NPR Corrections Policy
corrections@npr.org
NPR corrects significant errors in broadcast and online reports. Corrections of errors will be made in audio archives, written transcripts and on the Web site.
From All Things Considered on Dec. 9, 2004:
In the introduction to our Dec. 8 story about a Navy petty officer in San Diego who refused to board a transport ship bound for Iraq, we mistakenly identified Pablo Paredes as a chief petty officer. His rank is petty officer third class.
From All Things Considered on Dec. 4, 2004:
A correction to a Nov. 27 story about a program at Boston Medical Center that brings doctors and lawyers together to help solve poor people's health problems. We implied that the Massachusetts State Health Insurance Agency paid for taxis to take a homeless family's children to doctor's appointments and schools. In fact, Mass Health covered the trips only to the children's doctors. Local school districts covered transportation to their schools.
Regarding a Newscast report on Nov. 30, 2004:
It was erroneously reported in the 2 p.m. ET newscast on Nov. 30 that the chairman and CEO of American International Group had been fired. In fact, AIG Chairman Maurice Greenberg has not been fired.
from All Things Considered on Nov. 30, 2004:
In our Nov. 22 report about Islam in Germany, we said Germany had the largest Muslim population in Europe. We were wrong. France does. And in our report on Sirius Satellite Radio on Nov. 19, we said that NPR's programming is carried on one channel in the Sirius network. NPR is in fact on two channels.
From Morning Edition on Nov. 30, 2004:
In our story on Mission High School in Fremont, Calif., we said California is the first state with a majority non-white population. But Steve Johnson of Eugene, Ore., reminds us, "Hawaii has had this distinction since before statehood." Also, that report said Mission High sits along the San Andreas Fault in Fremont. But it's actually the lesser-known Hayward Fault.
From Morning Edition on Nov. 29, 2004:
In a story about a biography of city planner James Rouse, we said the first shopping mall in America was the Harundale Mall in Glen Burnie, Md., which opened in 1958. It was probably the first shopping center to call itself a mall, but many of you told us there were earlier ones. Both the Southdale Center in Minnesota and Southfield Shopping Center in Michigan lay claim to being the first modern mall. Each opened in 1956.
From Morning Edition, Nov. 9, 2004:
A report on abductions of relatives of South American sports stars misidentified Venezuelan baseball star Ugueth Urbina. He is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, not a hitter.
From Morning Edition, Nov. 4, 2004:
A report on a landmark brewing company in San Francisco misnamed the business, its correct name is Anchor Brewing.
From Morning Edition, Nov. 1, 2004:
A new Republican brand of ketchup, called W, is competing with Heinz. But the National Restaurant Association has not launched a "ketchup war," as Pippin Ross reported.
In a profile of musician Jon Brion, a song by the group The Smiths was misidentified. The correct title is "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now."
Also, a clarification: Earlier, Steve Inskeep said that the winner of the Illinois Senate race will become the only black member of the U.S. Senate. For the record, five African Americans are seeking Senate seats on Nov. 2.
From All Things Considered, Oct. 21, 2004:
An Oct. 20 report on unusual items in presidential libraries placed the location of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library as Loma Linda, California. The library is actually in Yorba Linda, California.
From Morning Edition, Sept. 28, 2004:
NPR stated that former telecom executive William Seippel sued the accounting firm of Ernst and Young. Mr. Seippel is suing the bank and law firm that set up the shelter he used; he is not suing Ernst and Young.
From Morning Edition, Sept. 28, 2004:
A report incorrectly stated that most of the historic monuments in Deerfield, Mass., had been moved indoors. We also identified a woman who refused to give her name as a person of English descent -- she is actually of Native American ancestry.
From Morning Edition, Sep. 22, 2004:
In a commentary, Frank Deford said the college yearbook, the Yale Banner, was defunct. But rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated. The folks at Yale tell us the yearbook began in 1864 -- and is alive and well.
From All Things Considered, Sept. 9, 2004:
In a story about Andy Warhol's time capsules that aired on Sept. 8, we reported that Warhol's friend, Jean-Michel Basquiat, died in 1998. In fact, he died a decade earlier.
From Morning Edition, Sept. 2, 2004:
In a segment on the Latin Grammys, we should have noted that the band Los Lonely Boys is from San Angelo, Texas.
Regarding an All Things Considered report of August 28, 2004, and a Weekend Edition story of August 29, 2004:
Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard did not serve as a Naval intelligence officer. He worked for the U.S. Navy as a civilian analyst.
From Morning Edition, Aug. 20, 2004:
In an Aug. 19 commentary by NPR producer Taki Telonidis, who is covering the Olympics in Athens, he imagined ancient Greek spectators of the Games wearing togas. That wouldn't have happened. Upper-class Romans wore togas. The Greek equivalent was called a himation.
On Aug.17, we erroneously reported that Princeton had released a ranking of the nation's top party schools. That survey is actually produced by the Princeton Review.
Regarding a Newscast report, August 18, 2004:
NPR erroneously reported that federal law allows for a state waiver to import prescription drugs. It does not. Medicare law gives the Department of Health and Human Services authority to waive prohibitions for individuals... not entire states.
Regarding an All Things Considered report, August 18, 2004:
In Wednesday's installment of our series on the history of the Middle East, we said the Ottoman siege of Vienna was in 1686. It actually took place in 1683.
From All Things Considered, August 5, 2004:
In a report on the 2004 elections, NPR's Linda Wertheimer reported that Democratic Party officials hope Hispanic candidates like Ken Salazar will attract voters. The state's primary for that Senate seat will be held Aug. 10.
NPR's Daniel Schorr erred when he said there were no Americans being held captive in Iraq. The Pentagon currently lists Pfc. Keith Maupin as "captured."
Regarding a Newscast report on July 21, 2004:
NPR erroneously reported that the United Nations voted unanimously to declare illegal the construction of a separation barrier in and around the West Bank. In fact, the resolution was adopted by a vote of 150 to 6, with 10 abstentions.
From Weekend Edition August 1, 2004:
Last week ... in our conversation with author Eric Lax about his book The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle, we mistakenly said that Norman Heatley received the Nobel Prize for his work on penicillin. Heatley was not recognized in the 1945 Nobel citation that went to Ernst Chain, Alexander Fleming and Howard Florey.
Regarding a Newscast report on July 28, 2004:
Earlier today, NPR erroneously reported that Public Radio International is involved in Bob Edwards' move to XM Radio.
From All Things Considered, July 22, 2004:
Peggy McHugh, a Spanish professor at Dickinson College, wrote to point out a translation error in a July 19 report about Sen. John Kerry courting Hispanic voters. Our reporter translated a political ad as "Kerry is our best hope." In fact, it says "John Kerry as president will be our hope for a better future."
"Your translation," McHugh wrote, "gives the non-Spanish speaking population the impression that even Kerry's advertisements say he is the lesser of two evils. In truth, the ad tells voters that if we want a better future, Kerry is our hope."
In an introduction to a commentary by Robert Franklin on July 20, we said he does not approve of the equation of gay marriage and the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s.
"That is not quite accurate," Franklin wrote. "I did not indicate my position on the issue. My purpose was to explain why black clergy who led the movement against racism and bigotry 40 years ago are now leading the movement to exclude gay and lesbian people from certain civil rights.
"There is a cognitive and emotional logic in their justifications that should be understood. I expressed my disappointment with that posture.
"As for my position, like many Americans, I have not yet made up my mind about same sex marriage. But, as I study the issues and weigh all the arguments, I strive to do so with an open mind and a charitable heart."
From Morning Edition, July 21, 2004:
We reported that Lt. Brian Smith, killed by a sniper attack on his convoy west of Baghdad, had been a lawyer in Dallas. We should have said he was a lawyer in Austin, Texas.
From Morning Edition, July 20, 2004:
NPR's Claudio Sanchez told us how Congress is trying to stop fraud in the E-Rate program. That's a federal effort to connect schools and libraries to the Internet. We reported that schools usually pick up about 10 percent of the cost, and the federal government pays the rest. We should have said this: Many schools pay as little as 1/10th of the cost.
We reported that the U.S. military acknowledged assisting a group of American vigilantes in Afghanistan. We should have said that NATO-led forces acknowledged that.
And we got mixed up when we described The Virgin of Tikhvin, a religious icon, as having magical powers. "Miraculous" would have been a better fit.
Our New Mexico native, Linda Wertheimer, admits to being a bit rusty on her home state geography. In her story on the political battleground state, Linda said that the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were outside of Albuquerque. The Sandia Mountains are actually outside Albuquerque, as many in the state reminded us.
And as proof that we all get it wrong sometimes, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia got it wrong in Nina Totenberg's story on the influence of international law in high-court decisions. He said: "The second reason foreign law is likely to be used increasingly in our living Constitution decisions, is Sir Edmund Hillary's reason: because it's there."
Actually, that was George Lee Mallory's reason for wanting to climb Mt. Everest. Mallory took part in British expeditions to that mountain decades before Sir Edmund Hillary made his famous trek.
From Weekend Edition Sunday, July 18, 2004:
Several listeners wrote in regarding the July 11 installment of a summer reading series. Industrial designer Karim Rashid talked about The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. In the introduction, de Botton writes about a character who planned a trip to London that never happened. Rashid named Marcel Proust as that traveler, but the traveler was actually the Duke Des Esseintes, from a novel by J.K. Huysmans called Against Nature or Against the Grain.
Also, news analyst Daniel Schorr erred in his July 11 commentary when he referred to 44 men having been "elected to the presidency." Since we're only on president number 43, that was obviously incorrect. But a number of astute listeners pointed out that by the construction of the sentence, 43 would not have been the correct number, either. Listener Gene Kleppinger of Berea, Kentucky, had the most precise answer: "Forty-two different men have been President of the United States," he writes, "with Grover Cleveland being credited as both the 22nd and 24th to hold the office." Mr. Kleppinger also points out that Gerald Ford never ran in a national election and that "John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester Arthur were elected vice presidents who did not run for election as president, so the correct number of men "elected to the presidency" is 37."
From All Things Considered, July 13, 2004:
In reporting on President Bush discussing the Iraq invasion, we said the president "told a crowd of supporters the war in Iraq was the right thing to do, even if no weapons of mass destruction are ever found." That was inaccurate. Mr. Bush said: "Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq."
From All Things Considered, July 3, 2004:
A report on Mad Cow disease stated that an American cow found to be infected last December "never made it into the food supply." The report should have said that the animal's brain and spinal cord, which carry the infectious agent, didn't make it into the food supply.
From All Things Considered, July 1, 2004:
In our coverage of this week's Supreme Court decisions, we indicated that the Communications Decency Act intended to punish child pornographers. The law was intended to keep indecent material away from children online.
From All Things Considered, July 1, 2004:
In an interview, Julie Goldsbury of North Dakota's Golden Valley News said the town of Beach, N.D., was in a 1,000-mile stretch of country that will be without bus service. The distance from Fargo to Billings, Mont. -- through Beach, N.D. -- measures 610 miles.
From All Things Considered, July 1, 2004:
In an interview with author Joel Achenbach about his book The Grand Idea, Achenbach stated that the Fairfax Stone -- the origin of the Potomac River -- is in western Maryland. The Fairfax Stone is actually located at the corner of Grant, Preston, and Tucker county -- in West Virginia. The stone also marks the border with the state of Maryland.
From All Things Considered, June 10, 2004:
In a story about tax exemptions for churches that aired on May 21, we stated that a Southern Baptist Convention website encouraged its members to vote Republican. In fact, the "I Vote Values" website does not endorse any particular party or candidate.
From All Things Considered, June 10, 2004:
A June 9 report about a spell of blue skies and cleaner air during last year's Northeast power outage misidentified the source of that clean air. It came mostly from Canada and the Great Lakes region. Power plants in the Ohio River Valley kept operating during the blackout. Air downwind from them did not improve.
From Talk of the Nation, June 8, 2004:
A clarification about a guest we heard on the program on June 1, during our discussion of the Saudi oil industry. We identified Robert Jordan as a former American ambassador to that country and a senior partner in the Dallas law firm Baker Botts LLP. After the program, it was brought to our attention that Ambassador Jordan's firm represents Saudi clients. A spokeswoman confirms that Baker Botts represents Saudi Arabia's defense minister, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz. She tells us that Ambassador Jordan is not involved in the firm's representation of members of the Saudi royal family.
From Morning Edition, May 10, 2004:
In a story last month, we referred to millions of Palestinians who fled Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and are now seeking the right of return. The actual number at the time they fled was about 750,000, though the population has since grown into the millions.
From Morning Edition, May 3, 2004:
In a story that aired Monday, May 3, on the political setback to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to disengage from Gaza, correspondent Julie McCarthy reported on the killing of an Israeli mother and her four daughters outside a Gaza settlement by Palestinian gunmen who were later shot dead by Israeli troops. However, in the report McCarthy said "... there was ample evidence yesterday to show that their [the settlers'] continued presence in Gaza is provoking bloodshed." The purpose of the report was to take note of the continuing violence. The story in no way meant to suggest that the killings were justified. NPR regrets that the report made any such implication.
Corrected on Morning Edition, April 26, 2004:
A correction of a term that was used in a newscast earlier this month. Israeli military officials were quoted as saying they had arrested 12 men who were "wanted militants." The actual phrase used by the Israeli military was "wanted terrorists."
From All Things Considered, April 19, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, April 22, 2004:
In a story on Nevada politics, we misstated a rancher's reasons for being unhappy with the actions of the Clinton administration related to grazing on federal land. The rancher was angered at what he perceived as an increase in paperwork related to grazing, not an increase in fees for those rights. President Clinton asked for a hike in fees, but Congress was unwilling to go along.
From Newscast, 10 p.m. ET, April 9, 2004:
We reported that a researcher "discovered on Mormon baptism rolls, the names of 286 Dutch Jews who were killed in Polish concentration camps." In fact, they were killed in German concentration camps in Poland.
From Morning Edition, April 12, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, April 13, 2004:
Yesterday's National Geographic Radio Expedition traced the slave trade's legacy in Benin, Africa. [Bob Edwards] said millions of Africans were brought to the new world between 1450 and 1850. Actually, the trans-Atlantic slave trade from Africa began in the early 1500s. In the 1440s, the Portuguese began trading African slaves in Europe.
From Morning Edition, April 2, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, April 13, 2004:
NPR's Jackie Northam mistakenly called Major General Geoffrey Miller Captain Miller in her report about the Guantanamo Bay military base.
From Morning Edition, April 1, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, April 13, 2004:
In his story on the Bush and Kerry campaigns' rapid-response efforts, NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams referred to Grover Cleveland's 1874 campaign. That campaign was in 1884.
From Morning Edition, April 1, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, April 13, 2004:
NPR's Allison Aubrey called the governor of Idaho Dick Kempthorne instead of Dirk in a story on President Bush's nomination of William G. Myers to the judicial bench.
From All Things Considered, March 8, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, March 11, 2004:
In reporter John Nielsen's piece about the Superfund program, he quoted Julie Wolk as an activist with the group Public Citizen. She, in fact, works for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
From Morning Edition, March 16, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, March 29, 2004:
A story about a Palestinian film festival reported that the Jenin refugee camp had been, quote, "largely destroyed" during an Israeli military action in 2002. But a United Nations report notes that while the center of the camp had been totally destroyed, the extent of the destruction for the camp as a whole was 10 percent.
From Newscast, Feb. 28, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, March 13, 2004:
We have one correction to make. In a newscast report on Saturday, February 28th, about an attack on Jewish settlers, we referred to the incident occurring near the settlement of Meitar. Meitar is not a settlement.
From All Things Considered, Jan. 22, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, Feb. 5, 2004:
We made a mistake in the introduction to our Jan. 22 story on reporters protecting confidential sources. The story involved a lawsuit filed by nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. He was trying to learn who in the government had discussed him as a suspect in an espionage case with news reporters. We erroneously said that five reporters subpoenaed in the case had declined to turn over their notes. The dispute in the story was about the identity of reporters' sources, but had nothing to do with their notes.
From All Things Considered, Jan. 26, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, Feb. 5, 2004:
In a story that aired Jan. 26 on the strategy of Israel's military to head off Palestinian attacks, we said that Israel's army was "the world's fourth-largest." There are various measures of military strength, but measured by manpower, Israel ranks 13th according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
From All Things Considered, Jan. 29, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, Feb. 5, 2004:
Ayun Halliday's essay on the fractured English of Japanese schoolgirls and Korean stationers requires a clarification. Halliday quoted a line she saw in Korea, " One is no longer disposed to say it, and so each venture is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate with shabby equipment always deteriorating", as an example of this phenomenon. In fact, the memorable fragment is from T.S. Eliot's "East Coker" of The Four Quartets. Eliot was to our knowledge neither a Japanese schoolgirl, nor a Korean stationer.
From Morning Edition, Feb. 2, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, Feb. 4, 2004:
A clarification: A report this week on black voters left an impression with some listeners that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has endorsed John Kerry as the Democratic candidate for president. Congressman Jackson has endorsed Howard Dean.
From Morning Edition, Jan. 26, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, Jan. 28, 2004:
Commentator Russell Roberts made a mistake when he called Tang a
spin-off technology of the space program. Tang was first available in
1957, and the first space flight was 1965. However, grape Tang was not introduced until the 1970s.
From Morning Edition, Jan. 23, 2004; corrected on Morning Edition, Jan. 28, 2004:
In his profile of Aretha Franklin, Juan Williams said she first started
making hits for Atlantic Records in Memphis. It was actually in Muscle
Shoals, Alabama. And Franklin's 1985 album, Who's Zoomin' Who?,
returned her to the Billboard's Top 10. Freeway of Love was the name of the hit single from that album.
From Weekend Edition Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004; corrected on Weekend Edition Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004:
We mentioned The Goldbergs as the first television situation comedy, but Dave Berkman of Milwaukee wrote in to say the first TV sitcom was not The Goldbergs in 1949, as stated, but Mary Kay and Johnny, which debuted on the Dumont network 1947. Mr. Berkman is correct. The Dumont network operated well into the 1950s.
From All Things Considered, Jan. 7, 2004; corrected on All Things Considered, Jan. 8, 2004:
A correction to Michele Norris' story on wounded U.S. troops arriving home at Andrews Air Force Base: In an interview, Army Specialist Christopher Judkins described being wounded in an attack by Iraqi insurgents. We have since learned that Specialist Judkins sustained his injury in an accident involving his own weapon.
And in a Jan. 7, 2004, commentary, NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr incorrectly stated that Pakistan gained its independence from India. Pakistan, in fact, gained its independence from Britain in 1947.
From Morning Edition, Oct. 28, 2003; corrected on Morning Edition, Nov. 4, 2003:
A correction in an interview about Israel's plan to extend services such as electricity to some West Bank settlements: NPR's Julie McCarthy said that 250 million Israelis live in settlements. She meant to say 250,000. (Note: The archived audio of the Oct. 28 segment was updated to correct the error.)
From All Things Considered, Sept. 24, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, Sept. 29, 2003:
NPR incorrectly reported that Universal Music Group had backed away from its plans to lower the suggested retail price of many of its CDs to $12.98. In fact, Universal has not changed its new pricing policy and will continue to recommend a $12.98 manufacturer's suggested retail price to stores. Universal will put stickers on CDs stating they are priced lower but will not specify a dollar figure.
From All Things Considered, Sept. 16, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, Sept. 18, 2003:
Robert Siegel's interview with our regular contributor E.J. Dionne about Wesley Clark and the field of presidential candidates, upset some listeners. In it, E.J. noted that Gen. Clark's military service would "contrast with President Bush, who was in the National Guard but did not serve in the armed forces."
"As a 23-year veteran in the National Guard, I take offence," writes Maj. David Tukdarian, "every time I look at my military I.D. I see 'Armed Forces of the United States' at the top, not just in the National Guard". Maj. Tukdarian goes on to point out that a great many of the troops serving in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan are National Guard or reservists.
From All Things Considered, Sept. 17, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, Sept. 18, 2003:
Listeners to some feeds of our program heard us locate a speech by presidential candidate John Edwards in Sioux Falls, Iowa. This led listener Robert Mulqueen to note "while the aggressiveness of the cities and counties of northwestern Iowa have been known for years, I have not heard that Lyon County, Iowa, has had the wherewithal to annex Sioux Falls, South Dakota."
It should, of course, have been Sioux City, Iowa.
From All Things Considered, Sept. 10, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, Sept. 11, 2003:
"Several listeners to the first feed of our program yesterday heard David
Kestenbaum in his obituary for Edward Teller say that the physicist
tried to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt of the necessity of
developing a hydrogen bomb. It was, or course, Harry Truman who
required convincing."
From Weekend Edition Saturday, Aug. 30, 2003; corrected on Weekend Edition Saturday, Sept. 6, 2003:
"Last week Will Pearson, a co-founder of the magazine Mental Floss, tried to explain why the sky is blue. He said it was because the Earth's atmosphere refracts the sun's light rays and blue light predominates the other colors. Class, he got it wrong, as many listeners pointed out. Here to set us straight is NPR's Joe Palca:
"The sky is blue because blue light from the sun bounces off air molecules in the upper atmosphere. Yes, I said blue light from the sun. Sunlight is a mixture of all colors, including blue. But blue is the most energetic light we can see. And the higher the energy, the more bouncing. And the more bouncing, the more blue light that enters our eye. So beholders of that bouncing blue light see a sky that is beautifully blue. Unless, of course, there are clouds. By historical note: This explanation was first put forward by British physicist Lord Rayleigh in 1871."
From Morning Edition, Aug. 20, 2003; corrected on Morning Edition, Aug. 22, 2003:
"In an Aug. 20 story on the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Israel, listeners could hear a group of Israelis at the scene chanting in Hebrew. We translated the chant as 'death to Arabs.' The correct translation was 'we want revenge.'"
From Morning Edition, Aug. 20, 2003; corrected on Morning Edition, Aug. 22, 2003:
"Commentator Matt Miller quoted California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger's published statements as to why he became a Republican. Schwarzenegger recalled listening to the 1968 debates between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon. Not true, says Norman Sherman, who was press secretary to Humphrey at the time. Sherman writes: 'Arnold was hearing voices. There were no Nixon-Humphrey debates. Arnold's epiphany is fiction.'"
From All Things Considered, Aug. 6, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, Aug. 14, 2003:
"In an Aug. 6th story on the Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners, we mistakenly described one of the freed men as having served five years in prison for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. In fact, he was sentenced for involvement in Hamas and producing explosives."
From Morning Edition Newscast, July 21, 2003; corrected on Morning Edition, Aug. 13, 2003:
"We want to correct one story from a few weeks ago. In a Newscast on July 21st we said that a Palestinian 'militant' had been killed in a bomb attack on an Israeli military vehicle, and we attributed this statement to the Israeli Army. The official army statement actually used the word 'terrorist,' not 'militant.'"
From All Things Considered, July 16, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, July 17, 2003:
"A couple of corrections about our story yesterday on the Superfund site of Tar Creek, Oklahoma. Lucy Boone writes from Norman, Oklahoma to remind us that the governor of that state, Brad Henry, is a Democrat, not a Republican as we reported. Ms. Boone says, 'We Oklahoma Democrats worked very hard to get Mr. Henry elected and would appreciate NPR recognizing this fact. Oh, and by the way, Miami is in Florida. In Oklahoma it is pronounced My-am-uh!'"
From All Things Considered, June 26, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, July 3, 2003:
"Michael Friedman, a public defender in Contra Costa County, Calif., spotted a mistake in our coverage of the Supreme Court's end-of-term decisions. We misidentified the attorney who handled the appeal of Marion Stogner, the California man accused of assault. The attorney for the case was Roberto Najera, deputy public defender in Contra Costa County. The attorney we named had filed a brief supporting Stogner's appeal."
From All Things Considered, June 23, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, July 3, 2003:
"Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius in Tucson, Ariz., points out that guest Michael Bazyler of Whittier Law School mispoke when he described Germany's obligations under an agreement aimed at resolving claims of Holocaust victims and their heirs. Mr. Bazyler said a fund of $5 million had been established to satisfy claims -- he meant, $5 billion."
From All Things Considered, June 20, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, June 26, 2003:
"We received a deluge, a thunderstorm, a tsunami of corrections about a reference to the pending equinox in our story on how rainy it's been here in the Washington, D.C., area. Among those writing was Shawn Cunningham of Baltimore, who says, 'Surely NPR has enough aging hippies who have celebrated the changes of season on its staff to get this point right. It is the solstice that is upon us -- namely the summer solstice. You guys need to hire a druid or two.'"
From All Things Considered, June 18, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, June 19, 2003:
"We have a few corrections to acknowledge, starting with my description yesterday of the Cochineal insect as a Peruvian beetle. While we could claim that this is a vague layman's usage of 'beetle' that would include even certain Volkswagens, that would not wash with Dr. Paul Johnson, professor of entomology at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
He calls it, 'a serious entomological faux pas.' In a further unkind cut, Professor Johnson writes: 'I would expect such cavalier biology from your colleagues at Fox, but factual inaccuracies on NPR?! ... Beetles are exceedingly distinctive insects that are well-known and well characterized in any novitiate-level biology book, as well as advanced entomology references... Cochineal insects are not beetles and not even closely related, let alone not even similar in appearance (but rather) a species of scale insect. Shame on NPR for allowing Western entomo-phobic disregard for insects to influence the misrepresentation of biological facts."
From All Things Considered, June 12, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, June 19, 2003:
"Listeners to the first feed of our program last Thursday may have heard an error in our obituary for Gregory Peck. Pat Dowell placed the story of To Kill a Mockingbird in Mississippi. That led Chuck Bearman, chief of staff in the office of Mississippi's secretary of state, to write. As he pointed out -- It was not set in Mississippi, but in Alabama."
From NPR News May 30, 2003:
During our 1 p.m. ET newscast on May 30, we referred to Auschwitz and Birkenau as "prison camps" in a report on President Bush's trip to Europe. They should have been identified as "concentration camps."
From Morning Edition, May 28, 2003; corrected on Morning Edition, June 3, 2003:
During Bob Edwards' interview with David Aronson about the dire situation in the Congo, Aronson was identified as being with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. While he has done work for the commission, he is currently traveling independently and not as a representative of the commission.
From All Things Considered, May 29, 2003:
Some feeds of All Things Considered mistakenly referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair as Britain's head of state. Britain is a monarchy, where Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has been head of state for the past half century.
From All Things Considered, May 22, 2003:
A report by Andrea Bernstein of member station WNYC -- which aired in some feeds of All Things Considered -- mistakenly reported the percentage of the vote won by New York Governor George Pataki in 2002. Bernstein reported that Pataki, in winning a third term, "captured nearly 60 percent of the vote." Actually, while Pataki did win a landslide victory (by 16 points), the actual numbers were Pataki - 49 percent, Democrat Carl McCall with 33 percent, and Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano with 14 percent.
From All Things Considered, Feb. 9, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered, April 19, 2003:
On Feb. 9 as part of our series on girl gangs, we misidentified one of the former gangs at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. The group was the Albanian Boys Incorporated, not the Aryan Nation.
From All Things Considered March 25, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered March 27, 2003:
"...from Steven Lavallee of Providence, Rhode Island -- who writes, 'at the end of (your) interesting story about the historical British connection to Iraq, (you) stated that in 1958 the assassinated King (Faisal) was dismembered in the streets of Baghdad. Though that was indeed the fate of his uncle the Crown Prince and also of Iraq's Prime Minister, the body of this not-unpopular and blameless young man was given a quiet burial with his parents.'"
From All Things Considered March 26, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered March 27, 2003:
"NPR's remembrance of the great Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan evoked an old Three Dog Night hit. The senator was born in Oklahoma not Arizona... and yes, it does matter. The song, by the way, was written by the late Hoyt Axton, who, like Sen. Moynihan, was born in -- get it right this time -- Oklahoma." Signed, Steve Higgins ... Tulsa, OKLAHOMA."
From the NPR Ombudsman column, March 14, 2003:
The column originally said "There seems to be an imbalance of pro-war voices on NPR, thus proving Mr. Krengel's point." The sentence has been corrected to say "There seems to be an imbalance of anti-war voices on NPR, thus proving Mr. Krengel's point."
From All Things Considered Feb. 25, 2003:
In a story about a high court ruling seen boosting death-row appeals broadcast on an early feed of All Things Considered NPR's Nina Totenberg referred to the 11th Circuit court of Appeals. In fact, all references to the 11th Circuit should have been to the 5th Circuit.
From All Things Considered Feb. 10, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered Feb. 12, 2003:
"Howard Berkes' story about how the community of Riverton, Wyoming, is reacting to becoming the headquarters of the overtly racist World Church of the Creator, contained a reference to crimes committed by church member Benjamin Smith. In 1999, he shot eleven people, killing two. Our report said all the victims were non-white. Jim Rostenberg writes, "In truth, a number of those wounded in Skokie were (Caucasian) Jews."
From Weekend Edition Sunday Jan. 26, 2003; corrected on Weekend Edition Sunday Feb. 9, 2003:
Two weeks ago, we ran a story by David D'Arcy on museums and funding. Afterwards we received a letter from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Connecticut. It reads: "Reporter David D'Arcy made two errors when he reported that the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford has put its building program on hold, and that the project would cost $120 million. While is true that the groundbreaking for the renovation and expansion has been delayed to 2005, the project is not on hold. Furthermore, the building program is budgeted at $80 million. Another $40 million in the total fundraising campaign is for the Wadsworth Atheneum's endowment and operations. To date, the Wadsworth Atheneum has raised $60.7 million in the 'quiet' or 'non-public' phase of this fundraising campaign for the endowment and building program."
We regret the error and thank the Wadsworth Atheneum for the clarification.
From Morning Edition Jan. 22, 2002; corrected on Morning Edition Feb. 6, 2003:
In a story broadcast on Morning Edition on Jan. 22, 2002, National Public Radio said it had called the Traditional Values Coalition to ask if that group had been contacted by the FBI, investigating the mailing of anthrax to Senate offices. This report violated NPR editorial principles. No one had told our reporter that the Traditional Values Coalition was a suspect in the anthrax mailing. No facts were available then or since then to suggest that the group had any role in the anthrax mailing. NPR deeply regrets this mistake and apologizes for any false impression that the coalition was involved in this investigation.
From All Things Considered Jan. 18, 2003; corrected on All Things Considered Jan. 25, 2003:
We want to correct one item from last week's profile of American sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, who's made her life in Mexico. We correctly reported that she's returning to the U.S. to receive an award, but we misidentified the award. The International Sculpture Society is giving Catlett a Lifetime Achievement Award.
From Morning Edition Dec. 12, 2002:
A Dec. 12, 2002, report on Morning Edition should have indicated that when young Navajo women were broadcasting via the Internet from Long Island University's C.W. Post campus, the broadcasts were carried on Sports Radio Network (WSRN).
From All Things Considered Dec. 7, 2002; corrected on All Things Considered Dec. 14, 2002:
On last weekend's broadcast, correspondent David Molpus reported that amongst jobs in demand, the occupation of respiratory therapist doesn't require a bachelor's degree. A respiratory therapist does, however, need to earn a two-year associate's degree in that discipline.
From Weekend Edition Saturday Dec. 7, 2002:
The story entitled "Rocks With Wings" contained an error about the Lady Chieftains basketball team's record. The story stated that the team won state championship titles every year from 1988 through 1995. The story should have said that the Lady Chieftains won four state championship titles between 1988 and 1992, and made it to the state finals in '93, '94 and '95. We regret the error.
From All Things Considered Nov. 15, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Nov. 21, 2002:
"In Claudio Sanchez's story about a program to rekindle the spark of burned-out teachers, the participants climbed to the top of Mt. Le Conte. Many listeners pointed out an error -- among them, Anne Bridges, a reference librarian at the University of Tennessee. She wrote, 'Your claim that Mt. Le Conte is in North Carolina is erroneous. While the teachers may be from North Carolina, Mt. Le Conte resides on the Tennessee side of the Smokies.'"
From All Things Considered Nov. 13, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Nov. 14, 2002:
"It's Thursday, the day we read from your letters, and we start with a correction to yesterday's program. I said that Britain's pubs have closed early, ever since World War II. Our thanks to Charles Day in Bozeman, Montana, Marc James Small in Roanoke, Virginia and Peg Willingham in Arlington, Virginia.
All pointed out that closing the pubs early was a World War I innovation, part of the Defence of the Realm Act. Mr. Day notes that the law was 'affectionately known to the British' by its acronym 'DORA.' The logic of the pub closings was, he writes, 'to keep factory production levels high. Factory workers, particularly the ammunition factory workers, would be home from the pubs at a reasonable hour so that they would show up well rested on the factory floor the next morning.'"
From All Things Considered Oct. 26, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Nov. 2, 2002:
On Saturday, Oct. 26, in a story on the protest in Washington, D.C. against a U.S. war with Iraq, we erroneously reported on All Things Considered that the size of the crowd was "fewer than 10,000." While Park Service employees gave no official estimate, it is clear that the crowd was substantially larger than that. On Sunday Oct. 27, we reported on Weekend Edition that the crowd estimate from protest organizers was 100,000. We apologize for the error.
From All Things Considered Oct. 1, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Oct. 2, 2002:
William Kollar from Totowa, New Jersey offers a correction to one detail of Chris Tsakis' story about skips in long-playing records. Mr. Kollar writes this: "Chris said that the song "Let the Good Times Roll" (the actual song title is "C'mon Part 1 with the parenthetical (Let the Good Times Roll) appeared on Jimi Hendrix's Axis Bold as Love LP. A dj worth his salt would know that it appeared on Electric Ladyland ...Were the editors asleep?"
From All Things Considered Aug. 31, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Sept. 28, 2002:
In a story that aired on All Things Considered on Aug. 31st, we reported on water shortages in Palestinian communities on the West Bank, including the fact that half of those communities had no tap water. We reported the Palestinian view on the issue, but we should have also included an Israeli response. We regret the omission.
From Morning Edition Sept. 24, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition Sept. 25, 2002:
Yesterday, a story about small investor lawsuits incorrectly reported that the internet software company Infospace had been de-listed. The company's stock is still trading on the Nasdaq.
From All Things Considered Sept. 17, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Sept. 19, 2002:
While appreciative of the marking of the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, Garry Adelman, a licensed battlefield guide, pointed out an error. "While the Battle of Antietam was indeed the bloodiest single date in American history, it was not the bloodiest 'single 24-hour period' as was described by ATC. That dubious 'honor' would probably belong to Gettysburg, where, from the afternoon of July 2 to the afternoon of July 3, 1863, Union and Confederate soldiers killed each other in numbers that simply dwarf those of the Battle of Antietam."
From All Things Considered Sept. 2, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Sept. 5, 2002:
"We received this e-mailed correction from Rene Weeks: 'I really enjoyed your story on the (new) Los Angeles Cathedral, but you were wrong on one important point. This is not the first cathedral dedicated in this country in 30 years. That honor goes to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City, Kansas, which was dedicated a few months back.'"
From Morning Edition July 1, 2002:
"NPR regrets that a comment from the Israeli Defense Force spokesman's office about the situation in Gaza was not included in Peter Kenyon's report. Kenyon did in fact contact the IDF for their comments before writing his report. The IDF spokesman said that he would investigate the incident and "get back" to the reporter but did not do so. The spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that Israeli troops had shot at those trying to repair the sewer line. As a result Kenyon did not include the spokesman's comments. He should have."
From NPR News reports, heard on Morning Edition, June 21, 2002:
In 7:30 a.m. news headlines during the Morning Edition broadcast on June 21, the newscaster misspoke. She quoted Israeli officials as saying Palestinian commandos stormed a house in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank, killing five people. Israeli officials did not identify the Palestinian gunmen as commandos. The news spot was never broadcast again. NPR regrets the error.
From All Things Considered June 18, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered June 19, 2002:
Yesterday, we reported on congressional reaction to creating a new Department of Homeland Security. In the piece, we misquoted House Majority Leader Dick Armey. He was responding to Democratic leader Richard Gephardt's call for legislation to be ready by Sept. 11. Armey actually said Gephardt's proposal "will be embraced by the president and by us."
From All Things Considered June 10, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered June 13, 2002:
Brenda Harrell e-mailed us this correction to our report on Germany and World Cup soccer: "(Y)ou stated that a re-unified German team won the 1990 World Cup. However, that is not so... The team that won the 1990 World Cup was WEST Germany."
We plead guilty as charged -- the two Germanys did not become one nation until October of 1990 -- three months after the World Cup was played.
From Morning Edition April 23, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition June 4, 2002:
In an interview on financial fraud, it was said financier Michael Milken went to prison for insider trading and junk bond fraud. Actually, Milken pleaded guilty to six felony securities violations and spent two years in prison.
From All Things Considered May 28, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered May 30, 2002:
Robert Andresini wrote from southern California to correct our interview about Libya's reported offer to compensate the families of those killed in the Lockerbie airliner bombing. Our reporter Steve Inskeep stated that "... a few years ago the Libyans turned over two suspects in the case for trial. They were tried in Europe. They were convicted. They're both now in prison." That was our error. Only one Libyan was convicted -- the other was acquitted.
From Morning Edition May 10, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition May 22, 2002:
A report about the first black women to graduate from the Citadel said the Citadel was founded in 1842 to educate the sons of the Confederacy. It did educate the sons of the Confederacy, but not at first. South Carolina became part of the Confederacy in 1860.
From Morning Edition May 16, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition May 22, 2002:
In an early feed of our story on Martin's Cove, Wyoming, last week, we failed to give the full name of the church that wants to purchase the historic site. It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
From All Things Considered May 8, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered May 9, 2002:
"I just listened with interest, and then confusion, to your story about the Centennial of the American Philosophical Society," writes Anne Rudloff Stanton from Colombia, Missouri. "I realized quickly that the story was not about the APS -- which was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin "for the promotion of useful knowledge" -- but about the American Philosophical ASSOCIATION, which IS celebrating its centennial and is much more specifically concerned with philosophy in the modern sense of the word."
Professor Stanton chides, "One little word can make a big difference!"
From All Things Considered April 18, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 25, 2002:
Desmond Alufohai of Coral Gables, Florida, writes about our interview concerning Third World debt. He says, "(The guest) cited an example of an African country called Burkina Faso -- quote -- 'located in Central Africa.'" Mr. Desmond Alufohai continues, "Burkina Faso, formerly called Upper Volta and a former French colony, is located in West Africa and not in Central Africa! Ouagadougou is the capital city."
From All Things Considered April 18, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 25, 2002:
Matthew Lesser of Washington, D.C., writes: "Liane Hansen's report on the recently discovered super-colony of ants made one glaring error. The colony doesn't (quote) 'extend along the Mediterranean, from Portugal to Spain,' nor could it; Portugal has no Mediterranean coast."
From All Things Considered April 17, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 25, 2002:
Raul Biascoechea of Everett, Washington, writes about our story on a rural town in Texas that attracted doctors from many different nations as a result of a special visa program. "The reporter went on to name various countries the doctors serving these communities had come from. Among those mentioned was Puerto Rico. If any doctors from Puerto Rico went to work in these rural communities it wasn't because of the special visa program. Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the U.S."
From All Things Considered April 18, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 25, 2002:
Loren Mochari of Jamesburg, New Jersey, was surprised when he heard Liane Hansen's interview with singer Steve Tyrell. Mr. Mochari writes: "Liane asked Mr. Tyrell how he had managed to tear Clark Terry away from the piano to lend his voice to his new recordings. I would think that this would be an easy task as Mr. Terry is known to be a trumpeter, not a pianist.
From Morning Edition April 24, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition April 25, 2002:
This clarification: In yesterday's essay by Israeli teenager Sarah Dansker, her hometown Efrat was not identified as an Israeli settlement on West Bank territory, land occupied by the Israelis in the 1967 war.
From Morning Edition April 9, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition April 18, 2002:
The story about a Boston priest accused of child sexual abuse needs clarification. Monica Brady-Meyerov reported that in 1990, Cardinal Bernard Law assured a California diocese that the man was a priest in good standing. The letter to the diocese was actually written by Robert Banks, vicar for administration for the Boston archdiocese.
From All Things Considered April 15, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 18, 2002:
We start with a small correction to our interview with Gen. Guy Townsend. Gen. Townsend talked about his experience on the test flight of the B-52 bomber 50 years ago. He called his co-pilot Tex Johnson. Jennings Heilig of Staunton, Va., reminds us the name was actually Tex Johnston, with a "t".
From All Things Considered April 9, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 11, 2002:
Some of you noticed a misplaced adjective in our report in the Yiddish Radio series that focused on Charles Levine's historic flight across the Atlantic. We referred to Charles Lindberg's solo flight being the first transatlantic voyage through the air. Not true, according to -- among others -- Paul Silbermann of Greenbelt, Maryland. He writes: "The honor of being the first to fly across the Atlantic non-stop falls to Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown, who crossed from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland in June 1919."
From All Things Considered April 9, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered April 11, 2002:
Our description of the funeral services for England's Queen Mother prompted this note from Thomas Campbell of New York. "You said that the Queen Mother was 'laid to rest in Westminster Abbey.' This was incorrect. Her body was taken to Windsor where it was interred in St. George's Chapel next to her husband King George VI."
From Morning Edition March 28, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition April 5, 2002:
A story about stopping new housing construction in Frederick, Maryland, needs a correction. Brian Naylor interviewed scholar Jim Boyd, who works at Resources for the Future -- not the Resources Research Institute.
From All Things Considered March 1, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered March 7, 2002:
James White of Newton, Mississippi was one of several people to point out an error in our story on congressional redistricting in Mississippi. We said that the new map "means Mississippi will likely be represented in Congress by three Republicans and one Democrat." The new Congressional map ACTUALLY means Mississippi will likely have two Republicans and two Democrats in Congress. The breakdown now is three Democrats and two Republicans.
Mr. Newton writes: "By making this mistake early in the piece, (NPR) built a scene of unfairness over the process that does not exist."
From NPR News Feb. 7, 2002:
On Feb. 7, NPR News erroneously reported in its morning newscasts that many of the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the United States on student visas. In fact, only one of the hijackers entered the country on a student visa.
The report described federal government efforts to do a better job of tracking foreign students since the Sept. 11 attacks. Institutions of higher education in the United States have raised objections to the stepped up scrutiny saying it would be unworkable. However, the Feb. 7 newscast erroneously reported they raised objections based solely on a profit motive.
We regret the mistake and offer our apologies to anyone offended by the report.
From NPR Online February 21, 2002; corrected online
on February 22, 2002:
In NPR's online story "Lynx Conservation Under Fire," we reported that a congressional committee has called a hearing to investigate allegations of fraud in research on the Canada lynx. We wrote online that wildlife biologist Michael Schwartz's "work -- and that of nearly 500 other scientists involved in the national lynx survey -- is now embroiled in controversy. Last December, several of the survey's biologists were accused of rigging results by mislabeling hairs to pass them off as having come from captive lynx in forests where the animals had never been spotted." In fact, Michael Schwartz's work on the lynx, published recently in Nature magazine, has nothing to do with the National Lynx Survey and is not currently involved with any congressional investigations. Michael Schwartz wrote in to say of his research: "You have taken something that was not under controversy and now placed it under controversy."
From All Things Considered Feb. 20, 2002; corrected on air on All Things Considered Feb. 21, 2002:
"I'm crushed. The once most trusted man America has let me down."
This is from Hilton Evans in Randolph, Massachusetts.
"Mine will likely be only one of dozens if not hundreds of e-mails correcting Walter Cronkite's assertion that Velcro was one of many spinoffs of the U.S. space program. Velcro was not invented by NASA. It wasn't even invented in the United States. Velcro was invented by Swiss inventor and hiker George de Mestral who noticed how flower burrs stuck to his pants. Upon examining the burrs with a microscope, he noticed each burr was covered with tiny fur grabbing hooks. Mestral realized he could use this natural design to create an alternative to the zipper.
Mestral's idea was patented in 1955 after he perfected a process for creating the microhooks in nylon."
From Morning Edition Jan. 30, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition Feb. 5, 2002:
John Baumgras of Morgantown, West Virginia, has a correction for commentator Frank Deford, who said Tyrone Willingham at Notre Dame is the only big-time African-American college football coach. Baumgras writes, "Does Deford not consider Michigan State a major college team? Now I believe my MSU Spartans whupped the Irish four times in a row. Or does Frank not consider MSU head coach Bobby Williams black?"
From Morning Edition Jan. 18, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition Jan. 30, 2002:
The leader of the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland, Imam Fawaz Damra, wrote to clarify a story about him. Senior Correspondent Juan Williams
indicated that Damra thought the Jewish community gave the media a videotape of Damra making anti-Semitic remarks. Damra writes that his criticism was not of the Jewish community overall, but rather of the Jewish Defense League. Damra also writes that he did not work closely with one of his critics in the story, Reverend Ken Chalker of the United Methodist Church. The story said that he had.
From Morning Edition Jan. 22, 2002; corrected on air on Morning Edition Jan. 30, 2002:
A story last week about the ongoing anthrax investigation mentioned the Traditional Values Coalition. Reporter David Kestenbaum contacted that group to ask if it had been contacted by the FBI. The TVC said it had not, since there is no evidence that it was or should be investigated. The TVC said it was inappropriate for it to be named on the air. The NPR editors agree.
From Weekend Edition Saturday Nov. 24, 2001; corrected on air on Weekend Edition Saturday Jan. 12, 2002:
A correction on a story that aired on this show last November. In the introduction to a story about Palestinian farmers and the frictions between them and Israeli settlers, we stated that "a Palestinian girl was shot dead by settlers as she picked olives." Reports by other news organizations attributed the shooting to Israeli soldiers. We have been unable to verify that settlers did the shooting and should not have stated that as fact.
From All Things Considered Dec. 31, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Jan. 3, 2002:
Our promotional announcement of the Newfoundland story brought this correction from Mike Redpath, who teaches geography at the University of Manitoba. We said that flights were grounded in northern Canada.
Mr. Redpath writes: "Gander, Newfoundland, is at 48.95 degrees north latitude. Canada's southern latitude is 41.72 and its northernmost is 83.19. This means its mid-latitude is 62.45 degrees north. Everything south of 62.45 should correctly be referred to as southern Canada. Moreover, Gander is in the southern third of southern Canada."
From All Things Considered Dec. 21, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Dec. 27, 2001:
More than one Bostonian pointed out to us that we added insult to injury in our story about the Boston Red Sox, the New York-based group that's buying it, and the history of the two cities' dealings. Macy's bought Jordan Marsh, not Filene's as we incorrectly stated.
Thanks to -- among others -- Sara Wermiel of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, for that.
From All Things Considered Dec. 19, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Dec. 27, 2001:
Interpol is not really an "international police force" as we called it.
It's an organization that helps police forces, but has law enforcement
authority of its own. Scott Ferris of Topeka reminded us of that and he
should know -- he's the state of Kansas liaison with Interpol.
From All Things Considered Dec. 20, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Dec. 27, 2001:
Jeanne Pollard of Manteca, California, heard our story about
play-by-play announcer Chick Hern and she points out that we wrongly called the Minneapolis the MINNESOTA Lakers. It means a lot to her because, she writes, her "father, Jim Pollard, played for the Lakers from 1947 to 1956, eight seasons (when) they won six championships."
From Morning Edition Dec. 18, 2001; corrected on air on Morning Edition Dec. 21, 2001:
Morning Edition's report on Tuesday referred to the 1930s "Scottsboro Boys" case, in which several young black men in Alabama were accused of rape. The report said they had been acquitted. The men were convicted at trial, but on more than one occasion, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the convictions on procedural grounds. Each time, the men were retried and convicted again.
From All Things Considered Dec. 7, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Dec. 13, 2001:
A correction from Michael Biel, who teaches radio and television at Morehead State University in Kentucky. He writes: "Walter Cronkite seriously erred when he stated that both NBC and CBS cut away to their studios and their reporters following President Roosevelt's declaration of war address, and that only Mutual continued to broadcast the debate from the House of Representatives. Cronkite's own future network, CBS, also broadcast the debate... In fact, CBS's broadcast of the debate was done without as many commentator interruptions, and therefore is a much more complete record of the event."
From Morning Edition Dec. 5, 2001; corrected on air on Morning Edition Dec. 10, 2001:
In Morning Edition's remembrance of the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth, we said that Steamboat Willie, Disney's first talking cartoon, came out in 1933. In fact, it was released in 1928. Bill Laurent of Kalamazoo, Michigan, wrote in to say: "I'm too old to have been a Mouseketeer, but I remember my Dad taking me to see Three Little Pigs in about 1933, the year it came out."
From All Things Considered Nov. 26, 2001; corrected on air on All Things Considered Nov. 29, 2001:
"A report Monday about the painkiller OxyContin incorrectly said that emergency rooms have seen tens of thousands of drug abusers with problems related to the drug. The report should have said, 'More than 10,000 people with problems related to the drug's main ingredient, oxycodone.'"