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Checklists and Error Logs – good habits reduce errors
Like people who can’t help asking for health advice from any doctor they meet, journalists who recognize me as the Regret the Error guy usually have two questions on their mind. I view these queries as...
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Get over your fear – and even get friendly with numbers
Imagine telling an editor that it’s too confusing for you to have to keep track of people’s names and titles for your story. I know, you’re thinking that would never happen. Yet journalists do...
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Regret the Business Error: 5 tips for getting names, titles right
This recent correction from the New York Times left me puzzled, not to mention amused: An article on Wednesday about the continuing role of members of corporate boards who served on companies at the...
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5 tips for avoiding errors in earnings reporting
Ah, earnings season. CFOs reach for their lucky pen, belt, shoes or other good luck charm. Investor relations teams prepare to highlight the good and mitigate the bad. And if you listen closely, you...
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How to build a personalized accuracy checklist
If I say the name, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, you know exactly whom I’m talking about. You’re likely picturing the widely circulated photo of him in his uniform, mustache front and center....
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4 tips for reporting on medical and scientific studies
REGRET THE BUSINESS ERROR: Business journalists are probably more comfortable inside a factory or boardroom instead of a laboratory or operating room. But scientific and medical studies frequently...
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Avoiding errors when using ‘largest,’ ‘costliest’ and other superlatives
This chart in The New York Times incorrectly stated that General Motors' recent stock offering was the largest ever. Petrobras has that honor. Oldest, newest, costliest, largest, smallest, most...
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WashPost’s ombudsman, journalism watchdogs tackle errors
“A review of published corrections for the past three months shows that few days passed without a numbers error. I regularly hear complaints that numbers in Post stories don’t add up.” Those are the...
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NYT’s Joe Nocera: 4 tips for not missing the next financial crisis
Long before subprime mortgages and credit default swaps became household terms (not to mention ruinous financial products), Janet Tavakoli was sounding the alarm about their danger to the financial...
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Check out Craig Silverman’s roundup of worst business-reporting errors in 2010
Journalists on every beat are looking back at the trends and stories that defined the past 12 months. I engage in my own annual retrospective on Regret the Error by offering the Year in Media Errors...
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