John Matthews
WMAL.com
FREDERICKSBURG, VA — (CNN) It may be an all-time newspaper blooper.
The Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star posted this headline in its Tuesday newsprint edition, “McAuliffe’s Bribery Convictions Tossed” – an apparent reference to the Virginia Governor whose case was vacated Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The only problem is – the paper cited the wrong governor.
FORMER Governor Bob McDonnell was the one whose case was tossed out by the Supreme Court in a unanimous vote, but the paper referred to the CURRENT Governor, Terry McAuliffe, in its headline.
Talk about the ultimate brain fart.
The newspaper issued this apology online Tuesday:
Due to editing errors, the headline was wrong on our front-page story Tuesday about the U.S. Supreme Court vacating former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s convictions.
There are several factors that can help explain what happened. We’ve been struggling to adapt to a new software system. And on this particular story, we were making changes to the design of the page and in doing so strayed from our normal process for writing and editing headlines.
But none of that excuses what was a massive and embarrassing error.
We failed to live up to the standards our readers expect. And for that, we sincerely apologize.
We are in the process of hiring additional editors who will help us do a better job of avoiding and catching mistakes. In the meantime, we’re instituting a new process for proofing our pages to ensure that our readers receive the quality product they deserve.
—Phil Jenkins, Editor
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star)
