Yesterday, the New York Times made the same silly error in describing John Kerry's notorious botched joke about Iraq that it made back in November, even using the same exact language. In turn, the editors ran a correction that mirrors the last one almost word for word:
NYT article by Kate Zernike, 11/2 (now corrected online):
Mr. Kerry's prepared remarks to California students on Monday called for him to say, "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." In his delivery, he dropped the word "us."
NYT Editor's Note, 11/3:
A Political Memo article yesterday about the fallout for Senator John Kerry over what he called a "botched joke" referred incompletely to the differences between prepared remarks and what he actually said about the Iraq war to students at Pasadena City College in California on Monday. Mr. Kerry not only dropped the word "us," but he also rephrased his opening sentence extensively and omitted a reference to President Bush. Mr. Kerry's aides said that the prepared text read: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." What he said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
NYT article by Adam Nagourney, 1/25 (now corrected online):
Mr. Kerry's prepared remarks called for him to say, "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." In his delivery, he dropped the word "us."
NYT correction, 1/26:
An article yesterday about Senator John Kerry's announcement that he would not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008 incorrectly described what he called "a botched joke" he told before the November midterm elections. In telling the joke, which was assailed as an attack on American troops fighting in Iraq, Mr. Kerry not only dropped a word from his prepared remarks, but he also rephrased his opening sentence extensively and omitted a reference to President Bush. Mr. Kerry's aides said that the prepared text read: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush." What he actually said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
How did this happen? Zernike's original article is corrected online, yet Nagourney somehow managed to cut and paste her original text, and no one on the editorial staff noticed the mistake. Time for some quality control.
Update 1/26 10:13 AM: Gawker just picked up this post.
Update 1/26 5:11 PM: Gawker updated their post with a clarification from Times senior editor Greg Brock:
Because I oversee corrections for The Times, I wanted to drop you a note and set the record straight on the Kerry "botched joke" correction this morning. Despite the item posted on Gawker, Adam Nagourney did not make the error. The quotation was added to the article by an editor -- without Adam's knowledge.
Had I known that, the correction would have begun with our standard phrase: "Because of an editing error." The reason I did not know it was an editing error was because the editors preparing the correction did not talk to Adam or check with an editor to see if it had been an editing error -- our standard policy. We are never supposed to publish a correction without first talking to the reporter or the editor who made the error. We have slipped a few times. But, in general, no staff member is supposed to be surprised to see a correction about their work in the paper -- as Adam was this morning.
Just for the record, Adam covered the original "botched joke" story. His article on Nov. 1, 2006, had the correct quotation as spoken by Mr. Kerry. It was, as the Gawker item correctly points out, a subsequent Political Memo on Nov. 2 that carried the incorrect quotation. And we corrected that on Nov. 3.
So what portion of Adam Nagourney's other articles does Adam Nagourney generally compose?
Is it possible "Adam Nagourney" is a generic term down at The Times?
Posted by: Lettuce | January 27, 2007 at 05:54 AM