Quote:The Washington Post admitted leadership is embarrassed after the paper was forced to issue a whopping 15 corrections to one story about black families struggling to keep their southern farmland.

“We are embarrassed by the widespread errors in this freelance article. We have published a detailed correction of each error and updated the story based on re-reporting by Post staff,” executive editor Marty Baron told Fox News.

The story by Korsha Wilson originally ran on July 23 and has been updated after a laundry list of gaffes and inaccuracies.

“A previous version of this article contained many errors and omitted context and allegations important to understanding two families’ stories. This version has been updated,” the digital version now says before it details all 15 corrections.

The lengthy story is about families who “lived off their land and hoped to pass it down to their children and their children’s children” but run into “challenges black farmers have long faced in their fight for land retention.”

Other Washington-based publications noticed the Post’s gaffe-filled article.

Washingtonian reporter Andrew Beaujon – who first received the statement from Baron -- noted that the “gruesome” corrections were in a story written by Wilson, who is a freelancer with previous bylines in publications such as the New York Times, Bon Appetit and Food & Wine.

Beaujon asked, “How did this bloodbath of a correction happen?”

“The correction is certainly thorough with regard to the article’s content. What it doesn’t answer, however, is any questions about the process this article went through and whether it was representative of how the ‘Post’ handles contributions from freelancers whose training and propensity with regard to accuracy can be difficult to judge,” Beaujon wrote before listing a series of queries about the paper’s process.

The Washington Examiner’s Becket Adams also reported on the “glorious train wreck” that appeared in the Post.

“At this rate, it is a wonder the author even got her name right,” Adams wrote. “Kudos to the newspaper for being so thorough and forthright in tackling the many, many problems in Wilson’s article.”

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Post is embarrassed they got caught, that's all. How in the world did the article get published in the first place with so many inaccuracies? My guess is the article told the story the Post wanted to tell facts be damned until it was called out. Makes me realize that many other published articles are the same with gross falsehoods to push a narrative. Just another example of why more and more people don't trust the media.

The best response to this was the post where someone said they were surprised the author got her own name right.

(08-08-2019 12:06 PM)VA49er Wrote:  Post is embarrassed they got caught, that's all. How in the world did the article get published in the first place with so many inaccuracies? My guess is the article told the story the Post wanted to tell facts be damned until it was called out. Makes me realize that many other published articles are the same with gross falsehoods to push a narrative. Just another example of why more and more people don't trust the media.

Reminds me of an article this weekend about wanting to re-name Ft. Hood after a Hispanic Vietnam era Green Beret.

They didn't lie about Confederate General Hood directly, but left so much out it was effectively a lie. Claimed he had virtually no ties to Texas (who submitted the name for the fort) when he was stationed there, enlisted there and you hardly hear the name Hood mentioned without the phrase "Hood's Texans." He had one of Gen. Lee's best units. And it doesn't mention he lost the use of his left arm, got a leg amputated and continued to lead from the front in a war when sharpshooters liked to aim for the brass. Talked about his difficulties in the Battles of Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville without the context of Lee being under desperate siege in Petersburg. And didn't really mention the esteem he was held prior to Atlanta.

They also left out how the army named forts after the Civil War after both union and confederate generals to heal the divisions and promote unity.

(08-08-2019 12:10 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  The best response to this was the post where someone said they were surprised the author got her own name right.

I'm surprised the Post was embarrassed.