Headline Writing Assignment

Story 1- Juveniles admit to starting wildfire, face charges

This story concerns a wildfire that was started and caused 3.5 million dollars in damages. There was an investigation to who started the fire, but two juveniles admitted responsibility for starting the fire and will face charges in juvenile court. The names were not released because the young men are juveniles.

Story 2- Amendments to leash law rejected in City Council vote

This story concerns a City Council vote in regards to changes in a city leash law. There had been an upcry about loose dogs biting people around the city and nobody was being held responsible for the behavior of their pets. The new law would have given a maximum fine of $500 and five days in jail for dog owners whose dogs were loose and bit someone. A good point was made by John Simpson, one of the council members who said, "You don't stop dog biting by incarcerating the owners."

Boston Globe's Policy on Corrections

When searching the Boton Globe's online edition, I encountered the section on daily corrections. The Globe has a section of their site where they list corrections and also tell why each correction was necessary. The site also details why the mistake happened. There is no listed policy on corrections, but there is contact information given to allow readers to give input on mistakes and errors within the paper. The contact secion was as follows:

The Globe welcomes information about errors that call for corrections. Information may be sent to comments@globe.com or left in a telephone message at 617-929-8230.

Seems like its a common problem at the Globe which is rather surprising. For such a distinguished newspaper, you would think daily mistakes would be frowned upon?

Reign of Error - Mistakes are More Common then they Should be

In the article "Reign of Error" by Jack Shaffer, the author describes how poorly newspapers have been in correcting errors within their stories. Things such as names, ages and other important information are being reported incorrectly and an editor of the New York Times is calling the problem a 'cancer'. This is very surprising news to me because I would have thought mistakes on common information such as names would be very limited. I know when I write stories names and ages and hometowns are probably some of the easiest pieces of information to obtain.
It is argued that the availablility of corrections might cause the increase in reported corrections, but I go the other way and attribute it to negligence. I think many editors assume that names and other common information will be correct so they don't check that information as closely as grammar and AP style mistakes. Maybe it's time to take a step back and take a little more time to make sure the easy information is correct.

Westmoreland Foodland Evacuation Story in the Herald-Dispatch

On August 31, the Herald-Dispatch ran a story detailing the events that happened at the Westmoreland Foodland on Monday. Their were coins that were covered in a white substance and after employees came into contact with the coins, they were saying that they felt ill. The story had a questionable use of the word "approximately," when it stated that, "Apporximately five or six Foodland employees were decontaminated at the scene and transported to the hospital to treat their symptoms."
Just saying five or six employees would definitely have been sufficient. When the number is that low and the range is one number, approximately is not needed. If the the number of employees was 10-20, then maybe approximately could be used. It is important to be accurate and concise in journalism also. I don't think it would have been that difficult to find the exact number of employees, rather than saying five or six. If you can't come up with exact information, your credibility as a journalist will be in jeopardy.

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