June 28, 2016

Whoops.

In the headline for an article about "McDonnell," the headline writers at the Free Lance Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia changed his name to "McCauliffe."?

Bob McDonnell is the former Republican governor of Virginia. Terry McCauliffe is the current Democratic governor of Virginia. And yeah, they are not the same person.

McDonnell won a victory in the Supreme Court concerning his corruption conviction, in that the court decided unanimously that the state had failed to prove that his "favors" to a donor consisted of more than what a politician would typically do for a citizen.

While newspapers use wire service stories frequently, they often write their own headlines for those syndicated stories. In this instance the staffer (or shall we charitably say, "summer intern"?) writing the headline chose the wrong governor in the wrong party.

It's not like this kind of mistake is infrequent. The Fox News chyron, for instance, has a reputation for coincidentally calling Republican lawmakers, Democrats, if they are facing legal troubles.

We suggest whoever typed this headline should have to answer the phone for the Free Lance Star for the rest of the week.

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