For years, professional journalists have touted their superiority by noting that they have fact-checkers and editors (which is barely true in many publications today, but that’s another issue). This correction in the Toronto Star yesterday, however, shows that even publications that have editors and fact-checkers maybe aren’t worth the paper they produce each day:
News corrections for May 11
An excerpt from veteran journalist Marci McDonald’s new book, The Armageddon Factor, which was published in the Star May 8, incorrectly stated that the Calgary-based Canadian Constitution Foundation is a Christian advocacy group. In fact, the foundation is a non-partisan group that defends constitutional freedoms through education and litigation. This error, in the article and photo caption, is not contained in the book but was inserted by the Star.
So someone at the paper added an error to a book excerpt. I no longer expect journalists to know what they are talking about when reporting on the conservative movement and issues, because to many of them we are all part of one large blob of right-wing fanaticism. But getting elementary facts correct matters because most people get their impression of people and organizations through media characterizations. It is a huge disservice not only to those they are reporting on but to the public the media to serves when such sloppy and lazy journalism makes the pages of the paper.
