Top 10 Corrections of 2016

by Sydney Smith December 23, 2016 09:02 AM EST

(Credit: Pixabay)

It’s time for iMediaEthics’ annual top 10 corrections from 2016. Last year, we published the Top 10 News Errors from 2015 and the Top 10 Political Reporting Errors of the Year.

10. Looking through Google searches for the best corrections of the year, we came across this May correction from the New York Times. The Times wrongly said a Muslim leader used the Snapchat handle Pimpin4Paradise786. In reality, his Snapchat was just imamsuhaibwebb.

Best @nytimes correction ever. pic.twitter.com/HVRDOu05qk

— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) May 10, 2016

9. Wired replaced mentions of Donald Trump with the phrase “Someone with Tiny Hands” thanks to a Chrome extension. The March correction? “Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase ‘Someone With Tiny Hands’ when this story originally published.” (H/T Mother Jones)

8. Related, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz doesn’t own his domain: A correction we missed but saw on Poynter’s roundup this month. The BBC corrected after saying Cruz owned TedCruz.com. While it was a logical assumption, the website currently shows a picture of Hillary Clinton with the words, “First Woman President of the United States of America!!!”

CORRECTION: https://t.co/40Jby9Vxjf is NOT a site owned by Ted Cruz.

— BBC News US (@BBCNewsUS) January 29, 2016

7. Evelyn Waugh was a man: Time magazine forgot that Evelyn Waugh was the famed MALE novelist’s name and included him in a list of the “100 Most-Read Female Writers in College Classes.” The February correction read: “Correction: The original version of this story included Evelyn Waugh, who was a man.” (H/T The Spectator)

6. Goliath Plot Fail? The New York Times‘ television critic slammed the Amazon show Goliath because the plot didn’t make sense. The problem is the critic watched the show out of order. The correction: “A television review on Friday about the new Amazon series ‘Goliath’ included an inaccurate discussion of the show’s plot structure. The critic mistakenly watched the first two episodes out of order.” Read the story and the correction.

5. NYTimes Gets a Dog’s Name Wrong: The New York Times will correct some of the tiniest details, including a September correction of a dog’s name and breed. The correction is below, but check out the article here. “An article in some editions last Sunday about bars where dogs are still welcome inside in violation of New York City’s health code misidentified the breed of a dog visiting a bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He is a yellow Labrador, not a golden retriever. The article also omitted part of the dog’s name. He is Captain William Trigger of Ludlow, not Captain Trigger of Ludlow.”

4. ‘Streisand Sets the Record Straight’ or Does She? The New York Times published an article about Barbra Streisand and how she is “intent on correcting (the tiniest) errors about her in the press. The article itself was headlined, “Barbra Streisand Sets the Record Straight.” So you’d think the Times would be extra careful to not have any errors in that article. But, the Times ended up publishing a 159-word correction for date, spelling and name errors. Read the story and background.

3. Sorry I tased you? The Associated Press issued a correction on a unique story about a former Florida sheriff’s deputy and a woman he was accused of stun gunning. “The woman’s attorney says the deputy sent a photo of the cake, made by someone else, to the woman; the deputy did not bake the cake himself, as stated in the lawsuit,” the correction read. Read the story.

2. Fat kids getting stuck? Three UK news outlets, the Express, Mail and the Sun, corrected after falsely reporting that a playground was torn down because fat kids would get stuck inside one of its features. Read the story and corrections.

1. ISIS shaving bears? ISIS members are not shaving bears to avoid being caught or killed. NBC News, however, made a typo in a tweet and said ISIS fighters were. In fact, ISIS fighters were shaving their beards.