BLOG: Regret the Error

(www.regrettheerror.com)

Journalists beware: you’re being read. Prizewinners among 2008’s most cringe-worthy goof-ups the world over.

1. Epic organisational failure: Japan’s Mainichi Daily News had to be relaunched after admittedly publishing “inappropriate, unchecked” articles. Hopefully, headlines like “The nurse in Japan is lewder than the prostitute” will no longer appear.

2. Error of the Year: The Los Angeles Times laboured for six months on article about a 1994 gun attack on slain rapper Tupac Shakur, blaming it on rap star Sean “Diddy” Combs. The website The Smoking Gun, however, proved the documents used by the LAT were forged, forcing the paper to issue a retraction.

3. Typo: New Hampshire’s The Valley News misspelled its own name on the front-page.

4. Photo Error: “The Eastern Daily Press (UK) apologised after confusing the Bishop of Norwich with a serial killer known as the ‘Suffolk strangler’.

5. Correction of the Year: Humorist Dave Barry apologised for an error made in an article about badminton in The Miami Herald: “I correctly spelled Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak, Poompat Sapkulchananart and Porntip Buranapraseatsuk… by the time I got to Kevin Cordon, my fingers were exhausted.