Error watchdog blogs media (in)accuracy

By Geoff Rynex: To err is human, but that's not acceptable to freelance writer Craig Silverman, editor and founder of Regret The Error.

Established in late 2004, the blog-centric website runs selected corrections from North American print, online and television media outlets. Despite the efforts by the media to amend their work, Silverman finds that many of their corrections fail to really, well, correct.

"It really does drive me crazy. ... For the people who actually do make the effort to read the correction, to not give them the information that’s just logical and necessary, it’s something that I particularly find really frustrating," Silverman said.

The site also includes links to corrections and ombudsmen pages of major news outlets across North America, as well as a list of media that lack correction pages.

The corrections range from the amusing -- one paper mistakenly labeled one unlucky woman as a socialist instead of a socialite -- to more serious errors, such as those having to do with plagiarism.

Silverman said he hopes that Regret the Error will create an outcry among the online community and force the media to respond.

"The larger issue here is about making journalism better, and it’s about embracing the changes that are being brought forth by new technology, by new ways of scattering, and receiving, and disseminating information ... and to put out a better product," he said.

The amount of positive feedback from readers, especially those in the journalism community, has surprised Silverman somewhat. He said he had well over 100,000 visitors in about two weeks after he published a review of 2005 errors and corrections last December. Some of his colleagues at newspapers around North America even take the time to send him their corrections themselves.

"Talk to any journalist at any reputable publication or television station or radio station, and for them, getting it right is one of the things they’ll mention right away when they talk about their goals," Silverman said.

Next up for Silverman is a book slated for publication next year. It will highlight how accurate the media is and has been historically, and the most common kinds of errors and their possible unseen consequences.

After the book Silverman says he plans to expand the website to include more research and a possible collaboration with a journalism school.

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