Readers fume over latest Washington Post errors (antiwar arrests)

[woo me with science]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/31/AR2010123102817.html

Readers fume over latest Post errors

By Andrew Alexander (Washington Post Ombudsman)
Friday, December 31, 2010

.....The past few years have seen a crescendo of complaints about typos, grammatical errors and minor factual mistakes. In recent weeks, a string of lapses has heightened reader despair.
.....

For example, the Page One table of contents in last Sunday's Post referred readers to the Travel section inside the paper. But there was no Travel section.....While typos have become common in The Post, few have been more conspicuous than one appearing in a headline over the lead story on last Sunday's front page. "Timing Promps Ethics Questions".....
.....

For astronomy buffs and others, the Dec. 21 total lunar eclipse was historic because it coincided with the winter solstice hadn't happened in roughly 2,000 years. Inexplicably, The Post wrote about the eclipse after - not before - it occurred. That especially rankled some readers who said they would have liked to view it....
....

There were also complaints about coverage - or the absence of it - during the holiday period. Some readers focused on a Dec. 16 anti-war rally in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, by veterans and peace activists. The next day's Post noted the gathering with a wire service photo inside the Metro section. It highlighted Daniel Ellsberg, famous for releasing the Pentagon Papers, and said he and "several others" were arrested for not dispersing.

Actually, the U.S. Park Police arrested 131 protesters. "I believe that was our highest number for 2010 for a mass arrest," Park Service spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser told me. Staged events with mass arrests don't necessarily have high news value. But 131 arrests warrant more than an inaccurate cutline. .....