The Corrections Corrections @11:30 AM
One of my favorite corrections to date: "To judge from yesterday's page 34, there was some post-lunch napping by us on Sunday. This column referred to "neices", and a leader comment (In praise of … Norman Borlaug) termed its subject 'a famer's son from Iowa'." The "this column" in question is the actual Corrections column. 0
Wagner Experts Are An Obsessive Bunch @11:30 AM
A Guardian correction: "A comment piece about achievement and frailty in the lives of artistic greats mentioned Wagner's reminder to his favourite Vienna chambermaid to wear purple knickers next time they met. A Wagner expert points out that the pants in question were pink." 3
How A "C-Word" Becomes A [C-Word] @10:40 AM
The Guardian's ombudsman examines the paper's use of profanity: "'Fuck', for instance, has made an appearance 470 times this year already, and the more taboo C-word has cropped up in 61 items. These profanities are more frequent in the culture and music sections than elsewhere and they nearly always appear, in speech marks, when someone else's words are reported. The Guardian's editorial code says: 'There is almost never a case in which we need to use a swearword outside direct quotes.' Complaints about inappropriate language usually concern breaches of this part of the code in columns written by contributors, but the front-page C-word story, on 25 July, which reported Jeremy Clarkson's not-for-broadcast remarks about the prime minister to a Top Gear studio audience, was in line with editorial policy." The C-word, for the record, is "cunt." 5
'News Of The World' Wants Your Phone @11:41 AM
It's Day Two of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. While the Metropolitan Police have declined to open a criminal inquiry, prosecutors are reviewing files from the previous case against the paper. As celebrities whose privacy was invaded line up to sue, the Labour party is chortling with glee that there's finally a big news event that doesn't center around the government's incompetence. The Guardian, which broke the story, is again all over it, even going so far as to grade the coverage. Meanwhile, the News of the World itself is prominently displaying this promotion. It's for the environment! 0
Rupe's Troops' Illegal Scoops @9:44 AM
There is a gigantic scandal going on in the British press—specifically, that part of it owned by Rupert Murdoch. The Guardian reports that his "News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists' repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories." Is there more? You bet there is! READ MORE 5
Monstrous Occasion Of Censorship Actually Just Twitter Bug @8:11 AM
Corrections 2.0: "A G2 article called the censorship from Twitter of the hashtag (equivalent to a subject line) 'Mrs Slocombe's Pussy' the worst outrage against freedom of expression ever. We should have noted the explanation provided by Biz Stone, the founder of Twitter, for the problem users encountered searching for #MrsSlocombesPussy: a programming bug means that Twitter's search function does not work on hashtagged words of more than 16 characters. MrsSlocombesPussy is 17 (The strange case of Mrs Slocombe's vanishing pussy, 8 June, page 15)." 5
Berlusconi, Guardian Trade Blows @11:10 AM
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has called the Guardian's suggestion that his government's inability to properly prepare for the G8 summit in L'Aquila had lead some to wonder whether Italy should be a member of the Group at all "a colossal blunder by a small newspaper." In response, the Guardian has noted that Italians are a criminal-loving people who should be left alone to wallow in their festering state of indolence. 0
When corrections are not necessary. @9:43 AM
The Guardian flags this line, from Thursday: "In further proof of why old people should not be allowed to run media conglomerates, media magnate Rupert Murdoch has announced that News Corporation's newspaper websites will begin charging for access within a year". The tag? "Naked ageism." Perhaps, but is it necessarily incorrect? Also, now we're picturing Rupert Murdoch naked, which is more cause for an apology than the line itself, we think. 5
