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The prescription: investment and commitment

K. Narayanan

Misspellings of names and titles and typos are the most common errors found in newspapers. According to Craig Silverman, in his book, Regret the Error, also frequent are numerical errors, arising from an unwillingness to question. When the numbers are in a press release or report, they are taken as gospel; I have found similar reverence for statements in the Legislative Assembly. And once the wrong numbers get into a newspaper report, they are recycled and repeated.

Silverman cites outright fabrications foisted by unreliable sources on media eager to be first with the news as another cause of errors. A lack of rigorous fact-checking adds to the problem. Errors of this nature are not common in The Hindu because there is a system of verification. Misidentification — by gender, criminal status or relation — also occurs often in newspapers. The media seem to treat it as a routine matter, but it is not so for those affected. Such errors are also easily preventable.

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The book has a section devoted to proofreaders who, as I noted in an earlier column, never got the credit that was their due. Proofreaders were “the best educated of craft workers and their incidental discoveries rescued many a writer’s reputation,” said Allan M. Siegal who retired as standards editor of The New York Times in 2006. They were the last people to review the paper before it was sent for printing and so were the final defence against typos, grammatical and factual errors, and other mistakes. Their disappearance, as a result of technological advances, eliminated a layer of checking that has not been fully replaced. Journalists and readers bemoan this. Silverman says the decline of the newspaper proofreader has led to the rise of the proofreading reader.

Silverman’s finding is that the number of errors that are corrected is only a small fraction of the errors committed. My own experience proves this statement. Uncorrected errors are the worst kind of mistakes because they remain in databases and archives — propelling the cycle of inaccuracy. Correction admits the error, does not eliminate it. Journalists therefore have a responsibility to prevent and correct errors — for the sake of professional ethics and for the public record. But when corrections are published, they need to be linked to the archived report if they are to be effective.

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In many ways, the press relies on readers to call attention to errors. With the coming into being of the Readers’ Editor in The Hindu, readers are aware that an opportunity to correct an error exists. They make full use of it, disproving Silverman’s view that many readers do not follow up mistakes, thinking it will serve no purpose. In The Hindu and other newspapers with internal news ombudsmen, corrections now have a regular slot and format. It began in the 1970s with A.M. Rosenthal, then Executive Editor of The New York Times, who is known as “the father of the modern correction.” Silverman pays handsome tribute to Ian Mayes, the first Readers’ Editor of The Guardian (who gave me valuable tips) for elevating correction writing to an art.

Silverman has a prescription for reducing errors (eliminating them is not possible). It requires (1) an understanding of the nature of human error (2) a strong commitment to addressing the issue and (3) an investment in accuracy. While newspapers have invested huge sums in technology and design, accuracy has not got same attention. The level of error in daily journalism is not only constant but on the rise. Unfortunately, it has not prompted a sector-wise call for quality.

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Improving accuracy levels is not an expensive undertaking. It calls for a commitment that flows into policies, practices, and technologies. Train journalists to spend ten minutes checking their copy before they send it on for editing; train editors in revising their work; and give them the tools to do it. That will not be a major drain on resources. Part of the job of a journalist is to heed readers’ feedback; the collective knowledge of readers should be welcomed and brought to bear on news coverage. The published corrections can be used as tools for learning and to build error-prevention programmes. At present, they are not used in any way. I have often wondered whether they have any impact internally.

Silverman makes an important point in stressing the need to destigmatise errors. It is not just sloppy or bad journalists who make them. Errors happen to everyone for many reasons — the way the human brain works, the technologies used, and the nature of journalism itself. Continuous training is needed to avoid mistakes; and people who cannot be trained do not belong to the profession of journalism, which is at its heart a “discipline of verification.”

Once the stigma about errors has been removed, and the press treats mistakes as an issue of quality control, Silverman avers, journalists will feel free to examine their own work. The editing and reporting process should be broken down and analysed to fix the weak spots. Other industries have recognised the importance of quality control and have compensated for human error with better processes. The press too needs to do it.

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Silverman emphasises that his book is neither another vitriolic rant against mainstream media, nor a condemnation of the profession of journalism. He hopes he is offering the means to cleanse the craft and make journalism better.

It is a book every serious journalist, keen on quality, should read. It is fun. And there is much to learn.

There is one major problem in Indian conditions, which the book does not touch upon. That is the question of falling standards of English. This, as reader D. Balakrishnan (Coimbatore) suggests, requires special steps such as (1) periodic training in English usage, (23) motivating journalists to read good books. And, finally, commitment to quality — Silverman’s refrain.

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