Posting again about yesterday's error because my comment got a little long:
The misspelling is unacceptable (especially in today's world of spellcheck; unless "presindet" is a word). As an editor I'm sure that is what sticks in my commentor's craw the most.
For me, though, its the content. Spelling mistakes, regretablly, happen. But either we are getting enough calcium or we aren't. To say we aren't, and then quote a reputable source as saying we are, well, what should I believe - and is the article worth anything?
This error actually smells of writer bias to me: the "we don't get enough" line was probably written as the story idea/hook, then the author found out that, oops, we actually do get enough. Both lines stayed in the story. Its just sad that either the author and editor missed it, or left it in because the "shortage" line creates drama.
This happens in drug stories A LOT, too. Legit news outlets run stories about "Pill Parties" where kids just bring pills, put them in a bowl, and then pass the bowl around. None of the stories ever have a witness account by either the journalist or a student. And yet they publish them - mostly based on a "crazy drugged out kids" meme that isn't true and in the case of Pill Parties certainly has no evidence to back it up. But the author follows this bias, possibly without even knowing it exists, without thinking about the flaws in this story. And the flaws go way, WAY, beyond not having a real source outside of other news stories and third hand reports. Just think about what would have to occur for this type of conduct to exist. It just doesn't make sense if you think about it for more than two minutes.
Umm, I agree?
ReplyDeleteThis is why fact checking is so important and a large chunk of my time is spent doing it. But really, that's a detail that should have been picked up by any editor along the way. Bias is an ugly beast.
I can imagine it would be hard to find a resource who would admit having been at a Pill Party, but I can imagine someone reading a story (fictional) about it happening and then thinking so hard about it that it became true to them. Or some kid telling their parents things like that happen.