Today, the Chronicle runs one of those deceptive corrections that appear too frequently:
Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton has not said this is his final season in the profession. A column on Page C1 of Sunday’s Sports section implied otherwise.
Actually, the column by John Lopez didn’t imply otherwise. It stated otherwise:
But these Cowboys are arriving to a special place in college basketball this season — Sutton’s final one after 35 years of rubbing his face and stomping his feet on NCAA sidelines.
[snip]
Sutton’s final basketball team might not be the most talented one he’s had, but rest assured these Cowboys are going deep into the NCAA Tournament.
Chronicle editors may think they are protecting their newspaper’s credibility with less-than-forthcoming (even misleading) corrections like this, but in reality, the inaccuracy and lack of transparency only further damage the newspaper’s credibility. Any reporting enterprise will make mistakes; how it handles those mistakes over time determines whether it retains credibility (and reader loyalty), even when the reporting entity is the only game in town.
Bloggers aren’t perfect, but the most reputable and credible bloggers quickly post corrections and updates in a transparent manner, because they realize credibility in the realm of open-source journalism is something that must be earned from readers. Professionals in journalism (this problem of corrections is not limited to the Chronicle) might take a cue from bloggers in this respect.
