Jon
04-05-2007, 03:02 PM
The Daily Journal had an interesting experience with fact-checking this week regarding the Redwood City police incident with a bodybuilder who suffered from a diabetic episode.
As you may have read previously, <a href="http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=73048"TARGET=BLANK>Doug Burns</a> was beaten, maced and cuffed after police thought he was intoxicated.
Burns claimed he was the reigning Mr. Universe and a quick Google search looked to prove the claim.
However, the next day, we received some information that seemed to run counter to the claim. Apparently, there are 11 current Mr. Universes which run from the real deal to amateur division and "natural." Burns seems to fall into the "natural" category meaning he does not take performance enhancing drugs. We quickly modified the story online and ran a follow-up story with the correct information.
We considered running a correction, but determined the follow-up story with the proper title pretty much did the trick.
The story was picked up by the Associated Press and shot across the wires. It was interesting to see who ran the corrected version and who did not. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story the next day referring to Burns as "a Mr. Universe" and other papers simply referred to him as a bodybuilder.
I suppose the interest in the story was first that it was "Mr. Universe" who got arrested but as the story got around it later changed to a piece on the need to understand medical conditions.
Either way, it was an interesting story and gave the Daily Journal news room a lesson in bodybuilding contests and the need to independently verify facts with more than just a Google search.
And we certainly don't want to get "any" Mr. Universes angry.
As you may have read previously, <a href="http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=73048"TARGET=BLANK>Doug Burns</a> was beaten, maced and cuffed after police thought he was intoxicated.
Burns claimed he was the reigning Mr. Universe and a quick Google search looked to prove the claim.
However, the next day, we received some information that seemed to run counter to the claim. Apparently, there are 11 current Mr. Universes which run from the real deal to amateur division and "natural." Burns seems to fall into the "natural" category meaning he does not take performance enhancing drugs. We quickly modified the story online and ran a follow-up story with the correct information.
We considered running a correction, but determined the follow-up story with the proper title pretty much did the trick.
The story was picked up by the Associated Press and shot across the wires. It was interesting to see who ran the corrected version and who did not. The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story the next day referring to Burns as "a Mr. Universe" and other papers simply referred to him as a bodybuilder.
I suppose the interest in the story was first that it was "Mr. Universe" who got arrested but as the story got around it later changed to a piece on the need to understand medical conditions.
Either way, it was an interesting story and gave the Daily Journal news room a lesson in bodybuilding contests and the need to independently verify facts with more than just a Google search.
And we certainly don't want to get "any" Mr. Universes angry.