Fatal errors included ...
PROBLEM: In one lede we referred to Constance Wei as a congresswoman; in fact, only members of the U.S. Congress are congressmen or congresswomen. Members of state legislatures (like Wei) are not. If Wei was a U.S. representative then she would be a congresswoman, but as a state representative she's just a representative. This is akin to calling a governor a president, so it's a fatal error.
SOLUTION: I know what you meant to say, but it's not what you said. Please be sure to use the correct words correctly as to avoid saying something you didn't mean to say.
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PROBLEM: In another lede we said Wei crashed into fellow Rep. Peter Mackey; in fact, Wei's car hit a vehicle driven by Michael Jeffrys while Wei spoke via phone to Mackey. That's a fatal.
SOLUTION: As we've said in earlier blog posts, it's critical that we spend time before we start writing to make sure we understand exactly how things went down, and after we finish writing we need to do more than proofread for spelling errors; we need to make sure that the facts as we wrote the story match the facts as indicated in our notes.
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PROBLEM: In one story we spelled the widow's name as the common spelling of Olivia; in fact, it was the uncommon Olivida.
SOLUTION: We need to be precise with names. Be sure to double-check the spellings of ALL names-- whether of people or businesses or pets -- both before and after writing. Don't assume a name is the common spelling; make sure it's right.
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SOLUTION: I know what you meant to say, but it's not what you said. Please be sure to use the correct words correctly as to avoid saying something you didn't mean to say.
***
PROBLEM: In another lede we said Wei crashed into fellow Rep. Peter Mackey; in fact, Wei's car hit a vehicle driven by Michael Jeffrys while Wei spoke via phone to Mackey. That's a fatal.
SOLUTION: As we've said in earlier blog posts, it's critical that we spend time before we start writing to make sure we understand exactly how things went down, and after we finish writing we need to do more than proofread for spelling errors; we need to make sure that the facts as we wrote the story match the facts as indicated in our notes.
***
PROBLEM: In one story we spelled the widow's name as the common spelling of Olivia; in fact, it was the uncommon Olivida.
SOLUTION: We need to be precise with names. Be sure to double-check the spellings of ALL names-- whether of people or businesses or pets -- both before and after writing. Don't assume a name is the common spelling; make sure it's right.
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In this class, we have to make sure we double-check our facts and get it right. As we've said before, journalism isn't about writing; it's about getting it right. It doesn't matter how well something is written (and this is written well) if the audience can't trust the reliability of what's there.
In journalism, there's no such thing as a small error. For example, if we can't get a small thing right (like someone's title), why would the audience think we could get the big things right? Any fact error undermines our credibility and reliability, and in many ways the small ones are more damaging.
Let's make sure we're spending a good chunk of time making sure we understand the facts (like, who hit whom) before we start writing, and afterwards let's make sure we're devoting a serious amount of time to make sure we wrote what we intended to write (and make sure we didn't write that we hit who we were talking to, instead of who we actually hit).
A proper double-check would have caught it.
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