#regret the error

[mariopgrant]

The Washington Post Has Your Correction of the Week

#FortressAmerica Yesterday, the Washington Post published an op-ed by a former FBI official who argued, as the headline puts it, that "Apple and Google's new encryption rules will make law enforcement's job much harder." Today, it added an editor's note that suggested precisely the opposite. Read more... http://bit.ly/1xghKt4

[mariopgrant]

Media Critic Calls Chris Hayes Sexist for "Girl Talk" Reference

#FortressAmerica Mark Finkelstein, a NewsBusters editor dedicated to "COMBATING LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS" who "spent ten days in Iraq" once, has a scoop: MSNBC host Chris Hayes was really sexist on the air last night. Which is true, if you don't know who Girl Talk is. Mark Finkelstein does not know who Girl Talk is. Read more... http://bit.ly/1r9PyVq

[omgponiez]

Regret the error.

[poynterinstitute]

Famed investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently gave an interview to the Guardian that contained a string of highly quotable statements.

For example, Hersh said that the fix for American journalism would be to  ”close down the news bureaus of the networks and let’s start all over, tabula rasa. The majors, NBCs, ABCs, they won’t like this – just do something different, do something that gets people mad at you, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”

But it was his comment about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden that got many folks, including the Daily Mail, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and the New York Daily News, among others, to write up his comments. (The social media buttons on the Guardian piece shows that it was shared close to 35,000 times on Facebook and tweeted almost 5,000 times.)

(story continues)

Another story in Craig Silverman's Regret the Error column mentions the hot interview Guardian did with Seymour Hersh that got tongues wagging. Turns out there was a correction about the quote many news organizations jumped on initially. Hersh isn't refuting that Osama bin Laden was killed. Read on to figure out what he was trying to say.

[poynterinstitute]

Here’s a rare one: a journalist at the Toronto Star plagiarized an article that was published in … the Toronto Star.

And the rarities kept coming: after the plagiarism was revealed in a note on the offending piece, the … 

Read more

Craig Silverman adds another installment in his Regret the Error column, this time about a Toronto Star reporter plagiarizing another Toronto Star reporter! 

[poynterinstitute]

Political journalist Mark Leibovich’s new book, “This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral–Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!–in America’s Gilded Capital”, is an insider’s look at the workings of Washington. It’s also the cause of a delicious correction in The Forward, involving Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and a Christmas ham. (story continues)

Craig Silverman wrote about a correction in the The Forward that clarified the Israeli Ambassador did not eat the Christmas ham. Poynter's Twitter followers loved the article; if you missed it last week, read it here.

[omgponiez]

An earlier version of the Carlos Danger Name Generator suggested incorrectly that the Carlos Danger Name for Anthony Weiner is Armando Catastrophe. The Carlos Danger Name for Anthony Weiner is Carlos Danger.

a Slate correction that I will love forever, even when I forget what any of this means

[jhult-blog]

Actually, no one is going to prison for animal cruelty. This is South Dakota, remember?

Sometimes reporters make mistakes. I've made my share. But I saw one yesterday that jumped out of the screen at me and begged for a correction.

KOTA-TV in Rapid City reported that Donald and Terry Harwood are facing 10 years in prison for animal cruelty. They were charged with 10 counts of inhumane treatment of animals for the alleged maltreatment of horses on a Pennington County farm.

KOTA said the men could get 10 years in prison. The Associated Press picked it up and sent out the same story, which meant everyone picked it up. Including us.

Here’s the problem: No one goes to prison for animal cruelty in South Dakota.

These guys won’t either, according to Pennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Patrick Grode, who's prosecuting the case and this morning confirmed what I already knew: That the men could go to jail for 10 years – one year for each horse – but not prison.

Why did I know this right away?

Well, because South Dakota has the dubious distinction of being the only state in the nation without felony penalties for animal cruelty. We used to be one of a handful of states, but as of this year, we’re the last one in which no act of animal cruelty is considered bad enough to deserve a prison sentence.

I’ve written a lot of stories about efforts to pass felony animal cruelty laws in Pierre. Ag interests are worried that any law would end up unfairly penalizing routine farm practices, regardless of how the law is written or how many assurances they get from supporters.

Legislators have always sided with the ag folks on the issue. 

At some point, I imagine the activists will return, this time armed with the “we’re the only one without this” argument. Maybe they’ll reference the Pennington County case. Who knows?

One thing is for certain, however: Regardless of how poorly the Harwoods handled their horses, they won't be going to prison for animal cruelty.