Practically Perfect in Every Way

     When I wrote this headline, I realized not everyone reading this column may not raised little girls who danced and watched the movie Mary Poppins until the VCR tape disintigrated. Mary Poppins, at least as portrayed by Julie Andrews in the movie always said she was "practically perfect in every way."

     And, of course, journalists tend to feel that way too. If we didn't have egos, we'd have become farriers or middle school history teachers. 

     But, we all make mistakes and one thing we know is the importance of "acknowledging mistakes and correcting them promptly and prominently." Those are words from the newly revised Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics which remind us of what we must do. And, maybe some people need that reminder. 

     Most of the mistakes are small-ish. I always ask "are you a C Cathy or a K Kathy?" And, since my younger daughter has one of the most commonly misspelled names (because of the number of possibilities), I really think about it. But, at a planning board meeting, when a new member was sworn in, I asked a council woman who was sitting next to me if he was a c Marc or a k Mark. She answered, "he's Jewish," to I wrote Marc. It's Mark. 

     Of course, it was easy to correct. 

     More complicated mistakes present challenges. We are urged to "explain corrections and clarifications carefully and clearly." One way we do that is to write "due to an editing error" or "due to a research error." We don't write "due to brain fade" or "due to a hangover," although that wouldn't surprise anyone. I once really wanted to write "because the angelic-looking little Girl Scout gave an alias," but I just corrected the name. 

     Sometimes the issue to where to run the correction. I'm personally in favor of a correction box in the same place every issue. Of course, that primarily applies to traditional newspapers (I promised my friend Mark Porter of the Montclair Times I wouldn't use the term "dead tree" any longer.)  Like a lot of things, it gets more complicated with digital publications.

     One of the common problems we've always had is when someone is arrested. We put it on the front page. Then, it turns out the perp isn't a perp at all and we bury it. There has to be a solution. Maybe as simple as a refer from the front page. Certainly a topic for further discussion. 

     Some corrections appear to place the blame, such as the "editing error" above. Others don't. That's tough to explain to people, but a lot has to do with how much time there is to prepare a correction. If we find out about the error right on deadline, it might be more important to get it in for the next day. Sometimes it's less than clear who's error it was. We work hard and fast.

     Regardless, we have to correct any and all mistakes as soon as possible.