So let'slearn from them so we don't repeat these mistakes.
Like in this lede:
A late-night robbery at the Michigan Avenue Quik Shoppe convenience store went from bad to worse when the robber carjacked a vehicle with a six-month-old passenger in the backseat.
Now, this is a great lede. Colorful, contextual, all that. But it's also wrong. The carjacking was at 2 p.m. That's hardly late at night. It's not even late afternoon yet!
Here's another fatal:
Ethel Perakiss may decide to lock her car doors on her next trip to the convenience store after her six-month-year daughter was left in the lands of a carjacker for 40 minutes, but eventually was found safe by police.
You mean to say six-month-old. What you said was six-month-year. Please make sure you're giving yourself enough time to find any goofs in your copy. They do happen, in the same way you forget where you put your keys and brain-fart a homework assignment sometimes.
What separates journalists from other writers is that we try to incorporate fact-checking into the process to minimize those instances.
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