A presentation revised for the summer of 2002 regarding editing including dozens of examples of low-level editing (grammar, spelling, punctuation, style), mid-level editing (flow, word choice, story choice) and high-level editing (libel, ethics). By Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.

1. EVERYONENEEDS
ACOPYEDITOR
“WE REGRET THE ERROR”
A COACHING APPROACH TO EDITING
By Bradley Wilson,Ph.D.
Summer 2022

4. ALTERNATIVEFACTS
"ALTERNATIVE FACTS" WAS A PHRASE USED BY U.S. COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT KELLYANNE CONWAY DURING A MEET
THE PRESS INTERVIEW ON JAN. 22, 2017, IN WHICH SHE DEFENDED WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER'S FALSE
STATEMENT ABOUT THE ATTENDANCE NUMBERS OF DONALD TRUMP'S INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.

5. LOW-LEVEL
ERRORS
LAST-MINUTE (OR SECOND) FIXES
THAT MAKE YOU A LAUGHING STOCK
WHEN YOU MISS THEM.

6. THE QUESTONS:
• Have I run spell check?
• Have I checked the spelling of the names of people and verified their
titles (including grade level/major)?
• Is the punctuation correct?
• Have I checked the story for AP style errors, particularly errors in
numbers, dates and capitalization of titles?
• Are only words at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
capitalized?
GRAMMAR,SPELLING,
PUNCTUATION,STYLE

7. MORE QUESTIONS:
•Do all sentences have subjects and verbs?
•Do all pronouns agree with their antecedents?
•Are the tenses of the verbs correct?
•Is passive voice used appropriately?
GRAMMAR,SPELLING,
PUNCTUATION,STYLE

9. SAMEOL’

11. Kansas City Star
Feb. 1, 2022

26. @darrenrovell cup of the
day? At Temple vs ND
pic.twitter.com/
mHhd0VKcBs
2:12 PM - 31 Aug 2013

30. FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Barack and Michelle fought long and hard
about this decision (to run for president)

31. FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Barack and Michelle thought long and hard
about this decision (to run for president)

32. WICHITA FALLS TIMES RECORD NEWS

33. SENTINEL-REVIEW (WOODSTOCK, ONTARIO)
In an article in Monday’s newspaper, there may have been a
misperception about why a Woodstock man is going to Afghanistan
on a voluntary mission. Kevin DeClark is going to Afghanistan to
gain life experience to become a police officer when he returns, not
to shoot guns and blow things up.
The Sentinel-Review apologizes for any embarrassment this may
have caused.
CORRECTION

35. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A headline in Monday’s Daily News, “He regrets his
role in ‘postal’ vid,” implied that Richard Marino, the
subject of a YouTube video, was sorry for an incident
in December at a Brooklyn post office. Marino, in
fact, is not sorry. The News regrets the error.
CORRECTION

37. MIAMI HERALD
COLUMN BY DAVE BARRY
In yesterday’s column about badminton, I misspelled the name
of Guatemalan player Kevin Cordon. I apologize. In my defense, I
want to note that in the same column I correctly spelled
Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak, Poompat Sapkulchananart and
Porntip Buranapraseatsuk. So by the time I got to Kevin Cordon,
my fingers were exhausted.
CORRECTION

38. THE GUARDIAN
We said that, in the American TV drama 24,Jack Bauer, the
counter-terrorism agent, resorted to electrocution to extract
information.You cannot extract information from someone who
has been electrocuted because they are dead (Questioning, the
Jack Bauer way, page 1,April 19).
CORRECTION

39. ASSOCIATED PRESS
As a possible running mate, the Associated Press noted that John
McCain was considering Sen.Joe Lieberman, “the Democratic vice
presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.”

40. ASSOCIATED PRESS
As a possible running mate, the Associated Press noted that John
McCain was considering Sen.Joe Lieberman, “the Democratic vice
presidential pick in 2000 who now is an independent.”

42. Oops

43. Oops

44. Oops

46. CORRECTION

47. CORRECTION

49. SHOULD BE
W.E.B. DuBois

50. CORRECTION
INDEPENDENT SATURDAY (UK) MAGAZINE
Following the portrait of Tony and Cherie Blair
published on April 21 in the Independent Saturday
magazine, Ms. Blair’s representatives have told us that
she was friendly with but never had a relationship
with Carole Caplin of the type suggested in the article.
They want to make it clear, which we are happy to do,
that Ms. Blair “has never shared a shower with Ms.
Caplin, was not introduced to spirit guides or primal
wrestling by Ms. Caplin (or anyone else), and did not

54. Oops

55. That’s
Wichita
Falls, not
Witchita
Falls.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021 | TIMESRECORDNEWS.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Book aims to help children
of incarcerated mothers
FAMILY, 7A
A 33-year-old man accused of mas-
querading as beipart of a fake medical
program has been indicted on a prosti-
tution-related charge, according to
court records.
Anthony Jordan Benedict of Far-
mersville was free from Wichita Coun-
ty Jail on a $20,000 bond.
A Wichita County grand jury hand-
ed down an indictment Feb. 3 against
Benedict for a charge of compelling
prostitution by fraud in connection
with a Nov. 5, 2019, incident, according
to court documents.
Benedict faces up to 20 years in
prison if convicted.
A Texas Ranger’s complaint gave
this account: The Clay County Sher-
iff’s Office contacted the Texas Ranger
to assist in investigating a possible
sexual assault.
The CCSO had received a complaint
about Benedict, and the ranger re-
viewed the reports and interviews
done by the CCSO.
A woman told the CCSO that she
went to Benedict’s Clay County home
Jan. 29, 2020, where he told her she
would be paid to take part in a medical
program.
The woman stated he had her take
off her clothes and performed an “ex-
am” that included touching her breasts
and genitals. Afterward, he paid her
$100.
The woman conducted her own re-
search and queried Benedict about the
legitimacy of the so-called medical
program. Then she reported the inci-
dent to the CCSO.
The Texas Ranger reviewed a Clay
County sheriff’s deputy interview
with Benedict.
He admitted there was no medical
Benedict
indicted on
charge of
compelling
prostitution
Trish Choate
Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY NETWORK – TEXAS
T
he Wichita Falls area was blanketed in about half a foot of snow that began mid-morning Sunday
and continued most of the day.
Snow-covered streets and temperatures in the single digits greeted residents Monday morn-
ing. WFISD schools were closed anyway because of the Presidents’ Day holiday, but the blizzard-
Witchita Falls area sees
blizzard-like conditions
The Wichita Falls area was blanketed in
about a half of foot of snow on Sunday
and Monday.
Carlos Sandoval, right, and Julian Luna
sweep snow on Sunday as heavier
snowfall began.
Chilly temperatures and snow remain
in the forecast through Thursday.
An icy north wind blows snow through a neighborhood Sunday afternoon. PHOTOS BY TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS
The snow may be over for the time
being, but the effects of record frigid
temperatures are not.
ERCOT, the council that oversees
Texas’ power grid, warned early Mon-
day morning the grid has been over-
taxed and began rolling power outages.
“Extreme weather conditions caused
many generating units – across fuel
types – to trip offline and become un-
available,” ERCOT said in a news release
issued at 1:25 a.m. Monday.
The council said the planned outages
could last between 15 to 45 minutes at a
time.
“Some customers may experience
longer outages if power surges cause
equipment failure during the restora-
tion process,” Oncor, the energy deliv-
ery company, said in a news release.
“Rotating outages will likely last
throughout the morning and could be
initiated until this weather emergency
ends,” ERCOT said.
As the grid reached a record winter
demand for power late Monday, the
council president tweeted, “Every grid
operator and every electric company is
fighting to restore power right now.”
The grim news came as much of the
state was gripped by record cold tem-
peratures and wind chill factors that
were double digits below zero.
As of 6 a.m. Monday, nearly 1 million
customers were without power in the
area served by Oncor. Large outages
were reported in Dallas-Fort Worth,
Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
See POWER, Page 2A
Power outages plague city after snow
Oncor reports about 14,500 people affected in county
Lynn Walker
Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY NETWORK – TEXAS

59. HOUSTON CHRONICLE
“When Redding, a longtime scout for
Playboy, discovered (Anna Nicole) Smith,
the model could barely right a sentence…”

60. THE ENTRY NOW READS…
SOMETIME BEFORE 2018,THE ENTRY READ…

64. MID-LEVEL
ERRORS
THESE THINGS CAN GETYOU
IN A LOT OF TROUBLE

65. MATH QUESTIONS:
• If there are numbers, have you checked the math?
• Are the data in charts attributed?
• Do the numbers make sense?
• Have the numbers been over simplified?
MID-LEVELERRORS

66. MATHERRORS
THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
In one report we had an Olympic swimming pool
holding 1,000 megalitres.
And in another report we had 40,000 US “gleaners”
filling 80,000 4-6 kg sacks with 250 kg of
vegetables – a minuscule 6 g per person.
We still don’t know what we meant.
CORRECTION

70. GEOGRAPHY QUESTIONS:
• Have all locations on the map been verified? (Check
CIA World Factbook)
• Are maps ready for spot news coverage?
MID-LEVELERRORS

72. Actual map
Oops

74. LAYOUT AND DESIGN QUESTIONS:
• Has all dummy type been removed?
• Do pictures go with the stories?
• Is the date correct on all pages? What about volume
and issue numbers?
• Are jumplines and refers correct?
• Have captions and display type been edited?
• Does the headline accurately portray the content of the
story without dramatizing it?
MID-LEVELERRORS

76. THE PATRIOT-NEWS | MARCH 2013

84. CORRECTION

85. HIGH-LEVEL
ERRORS
THESE THINGS CAN GETYOU FIRED

86. MANBITESDOG

87. NEWS JUDGMENT QUESTONS:
• Should we be covering this story at all? Why?
• Have important — but boring — stories been covered?
• Why is a story being cut?
• Why are we running another story about the same
thing?
• Is the story appropriately placed (page 1, inside) and
promoted (social media, etc.)?
HIGH-LEVELERRORS

89. QUESTIONS ABOUT SOURCES:
• Have multiple sources from multiple perspectives
been used?
• Has the reputation of each source been verified?
• Is each source appropriate for this story?
• Has information from each source been verified
independently?
• Is information too good to be true?
HIGH-LEVELERRORS

90. …[W]e are officially retracting 'A Rape on Campus.'
We are also committing ourselves to a series of
recommendations about journalistic practices that
are spelled out in the report.
We would like to apologize to our readers and to all
of those who were damaged by our story and the
ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi
Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and
students.

95. QUESTONS ABOUT INCOMPLETE REPORTING:
• Have multiple sources from multiple perspectives
been used?
• Did the reporter leave early and fail to cover the
entire event?
• Did the reporter choose the “easy” story instead of
investigating the real story?
• Did the reporter cover the “sexy” part of the story but
fail to write a fair and balanced piece?
HIGH-LEVELERRORS

97. QUESTONS ABOUT FABRICATION AND
PLAGIARISM:
• Did the reporter make up any part or all of the story?
• Did the reporter accurately attribute all sources of
information?
HIGH-LEVELERRORS

99. Sports Illustrated, December, 2012

100. The battlefield composite photo above
was made by combining the two photos
at the left.The photographer who
combined the photos for the Los
Angeles Times without telling anyone
was fired the next day and the paper
issued an apology.

104. HOWWEREERRORSCAUGHT?
• Background check on reporter
• Fact-checkers or other editors discover errors/
plagiarism/fabrication
• Internal review
• Sources in story come forward
• Subject of story files a lawsuit
• Another publication tries to follow up
• Bloggers challenge sources

105. POLICY
PURPOSE: As repeated studies of media consumers have
shown, factual errors corrode the credibility of media
publishing the mistakes.The student media Code of Ethics
states: “CORRECTIONS: All student media are obligated to
correct any error they make as soon as possible, no matter
the level of consequence for the error.The corrections
should be in a fixed, consistent location in the publication.”

106. POLICY
FORM
Although the specifics may vary depending on the circumstances, in general, a
correction will take the form: “In ‘<headline>’ (p. <#>, <date>), the <name of
publication> <correction without restating error when possible>.The <name of
publication> regrets the error.”
When a source believes they have been misquoted or otherwise attributed to mis-
statements, but the editor/general manager, after consultation with the reporter,
believes the published statements were correct, a clarification may take the general
form: “In ‘<headline>’ (p. <#>, <date>), the <name of publication> <what we
said.> In subsequent interviews with <sources>, they state <what they now
state>.The <name of publication> stands behind the original publication.”

107. POLICY
When a correction or clarification is made online to a
story that appeared in print, the publication will note
that in an editor's note to appear at the top of the
online version of the article. “Information in this article,
originally published <date> has been corrected.
<State correction without restating error when
possible.>”

108. RAMIFICATIONSOFERRORS
Loss of credibility—both for reporters and for news
organizations
Termination of employment
Internal investigations by news organizations
Lawsuits

109. THOUGHTS
The public is holding us accountable.
What you can do:
Spell check.
Edit.
Rewrite.
Fact check.
Second guess.
Be skeptical.

110. By Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
@bradleywilson09
Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute
the Press and Imperil Free Speech
2007 | $14.95