KATHRYN SCHULTZ OF TIME MAGAZINE ON "WHY JOURNALISTS GET THE BIG THINGS WRONG!"

Reporter Kathryn Schultz of Time Magazine reports as follows:

"On the Fourth of July, 2004, the daily newspaper of Lexington, Ky., issued an unusual correction. "It has come to the editor's attention," the notice began, "that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission." 

What I relish about this "correction" — which appeared on the front page and continued for 2,000 words — is how concisely it illustrates two fundamental problems of journalism. First, sometimes, we get the story wrong in ways so sweeping and consequential that they laughably exceed the capacity of the errata section. Second, we don't have effective tools for dealing with these large-scale mistakes..."

For more on this issue, please click on the link below:

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2032304_2032746_2033037,00.html