Readers spot goofs; ‘Dilbert’ is gone

Readers have always been valuable sources of feedback — either by spotting errors or reminding editors and reporters of word choice.

Patrick Renner of Carlsbad emailed about a photo caption that appeared with the U-T Econometer on Feb. 26. The file photo was a scene of Pacific Beach in which Crystal Pier appears. Part of the caption read, “Above, people gather in Mission Beach in July 2020.”

Renner said it was P.B., not Mission Beach.

An editing trim led to the error. The original caption provided by the photographer for the July 2020 photo, which was a long-range shot that included Mission Beach in the background, read: “The start of this weekend’s heatwave has begun to attract large beach crowds to the sands at Pacific Beach and Mission Beach.”

In the editing for the caption that ran Feb. 26, the words Pacific Beach were deleted, which created an inaccurate caption.

David Dooley of Clairemont emailed about headlines on stories about Mexican electoral changes. Headlines on Feb. 23 and 24 used the word “reforms.” Dooley warned that word has a “favorable connotation,” which not everyone might agree with. “Changes,” he said, is better. It’s neutral and is “never incorrect.”

Dooley is correct.

‘Dilbert’ replacement

As the readers of the comics pages are well aware, the U-T, like many papers, dropped “Dilbert” on Feb. 27 after the creator went on a racist harangue on his Youtube show. A note that the strip was removed ran until March 3, when the comic “Jump Start” moved in. But “Dilbert” still appeared in the Sunday comics. That’s because the Sunday comics section is printed two weeks in advance. For today’s section, “For Better or For Worse” was subbed in at the last minute. For March 19, “Jump Start” will begin its Sunday run in the U-T.

Fallout from inaccurate social media posts

U-T readers are longtime consumers of news and recognize accuracy as a tenet of journalism. The importance of accuracy, however, is something that escapes some folks who post on social media.

U-T reporter Gary Robbins wrote last month about a video, with an inaccurate voice-over, that went viral. The video showed several young women hassling a food vendor on the San Diego State University campus. The voice-over identified them as SDSU students and said they were members of a certain sorority. Both were wrong. The person then recklessly says, “Let’s find them and hold them accountable.”

Another example of an inaccurate and irresponsible post also occurred last month. It affected U-T Padres beat writer Kevin Acee.

Acee had interviewed Padres pitcher Nick Martinez, whose family comes from Cuba. A quote from Martinez that Acee used in his Padres Report (Feb. 21 in print) referred to Cuba as a “socialist country.” In a video of the pitcher talking with other reporters, Martinez made a similar statement, but used the word “Cuba.” He did not say “socialist country.”

Someone, who did not consider that many reporters talk to players during spring training, posted the video on social media. The person made a defamatory allegation that Acee purposely altered the quote in his report to make a political statement. Wrong. Acee talked to Martinez separately and quoted him accurately, according to their conversation.

The post and the false allegation brought out the pitchforks. The Readers’ Rep received 24 emails repeating the defamation, some calling for Acee to be terminated.

To refute the false allegation, Acee posted on Twitter the audio of his conversation with Martinez (bit.ly/3mzvyrc). You can hear him say “socialist country.”

U-T Sports Editor Ryan Finley, Editor and Publisher Jeff Light, and Managing Editor Lora Cicalo also talked about the frenzy surrounding the quotes on the U-T podcast “The Backstory” (bit.ly/3tee0gd).

The person who made a post on Reddit that inflamed the crowd removed it. To their credit, three people who emailed the Readers’ Rep wrote back on their own, admitted the error and apologized. Only two others wrote back after the Readers’ Rep emailed the remaining 21 with the correct version of events, including the link to the audio.