Friday, December 12, 2008

Journalism Sabermetrics

From Todd Purdum's obit of fellow NYT reporter Robin Toner:

And in a craft in which small errors are commonplace and bigger mistakes a regular occupational hazard, Ms. Toner devised a meticulous personal method for checking and re-checking names, dates, facts and figures in her own raw copy, a step few reporters take. As a result: only half a dozen published corrections over the years, on more than 1,900 articles with her byline.


One correction per 317 articles sounds pretty good to me, but I really have no idea. Is it good? Is it extremely good? Hall of Fame good? How well can you compare these things across newspapers, eras, different reporting beats?

Also: what does "devised a personal method for checking and re-checking" mean? Personal method? What are the different methods of checking names in your story, other than the obvious? Some kind of ingenious artifical-intelligence computer program? Hiring a personal assistant to do it?
Link