Regrets, They Have A Few

Craig Silverman, author of Regret the Error, has published his annual compendium of errors and corrections in global print and online media, and it's a doozy.

Culprits are fairly evenly dispersed, with errors from America (Obama? Osama?), the UK, Australia and Russia all figuring prominently. But don't fear! Southern Ontario media did us proud by contributing their fair share.

The Toronto Star makes the list—twice. And both about the happy subject of death!

A Nov. 19 article about a new study indicating that Detroit is the most dangerous U.S. city incorrectly stated that Detroit has seen nearly one million people killed since 1950. In fact, that number represents the overall decline in Detroit’s population since 1950, not the number of people killed. The Star regrets the error.

and

Wednesday’s story about Canada's Walk of Fame inductees incorrectly referred to 'the late Morley Safer.' Safer is alive and continues to file stories as a 60 Minutes correspondent. The Star regrets the error.

Torontoist's suggested new slogan for the Star? "We see dead people."

Other southern Ontario media get mentioned too. Fashion Magazine retracts calling one Gene Futon a "former prostitute." Woodstock's Sentinel-Review apologizes for misstating a man's motives for going to Afghanistan: it turned out that he wanted to "gain life experience to become a police officer" rather than "shoot guns and blow things up." And the Mississauga News suggested that a protest by Caledonia residents caused a traffic jam on the QEW—until it realized that the protest was not actually scheduled until the following day.

See the full list here.

Thanks to The Morning News for the tip. Photo by spotmaticfanatic from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.