When I checked my Macalester e-mail account this morning, I stumbled upon an interesting "Bulletin Flash". Apparently, the Mac Weekly miscalculated data. "Rather than 45%, as reported in the article, 66.2% (321) of the 485 first-year students who matriculated in fall 2007 qualified for need-based assistance," Brian Linderman says.
This related perfectly to our talks of accuracy being the first priority in a newspaper. A blunder in a story like this lessens the credibility of a paper. It's also pretty embarassing to have the Director of Financial Aid correct your numbers in an e-mail to the entire school. I can only imagine how damaging an error like this would have been in The New York Times or any other major metropolitan newspaper. If it was a big issue, it would most definitely be televised and the paper would experience some financial hardships afterward (readers would most likely turn to a different paper for reliable news).
The article has a great concept, but I was a bit skeptical when I read such a huge drop in financial aid packages.
Here is the link:
http://media.www.themacweekly.com/media/storage/paper1230/news/2007/09/28/News/Financial.Aid.Numbers.Dip.For.A.Second.Year-2996295.shtml#more
2 comments:
Accuracy is extremely important, and I think blunders such as these occur more frequently in college and high school publications. Editors and staff writers have other homework to which they must attend and don't always have time to meticulously edit their articles. In addition, it seems often in high school and college publications writers look for scandals, ways in which they can expose the flaws of the administration. However, as this example shows, if you're going to make a claim, you should be able to back it up with reasonable evidence.
I completley agree with the importance of accuracy now. I always had an innate trust for the Mac Weekly, I suppose because I knew that in charge were my fellow Mac Students (whom I generally regard as intelligent and hard working), but when I found out about this inacurracy that trust was lost, and now I find myself often questioning claims made in the paper.
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