Oops

News organizations obviously aren’t perfect, and human fallibility means that mistakes are going to happen in reporting from time to time. And sometimes, you just have to recognize those mistakes with awards, such as Regret the Error’s 2005 Crunks: The Year in Media Corrections.

My favorite from the batch:

Best Irony
Sure, this seems like an average (and all too common) correction from the Columbus Dispatch:

Linda Schellkopf, daughter of the late Hal Schellkopf, lives in Clintonville. Because of a reporter’s error, a story on Page B4 of yesterday’s Metro & State section indicated otherwise.

Then you take a gander at the obit that spawned it:

‘Dispatch’ editor loved accuracy
Harold B. “Hal” Schellkopf, a former Dispatch editor in several departments over 38 years, died yesterday.
…Schellkopf was a stickler for accuracy when he retired as assistant managing editor in 1989. And he often looked to impart that love for the written word in younger journalists, even long after his retirement.
“Hal was a by-the-book journalist who insisted on the highest standards of journalism,” said Michael F. Curtin, vice chairman and associate publisher of The Dispatch, who worked with Schellkopf in the newsroom. “Hal wanted to do it right, and he wanted the whole newsroom to do it right…”