WashPo comes clean

Posted on April 5, 2008 by Renee Corea

The Washington Post has posted a correction:

Correction to This Article
The article about bedbugs said that 500 of the 2,500 bedbug complaints lodged with the New York City Housing Authority between 2005 and 2007 turned out to be actual infestations. After taking a closer look at its records, the authority now says it did not keep detailed reports on bedbugs until last year. Of the 1,720 bedbug complaints received in 2007, a spokesman says, 70 percent resulted in treatment by an exterminator.

I honestly thought they would not correct David Segal’s ‘bed bugs are a product of hysteria’ story. But they did.

And, yes, we noticed. Deflection, played well. What can you do?

Still, I say, bully for us.

Further reading on this tale in several places on our site (it’s pretty much all we did our first week!) and you can read our correction request here.

These pages may be of related interest:

  1. Make it right, WashPo!
  2. The Case of the Incredibly Squishy Bed Bug Stats
  3. For shame, NPR On The Media recycles David Segal’s bogus squishy stats show
  4. NYC’s bed bug math problem
  5. We heard from Howard!

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5 Responses to WashPo comes clean

  1. persona-non-bugga says:
    April 6, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    That’s terrific. Thank you, Renee, for researching the facts and taking steps to ensure the Washington Post holds itself accountable for reporting them without error.

  2. Pingback: Washington Post prints correction thanks to bed bug activist

  3. Renee says:
    April 7, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    Thanks for the support, Persona.

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