Give the college kids a hand: The way most newspapers do corrections, it's hard to tell what the original story was even about. "A story Tuesday should have said county resident John Smith spent two days in the hospital." So, what DID the story say that was wrong, huh, huh? That John Smith was a city resident? That he spent five days in the hospital? That he was arrested for spitting on the sidewalk? That this whole thing, whatever it was, happened to John Jones?
When the Indiana Daily Student made a mistake recently, it not only ran a correction. The editor wrote a lengthy apology to readers:
Second, we're sorry. As editor of the Indiana Daily Student, I am sorry. This was a terrible mistake and an injustice to the readers of this newspaper.
Classy.
Comments
It was a fine explanation and mea culpa, but the end of the column is disturbing.
They let police get away with not making available public records that should be accessible to everyone, not just reporters? And they are going to have seminars on doing stuff they should already have learned in classes before they ever started working on the IDS? Not good for the school that prides itself on Ernie Pyle.