Don’t you know what day it is?

It’s Friday! It’s also the 7th! But wait, the front page says it’s the 8th, but all the other pages are correct - how the heck did that happen?

The date is updated automatically on inside pages - one less thing to keep track of. However, the logo at the top of page one (the “flag”) is produced separately and mounted on the page as a graphic. It’s usually proofed by at least three people before going to press, and evidently, they all overlooked the date. Hey, we’re human, too.

Believe it or not, it’s incredibly easy to get confused about what day it is in the newsroom. In a story written today, “today” actually means tomorrow, because when the story runs tomorrow, “today” will actually be Saturday, and not Friday. Evidently, whoever put the date in the flag was thinking that if today is actually tomorrow, then tomorrow must be the day after tomorrow instead of the day after today.

Added @ 10:20 a.m.:

Setting the record straight

A discussion last night about when we run corrections continued at the news meeting this morning. The intro paragraph to Accuracy Watch asks readers to alert us to any “error of fact.” Yesterday’s intelligent design snafu was not technically an error of fact, so why should we run a correction?

Opinion page editor Doug Floyd said corrections let readers know we recognize and care about our mistakes, which we do. While we had some fun with the irony surrounding yesterday’s slip-up, the people directly responsible took it very seriously, and took the time to backtrack and pinpoint the cause of the error (it’s mind-numbingly technical, I won’t bore you with the details). So, a correction in this case not only serves the readers by giving them the missing portion of the story, it also benefits us by communicating that yes, as a matter of fact, we do care deeply about the quality of our work.

Steve Smith said that when considering when to run a correction, “we should always default to the person who’s seeking redress.” There may be cases other than specific factual errors in which the reader is entitled to an explanation.