Idea Lab

Juan Williams, Fox News Admit to Flagrant Error About Racial Prejudice

by Mark Follman
2009 Knight News Challenge Winner

Back in late February, Fox News columnist Juan Williams wrote a scathing piece about racial prejudice in the media. Exhibit A was the Washington Post's coverage of a poll showing that African Americans and Latinos are optimistic about the economy. The Post, Williams charged, had "buried" this good news because it didn't fit with the bleak racial stereotypes typically found on the front pages of "the big, white press." Since it turns out that the Post actually had splashed the upbeat poll story all over its Sunday front page and its website, the "entire premise" of Williams' column, as a...

• April 6, 2011
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Why Hasn't LA Weekly Corrected its Lara Logan Story?

by Mark Follman
2009 Knight News Challenge Winner

On February 15 the LA Weekly published a post by Simone Wilson under the headline "Lara Logan, CBS Reporter and War Zone 'It Girl,' Raped Repeatedly Amid Egypt Celebration." The opening paragraph stated that Logan had been "brutally and repeatedly raped" -- with that phrase emphasized in bold type. The LA Weekly apparently got the story wrong. Logan had suffered a horrifying sexual assault while working in Cairo's Tahrir Square, disturbing details of which came to light in subsequent media coverage. But according to reporting from three different news outlets -- The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and...

• March 11, 2011
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CNN Fails to Correct Mistaken Identity for New Zealand PM

by Mark Follman
2009 Knight News Challenge Winner

CNN's broadcasts are packed with cheerleading for the network's viewer participation opportunities. You're encouraged to "share your story" at CNN iReport or "join a live chat" at Anderson Cooper's blog or check out CNN Heroes on Facebook or follow one of the network's nearly three dozen Twitter feeds. Welcome to the brave new world of interactive news! But what if you notice an error in a CNN broadcast and want to tell the network about it? Welcome to the jungle. Email Black Hole Back on October 28, a MediaBugs user filed a bug pointing out that a CNN broadcast had...

• December 6, 2010
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