half of the articles published by daily newspapers have factual errors ... 98% go uncorrected

New revelation: Almost 98 per cent of errors in US newspapers go uncorrected | September 5, 2007 | Newswatch Desk | Newswatch

Almost half of the articles published by daily newspapers in the US contain one or more factual errors, and less than two per cent end up being corrected.

The findings are from a forthcoming research paper by Scott R Maier, an associate professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. The findings challenge how well journalism’s “corrections box” sets the record straight or serves as a safety valve for the venting of frustrations by wronged news sources.

The study’s central finding is sobering: 98 per cent of the 1,220 factual newspapers errors examined went uncorrected. The correction rate was uniformly low for each of the 10 newspapers studied, with none correcting even 5 per cent of the mistakes identified by news sources.
...
One comment on “New revelation: Almost 98 per cent of errors in US newspapers go uncorrected”

1. A. Magnus wrote ( September 6, 2007; 3:16 am) :

Considering that over 60% of all news stories used by the press are actually U.S. government agency press releases, doesn’t this mean that the printed media in this country are fulfilling the same function as Pravda in the former Soviet Union?