Not Quite Slander but the Effect was the Same

Today's retraction was on page 1, at least, though the typeface was a lot smaller. My local paper, the News and Observer, decided to wallow in mud yesterday by printing an article on the front page which was based entirely on false information. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/468749.html

OK, mistakes happen. However. What seemed extremely lame to me was the sentence in the retraction saying that the paper couldn't reach the subject of the article for a comment because he is on vacation. Well, why didn't they try to contact him or his office the previous day? Was it ethical to go to print without checking the facts? I understand that they couldn't comment due to the pending court case, but they could have verified the dates - which was the central point of the article. The print version, which included a picture of the notes taken, made it appear that the DA's office was reckless and incompetent or may have been trying to mislead the grand jury.

Let me be clear that am not for or against the actions of the district attorney in the court case mentioned. What concerns me is the journalistic standard of the newspaper reporting this story or lack thereof.