From the “You Read It Here First” Category: Patterico Collects Two Corrections from the L.A. Times in a Single Day
This blog picked up two corrections from the L.A. Times today. First up is this one:
‘The Supreme Court’: A review in Wednesday’s Calendar section of a PBS documentary about the Supreme Court said there was a justice named Hamburger. There was a chief justice named Warren Burger.
Oh come on, say it: “And there was none named Hamburger.” (Or Potroast Stewart, Fred Venison, or “Sloppy Joe” Story.)
I originally told you about this error here. Howard Bashman gets the original credit for catching this, though I was the one petty enough to actually write the Readers’ Representative about it — just because I enjoy collecting corrections.
Yes, I am a jerk.
Next up is this correction:
Child molestation sentencing: An article Saturday in the California section about the sentencing of scientist William French Anderson mentioned lawyer Blair Berk and said Anderson was “his client.” Berk is a woman.
I told you about that one here. Mrs. P. gets the credit for the original catch, though once again, I’ll take the credit for being annoying enough to actually write the paper about it.
I think two corrections in one day is a first. But every record is meant to be broken, so we’ll shoot for a hat trick next time out.
Jeeze, Patterico, thanks to you at least two or three of those infamous four experienced editors who read over these articles will probably be canned.
JVW (cf61a7) — 2/6/2007 @ 10:48 pmWell done. So how many corrections do you have? Maybe you should start a repeating feature – like Accepted Wisdom or Dave’s Top Ten – to keep track of the corrections you’ve inspired.
DRJ (605076) — 2/6/2007 @ 11:39 pmThere was also no Justice Hamburglar.
Crank (5f5694) — 2/7/2007 @ 6:52 amHaving once worn a Quality Control hat, I read the corrections section of the times every day and wonder what the error rate is. Out of every 1,000 facts asserted by the Times, how many are wrong? Figure 10 printed errors per day, 200 stories, 20 facts per story?
Patterico, run an experiment and we can find out. Pick a random day (in advance) and have your readership fact check every story using the web, write the reader’s rep, and copy you.
TomHynes (c41bdd) — 2/7/2007 @ 8:37 amRRRAAWWWKK RRAAAWWKK THE SMELL A TIMES YOU CANT BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY RRAAAWWKK RRAAWWKKK
krazy kagu (272de2) — 2/7/2007 @ 8:49 pmKagu, you are the finest commenter ever.
OHNOES (d573a4) — 2/7/2007 @ 8:58 pm