Forced Correction

Patterico has, with the help of Instapundit, forced the hand of the LA Times. As he explains, the Times ran a story charging that no members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were aboard John Kerry's boat in Vietnam in spite of the fact that Steve Gardner, a member of the group, did indeed serve on Kerry's boat. Despite repeated efforts, the Times continued to ignore their mistake, but today ran a correction (registration).

I wouldn't be surprised if other readers contacted the Times about the error, but there's no question that the attention brought about by Patterico and Glenn Reynolds made a difference. It took the paper seven days to act, and although I appreciate the difficulties involved in making any correction, better fact-checking and less politicking right up front would have made for better journalism and PR. Just a few years ago, ignored letters to the editor would have remained, well, ignored.