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‘If your mother says she loves you, check it out’
By Gina Spadafori
August 9, 2008
In the “old days,” every reporter knew to check everything — names, dates, claims, numbers, etc. The fact-checking imperative in a newsroom was expressed as above: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
And yet, I am always seeing stupid mistakes regarding pets that would be pretty darn funny if it didn’t make me wonder what the heck else was inaccurate in other stories.
My knowledge base is pretty deep on pets, which is why I grimace when I see things like “Burmese Mountain Dog,” which I’ve seen many times, most recently in an AP piece out of Colorado. (I called the Denver AP office, and they chased with a correction, to their credit.) It’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, from the Swiss Alps, a geographic area a fair distance from Burma.
First thing out of my news feeds this morning? A “Blue Mural Collie,” pictured above. The picture goes with an AP story in the Hartford Courant, so I can’t really say if the error is the AP’s or the person who wrote the caption for the Courant’s Web site.
Either way, it’s wrong. This dog isn’t a painter — of murals, portraits or landscapes. This is a blue merle collie, the merle referring to the gene that results in the blend of gray and black hairs that make up most of the dog’s coat. (The merle gene is really interesting, by the way, and you can read more here.)
In all fairness, I see more mistakes in a day in “best” pet blogs featured on Alltop: Pets than I see in the mainstream media, especially from outfits like the Associated Press. And don’t get me started on the nonsense that gets forwarded unquestioned in e-mail or spread in Internet groups or online bulletin boards. It’s apparent that there’s still a large degree of professionalism and attention to detail at work in the nation’s newsrooms.
But as the mainstream media continues to feel pressure from the loss of revenue to the Internet and reacts with cutting more staff, especially older, experienced reporters and editors, that means we’ll have to do more of the fact-checking ourselves.
So remember the rule: “if your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
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I find it so rare to read a factual article about dogs, especially the mythical ‘pit bulls’ in media stories that when I do, it really stands out.
Much like you Gina, the lack of accuracy in my current area of interest has led me to discount most of what is presented, regardless of subject.
There are a few exceptions, fortunately, but the old-time journalists are a dying breed, imo.
Comment by Caveat — August 9, 2008 @ 8:11 am
Oh lordy - the mistakes I see in client registration forms never cease to amaze. You’d think if someone went out of their way to buy a ‘thoroughbred’ dog, they’d at least know how to spell the name of THAT breed. Datsun, German sheppard, golden lab, cheewawa - and those are just in the last month.
Oh, and it annoys me to no end that even after I’ve corrected them, people still refer to my little Zippie as a “keltie”?
Comment by Janeen — August 9, 2008 @ 8:14 am
Someone told me once that her dog was a heeler/cattle dog mix.
Comment by Christie Keith — August 9, 2008 @ 8:29 am
Looks like Mars is recalling more pet food due to possible Salmonella contamination. I wonder if they will recall only SOME of the foods this time, like they did before, never telling the public what other foods were also potentially contaminated.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-.....#038;EDATE=
Comment by slt — August 9, 2008 @ 8:30 am
I think people spelled better in the ‘olden’ days of typewriters because they didn’t want to have to fix a mistake. It was painful. Now most articles and typesetting are done on computers and I think people get lazy and don’t run the spellcheck. I’m pretty sure proof reader is no longer a job at any type of publishing business - whether book or newspaper. The other day I opened the paper and noticed the headings at the top - Valley, Nation and ‘WOLRD’.
Comment by cheryl — August 9, 2008 @ 9:38 am
boarder collies get me very time…blue mural collie…lolololol
and that yawm study nearly sent me into spasms…
Comment by nancy freedman-smith — August 9, 2008 @ 11:40 am
yawm..oppps yawn….
Comment by nancy freedman-smith — August 9, 2008 @ 11:40 am
I think “spell check” is responsible for a good number of the errors. I doubt merle or bernese are included in the standard spelling dictionaries, but mural or burmese might be included. In fact… in typing this post, firefox has underlined them for attention. Maybe because I spent too many hours in my high school’s print shop proofing everything that was produced for 3 school papers and the district, I tend to be very aware of typos and errata.
Comment by Moira — August 9, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
boarder collies yes and also people waiting with baited breath. ;-0 yuck.
Comment by cheryl — August 9, 2008 @ 12:33 pm
My “favorite”: Rockwilders
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 9, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
Well……….I couldn’t resist!!!
It would be HarTford Courant, silly!!!! ;D
Comment by Amy — August 9, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
aiy-eeeee
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 9, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
Argh, so topical, recent headline from the palmbeachpost.com “Delray Beach pet shop owner wants stolen $1,500 mini Doberman returned”
Is it really that hard to check the name of a breed? It’s been up for days.
Sheyna
Comment by Sheyna — August 9, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
That’s just like a friend of mine just bought a toy schnauzer. I took one look at the dog (he is so cute by the way) and said “that” is a Miniature
Schnauzer. Definitely not a toy.
Comment by VJ — August 10, 2008 @ 7:02 am
Well, I am not going to check the facts in “do cats always land on their feet? book by Gina and Marty Becker, DVM.
She is one person who does “check the facts” and I got a lot of new information about cats as I did when I read her “Meow, Wow” book.
Besides the facts, I enjoy Gina’s delivery of them because amuses as well as educates. By the way, so does Dr. Becker.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — August 10, 2008 @ 8:01 am
Dr. Becker taught me how to amuse. Before that, all I did was educate. He’s a funny guy!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 10, 2008 @ 9:27 am
Saw this one today Welsh Pimbrooke corgys
Comment by JenniferJ — August 10, 2008 @ 11:20 am
AP is reporting today that Isaac Hayes was born in 1942 and that died at 49 years old.
Say what?
Comment by nancy freedman-smith — August 10, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
I’m not so concerned about something like that, when it could be typo or math error on deadline, which the AP will correct within minutes by chasing with “write-thrus” (speaking as person who spent a lot of time sitting on a newsroom copy desk editing wire copy on deadline).
What bothers me are stories that don’t seem to be fact-checked at all, or that pass along assumptions (such as that pit-bulls are “prone” to killing) without questioning them.
The AP is pretty darn good overall, and really good people work for the AP, reporters and editors both. I see most problems with fact-checking at small- and medium-sized newspapers, on TV station Web sites and, increasingly, at large newspapers that are cutting staff and making fewer people do the same amount of work.
If you’ve ever worked on a wire-service editing desk, you’d really appreciate the work they do. Things move fast and furious!
Insider view: The most talented editors are often those on the sports desk. Sports stories tend to come in all at once, and there are lots of little details that have to be right — names, stats, scores, etc. Amazing work.
Gah … suddenly I’m getting one of those “I miss the newsroom” moments.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 10, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
Print media is not the only one to err. Recently the Today show did a segment on teaching dogs to swim. The so called dog expert kept referring to what was clearly a Basset Hound as a Beagle. URGH drove me NUTS!
Comment by eastofeden — August 12, 2008 @ 8:37 am
I didn’t see it — was watching Dr. Becker on “Good Morning America” instead — but do think maybe the expert was nervous and that’s why that happened? Everyone knows the difference between a basset hound and a beagle!
But being on live TV can make your mind go haywire if you’re not used to it. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 12, 2008 @ 9:06 am