Columbus Dispatch Compounds Their Error

Sometimes news organizations make mistakes when their fact-checking results don't measure up with our expectations or their own policies.

It's an imperfect world - screws fall out.

Why is it so hard for the Columbus Dispatch to admit that not only did they not do a good job in validating information prior to publication, but that they may have screwed a small business owner in the process?

I share with you the email sent to Benjamin Marrison in response to his Sunday commentary on November 15, 2009.

Mr. Marrison,

Your Sunday column, Incensed caller had valid beef, shines a bright light on one of the fundamental misunderstandings of newspaper executives today.

It's not about you.

And by you, I mean your publication.

The reason journalists are expected to get it right isn't because "We know errors damage our credibility, our main currency, and we work very hard to avoid them." It's because real and sometimes permanent harm can result when you're wrong.

Your attempts to verify were insufficient because you ended up with an error? Hardly. Why not discard the lawyer-speak and simply say you were wrong because you reported something that wasn't true?

You point out that you have a process that includes multiple layers of review meant to ferret out inaccurate information, but if everyone puts their mark in the same faulty check box, where's the value?

Jeff Turnbull has every reason to be upset with your reporting, but the more egregious error is your response.

As the newspaper business circles the drain and resources dwindle, it may become even more difficult for reporters and editors to perform rudimentary fact-checking with the rigor that's required. That's a sad fact of business.

Let's hope this appalling attitude of entitlement and self-importance dies along the way. The greater tragedy would be if it simply hitches a ride to another medium.

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