The Detroit News apologizes for typo in Obama headline

[Robbien]

Source: AP

DETROIT (AP) - The editor and publisher of The Detroit News says he has apologized for a headline error in early morning editions about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Jonathan Wolman says the headline incorrectly read «Clinton, Osama meet to discuss unity» and appeared Friday on page 17A of about 45,000 newspapers.

Wolman says the error was made during a spell-check search and was caught and corrected about 20 minutes after the newspaper began publishing.

He says his apology was «graciously» accepted Friday by Obama's campaign. Obama campaign spokeswoman Amy Brundage also says the campaign has accepted the apology.
The News plans to run a correction Saturday.

Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/the-detroit-news-apologizes-for-typo-r630005.htm

---

Typo? On my keyboard the s key is not anywhere near the b key.

Some right winger's usual way of expressing Obama's name got into print before someone remembered to remove the GOPer standard slur.

[Kutjara]

1. How did I know that was going to be the exact typo before...

...I even clicked on the post? I must be psychic or something.

Honestly, the fascists really need to work on some new material.

[janetblond]

2. Ignoramouses ... not funny nt.

[movonne]

12. It also sounds like hillary was having a unity meeting with osama..

[uberllama42]

28. Even ignoring the egregious slur against Obama

they should apologize to Clinton for that one.

[Oleladylib]

3. B is no where near S on a Keyboard...I mean really!!!

Typo my arse.

[AndyTiedye]

4. We'll See This "Typo" Every Other Week or So

Gotta keep that meme alive.

[janetblond]

6. The type of mistake only someone SUPER IGNORANT could appreciate. nt.

!!

[janetblond]

9. Sorry to say, but I think this election is gonna look like the KKK is running it.

1950's, George Wallace revisited.
How sad.

[panader0]

5. Really. It'd be like printing "Hellary"

[Oleladylib]

7. right, same thing, E is no where near I on the keyboard.

[JuniperLea]

8. And so it begins...

Ever vigilant! I tell you! We must be ever vigilant! This will NOT be the cakewalk it should be. The liars will pull every nasty trick in the book, and probably invent several more.

Eyes wide open! Call them on every stupid thing they do.

[janetblond]

10. You should see the awful video the GOP has done of Hillary bashing Obama ..

The damage she's done to the Democratic party is unforgiveable.

[JuniperLea]

13. That would be counterproductive for them,..

They hate Hillary with a fiery passion... if Hillary hates Obama, they may give him a closer look!

That ad will do them no good whatsoever.

Idiots.

[mwb970]

43. Yes! We need a special Forum just for this.

Eyes wide open! Call them on every stupid thing they do.

With GD:P out, can we have a Truth Squad Forum or an Eyes Wide Open Forum (GD:EWO?) or something like that for the GE?

[RoyGBiv]

11. I'll get pummeled for this ...

...but I'll say it anyway.

The article says "during a spell-check," which I believe we can infer to mean that during an automated or semi-automated spell-check, the word "Obama" was replaced with "Osama." Has nothing to do with the keyboard.

I mention this because I've watched it happen on a spell-check within a publishing suite that had the word "Osama" added to the standard dictionary due to its frequent use in news stories. The word "Obama" had not yet been added.

Yes, it's sloppy and borderline incompetent, but it's not necessarily malicious nor necessarily the work of a right-wingnut.

I'll note, for the sake of reference, that neither "Obama" nor "Osama" are in the common English spell-check dictionaries I use. "Osama" was added to them first because I wrote the word first, years ago, before I knew Obama's name. I only recently started writing the word "Obama" enough to motivate me to add it.

[The Political Jerk]

21. I totally agree. And I never agree with anyone.

[janetblond]

23. I just opened a WORD document and typed Osama and Obama ..

Spellcheck did NOT change Obama to Osama.

[RoyGBiv]

26. And that proves what?

Was "Osama" in your spell-check dictionary? How about "Obama"?

Was the copyeditor at Detroit News using your version of Word?

Were they using Word at all?

[janetblond]

45. They were using their imagination ...

Trying to be funny.
Next thing, they'll be writing a piece on Obama's religion.
"Obama is a Muslim".

Detroit News apologizes again:
"Ooops .. We apologize.
The author typed "Christian", but the spellcheck changed it to Muslim."

[Scout]

80. get a fucking grip, would you? for god's sake, i hope you weren't one of the

people complaining about Hillary supporters being ridiculous....

[IA_Seth]

64. It proves she didn't read your post!

I agree with you, although it IS shitty, it isn't necessarily some plot from a right wing hack.

[uberllama42]

29. How could anyone be that incompetent?

I work for my fucking college newspaper, and we copy-edit everything manually at least eight times. Eight. There's no way they could make that mistake if they were even half-assing it.

Given how often this kind of thing has happened, if they gave a shit they would change their settings so it didn't do that anymore. Maybe they use some software I'm not familiar with which doesn't allow that kind of customization, but at this point I say there's no excuse for letting that kind of thing go.

[RoyGBiv]

31. Incompetence is easy ...

...especially when they pay what some of these papers pay. There's a decided lack of motivation to give a shit.

I do copyediting and editing semi-professionally, meaning I do it for pages to be published on the web for my employer and as a research assistant for someone working on a PhD dissertation who publishes other papers several times a year. An article that was published in a major journal just this last month still had one error in it, and this was after I had proofed all 40 pages of it at least a dozen times, had the author proof it again, then had the editors at the journal itself put it through their rather rigorous process. The error was originally caused by a spell-checker.

I'm not excusing it in any way, FWIW, just suggesting that idiotic crap like this does happen. But incompetence, laziness, or what-have-you are a different type of problem than an intentional conspiracy. Not better or worse, just different.

[Alcibiades]

36. Most college papers are better

than the Detroit News.

I edited my college paper, and you're right. The difference is, if somehow such a bad mistake slips into a headline of the college newspaper, you know your readers, and everyone will give you shit for it. If this happens at the Detroit News, no one cares, because they only buy the paper to see how the Tigers are doing anyway.

[Scout]

81. is your little college newspaper a daily? what kind of deadlines do you have? n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

32. OK, that's possible, but I think foul play is just as possible. -nt

[RoyGBiv]

34. I can agree with that n/t

[gullwing300]

69. I'm certain you're correct here. Not every mistake is racism.

There are still lots of people who never heard of Obama.

[Lorentz]

72. Oh really?

Which person in the United States hasn't heard of Obama?

[Muttocracy]

75. have you added him into your word processor's dictionary? nt

[gullwing300]

77. I met one man this very morning at the gas station who never heard of him.

His name is Chuck something...if you really want the information I will find out his last name when I see him again.
Meanwhile I won't take offense at the clear implication you made that I am a liar. I am not.

[Muttocracy]

74. well, I got pummeled for it elsewhere in the thread. I'm a right-wing apologist now. nt

[hokies4ever]

78. They should have added 'Obama' to their dictionary already

to avoid this type of thing. Their lack of journalistic vigilance is at fault.

[Supersedeas]

85. borderline incompetent???

[Scout]

87. have you EVER been a typesetter or a proofreader? n/t

[bluestateguy]

14. "Oh, oops, pardon me. I do apologize" (giggle)

We're going to be seeing a lot of this.

[Supersedeas]

88. Giggles, type-setting...try it some time. Oh, the lame-ass excuses professional propogandist

will assert

[raystorm7]

15. I'm looking at my keyboard and the S & B are at least 3 keys apart. Not a mistake IMOP!

[Muttocracy]

65. wasn't a physical typo - it was a spellcheck overwrite. nt

[jmowreader]

91. Except that by now, the Detroit News' user dictionary should contain "Obama"

By now they must have run at least a couple hundred stories on the Democratic primary season, and last I checked Obama was a major player in that. So you'd think someone there would think, "maybe we should add him; we added Osama in 2001 during the six weeks or so the president was very concerned about him."

[DogPoundPup]

16. Why do the weasels even pretend to apologise?

Fake apologies are really disgusting.

[Kittycat]

17. 20 min in to publishing they find the error, but still ship out the incorrect version?

:wtf:

[still_one]

18. Bullshit, that was no mistake, they are lying through their teeth /nt

[Olney Blue]

19. They need to be more careful- this is unacceptable.

[The Political Jerk]

20. It was an honest mistake because it was made by spell check.

Many spell check systems have Osama in them, but not Obama. So it would automatically change Obama to Osama if one wasn't paying attention.


-The Political Jerk

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Political Jerk]

51. Oh come on, accusing me of being a freeper?

That constitutes as a rebuttal around here?

Would a freeper use the would "constitutes" or "rebuttal?"

-The Political Jerk

[Psephos]

61. You forgot that Detroit's liberal paper is the Free Press, or "The Freep"

Which makes your ad hominem unintentionally hilarious.

Seriously, can we lay off the name calling? Let The Political Jerk have his say. We can use a few more genuine
curmudgeons around here...they're more useful for discourse than purity purgers and hyperventilators.

[Pathwalker]

25. Except that it's the Detroit News, a right-wing paper.

The Detroit free Press is the more liberal paper.

[The Political Jerk]

50. The Detroit News is Just a Worse Paper, Period.

Much more likely to make a stupid mistake like this.

-The Political Jerk

[5thGenDemocrat]

70. My great-uncle was once the circulation manager at the News

And, thus, though I grew up in a liberal family here in Saginaw, we always read the News.
But, like my mom used to say, stay away from the editorial page. I don't think this was some innocent error -- I think some staffer intentionally put "Osama" into the text and the copy editors screwed up by not catching it. But I could be wrong -- I often am.
Tell you what -- go to www.detnews.com and read the editorial comments today -- other than Clarence Page, there isn't a single one that isn't way right-wing. Still, don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity (or laziness).
John
The Free Press is more liberal, yes. But, IMHO, it's still a crappier paper -- especially the sports section. And their website really bites the big one.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

39. Who the hell relies solely on spell check?

Especially a damn newspaper. And the headline, no less.

Excuses may fly in Freeperland, but not here.

[MetaTrope]

42. So the spell check only changed the headline, and not the body of the story?

Hmmm.

[Kierkegaard]

44. AND, it did so silently, without prompting anyone of the change?

No. This is no accident. Yes, they do happen, but the spell check excuse is BS. Spell check will happily let you know when it finds something it doesn't like, but it won't just automatically replace whatever it feels like without prompting the editor first. Someone would have had to OK the change from Obama to Osama before it would happen.

[The Political Jerk]

53. Right, but I inattentively use spell check all the time...

well, not all the time. But sometimes I just click okay without reading any context.

A stupid mistake? Yes? A sinister act? Unlikely.

-The Political Jerk

[Kierkegaard]

54. I use spell check inattentively as well, but I'm not a newspaper editor.

If the standards are so lax, this kind of thing would be happening almost continuously. Doesn't pass the smell test.

[bulloney]

57. Mee to. I alweys yuze spel chec.

[The Political Jerk]

52. Headlines are never the same document as text...

in every newspaper layout program I am aware of.

-The Political Jerk

[customerserviceguy]

59. I've seen a HUGE number of spelling errors

lately, where a properly spelled word is substituted for the RIGHT word, the spell checker has sent the editing business to the dump.

[Muttocracy]

67. exactly - they don't catch grammar errors either.

[Doctor_J]

22. This "accident" will occur in most dailies, weeklies, and on Cable "News"

for the next 5 months. We should start demanding these people be fired. I can't wait to burn the media down in the next few years.

[Ian David]

27. I did the same thing once by accident and asked the mods for a self-delete.

It is POSSIBLE that it's a legitimate accident.

[Supersedeas]

30. who the hell proofreaders over there!!!

[TheMadMonk]

33. Almost nobody proofreads any more.

I know a lot of very lazy people who rely entirely on spellcheckers.

I'm not saying their explanation is true. However, it is 100% plausible.

[1Hippiechick]

35. So, go to the online edition of The Detroit News and post an online comment/editorial...

if that service is offered. Better still, get the names of the newspaper editor, publisher, etc., and type out a response in a word document, and as spellcheck offers possible other words for unrecognized names, change the name to a word suggested by spellcheck ending the post with "by the way, this was checked by Spellcheck on my computer before posting.
:kick: :shrug: :rofl:

[greenman3610]

37. it's interesting no one ever makes it "Onama" or "Ovama" or "Omama"

always, "Osama"

what a co-inkydink

[WorseBeforeBetter]

40. Excellent point!

We'll be seeing much more of this between now and November, and Corporate Media needs to be called on it.

[Muttocracy]

68. probably because Osama was added as a proper name to news software

after 9/11, and I don't think your other suggestions are words. It's not about place on a keyboard - this is about spellchecking not typewriting.

[fujiyama]

38. While Obama is still not in many spell checkers

this reeks of complete laziness and incompetence.

Then again, this is the Detroit News, a worthless RW rag at that. Neither Detroit Newspaper is very good, but the News is garbage.

And the above poster is right. No one interested in actual news cares what the papers have to say. They want Sports coverage - of the Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons (oh and the Lions, but we always know what the headline will be with them).

[scarface2004]

41. i thought hillary and osama were lovers!!!

now we know where the evil one is hiding!!

[Magleetis]

46. The repugs

are going to throw shit for the next five months. Its the only game they have. This was no error.

[JNelson6563]

47. The Detroit News is a riech-wing rag

You can count on lots more of this kind of crap from them.

Julie

[Politicalboi]

48. Next Headline

Hillary to endorse Iraq Hussein Osama. Oops!

[ohio2007]

49. "...appeared Friday on page 17A of about 45,000 newspapers."... ? I wonder

what neighborhoods those 45,000 newspapers were distributed in ?


btw

why do people still read yesterdays old news ? Maybe they are pimping their paper to get readership up with a story of a typo on pg 17A

[bulloney]

55. You never saw headlines in the papers misspelling Bush's name,

like "Tush" or "Gush"? Honest misstakes. The letters T, G and B use the same finger on the keyboard. But we've never seen Bush's name misspelled, have we?

The regularity of media spelling "Osama" for "Obama" makes it beyond belief that it's been accidental all of the time, especially given the political leanings of the media.

[Muttocracy]

66. It's not a physical typo - it's a spellcheck overwrite - Bush is already a common English word. nt

[Robbien]

71. You keep saying it over and over to yourself

and to everyone in this thread I see. Same apologetic post over and over, "The right wingers didn't mean to do it on purpose. They say it was spell check, and I believe them. You should too."

Go to any right wing blog site on the web and Obama's name is typed Osama 90% of the time. So now this right wing news site has come up with the excuse of blaming spellcheck when they got caught, are they? Oh sure, believable. As believable as believing it is a typo.

[Muttocracy]

73. I'm not apologizing for what they did - I'm correcting the next-door-on-the-keyboard thing

It doesn't excuse poor editing, or the fact they haven't updated their dictionary to include Obama.

I don't go to right-wing blog sites so I don't know how common it is there.

In grad school I often cited the work of a professor whose name spellcheck would change to Oilman, a bit ironic since he studied climate change among other things. There was no conspiracy on my part; his proper name wasn't in the dicitionary.

[undeterred]

56. So Hillary is meeting with Osama?

Sorry, couldn't resist. :hide:

[ohio2007]

58. Some readers in detroit may be interested in such a story

just saying.

[Sheltiemama]

60. I'm a copy editor.

We take great pride in what we do. Whoever wrote that headline did not make that mistake on purpose, I can promise you, and probably felt physically ill when it was found. Copy desks everywhere are understaffed and overworked. We edit stories, write headlines and read page proofs before they're typeset. There's no such thing as anyone who just proofreads. And sometimes, you really don't spot mistakes until they're in print. I suspect the error was found between editions. When our first edition is brought up, we check headlines, cutlines and stories that jump. We fix any mistakes we find for the final edition. The first editions go to outlying areas of our readership, so the farther away you live from our city, the greater the chance you get our first edition. All copy editors are going to have to double- and triple-check any time Obama's name is in a headline. I doubt that paper will make the same mistake again.

[MidwestTransplant]

62. If it only went out on 45K, the correction will be worse as everybody will see it.

[agent46]

63. marketing tricks

If this were a dirty political trick, all propagandists/marketers know that once the public takes in the message subconsciously, the desired outcome is accomplished. The poison is in at a non-rational level. It tickles their twisted little hearts to apologize for the "mistake" and walk away with impunity, meanwhile releasing one more "democrat=terrorist" virus into the public consciousness stream. Especially useful if a later public tragedy can be labeled and construed "terrorist".

Propaganda strategy behind "mistakes" like this: "death by a thousand cuts" of which this is a first minor scratch.
Education is the key. We need to educate ourselves and each other about how this works.

I say watch the news media like hawks - organize local watch-dog groups with legal teeth. Find the patterns and expose them. If news editors are incompetent - turn up the flames. If they're abusing their position for political purposes, put the blade to the heat. Imo, we're going to need a lot more than vigorous campaigning to change the way things are done in this country.

We may have to construct a fifth estate from the ground up.

[treestar]

76. So it happened to be an s

Not Ovama, or Onama or Oyama.

No, just happened to be Osama.

[Scout]

79. "the error was made during a spell-check search"

spell check probably made the change from Obama to Osama ... he didn't say someone typed the "s" instead of the "b"

get a freaking grip people

ooooh, i know!!! HILLARY did it, right? :eyes:

[bamacrat]

82. What's sad is that so many stupid people think his name is a problem.

Oh his middle name is Hussein, and his first name rhymes with Osama. Who gives a damn, our current president's name is a euphamism for a hairy crotch, but that's ok. I know that may be a bit of a stretch but what is in a name? This is where I would say the whole rose thing.

[KansDem]

83. It seems the Fourth Estate has had a lot of problems reporting facts and truth...

From designating John McCain and Mark Foley as a "D" to using the same photo for two nuclear power plants half a world apart to this, which I don't think was a "mistake."

This is bullshit! But the damage has been done and no amount of apologizing will change that.

[KamaAina]

84. The same thing happened on local TV news here a few months ago

I called them on it, too. I mean, c'mon, he grew up here, for Pete's sake. How dumb can they possibly be? And it isn't a particularly RW station, either. :eyes:

[noonwitch]

86. Detroit papers suck

There are two-The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press.

The Free Press used to be the liberal paper, the News was the conservative paper. Ed Meese, when he was attorney general, approved a joint operating agreement (the Free Press, which was owned by Knight-Ridder, was on the brink of bankruptcy). The workers and writers of both papers went on strike, and were fired. The News was owned by the publishers of Candyland Today (Gannet).

Neither paper has had the same quality of journalism since the strike and the JOA. The advent of the internet has impacted all newspapers' circulation, anyways.

The current Kwame mess is probably the best thing that's happened for the Free Press in 20 years-they broke the story and did all the investigating. For the first few days, everybody was reading the Free Press, because they had an exclusive.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

89. George W. Tush, George W. Rush, George W. Hush, George W. Mush...

Funny how we've never seen those in Corporate Media.

I'm not buying spell-check overwrite, especially for a phucking headline. We've seen it too many times already, e.g., Osama's image and Obama's name. How many newsbunnies have already apologized for that oopsie?

[sutz12]

90. My "oughta be a law" comment...

I've always thought that newspapers should be required to print their corrections/retractions in the same type/font and location as the error occurred.

Screw up on the front page, above the fold, print your apology/retraction front page, above the fold. Screw up a headline, apologize in the headline.

JMO.

[marions ghost]

92. "Osama"

...I mean "Obama"...oh well (assassinate) them both..."

...Liz Trotta, Fux News


Of course this same "mistake" in the newspaper headline was not a typo....you guys who think it was-- need a little less Pollyanna going on.

This will get worse. :(

[jmowreader]

93. And he runs it on Saturday--how convenient!

Saturday is historically the day when the fewest people read the newspaper.