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Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech
Winner of the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism! From Craig Silverman, proprietor of www.RegretTheError.com, comes a lively journey through the history of media mistakes via a chronicle of funny, shocking, and often disturbing journalistic slip-ups. The errors—running the gamut from hilarious to tragic—include “Fuzzy Numbers” (when numbers and math undermine reporting) “Obiticide” (printing the obituary of a living person), and “Unintended Consequences” (typos and misidentifications that create a new, incorrect reality). While some of the errors are laugh-out-loud funny, the book also offers a serious investigation of contemporary journalism’s lack of accountability to the public, and a rousing call to arms for all news organizations to mend their ways and reclaim the role of the press as honest voice of the people.
366 pages, Paperback
First published October 23, 2007
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222 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 19, 2021
As someone who spent most of his adult life in a small-town newspaper office -- and who accordingly knows how easy it is to make mistakes (and how difficult it is to correct them properly) -- I found this book fascinating. I would say it's a wake-up call that's worth the while of anyone in the news business, from newsmakers to news reporters to news consumers... but it was written 14 years ago and, while Mr. Silverman obviously held out hope that things were looking up, my feeling is that the situation has only worsened. I know plenty of people who still don't trust what they read, hear, and see in the media unless it fits nicely into their own expectations. It could still change, but I won't hold my breath. Until then, some of the anecdotes remain amusing and, occasionally, astonishing.
June 8, 2012
Mr. Silverman is serious about mistakes. His website, www.regrettheerror.com, has been cataloging errors in the news media since 2004. His book, also titled Regret the Error, traces the history of flubs and corrections in the news from the earliest written accounts to modern times, highlights the challenges and pitfalls of accurate news reporting, and suggests adjustments to the industry's approach and processes that would reduce the number of errors that are published and raise the public's level of trust in the media. As Mr. Silverman states in his introduction, “In journalism, nothing is possible without trust.” Paradoxically, he claims the best way to earn that trust is to forthrightly acknowledge and correct mistakes: “the more corrections a paper prints, the more it deserves to be trusted.”
Differentiating between “slips,” or unintentional errors such as misspellings or typos, and “mistakes,” which result from “conscious action and thought,” Mr. Silverman nevertheless declares that there are simply too many preventable errors in the news disseminated by well-known and trusted sources. While “the public has a threshold for error” and “a capacity for forgiveness for an error,” consistent, egregious mistakes, especially without sufficient acknowledgement or expression of regret, undermine the public's trust in the source. Ultimately, he says, “we are polluting the information stream and, as a result, free speech and democracy itself.” That's a heavy charge, but one that Mr. Silverman doesn't make lightly.
Background stories about some of the most famous news errors are included in Regret the Error, including the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, the mistakes made by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein while reporting on the Watergate scandal, and more recently, “Rather-gate.” Mr. Silverman also covers the damage which “malicious journalists” who deliberately plagiarize or fabricate sources, facts, and stories do, and the confusion that can result when pre-written obituaries of celebrities are published prematurely.
Embracing the change that technology and the Internet has brought to the new industry, Mr. Silverman lauds the “army of citizen journalists” – readers, bloggers, retirees, experts, average people – who fact-check, provide additional information and perspective, and hold the news media accountable for errors. As more news is disseminated online, it is vital that newspapers, broadcast media, and magazines incorporate the Internet into their corrections policy, if only to prevent incorrect information from being enshrined as “fact” indefinitely.
Of course, media errors and corrections are also a rich source of humor, too, and Mr. Silverman mines some delightful gems in Regret the Error. I'll end with a few of my favorites:
From the Daily Mail (UK): “Mr Smith said in court, 'I am terribly sorry. I have a dull life and I suddenly wanted to break away.' He did not say, as we reported erroneously, 'I have a dull wife and I suddenly wanted to break away.' We apologise to Mr Smith, and to Mrs Smith.”
From the Sacramento Bee: “Sunday's Metro Page B8 weather report may have led readers to believe global warming had assaulted Roseville with a high of 705 degrees. While it certainly was hot Saturday, that temperature was obviously incorrect. The correct high temperature was 104 degrees.”
From The Guardian (UK): “We spelt Morecambe, the town in Lancashire, wrong again on page 2, G2, yesterday. We often do.”
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Differentiating between “slips,” or unintentional errors such as misspellings or typos, and “mistakes,” which result from “conscious action and thought,” Mr. Silverman nevertheless declares that there are simply too many preventable errors in the news disseminated by well-known and trusted sources. While “the public has a threshold for error” and “a capacity for forgiveness for an error,” consistent, egregious mistakes, especially without sufficient acknowledgement or expression of regret, undermine the public's trust in the source. Ultimately, he says, “we are polluting the information stream and, as a result, free speech and democracy itself.” That's a heavy charge, but one that Mr. Silverman doesn't make lightly.
Background stories about some of the most famous news errors are included in Regret the Error, including the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, the mistakes made by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein while reporting on the Watergate scandal, and more recently, “Rather-gate.” Mr. Silverman also covers the damage which “malicious journalists” who deliberately plagiarize or fabricate sources, facts, and stories do, and the confusion that can result when pre-written obituaries of celebrities are published prematurely.
Embracing the change that technology and the Internet has brought to the new industry, Mr. Silverman lauds the “army of citizen journalists” – readers, bloggers, retirees, experts, average people – who fact-check, provide additional information and perspective, and hold the news media accountable for errors. As more news is disseminated online, it is vital that newspapers, broadcast media, and magazines incorporate the Internet into their corrections policy, if only to prevent incorrect information from being enshrined as “fact” indefinitely.
Of course, media errors and corrections are also a rich source of humor, too, and Mr. Silverman mines some delightful gems in Regret the Error. I'll end with a few of my favorites:
From the Daily Mail (UK): “Mr Smith said in court, 'I am terribly sorry. I have a dull life and I suddenly wanted to break away.' He did not say, as we reported erroneously, 'I have a dull wife and I suddenly wanted to break away.' We apologise to Mr Smith, and to Mrs Smith.”
From the Sacramento Bee: “Sunday's Metro Page B8 weather report may have led readers to believe global warming had assaulted Roseville with a high of 705 degrees. While it certainly was hot Saturday, that temperature was obviously incorrect. The correct high temperature was 104 degrees.”
From The Guardian (UK): “We spelt Morecambe, the town in Lancashire, wrong again on page 2, G2, yesterday. We often do.”
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
April 11, 2013
"To err is human; to forgive, divine."
Mass media, comprised and operated by people, will always be prone to mistakes. The issue here is how media practitioners mitigate the occurrence of these errors before it hits the press, and how they acknowledge it when it gets printed/published.
Like what Craig Silverman says in the book, "In a time of unprecedented news options for consumers, they will inevitably flock toward the sources they feel are the most trustworthy, the most accurate."
Credibility may be lessened when news outlets own up to its mistakes, but it would prove to be just a minor "drop" when it strives for accuracy in its past and present outputs. Admission and correction of mistakes actually build up a news outlet's stock as a trustworthy and accurate source.
On the other hand, people can only forgive to an extent. Readers will feel "betrayed" when news outlets continue to make errors, thinking that readers would forgive them anyway after posting a correction. When there are no processes in place to lessen the occurrence of mistakes, readers get turned off, then they start distrusting news sources. This, in turn, would slowly destroy the news industry, until the role of the "Fourth Estate" means nothing anymore.
Mr. Silverman is truly passionate in his mission to have regular fact-checking and other accuracy procedures implemented across all forms of mass media. He is also humble enough to share his past failings in a "litany of his own incompetence" in the Afterword.
This book was a nice "pep talk" before I become a media practitioner myself in a few days.
Mass media, comprised and operated by people, will always be prone to mistakes. The issue here is how media practitioners mitigate the occurrence of these errors before it hits the press, and how they acknowledge it when it gets printed/published.
Like what Craig Silverman says in the book, "In a time of unprecedented news options for consumers, they will inevitably flock toward the sources they feel are the most trustworthy, the most accurate."
Credibility may be lessened when news outlets own up to its mistakes, but it would prove to be just a minor "drop" when it strives for accuracy in its past and present outputs. Admission and correction of mistakes actually build up a news outlet's stock as a trustworthy and accurate source.
On the other hand, people can only forgive to an extent. Readers will feel "betrayed" when news outlets continue to make errors, thinking that readers would forgive them anyway after posting a correction. When there are no processes in place to lessen the occurrence of mistakes, readers get turned off, then they start distrusting news sources. This, in turn, would slowly destroy the news industry, until the role of the "Fourth Estate" means nothing anymore.
Mr. Silverman is truly passionate in his mission to have regular fact-checking and other accuracy procedures implemented across all forms of mass media. He is also humble enough to share his past failings in a "litany of his own incompetence" in the Afterword.
This book was a nice "pep talk" before I become a media practitioner myself in a few days.
January 10, 2017
Initially, I thought that this was going to be a funny book -- a compendium of silly mistakes made by the press, and nothing more. It was that, but it was also a serious discussion of the reason WHY it is important for the press to be more careful of their facts, and why even small, seemingly innocuous errors hurt the reputation of the press, why errors are more common now than they were 30 years ago, and how the process could be changed to minimize the frequency of errors. This leaves me with a difficult decision in rating the book; it wasn't as much FUN as I'd expected it to be, but only because it was more serious and worthwhile, ultimately. So I still rate it five stars, because I can't see downgrading its rating for being a better book than I'd anticipated, but if all you're looking for is funny stories about silly errors, it may not be what you're looking for.
August 11, 2013
Journalist Craig Silverman has kept his fan base of eagle-eyed readers and media critics chuckling for years with his blog "Regret the Error," an ode to the media correction. He does the same with his first book based on his hugely successful blog.
However, Silverman digs deeper in "Regret the Error: How media mistakes pollute the press and imperil free speech." He outlines some of the most common media errors, such as names, typos and numbers, but he also suggests how these mistakes are increasingly happening due to greater reliance on technology and the growing loss of copy editors and fact checkers. He also explores the changing environment in newsrooms where online-first has become the mantra and often unfortunately leads to clumsy mistakes.
While Silverman's book is a great primer for readers unfamiliar with some of the challenges faced by the news process, I, as a reporter, found his book a bit unbalanced. He devotes 13 of the book's 14 chapters to outlining all the mistakes and challenges faced in news reporting. He only spends a single chapter offering some suggestions on how to improve error-prone newsrooms. Some of his suggestions, like employing an ombudsman to track errors, is simply unfathomable for cash-strapped smaller newsrooms. Others like running corrections on the front page just wouldn't fly with major media corporations.
Also, I don't think Silverman devoted enough attention to television and radio journalism. In my experience, some of the biggest errors come from broadcasters who don't do enough of their own reporting before throwing a story together online and on the air waves.
Overall, I did find Silverman's "Regret the Error" a fascinating and laudable read. He hits the nail right on the head on several topics, such as newsrooms needing to move away from viewing corrections as the ultimate sin and instead start viewing stories as works in progress that need to be updated constantly. Silverman rightly states that taking ownership of errors is one of the ways to rebuild trust in the media and hopefully save the industry.
However, I wish Silverman had devoted more of his book to celebrating some of the journalistic achievements accomplished in the wake of budget cuts and constant layoffs. I still believe most journalists are turning out the best products they can under enormous pressure.
However, Silverman digs deeper in "Regret the Error: How media mistakes pollute the press and imperil free speech." He outlines some of the most common media errors, such as names, typos and numbers, but he also suggests how these mistakes are increasingly happening due to greater reliance on technology and the growing loss of copy editors and fact checkers. He also explores the changing environment in newsrooms where online-first has become the mantra and often unfortunately leads to clumsy mistakes.
While Silverman's book is a great primer for readers unfamiliar with some of the challenges faced by the news process, I, as a reporter, found his book a bit unbalanced. He devotes 13 of the book's 14 chapters to outlining all the mistakes and challenges faced in news reporting. He only spends a single chapter offering some suggestions on how to improve error-prone newsrooms. Some of his suggestions, like employing an ombudsman to track errors, is simply unfathomable for cash-strapped smaller newsrooms. Others like running corrections on the front page just wouldn't fly with major media corporations.
Also, I don't think Silverman devoted enough attention to television and radio journalism. In my experience, some of the biggest errors come from broadcasters who don't do enough of their own reporting before throwing a story together online and on the air waves.
Overall, I did find Silverman's "Regret the Error" a fascinating and laudable read. He hits the nail right on the head on several topics, such as newsrooms needing to move away from viewing corrections as the ultimate sin and instead start viewing stories as works in progress that need to be updated constantly. Silverman rightly states that taking ownership of errors is one of the ways to rebuild trust in the media and hopefully save the industry.
However, I wish Silverman had devoted more of his book to celebrating some of the journalistic achievements accomplished in the wake of budget cuts and constant layoffs. I still believe most journalists are turning out the best products they can under enormous pressure.
March 22, 2008
This book talks about mistakes that occur in the media, and their impact on the way people regard the press. Sometimes I was horrified, sometimes I was laughing out loud at the absurdity of the corrections. It's a very thorough book, and I learned a lot about the history of journalism and journalistic error as well.
Food for thought. I think this should be read by every journalist and every journalism student.
Food for thought. I think this should be read by every journalist and every journalism student.
January 5, 2009
While this is a fascinating and funny tour through the media's error-laden history, it's also far too self-satisfied and preachy for my taste. By page 30 I was already rolling my eyes at the "For shame, New York Times!" rhetoric...
Still, though, the compilation of research that went into this - and, indeed, Silverman's entire error database - is admirable , and the points he raises about the declining importance of accuracy in the MSM are important.
Still, though, the compilation of research that went into this - and, indeed, Silverman's entire error database - is admirable , and the points he raises about the declining importance of accuracy in the MSM are important.
February 25, 2013
this book, if it isn't already, should be taught in every journalism class from the high school level all the way through college. If you are interested in journalism, the news, magazines, etc. it's a must read.
Want to read
February 18, 2008Come on, the title alone should clue everyone in to why I want to read it....darn media.
August 19, 2013
Craig Silverman has a cogent critique of media missteps in Regret the Error. Plagiarism, obituary misidentifications and factual gaffes plague the media and hurt credibility.
March 31, 2015
Excellent critical introduction of the history, politics, and rhetoric of the U.S. news business.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews