With breaking news on high-profile events or people, errors both big and small often occur. The sudden tragic death of Kobe Bryant and eight others in a helicopter crash this weekend was no exception.
Below, iMediaEthics is collecting corrections and editor’s notes appended to news reports about the crash and deaths. We will update this list:
KXAN corrected the number of killed:
“Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story reported five people were killed in the helicopter crash.“
Vox posted this correction:
“Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of passengers initially reported to have been killed in the crash. We regret the error.”
Massachusetts Live’s correction:
“EDITORS NOTE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly called Gianna the Bryants’ oldest daughter. She was their second-oldest daughter. MassLive regrets the error.“
Clutch Points’s editor’s note:
“Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note the tragic death of Kobe’s daughter GiGi in the crash after initial reports suggested all four of Kobe’s daughters were safe. “
Esquire’s editor’s note:
“Editor’s Note: Bryant won five championships, not three, and scored 60 points in his final game. We regret the errors.“
The New York Times’ correction on Jan. 28:
“An article on Sunday about Kobe Bryant’s legacy with the Los Angeles Lakers described incorrectly LeBron James’s team affiliation at the time of Mr. Bryant’s Oscar acceptance speech in March 2018. James was in his final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers; he was not “already a Laker.”
Temple-News’ correction:
“CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Gianna Bryant is Kobe Bryant’s oldest daughter. She is his second-oldest daughter.”
ABC News aired correction after wrongly reporting all four of Bryant’s daughters were on the helicopter. ABC News later suspended correspondent Matt Gutman for the inaccurate claim.
Florida TV news station WPLG tweeted the same mistake about all of Bryant’s daughters but didn’t post a correction.
The BBC apologized after showing footage of LeBron James during its report on Bryant’s death.
The New York Times’s Feb. 4 correction:
“Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about the helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant and eight others described incorrectly the minimum visibility requirements for flight under federal visual flight rules. They require a helicopter flying at low altitude in daylight to have at least a half-mile of visibility and visual reference to the ground, not at least three miles of visibility and a cloud ceiling no lower than 1,000 feet above the ground.”
iMediaEthics will update this as we come across further errors. Send tips to info@asrlab.org.
UPDATED: 2/4/2020