Sorry, correct all the errors; there’s no such thing as a ‘small mistake’

 

Readers don’t forgive mistakes in names and identities of people. Nor do they forgive other errors, no matter how small. They get even more dismayed when the person making the error is the Public Editor — the very person who’s supposed to speak out against lapses in editorial standards.

Unforgiving readers and old friends called or texted when I mistakenly referred to Musalia Mudavadi as Moses Mudavadi in my article, “All news is local when Melania is on page 3, Biden on the front page,” published last Friday.

Moses Mudavadi is Musalia’s father, who died in February 1989. One of Musalia’s two sons, however, is also named Moses Mudavadi.

My article, however, was not about the Mudavadis. I threw in the name, among others, to exemplify local newsmakers. Yet, I should have been accurate.

“Young Peter Mwaura,” one reader texted sarcastically, “Moses Mudavadi died many years ago! Don’t misinform/mislead Kenyans. Did u mean Musalia? Check your stuff. Kenyan readership is intelligent.”

Kamau Kaniaru, a Nation business editor during my tenure as editor-in-chief, telephoned. But he was more civil.

I also received a call from university lecturer Enock Matundura. He was dismayed not by my embarrassing mistake — which he ,apparently, had not seen — but by a similar mistake published in Tuesday’s Daily Nation, in which former Cabinet minister and Nyaribari Chache MP Simeon Nyachae, who died on Monday, was referred to as Charles Nyachae. Charles is the late Simeon’s son.

Mr Matundura wondered how and why writer Nyambega Gisesa managed to give the correct name in his article, “Nyachae: The life and times of a political supremo”, published on pages 4-5 of the Nation, but went on to refer to him as Charles Nyachae in an adjacent article, “Ex-minister was dedicated father of over 35 children”.

Why or how do errors in Nation stories occur? When should they be corrected? How can they can be prevented? These are questions readers rightly ask.

The most common cause of errors is carelessness or lack of diligence on the part of writers and editors. Research also shows that we make mistakes because, after writing or editing an article, we see what we expect to see, so our eyes gloss over errors, including typos.

So, it follows that if writers and editors exercised more due diligence and increased the number of eyes that check for errors, there would be fewer of them. The situation would improve even further if all significant errors were promptly corrected.

News organisations have different policies on correction of errors but these are not always clear. The NMG editorial policy states that errors should be corrected promptly but it is not clear from the policy whether this applies to all errors.

For example, if the Nation, as it has from time to time, misspells the first name of the Director-General of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services as “Mohammed”, should it correct the error? Major-General Mohamed Badi might insist on a correction, but should the Nation oblige? If it spells, as it has in the past, the first name of former UN Secretary-General as “Koffi” Annan, instead of correctly as Kofi, should it run a correction?

We could go on and on.

There are small errors, little mistakes, minor errors, slight mistakes, little slip-ups, little hitches, dumb mistakes, foolish mistakes, stupid mistakes, substantive errors, significant errors and serious errors. But, as far as readers are concerned, there’s no such thing as a small error. All errors are annoying.

That pretty much captures the thinking at Nation Centre. Last August, I asked Executive Editor Pamella Sittoni what errors should be corrected. She said: “We’re required to correct all errors.