To err is human … and reporters are human … thus, reporters make mistakes, and newspaper readers are accustomed to seeing those “correction boxes,” usually tucked inside the front section on the second page.  According to Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander, the Post ran about 960 corrections last year.  However, there’s been a backlog of requests for hundreds more, he said in a recent column … some dating back to 2004 … and often those asking for the correction have never heard anything back from the Post … this despite the Post’s pledge that “Persons who call errors to our attention should receive a polite and prompt response.”

Alexander says Post editors are now focused on this problem and trying to fix it.  Much of it has apparently stemmed from cumbersome internal processes that make it all too easy for things to fall through the cracks.  Alexander also raises the interesting question of what should be done if it turns out web site video has mistakes that need correcting.

Disturbingly, though, about a week after Alexander’s column on this topic was published, the Post announced it is offering another round of buyouts with the goal of further cutting staff, including newsroom staff.  It seems inevitable that as the news workforce shrinks … while the demand for content doesn’t … more errors will be made.  Will there be people and processes in place to, ideally, catch them before publication, or correct them afterwards?