News: Headlines and deadlines


Photo courtesy of Judit Klein, Flickr

Photo courtesy of Judit Klein, Flickr

On a whiteboard behind my desk in the Daily Trojan newsroom, there are tally marks indicating the number of corrections we’ve printed in the DT this semester: currently 11. Each one pains me, as though the marks were written with Professor Umbridge’s special quill, but they serve as a constant reminder of one of the unfortunate realities of journalism: Mistakes happen.

On any given day, through the eyes and ears of my reporters, I can attend a lecture by a former White House press secretary, watch a demonstration on campus or learn that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is, indeed, back.  My goal is to ensure that all our readers can experience these events too. As Jef Mallett said, “Writing well means never having to say, ‘I guess you had to be there.’”

My desire for thorough, accurate reporting runs headlong into the reality of printing deadlines. I’ve lost count of the days that I have thought it would be the first time the paper didn’t go to press. Things always have a way of working out, but the deadline pressure is ever present. Working against time, my co-editor Sebastian and I are responsible for reporting the news in a manner that is quick, engaging, and, above all, accurate. Each story gets read as many times and by as many different people as possible. We have an entire section, Copy, dedicated to fact-checking. Anything that can be confirmed is, but many times we have to trust our reporters in the field, and even the most stringent systems fail occasionally.

The need for accuracy is due in part to the prestige of our University. Celebrities, politicians and other high-profile figures frequent the campus and have reputations to maintain. Carelessness in reporting is not only unprofessional — it can have serious repercussions.

Earlier this year, there was an incident involving a former official who asked for an article about his visit to campus be removed, citing errors and mischaracterizations of his remarks that would be damaging to his career. An audio recording of his talk revealed that he had not been misquoted as he claimed, but there were factual errors that were corrected.

This incident and others demonstrate the power that journalists have with their words and why each tally mark on our board irks me — each one represents a dereliction of our primary duty as journalists: To seek the truth.

I dread receiving emails, sometimes angry ones, about errors in our articles and I loathe having to run corrections in print — but I’ve come to accept that as part of the game. The sanctity of print journalism comes from its indelible nature — once something is printed, it can’t be undone. You can edit a blog post or delete tweets in seconds, but you can’t shred 10,000 copies of the DT easily. We stand by our work, and when mistakes happen, we acknowledge and take steps to rectify them.

Anshu Siripurapu is a senior majoring in political economy. He is also news editor of the Daily Trojan