The Globe stands corrected

IT'S SOMETHING of a tradition that in January the Globe's ombudsman publishes a tally of the corrections and clarifications the newspaper printed the previous year.

I will grudgingly carry on the tradition this year because I believe the paper should remain accountable for its mistakes. But I question whether readers are adequately served by receiving these numbers when there is no clear reason why the figures vary one year to the next.

Last year the Globe published 1,018 corrections to errors, according to a report by Globe chief librarian Lisa Tuite. That figure is down slightly from the 1,031 published corrections in 2004 and continues a downward trend since the paper hit a record 1,223 in 2003.

Those figures might seem high, so here's a bit of context: The Globe published 57,893 stories in 2005 (compared to 59,144 in 2004), according to Tuite.

Mistakes happen, and they hurt any news organization. In my 11 years at the Globe I've had seven corrections published and every one of them could have been avoided.

Errors are committed out of sloppiness or because overworked journalists rush to make deadline or because a source gives flawed information.

Corrections happen because the newspaper makes a good faith effort to set the record straight or because readers or subjects feel strongly enough to contact someone at the paper.

Tracking corrections in a newspaper is as precise as finger painting. There are mistakes that go unnoticed by staff or unreported by readers. Does the lower correction number for 2005 mean the Globe was more accurate? Or does it mean fewer errors were actually brought to editors' attention? The answer is probably a bit of both.

To its credit, the Globe is aggressive in requiring errors to be corrected -- either through a formal news correction on page A2 (corrections to opinion pieces appear on the editorial or op-ed pages), a clarification, or in some cases an editor's note. A correction is also permanently attached to a Globe story in the electronic archives that can be accessed through the boston.com website.

The Globe, like many news outlets, adopted a more formal process for reporting and tracking errors in 2003, after Jayson Blair, a former New York Times reporter, was found to have fabricated some of his work. As part of the new correction process, Globe readers have more places to alert editors to errors -- phone, fax, e-mail, or letter. The ombudsman's office also receives its share of error reports from readers, which are passed along to editors.

''In fall 2003, we introduced an electronic corrections database for tracking errors and corrections," Globe Managing Editor Mary Jane Wilkinson wrote last week in an e-mail. ''The online correction form requires basic information about how the error was made and by whom and provides space for a draft correction. Once it's completed, it goes through an approval process involving department heads and senior editors."

It's clear the Globe has improved in its attempts to be more accurate and to hold people accountable for errors. Here are highlights of the 2005 corrections. A more comprehensive list will be posted to the ombudsman's blog on boston.com:

Reasons for errors:

Reporting: 558 (618 in 2004)

Editing: 209 (241 in 2004)

Designer/Research: 30 (35 in 2004)

Photographer: 22 (26 in 2004)

Other (wire service/source/production): 153 (111 in 2004)

Most reporting errors in one month: April, 62

Most editing errors: November, 23

Most photographer errors: August, 5

Most corrections in 2005 for one reporter: 10

Most for one columnist: 5

Number of stories with multiple errors in 2005: 42 (77 in 2004)

Here is a breakdown by the major departments (including 2004 figures):

City & Region: 237 (234)

Foreign/National: 103 (141)

Living/Arts: 122 (130)

Business: 60 (65)

Sports: 56 (81)

Editorial/Op-Ed/Letters: 54 (41)

Sunday Magazine: 17 (15)

The Globe deserves credit for its willingness to fess up when it gets something wrong. Devising some way to note when corrections appear because of readers' input would offer a new and more honest explanation of how an error was spotted.

Readers should maintain their vigilance in reporting things they think are wrong and trust that the paper will do what it can to correct mistakes.

The ombudsman represents the readers. His opinions and conclusions are his own. Phone 617-929-3020 or 929-3022. E-mail: ombud@globe.com.