The Gray Lady's welcome change

I'm not a big fan of The New York Times but they recently announced a change that all newspapers should follow. From now on, the paper's corrections will be listed on the editorial page.

I've been critical of some segments of the media in this OD, but for the most part I think most reporters and editors do their best. I maintain my critiques of certain editorial judgements and patterns of various newspapers, magazines and television stations, but I don't think anyone is trying to get it wrong. I don't think anyone is trying to be biased. I think they're just careless or wearing blinders.

I think modern journalists and editors are in a difficult position. They are under fire from all sides. Conservatives say they are too liberal. Liberals say they are too conservative. Progressives says they are too corporate. Libertarians say they are too establishment. Smaller parties say they only cover Democrats and Republicans. Many publications are simultaneously anti-Israel and anti-Palestinian, depending on who's making the criticism. The whole 'criticizing the president's policies undermines troop morale and gives aid and comfort to the terrorists' Big Lie only increases the pressure on the Fourth Estate. Many journalists are called Bush-bashers and Bush-apologists all in the same day. Anything they write might subject them to a torrent of abuse, often vicious, sometimes personal, attacking not only their competence but their integrity.

That said, one thing that's always bugged me is that when an error in a newspaper is made, it's often a prominent part of a major article on the front page of the paper or of one of the sections. But when the correction is run, it's buried in the middle of a minor section between bingo results and barbecue fundraiser announcements.

The Times' decision to place corrections in a more prominent place is welcome change. People realize that journalists are human and are thus not perfect. I think we just want the institutions to acknowledge this, hold their hand up and say sorry, learn from it and move on.