Newspaper Errors: Reporters Dispute Most Source Claims
Research on newspaper accuracy has shown that news sources contend that about half the newspaper articles citing them contain at least one mistake^—usually a misquote, omission or distorted emphasis. But, most ofthe half dozen studies which examined errors in newspapers excluded the reporter from the analysis, concentrating almost entirely on the perceptions of news sources. One study which did look at reporter response found that a reporter's focusing on a particular element of a story, considered an "extremely newsworthy angle" by the reporter, can be considered an error of overemphasis by the source.^ Reporter-source disagreement over such things as story angle and even whether the reporter considers a source-perceived error to actually be an error has been neglected in past research. This investigation was designed to look at reporter perceptions of error, as well as source perceptions, and to determine some of the causes of error in newspaper stories. The study examines whether error varies by reporter experience, by deadline, and by type of content or length. Although reporter views are generally not known, the number of stories containing error, according to sources in five major source accuracy studies dating from the 1930s, ranges from 40% to 60% of all locally produced news items.^ The perceived rate of error in these five studies ranges from three to six mistakes in every four stories. Between half and two-thirds of these sourceperceived errors are judgmental determinations, depending on how misquotes are classified. Berry* listed subjective errors as including omissions, distortions of
Newspaper Accuracy in Tucson
t A local newspaper accuracy study in Tucson shows that two competing dailies mirror each other in the inaccuracies perceived by persons mentioned in local news stories. Accuracy for this study is defined as a situation in which the respondent news source makes no statement to the effect that the story is in some part inaccurate. The Arizona Daily Stor is a liberal, Democratic-oriented newspaper. The Tucson Daily Cirizen is moderately Republican on the left-right scale. They are separately owned, but operate under a joint printing contract. The two newspapers are very similar if measured solely in terms of accuracy using the Charnley method. This simple technique was developed by Mitchell V. Charnley in 1936. A two-page questionnaire was mailed to the newsmaker along with a clipping of the newspaper story to be evaluated.' Charnley, Charles H. Brown,* Fred C. Berry Jr.3 and William B. Blankenburg' used the same basic technique to measure newspaper accuracy. In each case researchers chose different categories of content for examination. Some of the researchers excluded stories that named
Some Effects of Variations in Message Quality
At least at extreme levels, error-laden copy produces effects on the evaluation given the message and its source, and on information imparted, but shows no effect on persuasion.