Earlier this year, in late spring, reporters in The Wall Street Journal's technology section started to buzz about an issue that they understood had caused some consternation among senior leaders: An uncommonly high volume of corrections being issued out of San Francisco.
A Status review found that, over the last several months, the corrections have been applied to stories covering major technology companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Palantir, Oracle, and more. Many of the corrections were minor, reflecting factual mistakes that appeared to stem from errors in the reporting or editing process. Several, for example, involved misidentified figures, such as confusing millions with billions.
In any event, corrections at The Journal are no small thing. Even if an error is not significant, appending a correction to a story triggers an arduous process that is no fun at all. It goes on a reporter's record, and The Journal itself maintains a page on its website dedicated to highlighting corrections issued each day. It is all to say that, whether the errors are consequential or not, they are a big deal. Journal stories are expected to be airtight.
Of course, the issue with corrections did not happen in a vacuum. It came in the wake of Editor-In-Chief Emma Tucker overhauling the technology desk last year, firing longtime editor Jason Dean and pink-slipping about a dozen others in the bureau. According to people familiar with the matter…
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