Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Greatest Correction Ever? Hardly

From the FT Alphaville Twitter sidebar feed:

I'm sure the gentleman is well meaning, and to her credit, the author of the error, Jemima Kelly has been vociferous in her acknowledgement of responsibility, including the latest:
Now it might be true that the world would be a better place if Ms Kelly stuck to her baliwick, Sark.
Oops!!! fāke™ news, fāke™ news.* Guernsey is the bailiwick, Sark is a parish of Guernsey. The island of Brecqhou is a tenement of Sark.*
See how easy it is to go astray?

But the greatest correction ever?

Ignoring the New York Times which more than once in recent years acknowledged five or more errors in a single paragraph here are a couple legitimate contenders for the title of Greatest correction and/or retraction, that have graced our pages over the years.
First up, the Ottawa Citizen, posted here in 2009:
“The Ottawa Citizen and Southam News wish to apologize for our apology to Mark Steyn, published October 22nd.
In correcting the incorrect statements about Mr. Steyn, published October 15th, we incorrectly published the incorrect correction.
We accept and regret that our original regrets were unacceptable, and we apologize to Mr. Steyn for any previous distress caused by our previous apology.”
HT: Jay Leno(link rotted but Googleable)

Another contender, linked in 2013's "Newspaper Retracts Editorial on Gettysburg Address":
From Poynter:
In 1863, the Harrisburg, Pa. paper then known as the Patriot & Union published an editorial about Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
They panned it:
We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of....
Here's today's Patriot-News:
...In the editorial about President Abraham Lincoln’s speech delivered Nov. 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, the Patriot & Union failed to recognize its momentous importance, timeless eloquence, and lasting significance. The Patriot-News regrets the error. 
...MORE  
Hey, took 'em 150 years but at least they used the proper "regrets the error".

Even the FT itself has made egregious errors requiring massive correction.
Aug. 14, 2017
A Financial Times Correction: LSD Microdosing
From the Financial Times:
Corrections
• Drug microdosers use 10 microgrammes of LSD every three days, not 10 milligrammes as wrongly stated in an article in the Aug 12/13 FT Magazine.
Microgrammes, milligrammes, what's a thousand-fold difference in dosage between friends?

*And Ms. Kelly's bailiwick?
Isn't it about time someone infiltrated this place:

https://homesoftherich.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/sfsadfdsdsfds.jpg

That's Fort Brecqhou, seat of the Billionaire Barclay Bros. and reputed redoubt and last stand of the twins should Jemima succeed in her quest to drive them (and their lackey at the Sark Newspaper) insane.
As an added bonus, it is extremely difficult to find a more recent photo than those taken when the Barclays received their knighthoods in 2000:

https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5a8157144bbe6f2652f547cd/416x416.jpg?background=000000&cropX1=331&cropX2=1779&cropY1=13&cropY2=1460

I bet the tabloids would pay a pretty penny should someone snap a pic prior to joining an American newspaper's basketball coverage.

Just sayin'

As a side note, and just so you know, the mark "fāke™ " to denote untrue news, with the long ā symbol and the superscript ™, has already been applied for.
[that's a lie -ed]
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