American writer Lewis H. Lapham once said, "People expect too much of journalism. Not only do they expect it to be entertaining, they expect it to be true." It is no secret that our trusted news reports are often riddled with inaccuracies. Though journalists pride themselves on bringing the truth to the public's knowledge, truth is not always the case. A journalist's aim is to report facts, while being fair and accurate in their dealings. To err in a published piece of writing is looked at with shame and malice; however, it is a fact of life that man makes mistakes. Humans are fallible and by extension it is unlikely their work will be error free.
Craig Silverman, a Canadian journalist said, "one of the best ways to learn how to avoid errors is to make them in the first place." No journalist wants to be the one to make a mistake. It is not any one's desire to be labeled as someone incapable of accurate reporting; however, once a mistake is made it can be the most memorable lesson ever learned.
Take for example an error made in the Edmonton Journal on January 19, 2006. A story ran which incorrectly stated that more than a dozen friends and family members of accused killer Murry McClenaghan were in court for his trial. They were actually friends and family of victim Don Hanscom. A second example can be seen in the case of the Calgary Sun, when on December 20, 2009 it was reported that the Applewood Community Association was getting 4.2 million dollars for their recreational facilities. This statement was incorrect because Ottawa was in fact only giving them 421, 273 dollars. As a journalist, to make such mistakes would be regrettable. So much so that the next case that reporter covered, they would remember the error. It would serve as a constant reminder of how things should or should not be done. Silverman understands the need to err once and a while. He said, "You can't learn accuracy the way you learn to add and subtract. It's a process and a combination of learned behaviors, not a matter of memorization or motor memory." Learning to be accurate is important, but is making errors in a published newspaper the best way to get educated? The journalist may be learning, but it leaves the people reading their work with many questions. A wrongly reported fact can affect a person in the story far more than it will ever effect the writer of the inaccurate work.
For example, in the Toronto Sun on January 15, 2010 a photograph was published that incorrectly identified a person who has the same name as a dead drug dealer. The photo showed Shawn James, a social worker with UrbanPromise Toronto, a Christian-based community initiative working with children, youth and single mothers. He is very much alive and the error raised concern among the kids he works with at Thistletown Baptist Church. James "operates an after-school program for children at Kipling and Finch Aves. and he has no criminal background," wrote UrbanPromise executive director Brett McBride. The story, however, was about the trial for the accused killer of another man named Shawn "Juice" James, slain in 2007. One reporter's gross error left a man's integrity in question when his only shortfall had been having the same name as a criminal. The cost of a journalist's learning experience in this case was high: a commendable citizen's reputation has been questioned. Sadly, these mistakes happen; however, the journalist in question will surely never repeat such a mistake. Their lesson has been learned. It is an unfortunate fact that errors will continue to enter our news, but it is only the mark of hands on education for accurate reporting.
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