Corrections: 2004

2004 Corrections

-----------------------

On Dec. 20, The Fix mistakenly identified Diane Lane's husband as James Brolin. Lane is in fact married to Josh Brolin, James' son. The error has been corrected.
[Correction made 12/20/04]

-----------------------

The cover image that originally ran with "Christian Party Animals," published Dec. 10, portrayed three women who were incorrectly identified as members of the 24-7 Prayer team, a Christian missionary group. In fact, they were club promoters. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 12/10/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Prime-time Politics," published Nov. 1, we incorrectly said that Rush Limbaugh had worked on "Monday Night Football." The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 11/17/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Was the Election Stolen?" published November 10, 2004, editing errors resulted in several mis-statements. In one case, the percentage of discarded and provisional votes Senator Kerry would have to pick up to win Ohio from President Bush was calculated as 55 percent. The correct figure is 77 percent. In another, an article by David Corn in The Nation was incorrectly cited to say that Democrats believed only 10 percent of the provisional ballots in Ohio would be counted. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 11/10/04]

-----------------------

The Oct. 27 article "The Power of a Publisher" confused Mickey Kaus' weblog with Markos Moulitsas Zzniga's Daily Kos. The article has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/29/04]

-----------------------

Clarification: The Oct. 22 article "Poll Crazy" failed to note that a CBS News poll released the morning of the 2000 presidential election showed that Al Gore held a one-point lead over George W. Bush. The article has been amended to reflect this fact.
[Correction made 10/20/04]

-----------------------

Michelle Goldberg's Oct. 18 article "Homosexuals Are Hellbound!" incorrectly identified Dave Daubenmire as a candidate for the Columbus School Board. In fact, he's running for Ohio's State Board of Education. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/18/04]

-----------------------

The Oct 18 King Kaufman's Sports Daily said the 1998 Atlanta Braves were the only baseball team to force a sixth game after falling behind 3-0 in a seven-game series. The 1999 New York Mets also fell behind 3-0 and forced a sixth game. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 10/18/04]

-----------------------

In the Oct. 12 King Kaufman's Sports Daily, a reference was made to the Boston Red Sox signing pitcher Curt Schilling as a free agent. Schilling was acquired in a trade. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 10/12/04]

-----------------------

Due to an editing error, in the story "Nanotech Angels," published Oct. 7, the wrong Hebrew word was used to describe "emanations of god." The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/07/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Forgotten Casualties," published Sept. 22, Salon has removed several details from Spc. Laurence Kiefer's account of his departure from Iraq that were originally included because of a misunderstanding with the reporter.
[Changes made 09/22/04]

-----------------------

The story "Let's Get Metaphysical," published Sept. 9, should have mentioned that the directors of the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" are students of Ramtha, a controversial "school of enlightenment" based in Yelm, Wash. The story has been amended to reflect this.
[Correction made 09/09/04]

-----------------------

In the Sept. 7 story "Spam, the Nazi Hunter, and Citizen Joe" Salon mis-stated whether Steven Rambam received a defamation judgement against the Jewish Defense Organization. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 09/09/04]

-----------------------

In the Aug. 25 "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" we reported that Joe Loya had stabbed his father with a ballpoint pen, when in fact it was a steak knife. The story also said that he'd bit off the ear of his fellow inmate, when it was just part of his ear; and that he is 44 instead of 43. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 08/25/04]

-----------------------

In the Aug. 24 King Kaufman's Sports Daily, gymnasts Isao Yoneda of Japan and Morgan Hamm of the United States, with high-bar scores of 9.787, were referred to as being "more than half a point" ahead of Alexei Nemov of Russia, who had received a 9.725. The difference between the scores was only .062. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 08/24/04]

-----------------------

In the story "He is trying to break our hearts," published June 29, 2004, Salon incorrectly reported that bassist John Stirratt had been fired from the band Wilco by co-founder Jeff Tweedy. (Stirratt is still a band member at this writing.) Additionally, the name of Wilco's album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" was rendered incorrectly in several places and the Ryan Adams song "To Be Young" was incorrectly identified as being by Adams' former band Whiskeytown. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 06/29/04]

-----------------------

In the story Hail to the Moon king, published June 21, 2004, Salon reported that Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., gave a speech in a Senate office building praising Rev. Sun Myung Moon. This was based on a videotape of the event, which was edited to show Cummings speaking highly of an unidentified individual right after an image of Moon. Cummings has since told a Maryland newspaper his remarks were in fact about one of Moon's Ambassadors of Peace who was honored at the ceremony, not about Moon. The story has been changed to reflect this.
Correction made 06/21/04.

-----------------------

CLARIFICATION
The article "What's Waldorf" (May 26, 2004) contained several statements about Rudolf Steiner's philosophy, known as anthroposophy. These statements -- one saying the philosophy was "founded on racist and anti-Semitic beliefs," another referring to its "basis in racial and religious discrimination," another mentioning "the inherent racism and anti-Semitism of some of Steiner's philosophies" and another mentioning "Steiner's bigoted roots" -- do not represent matters of settled fact but rather the perspective of critics of Steiner's philosophy.
[Clarification made 06/14/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Marching Off the Cliff," published May 25, 2004, Salon described Karen Kwiatkowski, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force (ret.), as having "served in the Pentagon's secret intelligence unit, the Office of Special Plans." Kwiatkowski served in the Pentagon's Near East South Asia directorate (NESA). The NESA was led by Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Bill Luti, who was also in charge of the Office of Special Plans. David Talbot's letter from the editor "Salon '04: Unembedded, unintimidated," published March 10, 2004, contained the same error. Both stories have been corrected. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 05/26/04]]

-----------------------

In the story "What's Waldorf?" published May 26, 2004, a source was quoted as saying that Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf schools, "lived, wrote, spoke and taught in Nazi Germany." Steiner died in 1925, eight years before the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 05/26/04]

-----------------------

In a May 20 item about the Calgary Flames qualifying for the Stanley Cup Finals, King Kaufman wrote that curling is Canada's national sport. Hockey and lacrosse are Canada's two national sports. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 05/20/04]

-----------------------

Scott Thill's May 13 "Writing in the Margins" column incorrectly stated that Clear Channel Radio owns Indie 103.1, a radio station serving Los Angeles. The station is actually owned, operated and programmed by Entravision Communications, based in Santa Monica, Calif. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 05/14/04]

-----------------------

In the story "How Could Women Do That?" published May 7, 2004, it was incorrectly reported that Pfc. Lynndie England appeared in a photograph from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison "in which two American soldiers mug for the camera before a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners, smirking and flashing thumbs-up signs, as if they had just gone fishing and are showing off their prized catch." Although England does appear in other photographs mentioned in the story, she does not appear in that photo. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 05/07/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Everyone is an Editor," published April 27, 2004, Professor Sunir Shah was incorrectly referred to as Samir Shah. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 04/27/04]

-----------------------

Due to an editing error in Douglas Brinkley's article "John Kerry's First Purple Heart," published April 17, 2004, the following line appeared in the article, which was not what the author intended: "Only somebody craven -- or with a political agenda -- could stoop so low." The sentence has been removed from the story.
[Correction made 04/19/04]

-----------------------

In the story "Warriors for Hire in Iraq," published April 15, the American truck driver kidnapped in Iraq and currently being held was incorrectly identified as Thomas Cahill. His name is Thomas Hamill. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 04/15/04]

-----------------------

In the story "I Outsource Myself," published in Salon on April 6, Salon incorrectly referred to Rachna Asirvatham, a principal in SmartWebby.com, as an "outsourcer." In fact, it is her company's American clients who are properly referred to as outsourcers. The title and the text of the story have been changed to reflect this. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 04/08/04 FORMAT]

-----------------------

In the story "Abridged too far," published in Salon on March 29, 2004, ABDO Publishing Company was originally described as the publisher of the abridged Great Illustrated Classics edition of "The Wind in the Willows." ABDO publishes this series in a library binding, but is not directly responsible for its content. This error has been corrected.
[Correction made 03/29/04]

-----------------------

In the story "In Search of the Deep Web" published in Salon on March 9, 2004, a CIA report was inaccurately attributed to Steven Hatfill. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 3/19/04]

-----------------------

In the March 15 story "Going Negative" Salon incorrectly stated that a Bush ad claimed Sen. John Kerry would raise taxes by $900 million. The correct amount claimed was $900 billion. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 03/15/04]

-----------------------

In the March 8 King Kaufman's Sports Daily, the Philadelphia Phillies were referred to as having tied for the eighth-best record in the National League three times since 1995. The correct figure is two, once each with Los Angeles and New York. Also, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners would have made the playoffs eight times, not nine, from 1995 to 2003 if 16 teams made the postseason. The story, including the list of postseason appearances on Page 2, has been fixed.
[Correction made 03/09/04]

-----------------------

In the Feb. 20 column "Ask The Pilot" Salon published inaccurate statements about the pilot who talked to his passengers about Christianity. The story has been corrected to take into account information provided to the author after publication of the column, i.e., the pilot made his statements before takeoff, not in mid-air, only some witnesses reported that he called non-Christians "crazy," and some non-Christian passengers did raise their hands to identify themselves when asked to do so. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 02/20/04]

-----------------------

In the Feb. 9 story "Acxiom Is Watching You" Salon incorrectly attributed a Washington Post story to Robert O'Harrow. The story was actually written by Ben White and R. Jeffrey Smith. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 02/09/04]

-----------------------

In the Feb. 6 story "The vice presidential dance has begun," a source incorrectly attributed a comment that "God put Bush" in the White House to Gen. Wesley Clark. In fact, Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin made the remark. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 02/06/04]

-----------------------

The Feb. 5 King Kaufman's Sports Daily referred to Texas Tech University chancellor David Smith as having a doctoral degree. Smith is a medical doctor.
[Correction made 02/05/04]

-----------------------

A Feb. 4 article in The Fix misinterpreted a satirical item about George W. Bush written by the blogger Atrios. The item, a letter from a former maid of the president making outlandish allegations, was parody. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 02/04/04]

-----------------------

In a Feb. 3 column, "A GOP trickster rents Al Sharpton," Salon incorrectly reported that Bermuda was a former British colony and that Bermuda is ruled by its first black government. Bermuda is still a British colony and has had prior black leadership. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 2/3/04]

-----------------------

In the Jan. 16 story "100 years of solitude -- on crack," Salon failed to cite an article by Silvana Paternostro in the magazine Crmticas, which was the principal source for information about the publication history of Jorge Franco's novel "Rosario Tijeras." Salon regrets the oversight. The article has been corrected.
[Correction made 01/22/04]

-----------------------

In the Jan. 14 story "A Simple, Poetic Indictment" about the MoveOn.org ceremony for winners of the "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad contest, Salon failed to note that the healthcare rap was performed by comic Margaret Cho, and that the rap was meant as a joke. The story also mistakenly cited one verse from the song "Hallelujah" sung by Rufus Wainwright; in his performance Monday night, Wainwright dropped that verse from the song. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 1/15/04]

-----------------------

Salon's Jan. 6 story "Avenging Angel of the Religious Right" contained several reporting errors:

The subject of the story, Howard Ahmanson Jr., was born on Harbor Island in California's Newport Harbor, not on the Harbor Island in San Diego Bay.

The late conservative Christian thinker R.J. Rushdoony graduated from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., an institution seen as liberal in its orientation. The story incorrectly implied that he received his religious training principally in conservative schools.

Rushdoony died on Feb. 7, 2001, not in 1995 as reported in the story.

Diane Knippers, the president of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy, has written for national publications, but contrary to Salon's report, she is not a syndicated columnist.

The story incorrectly reported that Howard Ahmanson in 2001 made five anonymous donations totaling $460,000 to the Institute on Religion and Democracy, helping to fund its campaign to study and challenge perceived liberal tendencies in the Episcopal Church. Howard Ahmanson's wife, Roberta Ahmanson, denies that the family makes anonymous donations, and said that she and her husband gave only $15,788 to the institute in 2001.

Over a longer period, evidence shows that the Ahmansons donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Institute on Religion and Democracy. A detailed study in the New Zion's Herald, an independent religious journal published by the Boston Wesleyan Association, reported that the Ahmansons donated a total of $293,095 to the Institute in 1991 and 1992. The Washington Post, citing Knippers as its source, reported last year that the Ahmansons have donated $50,000 to $100,000 a year to the institute over an unspecified period of time. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 03/08/04]

-----------------------

In a Jan. 6 story, "Avenging Angel of the Religious Right," Salon incorrectly reported that the influential conservative writer Marvin Olasky was a convert to Christian Reconstructionism, a sect founded by far-right theologian R.J. Rushdoony. While Olasky has been influenced by Rushdoony's ideas, he was not a convert to Reconstructionism. The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 1/27/04]

-----------------------

In the Jan. 6 story "Avenging Angel of the Religious Right," Salon incorrectly reported that conservative intellectual and author Marvin Olasky was invited in 1993 to meet with Texas Gov. George W. Bush. If fact, the meeting took place while Bush was campaigning for governor, before he was elected. The story also reported incorrectly that Republicans won control of the California Legislature in 1994. The GOP won control of the California Assembly that year, but Democrats retained control of the state Senate.

The story also incorrectly characterized a vote by the Texas State Board of Education, suggesting that it had struck a blow against the teaching of evolution by ordering textbook publishers to correct the fact that "gill slits" in both human and other mammal embryos show their evolutionary lineage with prehistoric vertebrates. While the colloquial term "gill slits" will no longer be used, it will be replaced by the formal scientific term "branchial arches." The change in wording does not affect the freedom of textbooks to detail the science of evolution.

The story has been corrected. Salon regrets the errors.
[Correction made 1/6/04]

Previous Years' Corrections