A Shaky Performance on Corrections

In another case, Steven Milloy, publisher of junkscience.com, said a caption was misleading on a March 10 Associated Press photo from Bejing that accompanied a story by Juliet Eilperin about new studies on carbon dioxide emissions. The caption said, "A heavy haze could be seen in Beijing in August 2007. Two recent reports call for a heightened global effort to reduce carbon emissions."

Carbon dioxide is a colorless and odorless gas, Milloy said, so "carbon dioxide cannot possibly cause smog." Eilperin, Bruzelius and Michel duCille, assistant managing editor for photos, all agreed on the correction; duCille wrote it.

But it never appeared. Executive Editor Len Downie saw that another photo of smog was running with a correct caption, so he thought a correction was duplicative. But the second photo caption did not correct the problem with the first caption.

A March 30 article by Avis Thomas-Lester about the new Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center mentioned Babe Ruth's "historic 715th home run." Reader Michael Curriden of Alexandria wrote to say that "the number 714 was the most recognizable in all sportsdom." Thomas-Lester said she wrote a correction, but it never appeared; no one was able to find it. After I inquired, another was written and was published on Friday.

Post editors approved 1,129 corrections in 2007, down from 1,292 in 2006. As of May 7, 390 have run this year. While corrections are tracked up to publication, no record exists of whether they actually are published.

For years, monthly corrections statistics were sent around to top editors. Because of a glitch, the statistics haven't been distributed for perhaps a year. Apparently no one missed them until my query.

That's a big problem. Editors should be looking at the statistics every month to discern what mistakes are being made and by whom. Corrections are an essential part of the paper's integrity. Section editors approve corrections; they should also start looking at those that are turned down.

Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or atombudsman@washpost.com.