When writing a correction was anything but simple

 

(Editor's note: Two of the rarest skills in journalism are writing a good editor's note and write a good correction. In light of that, the Daily Republic is not responsible for the events discussed in this column.)

When I was a young sports editor in the late 1980s, a local baseball fan who was also a pretty good writer made a proposal before he went to baseball spring training: If I got him press credentials, he would write a series of articles for the Daily Republic about his experience. He would write an outsider's view of being a sports writer.

It was a great idea.

(Editor's note: Brad should have consulted newspaper management over liability issues for this decision.)

Things went well. The guy went to Arizona, came back, filed a series of articles about his experiences and we published them over several days. Everything went as planned.

Until about two months later.

That's when the man who covered the Giants for the San Francisco Examiner newspaper called and complained. According to our reporter's article, the reporter had arrived at spring training and was greeted by a kiss on the cheek from Giants manager Roger Craig.

Ummm . . . that didn't happen.

What did?

Well, the reporter had a name that could be either a man or a woman (let's call him "Kelly Jones," which is not his real name). What really happened was that female columnist from the Bay Area showed up and Roger Craig kissed her on the cheek – at least according to our man in Arizona. He grabbed a copy of the next day's newspaper, presumed "Kelly Jones" was a woman and presented it as such.

(Editor's note: That incident should have been eliminated in the editing. Who cares?)

"Kelly Jones" called, demanded a correction and had a point. We did a sloppy job reporting. We said the Giants manager kissed "Kelly Jones" upon arrival at spring training, which implied a closer relationship between the manager and reporter than existed. It was a silly mistake, but I needed to write a correction, which as I mentioned earlier, required some skill.

(Editor's note: Brad could have asked for help, but if you've read this far, you realize that was unlikely.)

The problem was that every way I tried to write it, it sounded wrong. I started with "'Kelly Jones' was misidentified as a woman. He is a man." No.

Then, "Roger Craig didn't kiss 'Kelly Jones' during spring training." That created more questions than answers. The first goal of editor's notes and corrections is to get facts correct. The second goal is to not make things worse.

The more I thought about it, the worse it got. Nothing was simple. I second-guessed myself.

Why did we allow that guy to represent us? Why hadn't I realized that "Kelly Jones" wouldn't get a kiss on the cheek from Roger Craig? Maybe more than anything, how did "Kelly Jones" find out about the article, months later? How angry was "Kelly Jones?" Would this mistake ruin any chance I had of ultimately working for the San Francisco Examiner?

(Editor's note: Of course it did.)

Finally, I figured it out. With some help from the managing editor, we simplified it. "'Kelly Jones' was misidentified in an article about baseball spring training in March."

(Editor's note: If he wanted help, he needed an editor.)

The lessons? Be careful who you trust to represent your organization.

Never guess names.

Ask an editor for help when you need it.

And who wanted to work at the San Francisco Examiner, anyway?

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.