We Regret the Error, Matt White

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. - Xenophon

Accuracy will always be one of the most important aspects of journalism. Beyond anything else, if an article/piece isn't accurate, it's nothing. Accuracy in facts and in grammar must be impeccable for quality journalism to truly exist. Facts are the essence of journalism; the bread and butter. Without them, we are blind. Not adhering to this golden rule of journalism can bring about dire consequences. An inaccurate journalist can lose all credibility, their job, and more. Even an

innocent mistake can force us to question the credibility of an author.

If their wrong about this, what else are they wrong about?

How didn't they catch this mistake, it's so obvious?

Can I trust someone who makes such simple errors?

Image by Erin M on flickr

It's questions like these put that much needed fear into journalists. In a recent article, Craig Silverman wrote that "journalists are conditioned to fear and avoid mistakes...," and he was right. Because of the extremely negative consequences that can come out of inaccuracy, journalists must always strive for the absolute truth, 100 per cent accuracy is essential.

Despite the fear of inaccuracy constantly being drilled into journalists, simple mistakes will always be made. When it comes to grammar, there isn't a writer out there who hasn't made a mistake at one point or another. It's inevitable. These mistakes are everywhere (three examples from local newspapers can be found at the bottom of this page). These types of mistakes are often pointed out, corrected, and may cause some embarrassment, but they are rarely taken so seriously as to bring about some of the major consequences mentioned above. The only way we as humans can deal with this writer's defect is to learn from our mistakes, and so we do.

"One of the best ways to learn how to avoid errors is to make them in the first place." - Craig Silverman

Silverman isn't the only one who supports this theory. An article published by ScienceDaily provides a scientific look behind this theory. It states that there is "a mechanism in the brain that reacts in just 0.1 seconds to things that have resulted in us making errors in the past." So we do in fact learn from our mistakes. Making simple errors is human nature, and it is our nature that allows us to learn and grow from these mistakes. However, when it comes to inaccurate facts, people can be far less forgiving.

Having inaccurate facts in journalism is seen by many as the ultimate sin. A journalist's job is to give the public a fair, accurate, and unbiased view of whatever is deemed to be news worthy. Losing anyone one of these three pillars seriously jeopardizes the quality of the work. Above all, if something has false statements and/or facts, it's worthless. The Cheating Culture gives a variety of examples of cheaters and fabricators of all kinds, including journalists. Steve Glass and Jayson Blair are obviously the most well known examples of inaccurate journalists, but there have been numerous cases for years and years. These men are not honoured or remembered for their inspiring words; they are remembered as the liars they were. They will always be remembered in a negative way, and that is perhaps the biggest consequence for journalists when it comes to inaccuracy, being forever disgraced without a shread of sympathy.

Errors: Screen shots were provided as opposed to links because many of these errors are spotted and corrected at a later date.

Example 1 - The Edmonton Journal

The word "quick" in the second line is being used incorrectly. For the sentence to make sense the word should have been "quickly."

Example 2 - The Edmonton Sun

Although it is hard to see, there is a small "3" in front of the 100%. I don't know why or how it got there, but it's an error nevertheless. For the sentence to be free of errors the author would have to remove the small number 3.

Example 3 - The Edmonton Journal

The error in this example is probably one of the most common errors. There are no quotation marks following the final quote of the paragraph. This would be a simple fix, just adding some quotation marks to the end of the sentence would fix the error.