Retractions in Review

By Jamie Bradburn

To err is human. To point out the erring may not be divine, but somebody’s got to do it.
Media outlets strive for accuracy, but nobody’s perfect (we know—we’re not immune to a boo-boo or two). For the fifth year in a row, Regret the Error editor Craig Silverman has posted a list of the funniest, most outrageous, and mind-boggling print and online media errors and corrections from the past 12 months. This year’s picks range from editors who maintain a good sense of humour about their mistakes to publications whose credibility fell below the Weekly World News.
While last year’s list saw the Star get knocked around, 2008’s tally sees the Sun earn two mentions for misidentifications: “A photo on Pg. 5 in the Friday edition identified fraud victim Richard Rand as the man guilty of 190 counts of fraud. The Sun apologizes to Mr. Rand for any embarrassment this may have caused.” And: “On page 14 yesterday, the Sun mistakenly identified Margherita Gervasi as a stripper. She is a waitress and bartender. The Sun regrets the error.”
The other Toronto contribution is courtesy of the National Post, who might have been wise to conduct further testing on a certain product before passing judgement: “There is no documented evidence to suggest dance poles sold at Condom Shack cannot bear the weight of a user. An unsubstantiated claim appeared in a Post Homes feature on Saturday.”
Photo by christopher.woo from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.