Reader 'disillusioned' with Voice over seemingly insignificant mistake

As a journalist, I understand the seriousness of fact errors. I recall that in one of my reporting courses in college, fact errors were punishable by a 50-point reduction, often resulting in negative scores even when stories were otherwise pretty good. But those penalties paled in comparison to the punishment I took via e-mail this morning from one Bruce Shelton of Dallas. In my 10 years of newspaper experience, I don’t believe I’ve ever received such a scolding for what was, after all, a relatively minor mistake (I know, there’s no such thing in this business.) Anyhow, Bruce pointed out that there was a fact error in my story Friday about local couples who plan to marry in California. I reported that California and New York are the nation’s two most populous states, which is incorrect. Texas is the second most populous state, behind California and followed by New York at No. 3. Fair enough. We’ll correct it. But then Bruce had this to say:

“I was disappointed and a bit disillusioned that the Voice would allow something like this to go overlooked. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations or ideals to assume facts like this would be researched and verified prior to publication.”

Ouch.