An out-of-class story is NOT the kind of story in which we want to get a fatal. With each story being such a big chunk of our final grades, it can leave a dent that takes substantial work to repair.
I'm sorry to say we had a fatal on an out-of-class story.
In it, we referred to Lake Lansing State Park. Problem is, Lake Lansing Park is not run by the state of Michigan; it's an Ingham County park. It's not a state park.
I don't know where this fatal came from. If we assumed it, it's on us. Even if we were given incorrect information from a source, we need to be double-checking the information to make sure what we were given is correct.
(Often, it's not hard to do a double-check; just Google your facts. I did, and that's where I confirmed the fatal, all in about two seconds.)
That's still on us, as journalists.
Let's make sure we're doing our due diligence, not simply in checking to see what we wrote was what we intended to write, but that what we intended to write was right in the first place.
Journalism isn't about writing; it's about getting it right.
Plus, FYI: The rewrite for the second out-of-class story will be due no later than 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12 by email to omars@msu.edu.
If I only get back one rewrite -- and I certainly hope that's NOT the case -- then please let it be the one with the aforementioned fatal, with the fatal fixed.
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