5 ways to prevent reporter screw ups

Reporting, particularly daily reporting, has always been tough job.

Deadlines are brutal. Training is on the job. Reporters are likely to be English majors rather than finance or marketing majors. Many reporters change jobs often. And now, widespread staffing cutbacks—even at mainstream media outlets like The New York Times—mean that reporters have to do more with less.

The result? Tired, under-trained, overworked reporters mean more mistakes.

For example, one of our clients was quoted in a press release put out by one of his clients. He later saw himself named “managing director” of his client in a news story based on the client’s press release.

Not all errors are so egregious. More often reporters will pull information from other articles—or increasingly, blogs—and recycle information without fact checking the content. They list incorrect websites and spell names incorrectly.

Why does it matter? Because on the Web, mistakes feed on themselves.