The Public Editor – How Did This Happen?

CLICK NOTE: This piece, on the New York Times error-riddled Walter Cronkite obit, is an example of proper transparency when things go wrong in the newsroom.

The Public Editor – How Did This Happen? – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com:

Though the correct date of the moon landing was fresh in his mind, Manly said, he read right over that mistake. Catching it might have flagged the need for more careful vetting. For all her skills as a critic, Stanley was the cause of so many corrections in 2005 that she was assigned a single copy editor responsible for checking her facts. Her error rate dropped precipitously and stayed down after the editor was promoted and the arrangement was discontinued. Until the Cronkite errors, she was not even in the top 20 among reporters and editors most responsible for corrections this year. Now, she has jumped to No. 4 and will again get special editing attention.