Incorrect passage: “Unfortunately, core parts the story were fiction, …”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: The word “of” is missing after the word “parts.”

Submitted by: Anonymous

Note: This correction was issued after the paperback edition was released. The page number refers to the hardcover edition.

Incorrect passage: “Reporters should always ask themselves that classic question: Qui bono? Who benefits?”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: Qui bono is incorrect. The sentence should have used “Cui bono.”

Submitted by: David Brodzinski

Note: This correction was issued after the paperback edition was released.

Incorrect passage: “A column in yesterday’s Today section implied that the National Football League would never return the Super Bowl to Detroit. The football championship is scheduled to return to the city next year.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: This correction is placed within the collection of “Fuzzy Numbers” corrections, but it is not a numerical error. It is better suited to the “Strange and Sublime” corrections that begin on page 249.

Submitted by: Joel Flaxman

Incorrect passage: “Certainly, he was one Nobel winner with whom Alfred Nobel would have a felt a special kinship.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: There is an additional “a” in between “have” and “felt.”

Submitted by: Dan Ilika

Incorrect passage: “And when there appears any material mistake in anything that is corrected, it shall be corrected in the next.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: The correct quote from Benjamin Harris is “And when there appears any material mistake in anything that is collected, it shall be corrected in the next.” (Emphasis mine.)

Submitted by: The author.

Incorrect passage: “A story obituary and headline about Martinsburg lawyer Robert M. Steptoe in the Sunday Gazette-Mail wrongly said Steptoe was the chief executive officer of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson. His son, Robert M. Steptoe Jr., is the managing partner and CEO of Steptoe & Johnson. Also, the front-page photograph was of Robert Steptoe Jr., not his deceased father. We regret the error.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: This correction is listed on page 184 (obiticide corrections) and page 210 (photo misidentification corrections). It should appear on page 210, rather than in both places.

Submitted by: Chris

Incorrect passage: “Meyer attempted to resolve the source-versus-reporter issue in a 1998 study that compared source claims of error with those acknowledged by reporters.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: The study was published in 1988, not 1998. (The endnotes list the correct date.)

Submitted by: David Gibson, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

Incorrect passage: “…it could make them reticent to seek out the press to publicize a wrong or call attention to an important issue.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: The word “reticent,” a synonym for secretive, was used incorrectly in the above sentence. The correct word is “reluctant.”

Submitted by: Jessie L. Mayer, retired proofreader

Incorrect passage: “Harry S Truman celebrates his 1948 presidential victory…”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: In keeping with the style guide for the book, his name should read, “Harry S. Truman.”

Submitted by: Connie

Incorrect passage: “In Canada, only the two national newspapers — the Globe and Mail and the National Post – have dedicated online corrections pages.”

Number of errors: 1

Correction: The Toronto Star also has an online corrections page and was unfortunately left off the list. Its page is located here.

Submitted by: Kathy English, Public Editor, Toronto Star