Opinion - News Analysis   

Why, when, how?

K. Narayanan

Back in the day, newspapers had proofreaders who reviewed stories, headlines and entire pages and corrected mistakes. No more. Proofreaders were ushered out of most newsrooms when computers appeared.

Now most pages are "proofed" by an editor, usually after one or more editors have edited stories, written headlines and placed them on a page ... when deadlines loom or editors are in a hurry, pages don't get a careful review. At other times, bleary-eyed copy editors missed stuff.

The main culprit is carelessness, though. That coupled with a failure to make near-flawless copy and headlines a top priority.

Not my words. This is from the November 19, 2006, column of Wayne Ezell, Reader Advocate, The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. And these words present the scene in newspapers in general.

And that also explains the errors in newspapers (but does not justify them!). Accepted that human and systemic inadequacies cause the mistakes. Why bother to correct them? What is the real purpose of your exercises, asks reader R.K.D. Nair of Arakkinar, Kozhikode, Kerala. "Does it aim at awareness of the readers or at increasing the capabilities of the veterans and not-so-veteran journalists within the campus? [The] majority will prefer to ignore unimportant mistakes pointed out and corrected in your columns ... Your corrections are of no value to the reader ... Your gun should be aimed at your knowledgeable persons inside the newsrooms or press to help them avoid similar mistakes."

Many readers, I pointed out to Mr. Nair, use this as a newspaper of record and the corrections set things right for such persons. It is also an acknowledgement that the paper does not hesitate to own up its mistakes. The staff now realise that their errors are noticed by readers. This is having its effect, creating awareness of the need to reduce mistakes. And with some exceptions, readers have generally welcomed what is being done.

When is misinformation and error in the media a serious problem? When is it important to correct the error? How should the error be corrected? These are the questions dealt with in "Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth," an article by Paula Berinstein in Searcher, the Magazine for Database Professionals, in the September 2006 issue (My thanks to M.K. Jagadish, Director, American Information Resource Center, Chennai, for sending me a copy of the article.) The major part of the article deals with databases, but there are many points for the print media too.

Cited in the article is a review of the U.S. media in 2005 on the website www.regrettheerror.com (This interesting website reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media, print and electronic, mainly in the U.S., and in Britain, to some extent.)

The review says: "Media errors caused incredible consequences for average citizens and the media in 2005. But these had a silver lining. They are a powerful argument in favour of instituting a higher standard of accuracy in the media. Fact checking needs to play a greater role in the editing process, and plagiarism software should be utilised within newsrooms."

Reinforcing this argument for accuracy is this entry in The New York Times Stylebook: "The Times recognises an ethical responsibility to correct all its factual errors, large and small (even misspelling of names), promptly and in a prominent reserved space in the paper."

Berinstein, in her article in Searcher, points out the following types of errors, among others: 1. Typographical 2. A source that is mistaken, lies, is inarticulate or incomplete 3. A writer does not have enough background, makes incorrect assumptions, does not question what he or she is told, does not consult enough sources, is inexperienced, mishears or misinterprets and does not check facts fully.

That is for the writing part. There is a next stage, where errors can be spotted and corrected. But hurried, harried (and sometimes careless) editors can trip up, even the most conscientious of them. As The New York Times executive editor Bill Keller says: "Copy editors should check verifiable, error-prone facts as time allows and consult with writers about factual changes."

So errors are part of the newspaper. What to correct, when and how is not an easy business and each newspaper has its own way of doing it (There are also some who do not bother about them!) As far as The Hindu is concerned, it is some consolation that there have not been any errors of "incredible consequences." There have even been comments — within and without — that sometimes the Readers' Editor deals with trifles in the "Corrections and Clarifications" column. That is done with two purposes — to set the record straight and as a wake-up call.

To come to the basic question: Can errors be prevented? Berinstein has some suggestions: recognise the problem, understand how errors get in, and be motivated to take preventive and remedial action such as sufficient manpower and other resources, commitment to measuring quality, and training.

The Readers' Editor in The Hindu is one part of this remedial action and marks a commitment to measuring quality.

For the rest of the suggestions made, I would like to quote Randall Bezanson and Gilbert Cranberg (Editor and Publisher, November 30, 2005) cited by Berinstein: "Reporters and editors do not create the conditions under which they work ... these conditions are often major contributing factors to, if not chiefly responsible for, errant reporting and editing."

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

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