I am going to share a story about a time I was a thorn in a national columnist鈥檚 side and ended up being the focus of a column written by the Toronto Star鈥檚 public editor.
Last year, Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno wrote a column about the then-ongoing Jian Ghomeshi case. In her column, she discussed Lucy DeCoutere's romantic relations with the former radio host (鈥淎fter the chokehold, defense sees a crush,鈥� Feb. 5, 2016). DiManno refers to a 鈥渓ove letter鈥� DeCoutere had allegedly written to Ghomeshi in 2003, about three days after the alleged assault. In the column, DiManno accidentally reported the letter had been written in 2013, so I sent DiManno a message to let her know of the error.
She got back to me to let me know the 鈥渢ypo鈥� had been fixed. When I went back to look at the column online, it was indeed fixed, but there was no correction affixed to the piece indicating an earlier version had included the wrong date.
I felt, and still feel, this was an important thing to do because the Ghomeshi trial was a hyper-public event. Most everybody was paying attention to it. It was also a trial that galvanized people to one side or the other. Reading a report in the Toronto Star that DeCoutere had sent Ghomeshi a love letter in 2013 - a full decade after the events in question - raised my eyebrow and led me to fact check and find the error. But not every reader would do this. There are people who would get an entirely wrong impression from reading this typo and it worried me that the Star wouldn鈥檛 be transparent about it, given the intense public interest in the case.
When it comes to facts, it鈥檚 always important to get it right, but when dealing with court cases it鈥檚 especially so because the facts are evidence that could either indict or vindicate somebody of a crime.
So I asked DiManno, why no correction?
She told me to get a life.
Because I am stubborn, I decided I would write to the Toronto Star鈥檚 public editor, Kathy English, about my concerns.
A public editor鈥檚 role is to make sure his or her institution鈥檚 newsroom abides by its own ethical standards. Sometimes, when something the newspaper prints receives a lot of feedback or if the issue is of public interest, the public editor will write a column.
As part of her response to me, English wrote a column about the issue I raised.
鈥淪ometimes a typo published in the Toronto Star is just that, a regrettable slip of the finger that makes little difference to readers鈥� understanding of the news at hand,鈥� she wrote (鈥淲hen it鈥檚 more than a typo,鈥� Feb. 12, 2016).
鈥淭here are times, however, when a 鈥榯ypo鈥� has significant impact on what readers know and understand. That is what I call a mistake. That is when a correction is required.鈥�
English went on to state the Toronto Star has a policy to not 鈥渟crub鈥� errors in stories posted to the Internet for this very reason. Regarding the error in DiManno鈥檚 column, she wrote it had circulated the Internet for about an hour before the clarification about the date was made. She said she was not made aware of the change, as per Star policy.
鈥淚ndeed, in this high-profile criminal trial, as in all matters of public justice, there is no room for misunderstanding or confusion,鈥� wrote English.
I share this story to demonstrate what public editors are for. They are present in newsrooms to make sure the organizations they represent hold themselves to their own ethical standards. They will listen, and respond to, situations where it appears this isn鈥檛 happening. In today鈥檚 era of fake news, public editors are a great resource for learning more about debates within the world of journalism ethics or even just holding a publication to account.
黑料吃瓜网 News Services doesn鈥檛 have anybody appointed in a specific 鈥減ublic editor鈥� role. But Yellowknifer assignment editor Randi Beers -- me! -- managing editor Mike Bryant or publisher Bruce Valpy can answer any questions about 黑料吃瓜网 News Services coverage.
Any reputable news outlet will have a either a public editor or editorial board with names and contact information so readers can actively engage with the publication. Newspaper editors don鈥檛 want to be silo鈥檈d from their readers -- we have an obligation to build relationships with the public so as to build trust.
