The Year in Media Errors and Corrections

December 13, 2005 10:49 AM

Crunks '05: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections
posted by Tacodog (26 comments total)

"crunks"?

do i get a pimp cup for reading this?
posted by wakko at 10:49 AM on December 13, 2005

The Correction of the Year:

The Denver Daily News would like to offer a sincere apology for a typo in Wednesday's Town Talk regarding New Jersey's proposal to ban smoking in automobiles. It was not the author's intention to call New Jersey 'Jew Jersey.'

ouch.
posted by NationalKato at 10:52 AM on December 13, 2005

It was not the author's intention to call New Jersey 'Jew Jersey.'

Hah.
posted by Godbert at 10:53 AM on December 13, 2005

Damn, I should preview next time. It's always amusing to see typos and errors in news stories, especially when they happen to make other words (or almost-words).
posted by Godbert at 10:54 AM on December 13, 2005

"The News offends an entire state and a major religion and all it can muster is 39 words? Only a newspaper could get away with that."

It was a just a typo.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 11:07 AM on December 13, 2005

Interesting. But...crunks?
posted by graventy at 11:11 AM on December 13, 2005

The corrections column is one of the best parts of the SF Chronicle. My favorite one was back when Willie Brown was mayor: "...the word 'Mayor' was inadvertently inserted before Willie Nelson's name".
posted by Lockjaw at 11:23 AM on December 13, 2005

Regret the error's author was on CBC's The Current this morning; he'll be on NPR's "On the media" show this Friday.
posted by docgonzo at 11:25 AM on December 13, 2005

At one point, the New Your Post ran a front-page headline

Sound the irony horn.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:37 AM on December 13, 2005

Wasn't most of the Newsweek story later proven true? With the exception of the Koran flushing, that was the impression that I had.
posted by dial-tone at 11:45 AM on December 13, 2005

One of the funniest things on that page (to my tiny little mind) is "Us regrets the error." It's not wrong, but it makes me giggle and think of Bizarro world.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:55 AM on December 13, 2005

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
posted by driveler at 12:07 PM on December 13, 2005

it makes me giggle and think of Bizarro world.

Me are not regret error! Error am good!
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:37 PM on December 13, 2005

"Billsby slashes four, dies in cocaine brawl."
posted by Wolfdog at 1:01 PM on December 13, 2005

An obituary of the civil rights leader James Forman yesterday misstated a word in describing his call, in 1969, for reparations to be paid by Protestant and Jewish groups for the crimes of slavery. Mr. Forman asked for $500 million for crimes perpetrated against generations of blacks, not "by" them.
posted by soiled cowboy at 1:35 PM on December 13, 2005

the 'jew jersey' thing is way overblown considering it is a basic and understandable (to anyone who types) typo:

Yes, it’s a terrible error. Offensive, even. And the resulting correction is hilarious. But another reason we singled this baby out is that, like so many corrections, it begs for much more detail and a more complete explanation. The News offends an entire state and a major religion and all it can muster is 39 words? Only a newspaper could get away with that.

actually, the correction doesn't beg for anything, because it was a simple typo. were i a jew and/or a new jersian i would be more insulted by the characterization here that each would necessarily be 'offended' by being associated with the other.
posted by troybob at 2:22 PM on December 13, 2005

...actually, the criticism kinda reminds me of those people who get offended when someone uses the word 'niggardly' appropriately...in calling out the author as evidencing some form of prejudice, that person is actually pot-kettling in that his/her mischaracterization of the statement is itself prejudicial (or just plain dumb)
posted by troybob at 2:46 PM on December 13, 2005

Regardless of the intention, it's funny as hell, and made my day.
posted by iamck at 4:10 PM on December 13, 2005

I can't believe that one got first place, when this is so much better:

Norma Adams-Wade's June 15 column incorrectly called Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk a socialist. She is a socialite.

How are they sure she's not even a little bit of a fellow traveler, hmm?
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:20 PM on December 13, 2005

As dial-tone correctly points out, the Newsweek story was essentially true except for the accusation that the Koran was flushed down the toilet. As George Bush, himself, said shortly after the story broke:

"I just want to say a few things today about the recent Newsweek-Koran-toilet scandal. I categorically deny that the events described in the article took place as described. American soldiers may have kicked and stomped the Koran, sodomized prisoners with glow sticks, rubbed what may, or may not, have been menstrual blood on detainees foreheads, beaten detainees, disappeared detainees, drowned detainees, detained people indefinitely without trial, mauled detainees with dogs, engined in various forms of perverse sexual humiliation, BUT I'll be damned if anyone thinks we flushed a Koran down the toilet."

posted by euphorb at 5:55 PM on December 13, 2005

does anyone watch curb your enthusiasm? the oh so funny episode when larry writes an obituary for his beloved aunt and the newspaper prints 'beloved cunt' by mistake. hilarious!
posted by brandz at 8:13 PM on December 13, 2005

the 'jew jersey' thing is way overblown considering it is a basic and understandable (to anyone who types) typo

Yes. However, a search for the phrase suggests that among a sea of typos, there are some who are using it quite deliberately. Here's stormfront, and here's a bizarre page that blames Jews for the 'crime' of Ritalin.
posted by kickingtheground at 8:16 PM on December 13, 2005

My personal favorite is the ommission of the word "million" causing an article to cite that "more than 27 Soviet solidiers" died in WW2.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:43 AM on December 14, 2005

grapefruitmoon : My personal favorite is the ommission of the word "million" causing an article to cite that "more than 27 Soviet solidiers" died in WW2.

Well, 27 million > 27, so technically, nothing was wrong with saying that.
posted by Godbert at 6:24 AM on December 14, 2005

This is a fabulous site. Thanks for the link!

My favorite winner was from 2004: "It has come to the editor's attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
posted by equipoise at 12:33 PM on December 14, 2005

This was absolutely hilarious.
posted by Todd Lokken at 4:31 PM on December 14, 2005