Comments on: The correct quote is "Hell is other people," not "Hell is other people at breakfast."

The correct quote is "Hell is other people," not "Hell is other people at breakfast."

Chrysostom — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:42:05 -0800

The best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:02:43 -0800

Some of these are clearly not mistakes. They're more like lies. Due to a production error, a quote attributed to Lieutenant Colonel Ghulam Jehlani Shafiq in a report in The Weekend Australian on Saturday ("Afghanistan battles scourge of corruption", page 16) was altered to change its meaning. Colonel Jehlani did not say: "It's not like 25 years ago. I was killing everybody." In fact, he said: "It's not like 25 years ago I was killing everybody. At that time too we tried not to have civilian casualties." The Australian apologises for the error. How is that a production error?

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:04:07 -0800

A friend posted this to Facebook last week (nyah, nyah), so I've already read through them all. My initial favorite correction: "In an April 30 "TV Club," Julia Turner misstated when Sally Draper ate the fish in Mad Men. It was before she saw the blow job." Is not entirely accurate, or at least not now (maybe the author wrote the correction in a huff and copy editors toned it down). Actual (current) correction: "Correction, April 30, 2012: This post originally said Sally ate the fish after witnessing the blow job. She ate the fish just before." Anyway, to get all meta, I think the fluid nature of Web publishing (i.e. get it live, then copy edit it) makes exercises like this a bit trivial, or at least more trivial than they used to be. Good call on the error of the year, though.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:05:44 -0800

This post originally referred to Jennifer Grey as "Ferris Bueller's sister." As commenters have pointed out, her role alongside Swayze in Dirty Dancing is clearly the more relevant. PIFFLE

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:07:07 -0800

Re: the last item, "Outfielder Sidney Fontenot," what? The dangling fragment is killing me!

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:09:24 -0800

How is that a production error? Looks like a transcription error to me and then they included the last sentence in the correction to clear up what he meant.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:11:50 -0800

I remember CNN cracking wise about an instagram outage where (paraphrasing) people wouldn't be able to document what sandwiches they were eating, and I thought, "Hey, remember when Instagram fucked up the most important Supreme Court decision of our lives?"

By: MuffinMan

MuffinMan — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:12:14 -0800

The production error is the missing period. It's not like 25 years ago. I was killing everybody. = 25 years ago I was killing everybody. It's not like 25 years ago I was killing everybody. = 25 years ago I wasn't killing everybody.

By: zarq

zarq — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:14:53 -0800

The CNN anchors calling the wrong guy at 6am was amusing. They seem pretty loopy.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:23:08 -0800

I liked this one.

By: Ice Cream Socialist

Ice Cream Socialist — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:26:05 -0800

Talking about performing in the musical "The Who's Tommy," the actor and singer Michael Cerveris said, "I couldn't sing it all when I got the job." An article on Mr. Cerveris in the latest Friday Journal incorrectly quoted him as saying, "I couldn't sing at all when I got the job." I can't breathe, somebody help me stop laughing, I need to be able to function again sometime today!

By: Daddy-O

Daddy-O — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:30:13 -0800

Hilarious: ABC Denver reportedly misnames Petraeus biography "All Up In My Snatch."

By: AwkwardPause

AwkwardPause — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:32:05 -0800

I heard this on the radio. I'm really puzzled why this one from the NYT didn't make the list (at least as a runner-up): An earlier version of this article misidentified the beverage that Ahmed Abu Khattala was drinking at the hotel. It was a strawberry frappe, not mango juice, which is what he had ordered.

By: fairmettle

fairmettle — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:32:55 -0800

Though it's only a consumer blog, this correction by The Wirecutter is a model for how to do it right.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:36:36 -0800

The correct quote is "Hell is other people," not "Hell is other people at breakfast." Well, there's correct as in accurate, and correct as in true.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:39:17 -0800

François Mitterrand, the former French president, is reported to have said that Margaret Thatcher had the mouth of Marilyn Monroe and the eyes of Caligula — not Stalin, as reported in an earlier version of this article. Well. OK then. That's .... very slightly less bizarre, I guess? Maybe?

By: notme

notme — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:39:36 -0800

my favorite: I misspoke this evening on the Special Report panel. I suggested that Godzilla was less destructive than King Kong. And everyone knows that it's the other way around. I apologize for any offense to the Kong family or to Godzilla's fans — or victims.

By: Hairy Lobster

Hairy Lobster — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:42:37 -0800

This one made me chuckle: Slate: In a March 2 "Future Tense" blog post, Torie Bosch misspelled the science fiction award won by writer Bruce Sterling. It is of course the Hugo Award, not the Huge Award.

By: Atom Eyes

Atom Eyes — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:43:28 -0800

So Ted Koppel is a robot!

By: marienbad

marienbad — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:44:45 -0800

"A column by Glenn Garvin on Dec. 20 stated that the National Science Foundation "funded a study on Jell-O wrestling at the South Pole." That is incorrect. The event took place during off-duty hours without NSF permission and did not involve taxpayer funds." Ace. Jell-O wrestling. A new Winter Olympics sport is born.

By: mcmile

mcmile — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:50:36 -0800

This one from 2008 is still my all-time favorite:

In the June 20 "Culturebox," Jonah Weiner stated that Lil Wayne was the first hip-hop artist to fantasize about eating his competition. Other rappers have contemplated consuming their rivals.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:53:18 -0800

I forgive CNN for their fuck up on the health care mandate story only because it made this happen.

By: marienbad

marienbad — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:54:18 -0800

"Margaret Thatcher had the mouth of Marilyn Monroe and the eyes of Caligula" Shurely there must be thousands of people who look like that? Anyone seen any?

By: Old'n'Busted

Old'n'Busted — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:59:28 -0800

I think the top award should have gone to TAL for their Apple factory story recovery and how they turned the whole thing around into a good bit of journalism.

By: JPD

JPD — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:08:49 -0800

Missed the best one. Corrections: November 30, 2012. An article on Thursday about efforts by the hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen to defend his firm, SAC Capital Advisors, against a government inquiry into insider trading misstated the size of Mr. Cohen's house in Greenwich, Conn. It is 35,000 square feet, not 14,000. The best part is you know his assistant called up the NYT spitting fire.

By: Toekneesan

Toekneesan — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:11:07 -0800

It would seem journalistic errors are likely to get worse. NPR ran a story this morning about how almost every outlet covering the tragedy in CT got so many facts wrong.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:12:57 -0800

It would seem journalistic errors are likely to get worse. NPR ran a story this morning about how almost every outlet covering the tragedy in CT got so many facts wrong. You can have news that's quick, or news that's correct. You just can't have both.

By: brand-gnu

brand-gnu — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:16:34 -0800

^ And therein lies the problem with the 24 hour "news" cycle.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:19:41 -0800

NPR ran a story this morning about how almost every outlet covering the tragedy in CT got so many facts wrong. Page views will always be more important than actual factual information.

By: skrozidile

skrozidile — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:20:19 -0800

GOOD THING WE DONT LIVEBLOG HERE AMIRITE

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:29:23 -0800

GOOD THING WE DONT LIVEBLOG HERE AMIRITE Well, not until slightly later in the day.

By: dlugoczaj

dlugoczaj — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:33:42 -0800

Please, I beg of whoever reads the original linked article, click through to the Atlantic Wire story about the worst typos. If you haven't seen their #15 typo, you haven't lived.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:46:59 -0800

Potomac Avenue: “How is that a production error?” Er – the only difference between the two is a period. Doesn't it seem like a period could be a production error? Although I guess it could also be an error in interpretation of sources on the reporter's part. Still quite plausible as an error, though, isn't it?

By: ghostbikes

ghostbikes — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:14:06 -0800

CTRL+F "Neil Armstrong" WHAT?! This was by far the best media error that was not listed: Neil Armstrong/Neil Young mix up

By: Sangermaine

Sangermaine — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:48:11 -0800

That Supreme Court debacle was glorious because it made the conservative suffering so much sweeter. I remember seeing first the elation then the devastation. Their tears were so sweet. Is there a German word for "joy at the suffering of others that should be shameful but isn't because fuck those assholes"?

By: stet

stet — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:02:32 -0800

Jysufringbecausfukthasasshoolz, I think. But I've been wrong before.

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:06:49 -0800

"It's not like 25 years ago. I was killing everybody." In fact, he said: "It's not like 25 years ago I was killing everybody." Good illustration of the importance of punctuation.

By: librarylis

librarylis — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:09:29 -0800

My favorite Slate correction(s) actually come at the bottom of a recent article on whisk(e)y. The corrections are almost longer than the article. You can just hear the whiskey experts seething as you read the lengthy list of errors.

By: riverlife

riverlife — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:55:58 -0800

Davis is recovering from a herniated dick. That was a hard--and flagrant--foul.