To Err is Human

And yes, journalists are human...but their occupation is to deal with facts and figures, with information the rest of us need, so there are important reasons why they should not be as error prone as the rest of us mere mortals.

However I wonder.

The New York Times, in the lead sentence of a recent Sunday story made the same mistake that several Lexington TV stations make almost daily in their reports.  CBS on the evening news had another similar error, very popular with Lexington journalists.

They are having bodies “drug” across floors, instead of “dragged,” for example.

And one local  sports reporter insists on doubling up on his subjects, half a dozen times a cast:  "The Wildcats, they…Coach Cal, he...Ashley Judd, she…”

And as for geography, well...back to school, or consult the newsroom atlas (assuming there is one.)

Vanuatu is a  nation, composed of a string of islands, much as the Bahamas. Only it’s in the far South Pacific, not just off our shores. When Cyclone Pam (a tornado over the ocean) hit Vanuatu with Category 5 winds recently, NBC’s evening news  located it “just east of Australia.”  Just East is about 1300 miles!  A Fox News report described Vanuatu is one of the islands near New Zealand, also about 1300 miles away.

Does that make Boston “just East” of Lexington?

I'm just sayin'...