Tedium

Here's another reason -- and a big one, at that -- why every phone number should be called, every Web address visited, every mailing address double-checked before you publish them. From Romenesko:

The Florida Times-Union's election day front page included a toll-free number to a non-partisan organization tracking the election. The number was wrong, though, and sent callers to a sex talk service. "This never should have happened, since the newsroom's policy is that all phone numbers should be called before publication," writes ombud Mike Clark.

Checking these little facts often seems like one of the least important parts of copy-editing work. It's certainly one of the most tedious aspects of our jobs, to be sure. But there's so much room for error, and these are the details that readers are most likely to use. So when they're wrong, readers are more likely to notice.

>More on the election and that really bad telephone number [Florida Times-Union]