Double Take

This journo gaffe comes courtesy of The Lewiston Tribune via The New York Times. Apparently, the small Idaho paper ran two frontpage photos on Dec. 13, one of a guy in a blue checkered coat painting a sign and another of a guy in a blue checkered coat robbing a store, both within inches of each other. It took readers to point out that it was the same guy . . .

Okay, I can see that slipping through the eyes of the page designers, copy editors and night editor. Look at the photos on the left and judge for yourself.

But to add insult in injury, the Times article also mentioned this little number . . .

Just two days later, though, The Lewiston Tribune published something that Mr. Emerson [Paul Emerson, the paper's managing editor], who has worked at the paper for 36 years, really does regret: an article about a local woman whose home was supposedly getting a makeover by “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” It became clear the next day that the story was a fabrication.

“We ran a correction, and I had to call The Associated Press, which had picked up the story, to tell them we ran an incorrect story,” Mr. Emerson said. “That was egg on my face.”