows that even when errors were reported by news sources, the vast majority – 98 per cent – remained uncorrected,” comments Newswatch.
Why do these mistakes go untouched? Is it newspapers that refrain from publicizing all their errors, or are some ‘factual’ errors reported by sources contested by journalists?
On a more positive note, Maier found it positive that most newspapers regularly invite readers to correct mistakes, and usually have prominent correction box. The New York Times publishes daily a toll-free number and email address for readers to submit their corrections.
Some examples were less comforting: the Miami Herald fails to routinely publish a corrections policy, the Grand Fork Herald buries its corrections next to the obituaries. Another paper didn’t include the correction box in the online version of a story.
More frightening is the generally large amount of errors found in newspaper stories on average. Following a statistical logic, papers would have to increase fifty-fold the space allotted to corrections. Or journalists can start triple-checking all their facts.
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