Police/Rescue: Fatals

Our fingers aren't perfect.

When we type, sometimes we type the wrong thing. We transpose letters. We misspell words. It happens.

That's why it's so important we thoroughly double-check our work after we finish writing.

That way we can catch instances where we meant to spell someone's last name as Adler, but accidentally spell it as Alder, with the "d" and "l" reversed.

Which we did not do in one instance in the police exercise, which resulted in a fatal.

In another instance in the police story, we said the crime happened around 1:15 p.m. In fact, it was around 1:15 a.m.

That, too, would have been caught under an adequate level of post-writing fact-checking.

Also, one of us in the police exercise alternately spelled the clerk's last name as DaRoza -- with a "z," correctly -- and DaRosa -- with an "s," and in error.

Meanwhile, two of us spelled it DaRoza and DeRoza, the latter with an "e" instead of the correct "a."

If we did a thorough fact check after we finished writing, we would have discovered we were spelling the same name two different ways, and obviously at least one had to be wrong, and had to be rechecked and fixed.

In the rescue exercise, one of us said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. In fact, he was taken to Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead there. Same solution to avoiding this outcome.

Also in rescue, one of us said the boy was freed at 5:57. In fact, the boy was freed at 5:24 p.m., and firefighters returned to their station at 5:57 p.m. You know what the solution was.

In another instance in rescue, one of us spelled the name of Wagnor Development Corporation as Wagner, which is a more common spelling but not the correct one in this case. Spell check would have been of no help to us here.

Folks, I know these examples are getting redundant. But it's because we are still failing to do our due diligence and thoroughly double-check the basics like names and spellings before we turn in our stories.

And we need to do that every time and all the time, starting now and ending never. Because journalism isn't about writing; it's about getting it right.

And it has nothing to do with talent; just simple vigilance. If we're not vigilant for mistakes, then it doesn't matter how good we are.

For those of you keeping track, 15 of 18 JRN 200ers have fact-fataled sofar this semester. Three of you to go.