2006 Corrections
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The Dec. 20 review of "Letters From Iwo Jima" incorrectly stated the American death toll for the Battle of Iwo Jima. There were more than 20,000 U.S. casualties, including more than 6,000 fatalities. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 12/20/06]
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In Heather Havrilesky's Dec. 17, 2006, column, she suggested that the producers of "The Amazing Race" might have interfered with the outcome of the race by securing airplane tickets for one of the teams. In fact, the assertion came from a misreading of an article and the producer interference did not occur. Salon apologizes for the error.
[Correction made 12/19/06]
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The Dec. 13 story "The Virtual John Kerry" originally misidentified Rich Galen as an advisor for Newt Gingrich's 2008 candidacy for president. Gingrich, the former House speaker, has considered a run for the White House, but has not yet declared his candidacy. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 12/13/06]
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As originally published, the article "Two Parts Hubris, One Part Paranoia," published on Dec. 5, 2006, failed to attribute a quotation from Steve Powers at the end of the piece to its source, which is the book "America's Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani's New York," edited by Robert Polner. The quote had been added in the editing process. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 12/5/06]
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The Nov. 28 book review "Pigskin Philosophy" quoted author Michael Lewis' assertion that NFL quarterbacks threw 7,583 passes in 1960. In fact, quarterbacks from two different professional football leagues, the NFL and the AFL, threw that number of passes in 1960, according to a statistician Lewis consulted. Lewis says that he has alerted his publisher to the mistake; a correction will be made in future printings of the book. The review also cited the total number of passes thrown in 1960 and 2000 as an indication of the increasing popularity of the passing game. That comparison, however, does not account for the increase in the total number of games played each season during that period. A more appropriate measure is the number of passes thrown per game. The review has been corrected.
[Correction made 12/4/06]
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The Dec. 1 article "Who Poisoned the KGB Agent?" incorrectly identified polonium as an isotope of uranium; it is in fact its own element, a step in uranium's decay into the stable element lead. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 12/1/06]
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The Nov. 22 Broadsheet item "Same-sex marriage around the world" erroneously suggested that Massachusetts voters have not yet chosen a successor for outgoing Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. In fact, on Nov. 7 voters elected Democrat Deval Patrick to serve as the state's next governor. The erroneous suggestion has been removed, and language in the item clarified. Broadsheet regrets the error.
[Correction made 11/22/06]
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The Nov. 21 article "The GOP's Dirty Deeds of 2006" incorrectly identified Wayne Curry as the county executive of Montgomery County, Md. He is the former county executive of Prince George's County, Md. The article has been corrected and Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 11/21/06]
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In the Nov. 17 story "The Sexiest Man Living," Salon erroneously reported that evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins had appeared on an episode of "South Park." He did not. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 11/20/06]
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The Nov. 10 Broadsheet item "He or she?" indicated that 2 percent of every 1,000 babies are born with ambiguous genitalia. This description was both confusing and incorrect. In fact, while it's difficult to determine precisely how common intersexuality is, estimates range from one in 2,000 births to one in 4,500 births. The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 11/10/06]
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The Nov. 8 story "Answered Prayers" referred to the outgoing Colorado congressman as John Healey. His name is in fact Joel Hefley. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 11/8/06]
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In the Nov. 2 story "Ohio's Not-So-Mean Jean Schmidt," Salon mistakenly stated that former Democratic Rep. Ken Lucas was defeated for reelection in 2002. In fact, Lucas was reelected that year and retired from Congress in 2003. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 11/2/06]
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The Oct. 25 Broadsheet item "The kindness of strangers" misrepresented the retail chain Target's policy regarding emergency contraception. Target pharmacies stock Plan B, but the company allows its pharmacists to refuse to fill Plan B prescriptions if they object to emergency contraception on religious grounds. The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/25/06]
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The Oct. 16 Broadsheet item "For sex, first sign on the dotted line" mistakenly reported that the 14,449 rape allegations made in the U.K. last year only resulted in 19 convictions. In fact, out of the 14,449 allegations, one in 19 alleged rapists was convicted. The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/16/06]
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The Oct. 12 Broadsheet item "What else we're reading" mistakenly reported that a study had found that newborns carrying antibodies suggesting a substantial infection of toxoplasma, a disease commonly caught through contact with cat feces, were more likely to be boys. In fact, the study did not indicate that newborns were infected. Rather, it found that mothers who tested positive for toxoplasma antibodies were more likely to have delivered boys. The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/13/06]
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The Oct. 3 Broadsheet item "Really bad trip ... to a museum" mistakenly indicated that elementary-school art teacher Sydney McGee was suspended without pay after her students glimpsed some nude sculptures on a field trip to an art museum. In fact, McGee was suspended with pay. The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 10/3/06]
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The original version of the Oct. 3 review of Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" incorrectly referred to the USS Missouri as the ship on which President Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" address. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 10/3/06]
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Some of the rebounding statistics for Dennis Rodman in the Sept. 28 King Kaufman's Sports Daily were incorrect. They were too low. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 09/28/06]
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The Sept. 22 Broadsheet item "Learning from the 'accidental feminist'" incorrectly reported that Arianna Huffington had once written that feminism "would destroy Western civilization." In fact, Huffington wrote that "the frenetic extremism of Women's Lib seeks not to emancipate women, but to destroy society." The item has been corrected.
[Correction made 9/27/06]
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The Sept. 22 story "The Truth About the E. coli Outbreak" was published with a misleading headline, which suggested that the article would argue against deer overpopulation. The headline has been corrected.
[Correction made 9/22/06]
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The Sept. 20 story "Payback Is a Blast!" incorrectly referred to Rome instead of Constantinople in mentioning a 14th century emperor who defended the city from a Muslim attack.
[Correction made 9/20/06]
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The August 30th Broadsheet item "Clerks III: What's with this year's SCOTUS hires?" quoted from a comment posted on the blog The Volokh Conspiracy, which claimed that of the current Supreme Court Justices, only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has hired more than two female clerks in any given year. In fact, Justices Stevens, Souter and Thomas have hired more than two female clerks in a given year. The comment also suggested that former Chief Justice William Rehnquist was reluctant to hire women, since he had a record of hiring only one female clerk per year; however, since Justice Rehnquist routinely hired fewer clerks per year than the other justices, his overall percentage of female clerks was higher than the comment implied. Lastly, the Broadsheet item incorrectly stated that the author of the comment was a "law blogger" at the Volokh Conspiracy, when in fact the comment was posted by a visitor to the site. The quotation has been removed and the story clarified.
[Correction made 9/6/06]
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Salon published an opinion piece headlined "Why I Need to See Child Porn,'' by Debbie Nathan, on Aug. 25. The piece incorrectly characterized the law pertaining to child pornography, and the facts surrounding the reporting of a recent published story in the New York Times.
The piece pointed to a recent story on "child model" sites by New York Times writer Kurt Eichenwald. That story described the Times as having located at least 200 sites, and described the content of certain sites. However, the Times story did not state that Eichenwald or the Times visited and viewed those 200 Web sites.
The story indicates, and Eichenwald confirms, that the portrayal of the content of those sites was primarily based on the written descriptions of them on certain advertising portals, which contained links to the sites, and not based on reviewing the content of the sites themselves.
Eichenwald said he located the portals through links on a conversation forum operated by a company described in his story. In describing that forum and the related sites, the Times story states:
"The Times did not subscribe to any sites, which it first saw referenced in online conversations among pedophiles. The Times followed a link posted in those conversations to forum postings and images on freely accessible pages of the modeling sites. Because those sites appeared to be illegal, The Times was required by law to report what it had found to authorities. Federal law enforcement officials were notified in July about the sites."
The story did not indicate that anyone at the Times deliberately viewed any potentially pornographic images, or visited any sites believing they contained pornographic images. An editor's note accompanying the story confirmed that the Times reported all of the potentially illegal content it inadvertently viewed to federal authorities and made it clear that the paper did not copy or retain any illegal images. Salon has no reason to doubt Eichenwald's and the Times' account of these actions.
The piece that appeared on Salon asserted that under child pornography laws, journalists and researchers have no protection from prosecution if they viewed visual depictions of child pornography, even inadvertently, in the course of their work. In fact, federal law appears to offer legal protection for inadvertently coming into possession of child pornography. A federal statute provides an "affirmative defense'' under certain circumstances, if the discovery of child pornography is limited and is reported to a law enforcement agency.
The assertion that there was no law regarding inadvertent discovery with which the Times could comply was incorrect. Any implication that the conduct of the New York Times or Mr. Eichenwald was illegal was also incorrect.
Salon regrets the errors and has removed the article from the site.
[Correction made 8/31/06]
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In the Aug. 31 Beyond the Multiplex, we incorrectly asserted that the movie "March of the Penguins" didn't receive a G rating. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 8/31/06]
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Salon published an opinion piece headlined "Why I Need to See Child Porn" by Debbie Nathan on Aug. 25. The story argued that under child pornography laws, Nathan and other journalists and researchers had no protection from prosecution if they viewed visual depictions of child pornography, even inadvertently, in the course of their work. In fact, federal law does offer some legal protection for journalists and other researchers. An "affirmative defense" may exist that would protect such work under certain circumstances, and the opinion asserted by Nathan that her work, and the work of other journalists, would constitute a violation of the law was inaccurate.
Salon regrets the error and has removed the article from the site.
[Correction made 8/25/06]
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Because of a reporting error, the Aug. 8 story "Faithful to Fidel" mistakenly claimed that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez took refuge in Cuba during the attempted coup of 2002. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 8/8/06]
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Because of an editing error, the Aug. 3 story "The Odds of Economic Meltdown" mistakenly listed falling unemployment as a characteristic of recession, when falling employment was intended. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 8/3/06]
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Due to a reporting oversight in the May 25 story "Spare the Quarter-inch Plumbing Supply Line, Spoil the Child," the author of the story did not credit some information about the Paddock case to the Raleigh News & Observer, nor did she mention that the News & Observer and Salon used two of the same sources. The story has been revised.
[Correction made 6/13/06]
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Due to a reporting error, the June 2 story "Seeing Green at Treasury" included U.N. Ambassador John Bolton among a group of senior Bush officials described by Peter Seligmann, CEO of Conservation International, as interested in "better environmental and energy strategy." In the interview, Seligmann had mentioned White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in that group, not Bolton. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 6/2/06]
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The May 31 story "The Blogfather" originally suggested, incorrectly, that former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner is scheduled to "host" a lunchtime event at the YearlyKos conference. Warner will address the lunch crowd as a guest of the organizers. And the organizers asked Salon to make clear that two other possible presidential candidates, Wesley Clark and Tom Vilsack, are scheduled to address smaller panel discussions at the conference.
[Correction made 6/1/06]
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In the May 24 story "Hurricane Al," we incorrectly stated that Al Gore was the first presidential candidate since Samuel Tilden in 1876 to win the popular vote and lose the election. In fact, Grover Cleveland won the popular vote when he ran for president in 1888, but lost the electoral vote -- and thus the election -- to Benjamin Harrison. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 5/24/06]
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The May 23 story "The Maternal Is the Political" contained an incorrect figure (122 million) for the number of U.S. children who are home alone after school (12 million) in a quotation of an interviewee.
[Correction made 5/23/06]
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The May 18 column "The GOP Begins to Implode" contained a sentence with incorrect figures for Hispanic voters. The sentence has been corrected.
[Correction made 5/18/06]
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In the May 15 story "The NSA Is on the Line -- All of Them," intelligence historian Matthew
Aid stated that the Echelon system was manufactured by Control Data
Corp. Aid acknowledged that he misspoke and pointed out that the
manufacturer is Digital Equipment Corp. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 5/15/06]
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The May 2 Broadsheet item "Police Informant" erroneously stated that Leicestershire police officer Nina Hobson was "sacked" for having videotaped her fellow officers. In fact, she chose to leave her job voluntarily. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 5/2/06]
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In an April 18 Broadsheet item, Duke lacrosse team member Reade Seligmann was mistakenly identified as being brought up on assault charges in Washington, D.C., when in fact it was his teammate Collin Finnerty who had charges brought against him. The story has been corrected. In addition, we have changed other wording in the item that reflected unnecessary bias.
[Correction made 4/18/06]
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The April 7 story "A Tale of Unsavory Justice" reported incorrectly that sexual predators used AmericanEagle.com as a way of giving gifts to minors online. Kurt Eichenwald, a reporter for the New York Times, testified that the Web site of American Eagle Outfitters, www.ae.com, was used for this purpose. AmericanEagle.com was not mentioned in his testimony and has no connection to the story's subject matter. The story has been corrected, and Salon apologizes for the mistake.
[Correction made 4/13/06]
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A paragraph in Stephanie Zacharek's March 31 review of "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" raised questions about the authenticity of footage in which Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore searched for Johnston, who had gone missing on the streets of Hoboken, N.J. According to the film's director, Jeff Feurerzeig, the footage is authentic. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 3/31/06]
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The March 21 story "All Hail the SAT Snafu!" originally indicated that the University of California and University of Texas systems had banished use of the SAT in admissions; in fact only some of those states' public colleges deemphasize the test. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 3/21/06]
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The March 18 story "The Wrong Man" incorrectly said that Susan Burke, an attorney for Ali Shalal Qaissi, had only one source for her claim that Qaissi had been abused with electrical wires at Abu Ghraib. In fact, she says she has information sources other than Qaissi. The story has been changed.
[Correction made 3/18/06]
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Michelle Goldberg's War Room post on former Bush advisor Claude Allen mistakenly identified James Hunt as the former governor of Virginia. In fact, he was the former governor of North Carolina. It also wrongly reported that Allen was Sen. Jesse Helms' only African-American aide. In fact, after Allen's tenure, Helms hired former civil rights activist James Meredith. The post has been corrected.
[Correction made 3/12/06]
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The March 10 story "Abu Ghraib Officer Fights Reprimand" stated incorrectly that Capt. Christopher R. Brinson received a formal Army reprimand in January 2005. Brinson received the reprimand in January 2006. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 02/27/06]
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The Feb. 27 King Kaufman's Sports Daily incorrectly stated that the sport of snowboard cross had been dropped by the X Games. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 02/27/06]
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In the Jan. 17 story "My Lunch With an Antifeminist Pundit," Rebecca Traister questioned "Women Who Make the World Worse" author Kate O'Beirne about the citation in her book of a quotation attributed to Catharine MacKinnon, calling the quotation "old news." Traister failed to point out that the statement was incorrectly cited. MacKinnon never said, or wrote, that "In a patriarchal society all heterosexual intercourse is rape because women, as a group, are not strong enough to give consent." This line is a characterization of the views of MacKinnon and Andrew Dworkin from "Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women's Studies," by Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge. It was attributed to MacKinnon in a March 1999 piece by Cal Thomas, which is the source O'Beirne cites in her book. A clarifying note has been added to the story. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 02/23/06]
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The Feb. 15 King Kaufman's Sports Daily incorrectly identified one of NBC's figure-skating analysts as Elfi Schlegel. The analyst is Sandra Bezic. Schlegel is a sideline reporter. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 02/15/06]
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The Feb. 15 story "The Campus Crusade for Guys" orginally included Bryn Mawr among some colleges that have created admission-oriented blogs to attract male applicants. Bryn Mawr does not admit men. In addition, the story erroneously stated that Tom Mortenson's daughter is unmarried. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 02/15/06]
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Due to an editing error, the article Feb. 10 article "The Dictator Defense" incorrectly referred to Richard Nixon as "the impeached former president." Though Nixon faced almost certain impeachment by Congress, he resigned from office prior to being impeached. The story has been corrected.
[Correction made 02/10/06]
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An earlier version of the Jan. 30 story "Rebels With a Cause" erred in saying that Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., opposed Arctic drilling. Sununu, in fact, supports the president on this issue. Salon regrets the error, which has been corrected in the story.
[Correction made 01/30/06]
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Due to an editing error, the first paragraph of Page 2 of the Jan. 24 story "The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch" was omitted. The paragraph has been restored. Salon regrets the error.
[Correction made 01/24/06]
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The Jan. 17 King Kaufman's Sports Daily incorrectly stated that three visiting teams won on the divisional-round weekend of the 2005-06 NFL playoffs. The correct number is two. The story has been fixed.
[Correction made 01/17/06]
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The Jan. 13 column "Alito's Ugly Association" said that both the Army and the Air Force reinstated their ROTC programs at Princeton in 1972, when in fact the Air Force did not resume its program until later. Another sentence speculating on Alito's motivation for joining CAP was edited to reflect this correction.
[Correction made 1/13/06]