Carlos Carmonamedina for NPR Public Editor
Carlos Carmonamedina for NPR Public Editor
Corrections are a critical part of the news process. Today, in response to a listener letter, we looked at an error that wasn’t clearly addressed.
You can’t produce a steady stream of news without making mistakes. When newsrooms explain their mistakes to the public, studies show, they generate trust. Additionally, describing and fixing errors also helps journalists learn more about what went wrong with the reporting and production process, making it less likely that the failure will happen again.
Most of the time NPR does a much better job with proofreading than many other newsrooms. NPR policy requires correction of all errors. The software they use to publish content online has a feature that adds corrections to stories. And all the corrections are listed on a single page, each one explaining the error and relating to the story in question. This comprehensive system for admitting and explaining errors is a model for other newsrooms. We often wonder why it is not more widely adopted.
But as we looked into this bug that was caught by a listener, we discovered a flaw in NPR’s process. Read on to learn what we learned and see our recommendation to make the corrections process even better.
We also highlight two great stories, one about a wave of anger sweeping American workers and another about the retirement of a legendary baseball announcer for the LA Dodgers.
FROM INBOX
Here are some quotes from the Public Editor’s inbox that resonated with us. Letters are edited for length and clarity. You can share your questions and concerns with us through NPR contact page.
A news show that needs correction
Sean Kinane wrote on October 13: I thought I heard NPR headlines that simply said the jury recommended the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz. Did I hear that correctly, because my understanding is that it has not been announced. 11:01 a.m. ET. Are you going to issue a correction [to] this news?
Our team listened to the news show in question, which aired on October 13 at 11:00 AM. In it, NPR news anchor Korva Coleman said, “A Florida jury has just recommended the death penalty for the gunman in a mass school shooting. Nikolas Cruz admitted he shot and killed 17 people at Marjory High School Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
This was incorrect. The jury recommended life in prison for Cruz.
Robert Garcia, executive producer of NPR newscasts, said there was uncertainty at the time and a cable service on which NPR depends was wrong.
“To my knowledge, the 11:00 a.m. newscast occurred as the verdicts were being announced and there was considerable confusion as the court clerk read them out, including a report from a major television service that there had been a verdict of guilty with death for one of matters,” he said in an email. “After the 11:00 newscast, at 11:20 a.m., one of our manufacturers removed us from the cell service report.”
According to Garcia, the erroneous report came from Reuters. Searching for Reuters tweets on the court decision, we found one with a correction posted shortly after 11 a.m. that Thursday.
“By 11:45 a.m., the whole verdict was in and it was clear and the newscast was right at noon with the life sentence,” Garcia said.
News anchor Lakshmi Singh reported the exact information at 12 p.m., saying, “A Florida jury is recommending that the gunman behind the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland school should spend the rest of his life in prison”.
Garcia said a correction was not issued by midday “because at the time before the news broke, we were still unsure which part of the Reuters report was wrong and why.”
“At noon we accurately reported the sentencing decision and we regret that at that time we did not have the clarity to make an informed correction,” he said.
News provides a quick look at a handful of headlines. In this case the cable service made the mistake and NPR broadcast it to its audience. However, it would have been helpful and appropriate to issue an official correction.
In fact, NPR has a robust and transparent corrections page for marking most errors. However, errors that occur in news broadcasts are not cataloged. Why is she? Because newscasts are ephemeral. They live online for a short time and then disappear.
In most cases, errors in newscasts are corrected in the next newscast, which is the most likely place to catch listeners who heard the error. But that didn’t happen this time. There is no reason why the same errors should not be noted on the debug page. It would be a second place for listeners to turn to when they suspect they have heard incorrect information. – Amaris Castillo
ON THE NIGHTMARE OF OBSERVATION
The Public Editor spends a lot of time examining the moments when NPR failed. However, we also learn a lot about NPR by watching work that we see as compelling and excellent journalism. Here we share a line or two about the parts where NPR shines.
Productivity and economy
Employers have many metrics for measuring employee productivity within their organizations. But what does this productivity, or lack thereof, mean for the U.S. economy when you holistically consider everyone in the workforce together? In a recent story, NPR’s Stacey Vanek Smith explored how productivity is measured as an economic indicator. The piece offers a worker’s perspective and the thoughts of economists to help explain the ennui looming over the labor market. – Emily Barske
Farewell to a veteran sports broadcaster
Morning edition host A Martínez brought listeners an excellent profile of Jaime Jarrín, the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1959. At age 86, the radio play-by-play broadcaster is retiring. His last game was Saturday, when the Dodgers lost their third game to the San Diego Padres, ending their season. Martínez took listeners back to Jarrín’s childhood in Ecuador, where he fell in love with radio at age 10. It is clear that the journalists behind this story have crafted it with nuance and care. – Amaris Castillo
The Office of the Public Editor is a team. Editor Kayla Randall, reporters Amaris Castillo and Emily Barske, and copy editor Merrill Perlman make this newsletter possible. Illustrations are by Carlos Carmonamedina. We are still reading all your messages Facebook, I tweet AND from our inbox. As always, keep them coming.
Kelly McBride
NPR Public Editor
Chair, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute
