Now THAT'S a Typo. Update: Howie Responds

Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Breyer traded barbs at a University of Arizona forum on Constitutional Interpretation earlier this week and not surprisingly Howie Fischer who writes, like, five stories a day for the Star and Tribune was there.

Immediately after the event I got a frantic email from a friend who said that Howie falsely claimed that Scalia said he would have dissented in the landmark anti segregation case of Brown v. Board of Education.  It turns out that Scalia said he would have dissented in the 1896 "Separate but Equal" case of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Since it was obviously a mistake, Howie's not a lawyer and the paper issued and immediate correction I let the issue go.  However it's gone national, so I thought you might be interested. 

Update: Howie sent me these emails yesterday.

just for the full record if you'd like to give the full story to your readers, the version about scalia and brown v. board of education went out in an early version that the trib put online.  a writethru moved about an hour later but by that point, given the nature of the internet, the thing had gone viral. so no actual print newspaper (including the trib) ran the incorrect version.

and, since i know you're always interested in how this stuff happens, i actually was monitoring the "debate" on the web which, of course, is plagued with drop outs and such.  after knocking out a quick first version, i went back over the section and concluded that it was equally possible that scalia, in discussing how getting to a "right" result didn't justify court rulings. was talking about plessy v. ferguson (the original separate but equal case). that led to the writethru.

i certainly am to blame for putting the info out in the first place without going back over my tape more carefully. but in this age of getting things posted quickly -- something you know about -- sometimes things slide through.

still, as you point out, i'm doing several stories a day. so i would stack up my "error ratio" against virtually anyone else in the business.

-- howie

I then responded by asking Howie if it was OK to print his email and this was his response.

up to you whether to add my comments to your post. you're free to do so if you want. i just wanted to go beyond the simple "a correction was made" explanation (or, speaking of errors, as you wrote it, "the paper issued AND immediate correction) to show that the thing wasn't left out there til someone pointed it out.

also, just for the record, i sent an apology to scalia through the supreme court's press aide.

-- howie

Comments

[ron]

just proves that some people like to destroy another person's character...

[MSM Watch]

Howie "Darth Vader" Fischer should issue an apology, but he won't because he is too busy being more blustery than J.D. Hayworth.

[CGerard]

To be fair, Howie distributed a corrected version of the story, which was posted by EV Tribune with the correction noted. This is pointed out in an update to the national post that Greg links to.

[RonB]

Whatever you think of Howie and the "attack journalism" approach to his job, if I want a story written about me, I would prefer Howie be the writer. He writes the most correct, fair stories. I'm sure he feels terrible about this one. And he did correct the error immediately. We all make mistakes; it's how we handle them that makes the difference.

[Travis]

I always accept someone's sincere apology.

However, I think it's fair to point out that it would have been less likely to have happened if Howie didn't think that Scalia would have actually said that. If I thought I heard that from Scalia, I would have checked it immediately because I know Scalia doesn't believe that, Howie was evidently willing to believe it AND to bring attention to it.

[John I]

Travis makes a good point. It appears that Howie heard Scalia say what he wanted to hear Scalia say.

Given the inflammatory nature of Scalia's alleged comment, an honest/nuetral observer would/should have double-checked its accuracy.

[John I]

Forgot to mention this earlier: I'm happy to hear that Howie followed up his correction with an apology to Scalia.

[DGN]

Howie is an equal opportunity pest, but he's an honest pest. I give him major credit for explaining the problem, apologizing for the error and accepting blame for a mistake. VERY few reporters would do any one of those things, let alone all three.

[PW]

Howie Fischer, Mark Flatten, and Carol Sowers were the best reporters Arizona ever had. If you didn't like a story they wrote it's because you were on the receiving end (and I have been there). But Howie and the others are pro's and he is handling this like a pro - he's a standup guy. I actually think Greg is the right wing Howie - bugs some people to death, but owns his mistakes.

[DarthLegislator]

If I had to be in a foxhole with another limit-government jerk, it would be Howie. If he joined me, together we could irratate the world!