The best corrections of 2005

If we can’t make fun of ourselves, then who can we make fun of? It’s a saying that I’ve always believed in, and one of my biggest criticisms about the field of business journalism is that we often take ourselves way too seriously.

We are not perfect, and sometimes our mistakes can be embarrassing. And funny.

That’s why I was amused to see business reporting sufficiently represented in Regret The Error’s list of top errors and corrections in the media for 2005. You can see the entire list here.

For those of you too busy to read the list, hands down the best business reporting error of the year occurred on Nov. 1 in a Reuters story about a beef recall. The lead reads: “Quaker Made Meats Inc. on Tuesday said it would voluntarily recall 94,000 pounds of frozen ground beef panties that may be contaminated with E.coli.”

Note to self: Never confuse undergarments with beef when writing about a recall.