The MSM could learn a lot from this simple post,
The post that used to be here has been moved here. I sent the substance to Slate corrections and heard back from Ms. Lithwick. I’m convinced I misunderstood her point and jumped to a conclusion I shouldn’t have. I’m grateful for the correction.
Rather than simply update the post, I removed it because my assertion in it that Lithwick was “irresponsibly” incorrect isn’t fair. Hit the link if you want to read it: As I’ve said before deleting a post in which you turn out to be wrong is a cardinal sin of blogging, but if you’re wrong in a way unfair to someone else, best to split the difference.
That is why certain blogs attract dedicated readers. Because through their actions and words they can be highly credible, trustworthy and valuable sources of information and analysis.
We talked about this very issue with Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine. Why do blogs have a better error correction mechanism than the MSM and what could the dinasours learn from the citizen journalists? Click here to listen to the interview.
UPDATE:Mickey Kaus fillets Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times editorial page today about his unforthcoming, sorry correction, not in the paper, but found “exclusively” on Times Select. Like his colleague Krugman, corrections don’t come easy from Times columnists. Self-righteousness will do that to a man.
Kristoff wrote the first column in which Joe Wilson’s claims about his trip to Niger were published. Like much of what Joe Wilson said, a few key details were simply not true.
So, over to you Mickey,
Kristof: I might have gotten it right! Jack Shafer finally provokes Nicholas Kristof into confronting the flaws in his initial reporting of Joseph Wilson’s now-famous trip to Niger–reporting that set in motion the whole meshugaas surrounding the outing of Wilson’s wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame. There are two main flaws in Kristof’s initial Wilson columns.
Here Kristof may have hit on the marketing breakthrough that will save TimesSelect. Call it TruthSelect. Here’s the plan: Have the columns in the print edition contain flagrant inaccuracies. Figure out what the accurate version of events is, but print the corrected, accurate versions only on the restricted, premium portion of the Web site, where people have to pay $49.95 to get at them. The B.S. is free. The truth you have to pay for! It’s so simple and intuitive it’s genius.
Read the whole thing. Few writers can cut as sharp and witty as Kaus.