Brisbane Newspaper's Shocking Ed Error
December 14th 2006 05:19
Caitlin's Coffin
In what must be one of the most shocking editorial errors in Australian Newspapers in recent times, the Brisbane Courier mail makes the following grave editorial error.
Page 2 of the Courier Mail Newspaper 14 December 2006 says the following about a 13 year old teenager, Caitlin Hanrick, who was hit by a driver being pursued by police in the previous week: -
"In a report card prepared by her family,Caitlin scored an 0 (zero)* for being an outstanding daughter who was loyal and sensitive to her mother and enriched the family's life."
* is my addition.
One can only presume that the night editor who was viewing this copy must be falling asleep over his or her coffee to have missed this. No doubt the family of the child will be horrified by this statement. I think that it should have said that she scored a 10 in her report card but the article is so badly written over all that it is hard to be sure. Perhaps the paper really meant to say that she scored an "O" but if so, what does that mean.
Bloggers see it as one of their duties to detect very bad editorial errors in newspapers. I hope that this example is immediately corrected.
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Comment by Ahmed
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Comment by spain01
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Comment by katyzzz
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I don't think Ahmed realises the absolute heartache that the death of a child causes.
One day he'll learn. It was a serious error on such a heartrending occasion.
katyzzz.... good to see you around again.
Comment by LaurenD
It's not really a newspaper. It's the product of 100 monkeys chained to 100 typewriters. High on Smarties and cocaine.
LaurenD
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
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Comment by spain01
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As Lauren and Katyzz suggest, reading Australian newspapers can be a painful experience for many.
Comment by Lilla
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Since moving to Queensland I read the Australian because I cannot stomache the CM... now I know why... it's in the subtext of monkeys high on all that junk....*chuckling ironically*
but seriously, spain01, have you (or anyone else) written to the ed. to outline this horrible mistake?
Comment by Ahmed
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I used to read 'The Age' and very rarely read the 'Herald Sun', never the courier mail, but sounds closer to the herald sun than anything else.
Like alway though mistakes do happen, heartache or not a mistake like this is black and white, to be upset over it is to read a little bit too much into it. I doubt the family will be reading the paper anyway.
Comment by Anonymous
Grammatical and typographical errors are one thing I find distasteful with the print Media but insensitivity trumps them.
Next time you care to point the mistakes of others out I'd suggest you think about the sensitivity of those who played no part in a newspapers error.
Was it really necessary to show a picture of a coffin to highlight a typographical error?
Comment by Robert V
However, I think you're misguided in chiding the writer on how "grave" it is. Severity and noticeability are two very different things. A decimal place being off in a number, for example, is a huge error, but once you know in your head what the correct number is it's easy to read the wrong number as the right one. Same for 0 and 10. There are much less harmful errors that would be much easier to catch.
By the way, did you transcribe "an 0" correctly? If so it almost looks like it was meant to be "an A," but A is close to neither O nor 0. (And if not that just shows how easy it is to screw up a minor detail!)
Reporters learn to go over their stories, making sure they are 100 percent positive on all the facts. At my journalism school, for example, you got an F on any story with a factual error or proper name misspelling. But in the real world, deadlines hit you and on occasion errors, usually trivial ones, slip through.
Just this summer I interned at a paper, and some of my own stories ended up with mistakes in them. I called a boat the "Paradise" when it was really the "Pair-A-Dice." I used a business's mailing address instead of proper location when telling readers where it was. And my "99.9999 percent" got edited to "almost 99.9 percent" in print. We ran corrections on all three, but give us some credit -- we churn out copy constantly, and sometimes things slip through. In the end I was disappointed with myself for a rather high correction count in three months, but I think my experience does show that a certain understanding is in order.
Comment by spain01
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I am also interested in the invocation by those who work on newspapers that we should show a little understanding and sympathy for them. While it is generally accepted that "we all make mistakes" I am yet to see a sympathetic news article about a prominant person who has made a mistake.
Comment by Robert V
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Robert V
"In a report card prepared by her family, Caitlin scored an O for being an outstanding daughter who was loyal and sensitive to her mother and enriched the family's life."
O, not 0. For "outstanding." No typo.
A Brisbane blogger, however, did make a shocking error, falsely accusing a reporter of kicking grieving parents when they were down.
See what I mean by how easy it is for little problems to slip through? Though I have to admit I've never based an entire story or even blog post on a complete fabrication.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/wireless/story/0,22282,3102-20925293,00.html
Comment by Ahmed
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The blogger didn't know exactly what 'O' would have meant... dunno if you'd consider that a defence but at least all aspects were taken into account.
Comment by spain01
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Comment by Robert V
The very next sentence in the story says she got an "E" in handwriting -- without, this time, saying what the letter means.
So admittedly, the whole thing could have been written more clearly. I personally would have put the word "outstanding" in quotations to make it clear the "O" and the "outstanding" were linked. And of course I'd have told readers what "E" meant or left it out entirely.
But it wasn't an error at all, much less a "shocking" one. Just sub-optimal writing.
After the comment "No doubt the family of the child will be horrified by this statement" and the demand "I hope that this example is immediately corrected," I think an apology is in order.
Comment by Anonymous
I don't want to upset anyone, but it wasn't an editorial mistake. The 'O' was not a zero. It was actually an O for 'outstanding'. As a relative, I was there during the service in which a eulogy was presented in the form of a report card. Caitlin recieved many O's for outstanding as she was an exceptionally beautiful & gifted person in every way. Whilst I will be the first to admit that the Courier Mail has made many mistakes, the 'Outstanding O's' they published were very much reflective (and highly deserved) of Caitlin and were a great comfort to the family.
Comment by Anonymous
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