What's Wrong With This Picture?

By: Vaughn Ververs
Topics: CBS News Issues

(AP / CBS)

Actually, there is nothing wrong with this graphic now – thanks to the ever-watchful eyes of the blogosphere. As Little Green Footballs points out however, the image which originally ran with this story, about China's plans for a trip to the moon, featured the flag of Japan, not China. Oops.

According to Michael Sims, director of news and operations for CBSNews.com, the error was an "honest mistake" by both the producer of the story who pulled the incorrect graphic and the copy editor who reviewed the story. As Sims notes, the image has been corrected and the story includes an editor's note which reads: "A previous version of this story included a graphic of the Japanese flag instead of the Chinese flag. We regret the error."

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by davidmsc June 23, 2006 6:17 PM EDT: *snicker* Maybe the news story was faxed to CBS News from a Kinko's in Texas.; Reply to this comment


by alphaa10-2009 June 22, 2006 4:59 AM EDT: To the GOP Faithful-- at least CBS admits its simpler errors. What about you? It works both ways, you know.; Reply to this comment


by foobarbaz-2009 June 22, 2006 12:43 AM EDT: Michael Sims? Is that the same Michael Sims who got fired from Slashdot? No wonder CBS keeps getting the story wrong. We can expect a duplicate story (still with errors intact) in a few days.; Reply to this comment


by timothy_beatty June 21, 2006 6:44 PM EDT: Let's see: 1. Wrong Flag (Japanese instead of Chinese) 2. Wrong Moon (that's not earth's moon, and I don't think they are going out to Saturn's Dione without a local stop) 3. Wrong Shadow (moon is illuminated from the front but shadow has illumination from the back). CBS corrected the Flag. 1 out of 3 facts are now correct. That's pretty good for CBS. /The incorrect moon still doesn't compare to the NBC intro that had the earth spinning the wrong way (Sun was rising in the West, setting in the East for Tom Brokaw's nightly news. They corrected it though).; Reply to this comment


by pedro333-2009 June 21, 2006 6:17 PM EDT: WRONG MOON. try this one: <img src="http://www.solarviews.com/thumb/moon/moon1.gif">; Reply to this comment


by sdtangler-2009 June 21, 2006 5:40 PM EDT: This is the result of an education system that teaches, "no answer is a wrong answer" and the concept that "everyone wins, nobody loses". Mediocrity wins, again.; Reply to this comment


by foobarbaz-2009 June 21, 2006 5:02 PM EDT: Also, if you big media types with your layers of editors had actually bothered to check back in at LGF (where mistakes are much less frequent than at CBS, and any mistakes are noted and corrected immediately, by people who AREN'T PAID MONEY TO DO THIS THE WAY YA'LL ARE) you might have noticed the update mentioning that the flag's shadow is going in the wrong direction. I'm having a hard time deciding whether CBS did a mo' lame here or when you pushed this pathetic graphic: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/28/national/main712548.shtml; Reply to this comment


by foobarbaz-2009 June 21, 2006 4:49 PM EDT: What great editors CBS has!! This error is STILL in the story: "preparations are moving ahead for the country's ambition space exploration program." Hint: It should read "ambitious" If ya'll can't even get the small things right, why would we expect you to get the big ones right? Not that we did even before Rathergate. Did CBS ever definitively admit that the Mapes/Rather TANG docs were bogus?? I'll answer that - NO. Ya'll are pathetic.; Reply to this comment


by sixgb June 21, 2006 3:49 PM EDT: I'm sure one of the last acts Dan Rather did at CBS was to proofread the article for accuracy. I assume Dan Rather thinks the original picture is correct.; Reply to this comment


by centralcal-2009 June 21, 2006 3:21 PM EDT: The correction and the comment by BzlBenz is hysterical! Ohmigawd CBS - if you can't get the small stuff right, what are we supposed to think about your abilities on the big important stuff? Too funny!; Reply to this comment