1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What was your biggest goof, typo, etc.?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Colton, Oct 13, 2012.

  1. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    For a high school preview section wrote a capsule for a team on the edge of the coverage area.

    Coach was a pain in the ass, wouldn't return phone calls, so I pulled the all-state list, saw they had a receiver coming back. Listed his name, stats, said he'd be integral to the season, etc.

    Which would have been fine, if he hadn't died in a car wreck.

    Good times.
     
  2. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    Not mine, but a co-worker who was notorious for being late on deadline was writing up a middle school (of all things) volleyball roundup and misspelled the last name "Hunt." I have no idea how, given the "H" and the "C" on the keyboard aren't anywhere close to each other. He wrote her an apology. Same paper, same person, before I started, wrote an entire feature on a local bowler ... and gave him the wrong last name the entire story. He reprinted the entire story with the correct name the next day.

    Mine: In the days when we used to have to look through grainy old negatives and a lupe to ID photos, I was assigned to write a feature about a female soccer player who was a pretty solid player on a guy's team (phone interview, never had met the person). Looking through old negatives, I saw someone with long hair and assumed it had to be the female player. Picked up the paper, and "she" had a ponytail ... and sideburns.
     
  3. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    I've told this here before on a similar thread.

    City we covered had a mayor named Sandy Genis. Spell check kept wanting to change it to Penis.

    In trying purge that from the system, I accidentally inserted "Sandy Penis" into print. (pun intended)

    When I got to work the next afternoon, everyone was laughing. I was expecting the worst when I was called into the editor's office with the publisher, but he told "next time remember, it's not penis it's c--t."
     
  4. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    There was one a few years ago at my current shop. My copy desk associate actually wrote this, but I proofed her page and missed it, so I take equal responsibility:

    Local attempted murder trial, hed mainly stating that the trial's going to jury, but subhed says "(Name) accused of shooting neighbor."

    Except the (name) wasn't of the defendant, it was of the judge who was presiding over the trial. Got called into the office for that one, but my editor was pretty easy on me, considering.

    Another time (fortunately caught before publication), another fellow copy editor was reading a story on one of our smaller papers where the lead was supposed to say "Thursday, 150 Podunk School District teachers will find if they've gotten laid off."

    Fellow editor immediately called the reporter to let her know she left out "off."
     
  5. Bud_Bundy

    Bud_Bundy Well-Known Member

    One of our now-retired writers called one of our fringe schools for a story and asked for the athletic director. Talked to him, quoted him in the story ... only to find out the name he got from the state directory was wrong. That guy had died a year ago and the directory hadn't been updated.

    When our writer retired a couple of years later, his tribute page's 96-point headline on the fake main story we wrote was:

    "Joe Blow: 'I'M STILL DEAD'

    Still kid him about that.
     
  6. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    I edited the "Remembrance" column (typed on manila paper) from a former sports editor.

    I mis-read something, somewhere, and referred to "the late Charlie Parker."

    I walked into the newsroom the next day.

    "Hey, Billy. Charlie Parker wants you to call him."

    "He's dead."

    "No, he is not dead. And he is not very happy, either."
     
  7. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Had a story about a guy named Black who did some charitable soccer work in Africa. Jump head BLACK: Podunk man plays for Africa.

    Wound up changing the jump hed to soccer or goalie or something.
     
  8. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    We had a black guy named Buck in public office. The mug line always looked racist.
     
  9. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    When the Washington Capitals acquired goaltender Pete Peeters in a trade:

    CAPS GRAB PEETERS

    Think about it. It's tough not to make that headline suggestive.

    Our A1 had a headshot of old George Bush with the nameline "DUMMY". Amazing how many readers thought that was a political statement by the newspaper.

    And, of course, there was the headline in my college paper:

    RAPIST
    TO GO
    TO TRIAL
     
  10. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  11. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Once or twice but only after a good bit of finesse, coaxing and patience.
     
  12. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Wow, had never seen that. Must've been an early deadline.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page