READERS’ REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you, readers, for helping The Star correct errors

One of my most important jobs at The Kansas City Star is tracking the corrections that run on Page A-2, and I was recently reminded how vital a role readers play in that process.

When a correction appears, it’s my responsibility to find the original item that contained the mistake in the paper’s internal electronic library. If it was a story, I attach its correction at the very top, and then insert the flashing red lights of “**SEE CORRECTION**” in the text immediately following the error. For photographs, I put a similar note in the caption.

While appending a correction last Friday, I remembered vividly the caller who’d pointed out the mistake — dollar amounts for police badges that didn’t make sense as written. I then flipped through the previous month’s corrections tally and realized just how many of them came directly from readers, many of whom had no personal interest other than a desire to see The Star set the record straight.

Some errors were easily verifiable bits of info that should never have made it into print in the first place: the date for Neil Diamond’s concert at the Sprint Center, or switched labels on two graphics depicting federal funds rates.

Others were a bit more complex. The best catch came from a reader who noted two wire stories early in December said that Gen. Eric Shinseki retired as Army chief of staff because of his disagreement with Bush administration officials over troop levels needed in postwar Iraq. There’s no question that Shinseki and the administration had a very public spat, with then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz dismissing Shinseki’s call for greater numbers “off the mark.”

But as the reader noted, Shinseki’s retirement shortly thereafter wasn’t an ouster because of the disagreement, despite what’s since become “common knowledge.” The planned exit had been reported in The Washington Times the year before.

The great collective wisdom of readers comes from the thousands of specialists who follow the news related to their specific areas of interest. I know I can always rely on military buffs to pick apart inaccurate descriptions of the patches on soldiers’ uniforms, or proud moms and dads who let me know when a school has sent in an incomplete team roster or honor roll. No mistake is truly trivial.

So I offer a sincere thanks to you, the readers. You’re directly responsible for alerting me to a huge percentage of those errors that result in corrections (435 so far this year). The Star is obviously far from perfect, but your attention to detail makes it better.

To reach Derek Donovan, send e-mail to readerrep@kcstar.com or call 816-234-4487 weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and noon. Visit Ad Astrum, the readers’ representative blog, at

Posted on Sat, Dec. 27, 2008 10:15 PM

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