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passive-aggressive corrections A correction in today's New York Times addressed their juxtaposition, either accidentally or idiotically, of a photo of a Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly Daily News delivery truck with a business piece on why declining circulation isn't always a bad thing. "Neither The Inquirer nor The Daily News was mentioned in the article, and the photograph was an inappropriate illustration for it." Daily News circ was down 2.3% this year.

even starbury's not that flexible Correction of the day, from the Times coverage of the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment verdict: "An earlier version of this article misstated the location of a 2005 sexual encounter between Stephon Marbury of the Knicks and a team intern. Marbury testified that it took place in his truck, not in the trunk of his car." [NYT]

correction of the day "We misspelled the word misspelled twice, as mispelled, in the Corrections and clarifications column on September 26, page 30." [Guardian]

correction of the day "PROTESTING PLANS by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center attack site, the New York Daily News told the Iranian president in a headline to "Go to Hell." A Politics & Economics article yesterday incorrectly said the headline was in the New York Post." Nice to see the folks at the Wall Street Journal trying to give credit to their new fellow employees at the Post. Given the way the News has been destroying its competition in the front-page outrage department, the Post needs all the help it can get. [WSJ]

correction of the day When Times TV critic Virginia Heffernan wrote that "'K-Ville' opens with a silly in- medias-res chase sequence—meant, presumably, to grab you by the lapels—which turns out to be a dream," she had no idea how in medias res she really was: "A television review yesterday about 'K-Ville,' which had its premiere on Fox last night, critiqued the wrong episode. It was about next week's show, not last night's premiere." [NYT]

correction of the day "A picture caption in some copies yesterday about residents in Canyon, Calif., who bought their own pay phone misspelled the given name and the surname of the woman shown using the telephone. She is Philippa W. Heathcock, not Philiooa W. Heartcock." [NYT]

corrections In our item yesterday on writer Neal Pollack's idiotic ramblings on his child-rearing process, we forgot to refer to Mr. Pollack as "alternadouche." (We were distracted by someone in our office, quitting her jobs.) Boy do we regret the error.

corrections A concerned reader wrote us about our earlier post on Plan B. Apparently, we somehow misidentified the category of babykiller the pill falls under: "Pro-lifers love that the media continually get this wrong! Plan B is emergency contraception, not an abortifacient." Yes, of course! Rather than murdering a defenseless human being, with a beating heart and developed feelings and adorable little fingers and toes, Plan B actually prevents that little miracle of God from fully fertilizing its intended target. Sounds like a lot less fun than the outright destruction of a unique human soul, but, hey, however you pro-death types like to get your kicks is fine with us. Anyway, Gawker regrets the error. And the loss of life.

lousy smarch weather "An article on Thursday about the arraignment of three men in the shooting of two New York police officers, one of whom died, misstated the schedule set by a judge for a trial in the case. The trial is expected to begin by February, not by 'Feb. 30.' The error occurred when an editor saw the symbol '-- 30 --' typed at the bottom of the reporter's article and combined it with the last word, 'February.' It is actually a notation that journalists have used through the years to denote the end of an article. Although many no longer use it or even know what it means, some journalists continue to debate its origin. A popular theory is that it was a sign-off code developed by telegraph operators. Another tale is that reporters began signing their articles with '30' to demand a living wage of $30 per week. Most dictionaries still include the symbol in the definition of thirty, noting that it means 'conclusion' or 'end of a news story.'" [NYT]

pet peeves The New York Times—both in this article and as like, individual people, at least in a few recent interactions we've had with staffers there—thinks that use of the strike tag (you know, this one) is "an ironic function... a witty way of simultaneously commenting on your prose as you create it." What total horsepucky! Sure there's a time and place for dumb strike-through jokes, or not—but really those who use it, as we do, do so to leave a record of an original inaccurate statement while adding something accurate. To regard the actual best possible system of making corrections, to cast transparency and responsibility as silliness or bitchiness, completely misses the opportunities of the internet. [NYT]

it tolls from thee "Because of an editing error, a report in the 'Arts, Briefly' column yesterday, about an Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest in Key West, Fla., misstated the title of a novel that Hemingway wrote when he lived there. It is 'For Whom the Bell Tolls,' not 'From Whom the Bell Tolls.'" [NYT]